(By Allan Vestal)
Much more goes into preparing a visual-medium piece than an uneducated observer might guess. In preparing a broadcast television package, the reporters and photojournalists involved need to identify the central topic of the story, the handful of dominant themes they feel need to be explored in the piece, and -- eventually -- an appropriate conclusion to the report. Once this has been accomplished, these professionals must bear all these in mind when assembling the story's ideas, images and video clips (both interviews and supplementary shots).
Because of this multifaceted process, I have found producing my first package to be somewhat challenging. It is hard work to identify the components of the story while you are shooting (or before you get to the scene); it is also difficult to choose interviewees with an eye to these elements.
Despite my difficulties with producing a broadcast package, I feel the writing process will get easier with each consecutive video report I complete, much as with any skill. Visual journalism provides multiple levels of meaning; a large part of broadcast reporters' training, then, is fitting the messages in each level together coherently.
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