Check out the Writing on this one

Flaca Productions said:
why do they put 16x9 video into a 4x3 box?
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Because it's the wave of the future!

Seriously. With all this talk about people getting their news from websites, you'd think stations would hire people who have a clue what the hell they're doing.

Once again: you get what you pay for.
 
Andy Shilts said:
our web team can't solve that problem, trust me we've brought it up.
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Andy, I apologize for derailing this thread from its intended purpose (the video refuses to load in Safari), but the squashed video hit upon one of my pet peeves: "professionals" who can't differentiate 4:3 from 16:9 and vice-versa. It's one of the simplest, most easily solved problems.

It's an embarrassment. It's certainly not helpful when the inability to distinguish stretched people versus short people extends beyond the broadcast.

I know a handful of great web folks. A very, very small handful. Truth is, most web departments have the most useless employees in the newsroom. Honestly, what's the point in hiring on someone who's only going to cut-and-paste someone else's story and upload video that's not even in the correct aspect ratio?

There's no reason to have a bigger web department beyond a web coder who can solve problems with the site. Everyone else should be able to upload their own product themselves. If my friends and I can upload pictures, stories, and video to our Facebook pages, one guy should be able to handle a newsroom full of employees giving him content.
 
Wow I'm surprised he didn't change "Coming to the end of any career can be cause for celebration..." to "Coming to the end of any career can be paws for celebration...

Warren
 
Yeah, that was really over the top but for a story like that it really did not bug me that much... however I am not overly hateful of puns.

@ Chicago Dog, Just a guess, but I do not think the squished video is an issue of not knowing which is which but more that their website is set up for 4x3 video and the aircheck is 16x9 so the web dept. would have to convert to letterbox or trim off the sides of the video. They may not have the means to do that just yet in the web dept. Also the text article is verbatim of the tv package.
 
I read the copy before I watched the video....had to read the 2nd paragraph 3 times. Before I went on to the third and realized Kodiak was the dog’s name, and not a pun someone spelled wrong. Someone should have re-edited this for the web.....the script works for TV, could be confusing for written copy.
 
Wheatstone Bridge said:
What's wrong with the writing ? ? ?
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"Over the years, there have been lots of Kodiak moments"
"Kodiak had time for one last collar after a bank robber"
"Instead of a gold watch, Kodiak's retirement gifts are something he can really sink his teeth into.
After years of helping take a bite out of crime, the K9 officer is ready for a new pet project."

Those are all puns, it is not common to use that many puns in one story. But like I said above, in a "Cutesy" story such as this, I think a writer can kinda get away with it. Maury (the reporter) may have gone overboard though, that is what I beleive Andy is referring to. It is a gimmick just like quick edits or using high speed shutter, but if done right or with the correct motivation they can add something to the story. Its all subjective and a matter of taste.
 
Wheatstone Bridge Correct me if i am wrong OR stupid . .

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What's wrong with the writing ? ? ?


--wheatstone, do you really not see whats wrong with this writing example? if you don't then i guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

but, TXTechPhoto, pretty much nailed the concerns i was looking to point out. i was curious as to what people would think of this kind of writing. i'm personally not a fan of puns, unless used in moderation and if the reporter uses it in a way that works to poke fun at the style. and its obvious that they were using it to make light of the situation. this example didn't do any of that, one track had at least three puns in a 10 second track, far from moderation. i can see the use of a pun or two in a cutesy story like a k9 retirement like this one, but the amount of puns is what really bothers me in this story.

what's wrong with this writing is that there is nothing smart or creative about any of it. this is a story that could have been well told, but instead became a mochery of our business, and it's sad that this kind of writing is what flys in large market television.

side bar: this reporter had almost three hours to write this story, logging began shortly after 5pm, pkg tracked at 8pm for 9pm story, so this wasn't just banged out in a half an hour, time and thought were put into these fantastic puns... i won't even get into the fact that he took 3 hours and gave the editor 1 hour, that's a topic for another day.
 
additional side bar: i had a class in college where we had to write scripts for our student produced newscast. i was writing a few scripts for our sports block, i was writing some basic stuff, mostly the facts nothing to creative, and i was getting average scores back on these scripts. i was encouraged to be more creative in my writing style, (this class was taught by a former news director) so the next script i wrote was for the dive team competition, i wrote, "university of milwaukee's mens dive team "sprung" into action this afternoon, (followed by some scores) and ened the script with the team is really "making a splash" this season. i got an A for this script. hence my hatred with puns.
 
It's Fox Interactive Media that controls all of the Fox O&O websites. How much FIM in LA cares about the correct aspect ratio, who knows? But since probably 80% or better of their O&O's shoot 16x9 you'd think at some point they would think maybe they should recode their video player.
 
The police departments I have dealt with consider police dogs as brother officers. The dogs are issued badges and if you assault one, it is considered an assault on a police officer.
That said, if say a detective was retiring from the force, would you write a story so full of puns and lacking in information?
Instead of making people groan with pun play, why not inform them a little?
Tell us a little about.......

-How many bad guys did he catch?
-Total amount of drugs discovered?
-How many school visits?
-Does he get a pension - are his vet bills free now?
-Where will his replacement come from?
-Cost?

Silly me, I like a little news in my newscast.
 
In this day & age I think 16x9 should be the default and all 4x3 video gets automatically pillarboxed.
 
Speed Graphic said:
If your station's website is hosted by a third party (WorldNow, IBS, etc), the web department has very little control over the final video encoding process for the web despite what you may think. Its all centralized by people outside the station who just see the video as data and don't care what the final product looks like online as long as it loads quickly and they can insert a pre-roll ad before it for their share of the ad spots.
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Then they should be fired, just like anyone else getting paid and making the same mistake over and over and over again.

I don't understand why people who produce such crappy work are allowed to stick around so long. Then, owners and station managers have the balls to sit around and ask, "Why are we losing viewers?"

Give me a break!
 
Chicago Dog said:
Then they should be fired, just like anyone else getting paid and making the same mistake over and over and over again.

I don't understand why people who produce such crappy work are allowed to stick around so long. Then, owners and station managers have the balls to sit around and ask, "Why are we losing viewers?"

Give me a break!
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I don't think you get it man, like Speed Graphic was trying to say it is not in their control. Their Web department is NOT stupid I think they understand the difference between 4x3 and 16x9 video! My question is, where is the 4x3 aircheck do you guys still use one? It seems the other Fox O&Os are still using that to put the videos on the web. Why not use that until the website is updated to 16x9?
 
TXTechPhoto said:
I don't think you get it man, like Speed Graphic was trying to say it is not in their control.
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I wasn't talking about the web department in my last response. That's why I quoted the segment in which Speed Graphic was talking about the third party hosting group.

It is possible to fire a company and not just individuals.
 
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