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TV Glossary | Live Shot Tips
Would-be television reporters joined established journalists and representatives from the Television News Center in downtown Chicago during SPJ's 2006 National Convention, and the result was a lively, exciting trial by fire as television cameras rolled. Participants in the sold-out "Going Live!" workshop learned how to ad lib around basic facts, better interact with their environment, choreograph live shots and more.
If you couldn't be there, you missed a great event. As a consolation prize, here are the handouts the Television News Center distributed during the event.
TV Glossary
SOUND BITE: Part of a recorded statement.
B ROLL or COVER SHOTS: Pictures over which narration is made. It’s an old film term, when narration and sound were on one projection chain (A roll) and pictures on another (B roll).
PACKAGE: A TV story with narration, sound, and pictures.
STAND-UP: The reporter’s on camera delivery in the field.
ON CAMERA BRIDGE: A reporter’s stand-up in the middle of a package, used for transition and/or when there are not pictures to talk over.
CLOSER: The reporter’s on camera close.
SIGN OFF, SIG, SIG OUT: Reporter giving name and dateline.
TAG LINE: The reporter’s closing line, usually coming out of a sound bite and narrated over pictures before the sig out or sign off.
LIVE SHOT: A live report.
DONUT: The produced news package within a live shot.
V/O: Voice over pictures.
VOSOT: Voice over followed by sound on tape.
VOSOTVO: Voice over followed by sound on tape followed by voice over.
NATURAL SOUND, NAT SOUND, NATS: Any ambient sound, as distinguished from sound bite.
TIME CODE: The time on a camera or tape deck, actual time a story is being shot on a 24 hour basis, i.e., 1300 is 1 p.m., 0900 is 9 a.m.
NARRATION or TRACK: The reporter’s written and recorded script in a news package.
TRACKING: The act of recording a script.
CHYRON, FONT, CHARACTER GENERATOR, CG: The words on the TV screen. Chyron is a trade name.
SUPER: The person’s name under a sound bite. Also called Chryron, CG, etc.
WIDE SHOT: An establishing shot of a building, scene.
MEDIUM SHOT or MS; TIGHT SHOT or TS: Self descriptive. Other shots taken by a field crew.
ZOOM: Photographer pushing in on a subject.
PAN: Moving camera from left to right or vice-versa.
TILT: Moving the camera up or down.
VIDEO JOURNALIST or VJ: A reporter who shoots her on tape. May even edit.
VIDEOGRAPHER: A name for a photographer or camera person implying greater creativity and independence.
EJ: Electronic Journalism, as opposed to film.
ENG: Electronic News Gathering. Same as above.
IFB or INTERRUPT FEEDBACK: The ear piece through which a director or producer instructs a correspondent in the field or in the studio. The producer interrupts whatever feedback the reporter is getting in the ear piece.
MIX MINUS: An IFB feed minus a correspondent’s narration, which can be a distraction.
LINE PRODUCER: A newscast producer.
HEADLINE: Headline at the top of a news program.
TEASE: A short description of an upcoming story designed to keep the viewer during commercial.
STACKING: Lining up stories within a new program based on their importance and relationship to one another.
— © 2005, Television News Center
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Live Shot Tips
• Be conversational, as if talking to a friend.
• Organize your thoughts and ad lib around basic facts.
• Be yourself!
• Explain why you are there, what is happening, the mood.
• Interact with the environment. Give our sensory observations.
• Make hand and body movements meaningful. Your gestures should be content driven, not programmed.
• Use props when appropriate.
• Communicate with your photographer before the live shot and rehearse with camera movements if you have time.
• Direct your photographer to show what you are talking about; maximize that live camera.
• Check your hair, ties, makeup, etc. before you go on.
• Get as close to the scene as possible.
• If you need to use notes, look at them deliberately and with authority. They add credibility, but don’t use them as a crutch.
• Know when to shut up and let the pictures and sound tell the story.
• If you are in a crowd, talk with someone who can add substance and color to the story.
• Avoid clichés like “as you can see behind me.”
• Keep the story shot and focused; don’t ramble.
• Get coaching. It helps to have someone you trust assess your work.
— © 2005, Television News Center
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Journalism Education Committee Chair
George Daniels
Assistant Professor
University of Alabama
Box 870172
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
(205) 348-8618
E-mail
Bio (click to expand)
George L. Daniels is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Alabama’s College of Communication and Information Sciences. He joined the UA faculty in 2003 after completing graduate studies at The University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. As a graduate student, Daniels participated in the University of Georgia’s SPJ Campus Chapter. But, his first experience with SPJ came when he received a scholarship from the Washington DC Chapter of what was then Sigma Delta Chi (SDX) in the early 1990s. In 2006, Daniels was selected as an SPJ Diversity Leadership Fellow.
At the University of Alabama, Daniels conducts research on media convergence and diversity in the media workplace. He teaches classes in scholastic journalism, media management and cross-media reporting and writing. Before moving into the academic arena, Daniels worked as a television news producer the Richmond, Va., Cincinnati, Ohio and Atlanta television markets. He is a cum laude graduate of Howard University.
“I am a member of SPJ because of its role as an umbrella organization concerned for all journalists and its emphasis on recognizing and encouraging young journalists and their continuing education.”
Mead Loop, vice chair
Associate Professor/
Chair, Journalism Dept
Ithaca College
Park Hall, Rm. 258A
Ithaca, NY 14850
Work: 607-274-3047
E-mail
Bio (click to expand)
Mead Loop is chairman and an associate professor of journalism at Ithaca (N.Y.) College. He has been a SPJ board member since 2002 and is co-chairman of the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation Grants Committee.
Loop’s scholarship has been published in Mass Communication & Society; Newspaper Research Journal; Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly; and Journalism and Mass Communication Educator.
Previously, he was an editor at the Nashville Banner, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, and Kansas City Times and Star.
Loop has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri at Columbia and a bachelor’s degree in television-radio from Ithaca College.
"My first contact with journalism issues on a national scale was with SPJ, and the more I become immersed with the Society, the more I learn about journalism today."
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