Modeling TV news, does it pay off or not?

So I’m in this intensive final cut pro video editing class. And it’s wonderful. We have been building packages for online the past two days. One after another. I just built one in one hour. In comparison, it took me 8 hours last week to build one prior to this training. I was slow. Still am. But I’m getting so much faster and that’s rewarding.

Anyhow. I have no real video shooting professional experience. I come from a print background. So I’m putting these packages together based how it feels together, and I unknowingly model a lot of it from what I see on TV. Strong opening shot with nat sound, b-roll, sots, beautiful closing shot, etc. I am learning by modeling after what I see. But what if I stick to this habit of storytelling? Where it’s predictable news writing. As some journalists who go through this training might. Then we rehash the same type of video storytelling over and over.

While modeling is good for learning, breaking the mold should be emphasized in training. And it isn’t. This goes for teaching journalists how to write feature stories, breaking news, and photographers too. It doesn’t matter the medium. Just the emphasis on taking a different perspective. Doing something out of the ordinary. Or letting the story unfold naturally, and then writing it in that order (not inverted pyramid style).

These are questions I ponder as I learn final cut better. Something educators have the power to change when teaching storytelling.

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