Your next assignment...

Read the assignment due for next class (about attending a speech or meeting).

The blog post (an article) is due Wednesday evening. The script is due IN CLASS! I stress the HARD COPY!

I am sorry I didn't return some of your broadcast script assignment/ grade. (Those of you who did not give me a hard copy has not received the assignment back yet.)

What I want to remind you are three things:

1) The broadcast script format

Check this link for Dr. Hughes' tips on writing a VO broadcast script.

Make sure to format your script this way. Don't just write "Script: Yesterday was a groundbreaking day in human history...."

Write who the new reader is, when the VO starts, what the video is that you are writing for, definitely include a VO-SOT (since this was a proper interview), remember to include the Total Run Time (TRT) for your VO-SOT, etc....

If you have questions, EMAIL me before hand. It won't be an excuse if you tell me "I didn't understand the assignment." during the Wednesday class.



2) The writing of broadcast scripts

This should be more conversational than writing stories for print. (After all, you are going to be 'speaking' the lines!) Broadcast stories must catch viewers'/ listeners' attention because other than newscast on news websites, one can't rewind to lsiten to stories over and over again. That means you should keep the language simple, sophisticated, readable, simple, concise, direct and.... what was the other one... SIMPLE! Remember that it should be no more than 30 seconds long, when read out loud.

Do you know what 'simplicity' also indicates? ACTIVE VOICE!



3) I said "Try to keep it past tense, except for ongoing concepts" during class today. This may be a good example...

EX:

a) President Obama said ...... on Monday, after a series of meeting with global leaders.

b) North Korea says that Japan ........

Either can work. If you focus on how the script is read on these two clips below (you can even just notice the first sentences the newscasters utter), you will hear that one uses past tense, while the other uses present tense, even though both of the events have already happened technically.





One is about a event that happened. An action that a figure took.
= Past tense

The other is about a comment a figure made, AND simultaneously a stance that the government is maintaining (until a contradiction, a change of policy, or recantation is made).
= Ongoing = Present tense

Notice this present tense turns back to past tense as soon as past events are discussed.