As many of you know, I attended the annual Radio-TV News Directors Association convention this week in Las Vegas. This is the first of several posts summarizing highlights of the convention.
Even some major market stations (e.g. KRON-TV, San Francisco) are adopting the one-man-band mode of newsgathering. So a seminar on the subject attracted a large audience. The panel covered both the "how-to" and the pros and cons. Some interesting highlights:
The newest label for these single-person crews is "backpack journalists." As to the question of whether it's sexist to call them one-man-bands, Angie Kucharski, chair of RTNDA, was quoted as saying it's okay with her. Thus it seems to be the unofficial RTNDA policy that it's acceptable. Certainly is easier to say than "one-person band."
One of the panelists from Greensboro, NC, where they use one-man bands a lot, just lost one of hers to Denver, where she will continue to work solo at KUSA-TV. The ND attributed the person's success to the fact that every day she made it a challenge to do something that people would think she couldn't do.
When they graduate to working with a photographer, former one-man bands become better reporters because they better appreciate how to work with video.
One downside is that one-man bands don't get a chance to hone any one skill.
Another downside, on the practical side, is that shooting breaking news one-man-band does not allow any time to gather information--you're too busy shooting.
Another downside: you don't have a second set of eyes to see things you need to shoot, so it's easier to miss something.
One issue in using one-man bands is safety. Some of the panelists said they have rules against sending people out alone on certain stories. A couple of them, from coastal areas, said they never send out a person alone during a hurricane, for instance.
Tips:
To white balance, tape a piece of paper to a light stand and put it where you're shooting.
To frame a standup, put a light stand--adjusted to your height--where you're going to stand and use it to frame and focus.
To guarantee good framing on standups, shoot several takes. After the first one, put a notepad, or something similar, on the ground where you're standing. Check your first take. Use the notepad as a reference to adjust your shot left or right.
In shooting interviews, shoot a little wider than you normally would. Liimit on-camera interview to things that need to be on camera. Interview for facts and general information off-camera. Don't let interview subject hold his/her own mic. Check your shot once or twice in the middle of the interview to make sure it's still framed ok. Pick out bites (in your head) while you're shooting the interview.
(On the subject of standups, not just those shot solo, one ND said he doesn't want to see reporters with nothing in their hands, and doesn't like walking standups that don't go anywhere--the walk to nowhere, he called it. He said, "Take me somewhere, show me something.") Bottom line: The panel agreed that in the perfect world there would be no one-man bands. But they also agreed that if you really want to you can do excellent stories working alone.
