We have wrapped up a year Video Storytelling Bootcamps with CBS News and Stations with more coming in 2025
Below are some great examples of work from the last few months.
One of the fundamentals of our approach is to move from a written script driven ‘package’ to a picture driven ‘film’. As a result, photogs, unbound by any prior constraints prove to be remarkable visual storytellers – and great journalists in their own right.
Take a look at this example, done by Armando Aparicio Garcia, a photog/editor with KCAL News in Los Angeles. Done as his 2nd bootcamp project, all in one day, all on an iPhone and nothing else – and of course, all done entirely by him. This is television that resonates with a viewer. Our goal is always ‘the viewer experience’. That’s what leads to audience engagement, higher ratings and return viewership.
The future of TV news is not TikTok, it is Netflix. Marrying Netflix storytelling and cinematography to journalism and news.
Take a look at this lovely story done by Hannah Kliger, award-winning reporter at WCBS | CBS New York. Done in one day, with nothing by an iPhone, Hannah reported it, shot it, tracked it, edited and produced it on her own. This is television journalism done the way newspaper journalism is done- character-driven stories with heart. Congrats! Waiting to see this over Christmas.
These bootcamps are NOT iPhone training. Frankly, that would take about an hour. Our focus here is taking CBS News journalism and marrying it to Netflix storytelling techniques? Why? Because NBC Nightly News gets 5 million viewers out of a nation of 340 million people. Netflix gets 280 million paying subscribers. They know how to engage an audience with storytelling.
And when it comes to demographics, an astonishing 75% of those aged 18-30 subscribe to Netflix. This tells us something.
So what happens when you marry the high quality journalism of CBS News to the compelling storytelling of Netflix?
Take a look at this story, done last week by Penny Kmitt, a reporter with WBZ | CBS Boston – all done in one day, all done solely by Penny and all done on an iPhone.
In the bootcamps, each participants reports, shoots, tracks, edits and produces their own stories (as opposed to packages), using only an iPhone. Take a look at this story, done by Beth Germano, a long-time and highly accomplished broadcast journalist with WBZ | CBS Boston.
What makes this story particularly interesting is that although Beth has been in the business for years, this was the very first time she actually edited her own work. I think she found the prospect of editing intimidating until she actually did it – and remarkably well.
We are of course, great proponents of the “MMJ” approach (but I think Multi Media is a misnomer – there is only one medium here – produced TV news stories (as opposed to packages)). Our reporters work on their own, just like NY Times (or Boston Globe) journalists work on their own – instead of using a pencil and pad, they use an iPhone.
When you edit your own material you quickly learn to shoot for the cut – that is, to shoot just what you need to tell a story. Our target for our reporters is a 3:1 shooting ratio – 3 minutes of raw for every minute that goes to air. It’s just like newspaper journalists write – 1:1. No reporter for The Globe would write 10,000 words for a 250 word piece, but that’s how TV news generally works now. The waste is astonishing.
So Congrats Beth, for reporting, shooting, scripting, editing and producing a compelling story, and all on an iPhone and all pretty much done in one day,
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