Dear Shoptalk Readers:

I'm a big fan of KPRC "News 2 Houston" because of their photography techniques. So, I was wondering....what other stations do the  Flash/Fast Pace/MTV Style shooting? In other words: ANTI - NPPA.

Email me at Mercury4@aol.com if anybody knows of any other stations that dare to be different. THANKS!!!!

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From: Rosiland Jordan Reporter, WFXT-Boston
RE: Rusty Surette of KETK (Tyler, TX):

Your Shoptalk letter reminds me of my high school English class's fascination with ee cummings's poetry-"No punctuation or capitalization or correct grammar? Cool, I can be a poet too!" No such luck-we weren't literary geniuses.

My question to you: what's wrong with NPPA-style news photography? How long a career in legitimate television news are you planning? Not only does NPPA photography make stations such as KUSA, KMGH, KARE, KSTP, KNSD,KOMO, WITI, NECN and WFXT (my shop) stand out nationally, but it is also the standard which ABC, NBC and CBS journalists practice in their storytelling every day.

I grew up in Houston, and I will admit, KPRC is eyecatching. But as a reporter, I have to be careful not to let cool images and techniques get in the way of the story I'm trying to tell my viewers. There's a fine line between getting someone's attention and scaring that person away. If you scare away the viewers, no one will see how you spent your day at work.

Even MTV has a method behind its image, and it's not all fun and games. Look at how the moments in "The Real World" actually are edited so that we care about or hate each cast member. That emotional response can't be evoked unless you understand how to tell a good story and how to shoot it.

My advice to you: Start watching news with an analytical eye. Go to some professional workshops. Ask for feedback. Learn more about how photojournalism really works. Dare to be different: try being a journalist instead of an entertainer. You'll have much more of an impact, and you'll save your back in the process.

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From: John Bass bassvid@lanl.gov
RE: Anti-NPPA

People,

I'm sorry. I'm not familiar with: Flash/Fast Paced/ MTV Style video, also referred to as ANTI-NPPA by Rusty Surette. Nor have I ever been into NPPA's cookie-cutter, trend-du-jour style of shooting. Such stylistic garbage, along with the influence of Madison Avenue's visual over-dramatizations, tends to confuse the viewer and detracts from the STORY. It has few places where it works effectively in TV News. Off-set composition and floating cameras moving in and out of a subject just make the audience seasick. They need information, not style.

Stick to the basics. If the above hurts, remember what Edward R. Murrow said: "The most important thing is what comes out of the speaker." This from a DP, too.

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From: Deryk Thompson Photojournalist abc27 news, Harrisburg, PA vid4masses@juno.com
RE: Fast Paced Shooting

Just another perspective for Rusty Surette to consider . . .

There are other ways to make your stories interesting without making your audience want to YACK from all the motion!!! The type of photojournalism you're describing certainly has it's place.

Don't get me wrong ... it'll work well on certain feature and sports stories. (I did a piece on a local team's mascot recently that I shot almost totally "MTV," off-the-shoulder, snap zooms, quick pans ... altogether "whacky!" It was a lot of fun, and ended up being a great piece!) But for general news?!?! Come on, man. There's a time and a place for everything.

My suggestion to "spice-up" a boring general news story is to make it interesting in the edit bay ... that is, if you've got the time to do it, of course. It's all about nat sound and pacing. Use nat sound breaks between the bites and track and try to edit cutaways to them. Did that with a fire piece back in February. Ended up using the beeping from the scanner nat to create a sort of pacing "rhythm" to draw the viewers into the story. Now that was just one example from that piece. I've done similar things in other stories as well.

Look, you probably think I'm full of it because I'm one of those NPPA guys. And you're probably right, too. However, it is the way I've learned and AM LEARNING to shoot. That's the thing. Our career path is a CONSTANT learning experience, and taking (stealing?) elements from other shooting (and editing) styles only makes each one of us that much better than the next guy. Hope I've given you a different perspective on this topic. Remember, there's a time and a place for everything. Best regards,

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From: Amy Bowers, freelance field producer and former NPPA-style network news shooter
RE: anti-NPPA

To Rusty Surette,

I don't think that NPPA style shooting has to do with the pace of the finished news story. NPPA shooters are conscious of camera movement. If you don't want a building to wiggle, or you want a rock-steady interview, you use a tripod. This does not mean that all camera movement and quick cutting is "anti-NPPA." It just means that UNINTENTIONAL or THOUGHTLESS camera movement is "anti-NPPA."

Same with editing. The NPPA-trained photog shoots sequences. When you cut away from the interview to the supporting b-roll footage, you can choose wides, tights, close-ups, or reverses to build your description of the subject. You are not stuck flashing to one cut-away, and flashing back to interview, due to a lack of variety in the shots. But even MTV style works best when the images tell a story.

If you like a camera that tilts and moves, you can certainly do that with intention. Same with dramatic camera angles and composition.

I haven't seen News2 Houston, so it may be that they are using shots that are unintentionally out of focus, poorly lit, under/over exposed, or shaking for no real reason. Maybe they are using footage taken with no natural sound. If that is the case, they are anti-NPPA.

NPPA-style means clean, creative and descriptive. As far as I know it's the best way to tell a tv story. I believe it includes a range of style from "classic documentary" to "tv magazine" to "gonzo."

Rusty, when you "dare to be different" in your work, do you commit to photographing your vision? Or are you getting negative feedback because you don't know what "screen direction" is, and you refuse to learn the basics?

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From: Tom Combs TCombs@wftx.emmis.com Chief Photographer WFTX-TV Ft. Myers, FL
Re: Anti-NPPA

Here at Fox News, I try to foster a Fox style of shooting. We have always been a fast-paced type of newscast. Action and motion bring a quicker feel to your packages. But there's one thing the casual observer doesn't understand, there has to be a REASON for the motion. Frenzied jerks and tilts do create seasickness, but a quick zoom-in to a crying woman slaps that emotion right in the face of the viewer. Why edit, when you can create a more exciting effect by having the camera move?

Over the years, I have seen the NPPA stylebook steal about every trick out of the Fox bag. I'm sure if NPPA members of 10 years ago saw the current NPPA tape, they'd drop dead.

I've shot both extremes... and the best stuff is somewhere in the middle. (Although I lean more toward Fox, sure I always will)

Tripods are for wimps... ;)

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From: Greg Ampagoomian spacereport@treknet.net
RE: Photog Style

I have to echo Alan Kline's comment about the MTV style of shooting news...if you want to shoot like that, do music videos. Has anyone ever noticed MTV's "News?" They play it pretty straight. Even their news isn't music video style...how about that!!! Now let's talk composition. Interesting camera angles on interviews are not style...they are just plain BAD television. When I work with the youngsters at ASU's KAET...a place where I started...I tell them that the important thing is the basics. If you don't get the basics right then you don't get to have a "style." That means not shooting through the broken glass of a car to interview a victim of window smashers. I also tell them that the story is the thing...if you can't tell the story without the special effects...then maybe you don't have a story...or you're just a lousey writer. There are stories that are enhanced by stylized video and editing...they are usually sports or other fluff pieces and that's okay. Those are the stories that every photog should get to shoot in order to keep from going bonkers. I could go on about bad stuff I've seen from NPPA award winners and how I think NEWS should be shot but Don has limited space and patience. If you want the whole primer send me your e-mail address. Photogs make the video that makes the whole world sing.

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From: Ron Fineman Rbf23@aol.com
Subject: mtv, self-promotion & pies

Just some random thoughts about the controversies swirling in Shoptalk. That so-called "mtv" style of shooting with the swish pans and snap zooms is distracting and annoying. You'll turn off a lot more viewers than you'll gain with that. I think it's another example of what hurts many a newscast these days, the philosophy of "because we CAN do it, we WILL do it."

I think what turns off some people to Forest Carr in Tucson is not what he's doing but the way he always writes about it. He may be one nice guy, I wouldn't know. But his letters have something of an air of self-promotion that I think puts off some people.

About the question of whether anchors and reporters should have pies thrown in their face for some event. I'm sure some people will say what a fine idea it is, to show your on air people are just "regular guys and gals." But, I believe there is a certain type of decorum that these professionals should show in public. While some could argue there's not that much dignity to TV news in the first place, I'd say let's try to keep and increase what there is. Just because a local station doesn't have a Chuckles the Clown celebrity to do the job, that doesn't mean that anchors and reporters should do it, just because they're the next closest thing.

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Submitted By: Scott E. Hopson ScottHo@komotv.com

Re: MTV-Style

Dear Don,

I have never written you before, but after the self-appointed Gods of TV News Photography had their say, I just had to respond.

Were their ancestors the folks who said, "If Man were meant to fly, he'd have wings?"

Greg Ampagoomian wrote about the importance of learning the basics, and I couldn't agree more. However, if the basics were good enough, then we'd still be watching Black and White TVs. Most people expect to evolve and improve with age, not to stagnate in some corner somewhere. MTV, Farkus Framing (named after Ray Farkus, a producer who does interviews thru broken windows wonderfully!), and NPPA are just the beginning of a long evolution in TV development.

Here's a new one, HDTV? Are we going to apply rules from the Golden Age of TV, or our experiences with today's TV towards developing working practices of HDTV's tomorrow?

A few years ago, I worked at KNXV in Phoenix, which was then a Fox startup. We called our "FOXY" style of shooting "the stamp", and the idea behind it was simply not to shoot boring video. Coming from a NPPA Station of the Year(KXLY) I was a little worried, but then I saw some "video poor" stories that GRABBED my attention,...and the eyes of a lot of viewers! We went from a nothing startup to a strong #2 in a very competitive market of 5 news organizations!

Being open-minded to new things, I benefited from this exposure to a new style of visualizing my stories! I don't "swishpan" or "snapzoom" even 5% of the time,...but it is something in my box of tricks that I use from time to time. Having this skill makes me more valuable, both to my employers and to the viewers who see my work. Just because I want to please those two groups doesn't make me any less a photojournalist, just a well rounded one who can inform viewers as well as let them be interested in the news.

So to the folks who'd suggest that I go shoot music videos for shooting the way I can, I would simply say that if you want to stay stagnant with your skills, DON'T LOOK DOWN YOUR NOSE AT ME for not doing the same! Nobody is that great, except in your own mind!

Oh, and by the way, the management at KNXV listened to folks like you, ...now they're ranked #5.