Season 7 Episode 15 Jan 24 - ID# 186

Wheaton Academy
News Program
Entry Description

This news program plays weekly in our 720 seat auditorium for our student body and staff.

Copyright Info

Recent Teacher Comments

  • 4/28 10:38 pm - Nice tease at top of show. Good opening with anchor...needs just a bit more energy and tighten up the composition a bit. For wrestling piece, watch how you hold the mic. No need to have it so close to the interviewees' mouths. Some good b-roll. A couple of graphic issues. Anchor...relax a bit. You're kind of "frozen" into that same pose the whole way through. Piece on new English teacher is interesting. Cut to Gabi is a little glitchy. Same back to anchor. Piece on student with music speaker in his backpack is fun. Interview of music teacher talking about student is overmodulated. Anchor, stay focused on the camera. Good work...keep at it.
  • 4/20 1:26 pm - Good teasers at the start and intro to the entire show. Rule of thirds is important, but when the anchor first appears, get a graphic in there right away. Otherwise, it looks very awkward. Watch your audio levels- wrestling story has louder interviews than the reporter. Keep them all the same. Mis-cue on the graphic coming up. Anchor reads well, but needs to show some personality- smile, be appealing to your audience. Audio on interview about Will is over modulated. Good stories in this show- very timely and student centered. Just need to liven things up a bit- add some music, some personality, a true closing to the show. You're on the way.
  • 4/7 10:06 am - Some nice stories and mixing up the way that the stories are done. Good audio. Nice mic placement, just watch how you run the lav. cable. You don’t want to have the cable in front of the shirt. Ooops. A few graphic issues. Anchor did a nice job reading but was expressionless. Also, at the end he looked to his upper right.
Judge 1

Positives: Opening sequence is super visual and well-edited. Wrestling story was full of interviews-- viewers appreciate hearing about a topic from multiple voices. Teacher feature does a good job introducing a new member of the school and gives her a platform to share her goals and ideas. Awesome use of sound in all of the stories-- really elevates production value. Great play on words for the anchor intro for Will's story. This is a wonderful feature package! I'll bet many students cross paths with Will and wonder "what's his story?" You shared it! Enjoyed hearing about a student's positive impact from multiple people-- it shows what a difference the little things in life can make. Students' hard work is evident in this newscast-- great job!

Improvements: Stick mic doesn't need to be so close to athletes being interviewed--pull it back a bit, or maybe opt for a lav mic. Reporter's first line in Will's story could have been re-recorded. Don't be afraid to do as many takes as you need. This is a luxury you don't have when you're live, so take advantage of it!

Judge 2

Positives: A high-quality newscast, which is difficult to pull off. The anchor and reporters were professional, the scripts were solid, the out-of-studio packages and musical studio piece were tight and neat, quality b-roll in the packages and the announcements were fast paced. The graphics were professional grade and consistent. I loved the feature on the speaker guy because I’m sure he’s someone who intrigues everyone and he has a great message. Perfectly place at the end of the newscast.

Improvements: Needed hard news. An overview of wrestling, a profile on a new teacher and a profile on speaker guy are all light feature stories. Hard news stories that are important to the school and students are needed for a well-rounded news program. While the rest of the newscasts was professional, the anchor set was lacking. The set for the side studio piece on the musical was better with the TV and blue-lighting backdrop.

Judge 3

Positives: Nice headlines to set up your show. It was good to get a tease of everything coming up. Nice ending pkg. It was a feel good piece to wrap up the show.

Improvements: It looks wrong to start your first wrestling story framed for an over the shoulder box when it doesn't appear immediately. It would be great to have your anchor stand next to that monitor the whole time instead of sitting at that table. You don't have to have an "anchor desk." Everyone needs a little more energy. No one seemed like they wanted to be on this show and was instead just reading their part. There were a few technical things I saw like late banners or keeping the over the shoulder box over the last pkg. You also covered your anchor with the QR code when the other side of the screen was empty.

Judge 4

Positives:

Improvements: