Part 15. Time management with special guest Region 9 POY Everett McEwan
Our story for this post is Tis the season for Travel by Everett McEwan
It’s a story done in every market a few times a year. Tis the Season for Travel is about holiday travel.
Everett did such an effective job with this story that it was awarded 2nd place in the NPPA Best of Photojournalism 2009 for General News.
Everett McEwan is a photojournalist at KWGN in Denver. Everett was recently awarded NPPA Region 9 Photographer of the Year. This is Everett’s 4th time winning this award. He has some tips for time management and I decided to post his ideas here on the Edit Foundry.
Everett, take it away…..
“First, start the story with a plan, talk to the reporter and plan it out so that when you get there it’s just a matter of going down your list of elements and getting what you need and only what you need.”
“You’ve shot it before and you will again so you know what elements there are and how the story will be told. On the 45 minute drive out to DIA Audra (the reporter) and I talked about what we needed,
outside shots, planes taking off,
the check-in counter,
the security lines,
the baggage area and interviews with at least 4 travelers and ideally some who had problems.”
“Very straight forward and simple, but it was a game plan and a it gave us a mental checklist of what we needed. Within an hour we had shots we needed. The one element we did not know about was the carolers singing to passengers,
we found them at our first stop, the check in counter and quickly adapted our plan to shot them for natural sound and as part of the story. They made the story, giving me some great music to weave in and give a start and finish to the story.”
“Some reporters might have tried to do interviews and write about the singing but Audra kept it simple and stuck to the original story, travel and only used the singing as an element.”
“(a good idea is to) edit in your camera as you go. Although I did roll on the music without stopping I made sure that rest of my b-roll was edited in the camera, sequenced and composed before I pressed record. This can save you time later searching for that cutaway or the wide shot you need.”
“One important thing I always do, something I was taught in college, get an establishing shot.”
“In the case of this story it was of the airport from the road as I drove in, and it’s the first shot of the story.”
“And don’t just have a checklist for the B-Roll and interviews, have a checklist of natural sound that you need to get. I have shot so many stories at DIA that I know what natural sound I can get and what I can’t get, so I know what to expect.”
“I know there are beeps at the check-in kiosk.”
“I know that bags make a noise when they are wheeled over the ribbed floor/escalator.”
“I know that security has those rollers for the trays.”
“I know that bags bang when they fall off the baggage carousel.”
“I know I can use my scanner to get the air traffic control frequency as I shoot airplanes.”