Coach D's Blog

What Are You Gonna Show Me?

I love tough topics, and encourage my students to tackle them.  The problem is, some of the stories they want to tell are incredibly challenging to show.  But we are not doing radio here, so we have to have pictures.  Yes, sound is always important, but we know video beats audio.  Interesting visuals trump sounds and words. We remember what we see more than what we hear.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received about covering a visually-challenging topic was to make the most of the simple shots you know you have to have.  You don’t need to get breathtaking visuals every time you shoot a story.  Shoot the obvious if that’s all you have.  The challenge is to shoot the obvious in a creative way.

In a few weeks I will find out if we can do just that.  Two of my students are covering “friends with benefits,” and they already have three people willing to talk about it. I am anxious to see how creatively, and tastefully, they cover the visual side of that story.  

One suggestion you might make to kids who say they have no visuals is to simply watch “Dateline” or “48 Hours” and see how both programs do an amazing job making the most of simple images.  I would especially encourage you to remind students to always ask for still photos when they do features about people.  Those can be extremely powerful, and there are a lot of creative ways to make those photos come to life in a video story.