Electronic Door Locks - ID# 514

Glenbrook North

News Package

Entry Description

This news package details the Glenbrooks' installation of over 700 new door locks across its campuses. It's no surprise that school shootings and other crises have been on the rise in recent years, so the premise of this package was to take a look and see what the Glenbrooks are doing to heighten their security in the wake of recent events, in addition to exploring their impact on the school community.

Copyright Info

Recent Teacher Comments

• 4/23 7:27 pm - I like that you chose a unique topic to your community to highlight. I second the comments below and do not want to be redundant. I think this needed another perspective like could this money be used for something else other than door locks or failure/troubleshooting/ease of use potential other side to the story. If you are an underclassman, keep making pieces. If you are a senior, I wish you the best in your future and congratulations!
• 3/16 8:21 pm - I liked your opening natural sound shot, and then the transition(and accompanying b roll) into the opening interviews. However, in the two interviews he was talking about these new door locks more secure what does that mean do they do something that keyed locks don’t do? Then the superintendent talked about taking rapid control of the building if something bad happens. Again, I wasn’t sure what that means, does a computer automatically lock all the doors. I guess I was never told why having these keyless locks is an advantage. At times I don’t know if the reporter’s narration were setting up the interviews as good as they could have. For example, at 41 seconds you seemed to be transitioning to talking about crisis management and removing threats, however the interview that immediately followed talked about how convenient it would be to disable a key card and not have to go through the expense of rekeying a lock. I know I mentioned this before but I always appreciate when a little bit of the authentic audio is left on during a b roll to give some more authenticity to what is being seen. You did that with most of your b-roll. You did kind of address some downsides, being the cost and the learning curve, but I guess I still didn’t feel like the story had balance, because I kept hearing that these new locks were safer but after spending 1.3 million on these new locks how do they make the building safer (what advantages do these offer over a keyed lock), I could make some inferences but I think as a reporter what makes the building “safer” should have been outright stated. Things I might have done differently would include maybe some headlines about school shootings, so your audience sees the crisis you are trying to combat, only because after a while I thought the broll of locks getting installed started getting repetitive. I also would have liked to see some interviews from students as well. I thought you did a nice job organizing/gathering key interviews and putting all the pieces of this story together, just make sure the full story is being told so the audience doesn’t walk away any questions.

Judge 1

Positives: - I love the way you told this story. The natural sound at the top was great. You had just the right amount of reporter track mixed in with soundbites. The flow here is terrific -- great job! - I like the use of tight shots. It's fascinating to see some of that work being done up close.

Improvements: - I wish you would have diversified your b-roll a little more. Try to use more sequencing -- wide, medium, tight shots -- to set the scene. Your track talks about delays with the swiping of cards -- show us that! When you write to your track, your story becomes instantly better. And more natural sound never hurts! - Don't be afraid to use your interview framing/background as a way to advance your story. It's easy to set up a camera and shoot wide. Zoom in for different, more emotional questions. Find a background that can play into your piece -- maybe a school logo, a door or classroom itself.

Judge 2

Positives: Great use of nat sound to start the pkg. Good choice of sound. Nothing was too long and covered well with video

Improvements: It was a bit long for not including any student sound. Great to hear from teachers, but how do students feel. If there is nothing good to see in the background, it's okay to center the interviewee. The associate principals desk added nothing to the story. I was distracted by his messy desk.

Judge 3

Positives: -Great use of natural sound for transitions ( the opening shot was great) -Good narration, well written.

Improvements: -I would've liked to see more establishing shots. There were many close up shots of the work being done to the new door locks, but not wider shots to establish the scene. -I would've liked to see a stand-up from the student. It's a way to establish who the reporter is... if there's no time for a stand-up, perhaps show a cutaway of the reporter interviewing his subjects.

Judge 4

Positives:

Improvements: