CPTV News QuickCUT 1-29-26 - ID# 553
Crown Point
News Program
Entry Description
Crown Point High School's student newscast from January 29, 2026 for vertical formats which includes national, local and school news, along with weather and CPHS sports highlights.
Copyright Info
Recent Teacher Comments
- 4/30 9:55 pm - As always a great clean show, the fast pace and transitions really lends itself to the whole vibe of the show with the fast news on the go feel. Your lead anchor is great, very nicely read and well written. I totally understand the vertical orientation probably makes it hard to deal with a lot of horizontal video, but the 2 shots along with graphics all at the same time is a lot sometimes. Always a fun show to watch, nice work.
- 4/15 9:49 am - A solid show. Anchors do a nice job of reading the news. Whoever edited this made the pacing just right, b-roll is accurate and transitions to new stories have a nice touch. The double sports highlights were tough to watch- hard to draw your viewers' eyes to two different things at the same time. Good mix of news, but don't miss out on the all the cool things that are probably happening at your own school that the students probably want to see. Nice work.
Judge 1
Positives: 1. The pacing of your broadcast was perfect. It kept my attention throughout. I can tell that was intentional. Love it. That really fit well with your team's decision to format the broadcast for a social media first audience. That's the type of thing people want to see online. So, great intentional thinking in your presented the news. 2. I love how you focused on hard news. It could have been easy to put together a newscast full of lighter features, but it would not have been informative. I'm especially impressed by how you took hard news subjects from outside your school's walls and made them "local" for students on campus to consume. Way to go!
Improvements: 1. I don't know if like the music that was in the background or dislike it. It really did help with the pacing of your broadcast (to make sure it didn't slow down and feel sluggish). At the same time, there were points where it felt it a bit annoying from my standpoint too. 2. The sports segment may have gone on a bit too long relative to the rest of the newscast.
Judge 2
Positives: The format worked very well. It's so smart to produce vertical content to meet the audience where they are.. their devices! The music, graphics, captions under sound bites and energetic delivery all combined to create a very watchable newscast that was well-executed. Bravo! Kudos to the production team for tackling tough, complex subjects such as the school budget and ICE.
Improvements: Lead with impact! Try to find more conversational ways to tell the complex stories you've chosen for the newscast. For example, in the first story, it would be more impactful to start with what may be cut due to the budget shortfall (programs and jobs) instead of the process of what led to the shortfall. You want to grab the viewer with the lead and give them a reason to care, especially in a story so data-dense as a budget story. You can then move into the minutiae that led to the issue. I did find it helpful to know how much of each dollar goes to staff salaries and benefits. The lead strategy can also be applied to lighter stories. For instance in sports..instead of leading with the fact that the boys basketball team hosted Chesterton, consider leading with the fact that the team continued their undefeated streak.. then you can go into the details.
Judge 3
Positives: Wow! National and statewide news in vertical formats! This is great and very smart. Throw a Call to Action with a QR code on top of that - really impressed. This is a very complete experience - I absolutely know what is happening at CPHS. Rana might want to seriously consider a career in broadcast journalism.
Improvements: Love the vertical formats and the split screen action. Be really careful how you use those formats to make sure you're directing the audience to the right box of video, with the second box supporting the first. Meaning - if you have rapid movement on both boxes, the eye will be challenged on where to look and focus while you're talking to me. The effect is great and modern, but should be used with intention behind it. The audio track helps with pace, but would encourage shifting the track for the appropriate story. As in, the same track that's used under sports is also used under state legislation. You have the ability to shift the experience with that music based on the story or topic you're covering.
Judge 4
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Judge 5
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