Camera work and presentation style

[okcnews 0]

I'm curious about everyone else's newscasts out there. In the Oklahoma City market we have three distinct styles of presentation and camera work.

 

One is probably what you'd call standard. It's used by FOX25 and KFOR here. It has a mix of 2-shots and close-ups, and the close-ups are average, about what you'd see on network news.

 

The second is used by KOCO. It is similar to standard, but the close-ups are much tighter and since they have world-class beautiful anchors, the result is stunning.

 

The third was recently adopted by KWTV when they changed to a new set in November. They have on occasion actually gone an entire broadcast without a single close-up of their female anchor, an anchor who is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful women in the state. They are using all sorts of distant, off-angle shots. They sometimes open the newscast shooting from behind the anchors and let them read their first line before they ever show you their faces. To me, they've ruined the warmth of the broadcast, and have instead placed all the emphasis on trying to show off their new set.

 

What's it like in your area, and what style do you prefer?

[TVArk-Greg 0]

I can go on for ages here, having seen the variety of stuff I've seen, but I'll stick to a few examples...

 

WCAU in Philadelphia has several styles that differ per newscast. Their morning, 6, and 11 shows are more traditional - 2 shots, closeups, and the occasional shot at the stand-up area or plasma screen to the left of the desk. Their 5pm and the 10pm they do for WPHL are totally different. Home base for these broadcasts is not the desk - they are standing at the green screen, with a "virtual set" behind them (note the quotations - it's simply a still picture). Often, they will present some stories from the aforementioned stand-up areas used on the other shows. Weather tosses have the anchors standing in the massive weather center and talking directly to the meteorologist (they do this on the other shows too, but it seems more prominent on the 5 and 10).

 

WPVI is one of the most traditional stations I've ever seen, but after seeing a newscast example from 1981, you realize that the current Action News is WAY different from what came before. Stories are presented at a breakneck pace. One story is done - BAM - off to the next one. It's literally one of the fastest-paced newscasts I've ever seen - and yet it's EXTREMELY low-frills. The set is basically the anchors next to an ever-changing chroma-key screen, and unlike the chromakey treatment of the late 80s, it's not uniform - one chroma-key is different than the next one.

 

One of the most jarring changes I've seen to presentation style - and you'll see this when I get the page up on TVArk - is the WABC change of 1985. Early in the year, they introduced a fancy CGI open and started playing around with the graphic styles - fancy graphics were used to toss to break, for example. Newscasts were filled with "Insider Reports" and other special features. Bill Applegate took over as news director late in the year - and the newscast literally went back in time five years. He imported his set design and graphics basically wholesale from WLS, and the newscast took on a far more traditionalist tone, although with some more "tabloid" touches (not much, mind you, but the OTS graphics were really bold, especially for the time!)

 

The best newscast I've ever seen as far as presentation goes? News 4 New York. WABC had the better personalities - WCBS was better for straight hard news. But this newscast just OOZED style. The set is fantastic - the best constructed for local news before or since. You don't see many newscasts embrace the use of black in the design, nor tight close-ups, but that's exactly what WNBC did. It gave the newscast - especially the 6 and 11 - a certain look that implied "we go in-depth. You can trust us." The lighting put the set in shadow, and emphasized the true star of the newscast - the anchors. It's a much more interesting treatment than the standard flat lighting you see today.

[lugnuts6 89]

WLAJ's Newscast has one style...z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-

 

Two cameras, one is stationary anchor/desk shot, the other shoots from the "HONDO's Highlites" set "Green Screen" with HDTV set with "HONDO HIGHLITES"

 

Before when it was 53 NEWS NOW, the cameras would move around, show some of the set and at the end the anchors would...(this will get ribs) dance behind the desk to the closing newstheme (Yes I said DANCE, I am serious)

[okcnews 0]

Thanks for the input. That tells me other stations are doing some of the same garbage that I see KWTV doing here. I am one of those people that believe the anchors are the stars of the show, and that if you aren't getting the anchors faces on camera, it's a bad thing. This is especially true when you hire anchors that could basically be movie-stars if they weren't making a living anchoring.

 

I watched a primetime newscast last week on KWTV where they went 6 full minutes before the female anchor got any face time, while the male anchor had already had a few close-ups. What are these people thinking?

 

KOCO (ABC affiliate here in OKC) has the tightest close-ups I've ever seen, and once in a while they pull some of that theatrical style lighting mentioned earlier, and it is stunning.

 

The "anchor chatting up the weatherman" technique mentioned above is also used at KWTV, but they never look into the camera. They alienate the viewer by leaving them out of the conversation.

 

The final viewer-unfriendly insult that KWTV does more often than not, is to do their parting shot from maximum distance back, off-angle, with the anchors saying goodbye into the wrong camera. You can barely see their faces, and even if you could, they're not looking at you. So much for friendly, appreciative goodbyes!

[RetroCirq 148]

If there is one station that proves to be an insult IMHO, is WPLG.

 

Since they only have the 6pm Newscast, especially with Laurie Jennings, when they lead off w/ the big story, thye always go to Laurie's face. Belive me I know.

[alaskanews 108]

The final viewer-unfriendly insult that KWTV does more often than not, is to do their parting shot from maximum distance back, off-angle, with the anchors saying goodbye into the wrong camera. You can barely see their faces, and even if you could, they're not looking at you. So much for friendly, appreciative goodbyes!

 

these shots are not meant to be "unfriendly", people like seeing behind the scenes, they dont like seeing a canned product, thats why most audiences dont mind too much if there is an on air mistake, because it shows that the anchors and reporters are in fact real.