Same context as the story of the previous blog post: Second day of classes, after only three hours of J101 class, students were thrown into the swimming pool, er, este, made to interview a criminal suspect and the arresting officer and to write on-the-spot, in 20 minutes, a news report and produce a standupper. It’s their first — in their entire lives. Shot last Thursday, June 30 from 3pm to 4pm, a petty crime that occurred that afternoon: News report produced by students Sir Lawrence Agustin, asst. cameraman; Paul John Garcia, presentor (standupper); Chlyde Buenaventura, producer; Charisse Orjalo, production assistant; Mark Salvador, cameraman. they’re sophomores, it’s their first journ writing class, most are non-journ majors, and it’s their first news report:
Shot by said students this Thursday, June 30, 3pm-4pm, and video-edited by them this Friday/Saturday.
Only in their second meeting of Journ 101 (or only after the first three hours of the first semester), students Anne Kristine Aga, Felipe Nicolas San Pedro, Joanna Elizabeth Kamia Malcontento, Renz Cruz learn how: 1) to write the basic crime report in 20 minutes 2) how to turn it into a basic script for a standupper in three minutes 3)how to ambush-interview an arresting police officer and a criminal suspect caught in the act; 4) how to produce a basic video report and video-edit using only a dicam-handycam and an ordinary computer, no lapel mike, no boom mike, no lights, no budget – just their wits. Note that this was written and shot in less than one hour, because they shot two stories in two hours. The crime scene was the U.P. Lagoon, petty crime. This was in preparation for the spot newsreporting at the EDSA Police Station where the pace is more frenzied. [NOTE: When you criticize the video news report — the talkies are a tad longer than the useful footage— consider that they have not taken up journ writing classes before, this is their first; this is only their second meeting for the class or only after 3 hours for the first sem, most are non-journ majors and in their sophomore year, and they are using their own non-broadcast quality, amateur digicam with no microphones, etc.]. Very rough — but see if they get the basic idea of a news structure: the objective of this exercise was simply to learn the inverted pyramid structure, but the students did a lot more.
Many students (those who have been pampered and “babysitted” all their lives) don’t get why they are subjected to such torment, but a few get the point of being exposed to pressure, stress, and the ordeal. just the second meeting, this is one of the “shock-and-awe” parts of the class – it’s like showing the basics and throwing a swimming student in the pool and he/she finds out he/she knows how to swim after all, or how to float at the very least.
Spot news-reporting can be simulated, it can be done even with only a 3-hour class every week – teaching how to cover and spot-report and spot-produce in 20 minutes.
WE’D LIKE TO THANK THE MEMBERS OF THE U.P. DILIMAN POLICE FOR ALLOWING US TO INTERVIEW THE ARRESTING OFFICER AND THE CRIMINAL SUSPECT. Thanks, thanks very much!
Note that this was written and shot in less than one hour, because they shot two stories in two hours. The crime scene was the U.P. Lagoon, petty crime. This was in preparation for the spot newsreporting at the EDSA Police Station where the pace is more frenzied. [NOTE: When you criticize the video news report — the talkies are a tad longer than the useful footage— consider that they have not taken up journ writing classes before, this is their first; this is only their second meeting for the class or only after 3 hours for the first sem, most are non-journ majors and in their sophomore year, and they are using their own non-broadcast quality, amateur digicam with no microphones, etc.]. Very rough — but see if they get the basic idea of a news structure: the objective of this exercise was simply to learn the inverted pyramid structure, but the students did a lot more.