Send a shooting guide on location

August 28, 2019August 21, 2019 Julie Tiedens 2706 Views 0 Comments lanyards, shooting guide

You probably can’t be with your staffers every time they go on location, so think about sending the basics with them.

I got this idea this summer when I was at the Click Teacher Summer Camp, a great opportunity from Wisconsin Public Television and PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs.

Create a one-pager that identifies some of the issues students struggle with out on the field and put it in a badge holder. I’ve found the holders online called “credential holders” or “ticket holders.” Then, attach it to a lanyard or camera bag.

The Click Camp version included tips on gathering audio and b-roll as well as camera and lighting use. On the back was a quick primer on interviewing.

Here’s another idea that my editors put into our first day of school staff gifts, a laminated 5 shot guide. It’s a great reminder that, yes, you can always get more b-roll!

Julie Tiedens

Julie Tiedens is a high school journalism and English teacher at Black River Falls High School, a school of 500 students in rural Wisconsin. She advises the student online newspaper, a daily announcements show, the yearbook and a PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs school site. Over the last two decades, one of her biggest goals has been to make her students better media consumers and creators. Another goal? Raise a son who loves the news just as much as she does.

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