Network Jump Cuts?

[D-Stop]

I watched a pkg about the stock market on ABC World News Tonight on Tuesday night. I counted 11 jump cuts throughout the 5min pkg. Why is it such taboo for local news, but not network?

[Shootblue]

Sometimes it's about done, not pretty. Sometimes moving the story along is more important than a cutaway. Sometimes, it all comes together as we think it should.

[(Sin)ical]

Was it being used for effect?

[svp]

Its not just ABC. If there were no such thing as dissolves, NBC would be the jump cut capitol of television.

[AKinDC]

Its not just ABC. If there were no such thing as dissolves, NBC would be the jump cut capitol of television.

But there are dissolves.
Personally, I'd much rather see a dissolve than a random cutaway, which is what many people do to avoid a jump cut.

[svp]

But there are dissolves.
Personally, I'd much rather see a dissolve than a random cutaway, which is what many people do to avoid a jump cut.

Well, I just watched the package on Nightly News about the Democrats in South Carolina and every transition was a dissolve. Not one cut. The following package hadd all dissolves and one long right to left push. TOTAL CRAP.

EDIT: I take that back, there were two cuts in that package. JUMP CUTS!

[TXTechPhoto]

But there are dissolves.
Personally, I'd much rather see a dissolve than a random cutaway, which is what many people do to avoid a jump cut.

Man I just don't buy that. Most of the time when I see those network stories there could and probably was a cutaway that is not random but would actually help the story not be so boring. But their editors choose to jump cut or dissolve.

[svp]

Their editors have no concept of how to actually edit a news story. I would love to be VP of News at NBC. I'd say screw the union and fire all of their lazy asses and replace them with real editors that can get the job done right. Then I'd go after all the staff photogs that don't use a tripod! I'd also give a standing order to all department heads not to hire freelancers that don't use their tripods. Basically, get your $hit together or find another job.

As for the talent, I'd ship all of them off to the NPPA workshop and those that come back and continue with the same old boring crap would be sent off to the unemployment office. There are plenty of great reporters in local markets that would love to do their job for the networks.

[newsshooter]

No one cares anymore. It's get it done, get it in, and move to the next story. I'm seeing there's not many stations in the country that cares about quality why should the network. They're protected by the unions they get paid a lot and the young fresh out of college under-paid line producer doesn't know any better.

[goodfoot]

The cable networks aren't about high quality video and creative editing, they are about getting new information on the air quickily and making the talent look good. They rely mostly on file from local affiliates and hire freelancers to gather the video while the staff photog handles the lighting and live location. With so many different sources of video, its rare to get good cutaways to build sequences even if you did get to edit yourself.

The big 3 have somewhat higher standards because they have more time to put something together, but they are still under tighter deadlines and more pressure to deliver then the local level. I think it is actually easier to come out with a better story at the local level because you and a reporter take the story from the beginning to the end with a clear vision from the shoot to the edit. At the networks you have to run the script up the ladder through NY and when you get it back it has changed into something quite different then what you had envisioned. (but you won't edit anyway, that's up to someone on a different coast who doesn't have the time to watch all of the tape to find the best shots, just whatever comes up first and will work ok)


If you really want to see some good network photography, tune in to sunday mornings on CBS. You might get to see something by one of the best in the business, Les Rose...

[Run&Gun]

I had a discussion about bad editing with one of my ESPN producers this week(I was bitching about how a lot of my stuff was used last year). I don't know how much different it is at CBS, ABC, NBC, but she told me that a lot of the times the editors are just button pushers, the producer/AP in the room is making ALL the decisions and there are so many who didn't go to school for TV that they don't have any clue about what is acceptable or not. And they grew up watching MTV... Network TV runs the gamut from some of the best all the way to BAAADDDD...

[Brock Samson]

I had a discussion about bad editing with one of my ESPN producers this week(I was bitching about how a lot of my stuff was used last year). I don't know how much different it is at CBS, ABC, NBC, but she told me that a lot of the times the editors are just button pushers, the producer/AP in the room is making ALL the decisions and there are so many who didn't go to school for TV that they don't have any clue about what is acceptable or not. And they grew up watching MTV... Network TV runs the gamut from some of the best all the way to BAAADDDD...

Quoted for truth.

[Rad]

No one cares anymore.

I do.

(this is just text because the "I do." was too short for the board to post.)

[AKinDC]

Is this the package you are talking about? What specifically did you have a problem with?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#22843712


Well, I just watched the package on Nightly News about the Democrats in South Carolina and every transition was a dissolve. Not one cut. The following package hadd all dissolves and one long right to left push. TOTAL CRAP.

EDIT: I take that back, there were two cuts in that package. JUMP CUTS!

[AKinDC]

Man I just don't buy that. Most of the time when I see those network stories there could and probably was a cutaway that is not random but would actually help the story not be so boring. But their editors choose to jump cut or dissolve.

Oh come on, you have no idea what raw video the editors are working with, so to say they probably had good cuts that they chose not to use is just plain silly.

[TXTechPhoto]

Oh come on, you have no idea what raw video the editors are working with, so to say they probably had good cuts that they chose not to use is just plain silly.

Now don't get me wrong I know there are some network guys who can outedit most of us locals and that they get video from a lot of different sources. So, I can accept the jumpcuts when you know there is no way out of it that makes sense but I think these network guys go beyond that. These guys will jumpcut in a feature with a lot of opportunities for fluid cutaways.

[AKinDC]

Now don't get me wrong I know there are some network guys who can outedit most of us locals and that they get video from a lot of different sources. So, I can accept the jumpcuts when you know there is no way out of it that makes sense but I think these network guys go beyond that. These guys will jumpcut in a feature with a lot of opportunities for fluid cutaways.

Are you talking about real jump cuts, or dissolved "jump cuts"?
Because most editors I know don't consider it a jump cut if it's dissolved. I know many people here won't agree with that, but if you're looking for a reason why it happens a lot, that might be it.

[code20photog]

The network news are catering to the baby boomer and older generation. They don't need MTV style editing, quick dissolves, anything fancy. The people who watch those newscasts care more about substance than style.

[1911A1]

No one cares anymore.



http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y29/shootER5/luke_skywalker.jpg

[Icarus112277]

Their editors have no concept of how to actually edit a news story. I would love to be VP of News at NBC. I'd say screw the union and fire all of their lazy asses and replace them with real editors that can get the job done right. Then I'd go after all the staff photogs that don't use a tripod! I'd also give a standing order to all department heads not to hire freelancers that don't use their tripods. Basically, get your $hit together or find another job.

As for the talent, I'd ship all of them off to the NPPA workshop and those that come back and continue with the same old boring crap would be sent off to the unemployment office. There are plenty of great reporters in local markets that would love to do their job for the networks.

And the people that have been keeping the nets on the air for the past 30 years would tell you to go f yourself.
Many (most) of the people that are now working in news at the nets are non-union, recent college grads, and like you, have no idea what they're talking about.
Take your local talent and stick 'em back in their parents basements where they belong.

Also, most people from ESPN are completely clueless- I've dealt with MANY over the years...the longer they spend in Bristol the less they know about anything. Don't drink the Kool-Aid kids.

[Photographer]

I spent 6 months in Bristol. Nothing there but ESPN. I did it for the resume. First TV job out of college. And I can say from experience that the editors are truly button pushers. I was one of them and thats the second reason I left so soon. The first reason was that I really wanted to be a shooter anyway. You couldn't edit a frame of video without checking it on the scopes but before you did that you needed to be told which frame you were looking at. The one thing I got out of ESPN was learning how to read vector scopes. They were brutal. If something was not right in playback a manager was in your edit room with in minutes of the bad video airing asking you why it was not adjusted correctly.

[12cammo]

I've been the business for many years and have had basically the same OCD aversion to jump cuts. I've been re-evaluating those "rules" lately though, for a variety of reasons. In the case of interviews for instance: I hear a lot of condemation of "staging" but let's face it; the cutaway is the most frequent form of staging we do. Aren't we actually attempting to get the viewer to believe that the sound bite hasn't been edited? Considering that viewers have be wise to that trick for at least 2 decades isn't a jump cut truer to the spirit of honest journalism?