Driving Live Shot

FTOJRLST

Well-known member
Finally the long promised Spint/Nextel Digital conversion has brought us a new toy. The long sought after digital microwave COFDM transmitter is on the air. Ever since our test of a loaner a couple of years back I've been itching for this thing.

So of course I had to test it. The event that we packaged was far over by 10 but the element of the police getting more patrols on the streets gave me a reason (a stretch I know) to use the new TX for a driving live shot.

The technology worked flawlessly. Now, I'll try to not overuse it or use it in ways that are farfetched or a stetch.

But hey, anything's better than a black hole liveshot, right?

Watch the shot HERE

(Oh Yeah, I know it's a bit on the unsafe side to have a distracted driver, but trust me we had safeguards in place and I was fully watching the road too ready to shout instructions regardless of a live shot.)
 

Lensmith

Member
I thought you did a good job with the story. Well edited. I would have used the shot with the bike wheel as your closing shot instead of the more generic one that ended up being used.

Arm chair quarterbacking...

You had no video to illustrate the problem that resulted in a march taking place. No file available? No time? It would have been nice to have something in the story to illustrate why so many people got concerned enough to hold this event rather than shot after shot of walking and chanting.

The live shot open...yes, it was cool to be able to do that by...why? What did it add to the story? How did driving have anything to do with the story? I know...sometimes it's fun to test out toys on the first story available and we've all done dog-lick live shots but, driving for this story didn't seem to have anything to do with the subject matter. We didn't even see where she was driving around. Just a shot of her at the wheel talking.

(I'm saying this next line as a joke) Were you late to the live location and this was the only way to get her on the air in time? :D

You ended the story with her out of the truck walking along some blank brick wall. It screamed "dog -lick live shot" at that point. I've been there too...but couldn't you have found something, anything, that said "gang" to justify having her stand there at night besides a blank brick wall?

Very well edited. I loved your pacing with the sound. It was a good community story that had many voices.
 

cadencefilm

Member
wow

i've been looking forward to trying one of these out myself. we'd just got one at my old station a few weeks before i left, and i did everything i could to break it in in the field before my last day. never happened.

i couldn't tell, but it looked like you might have been in the live truck while you were driving. if you were (and i know this is typically an unattainable luxury) next time how about grabbing an extra photog to chauffeur so your reporter could sit in the passenger seat and you could sit in the captain's chair in back so you'd have more motion out the windshield behind her as you went down the road.
 

FTOJRLST

Well-known member
Note to self....Do This....

...next time how about grabbing an extra photog to chauffeur so your reporter could sit in the passenger seat and you could sit in the captain's chair in back so you'd have more motion out the windshield behind her as you went down the road.
Great Idea!

Also...to Lensmith...the Blank wall was all we could find during the pkg to get set up real quick. With all the planning for the Live intro I was not even ready for the tag. Oops.
 

redcoat

Well-known member
The concept of being able to move that freely on a live shot is incredible. In this situation however, as already stated, I had a hard time connecting the purpose of the driving live shot with the story at hand. There are plenty of driving stories where this type of thing could be easily applicable though. This would come in great for those seatbelt, cell phone, drunk driving, holiday trip stories.
 

redcoat

Well-known member
I could see some concerned citizen calling into our station and complaining if we did a live shot like this...but I do live in a city where some members of the city council want to ban pedestrians from using cell phones.
 

John M.

Well-known member
This would come in great for those seatbelt, cell phone, drunk driving, holiday trip stories.
Yes, because the irony of a TV reporter driving unsafely while telling people to drive safely would be too delicious.

The technology looks wonderful but the only thought I had -- OK, besides whether the reporter was going to crash -- was this:

Dog Lick Drive Shot

Then again, I'll admit that I didn't see the purpose of the walking in the tag, either. The scene of the live shot had no apparent connection to the story subject and if the reporter tried to make one, I was too distracted wondering why she was driving and where she was walking to notice it.

And I'd love to be the lawyer for the crash victim the first time a reporter drives into someone on live television.
 

A Step Above Productions

Well-known member
next time how about grabbing an extra photog to chauffeur so your reporter could sit in the passenger seat and you could sit in the captain's chair in back so you'd have more motion out the windshield behind her as you went down the road.

Or put the reporter in a second car - have another person drive the live truck and shoot out the window as the reporter is alone in a second car.

The options are endless sit on the roof of the live truck shoot bakcwords as the reporter drives the second car, Just drive the live truck slowly.
 

rocky1138

Well-known member
ok it was cool that you can do this. yay! technology! it is also cool to add lightsabers in the Avid. but do either go with the story? not that I can see.

live for the sake of going live. ugh!

even if it is newsroom policy to go live EVERY TIME, then at least have the reporter reference where they are & why it is important to the story.

all she had to say was "...people want more police out driving these roads at night..." & in the tag "...people want to walk these streets safely..."

the way that it is now I get the feeling that she is on her way to Starbucks & she thinks coffee is more important than doing her job, so she'll have a camera tag along.

once again, cool that you can do a live shot while driving, but I saw no point to that shot & I was thinking more about "where is she driving" than listening to what she was saying
 

redcoat

Well-known member
Yes, because the irony of a TV reporter driving unsafely while telling people to drive safely would be too delicious.
Haha point taken. We'd likely be responding to breaking news of a broken live truck. Plus, what photographer would let a reporter drive a live truck?! I hardly even trust myself in one.
 

SoMissTV

Well-known member
Funny this topic should come up. NBC Nightly News has had two moving live shots twice this week as part of their fuel increase stories.
 

SoMissTV

Well-known member
Tuesday night he was driving a GM hybrid on a closed track. Wednesday night was live video of a farmer plowing a field. Tonight was an RV park in Colorado (no driving).
 

sixtycyclehum

Well-known member
We just got COFDM for our morning show remotes! We'll be testing it in a week in a half when we give away a St. Jude Dream Home...we're going to use it to go from room to room in the house for kind of a live tour. I'm geeked!
 

supedog

PRO user
CNN driving live shot

I saw who I believe was Miles O'Brien doing a driving live shot on CNN earlier today.
 

BVU110

Member
Very cool concept. Definitely has some potetenial to bring stories to life. In this case I think she should some how have brought her driving into the track some hhow... ie we are now driving through the area that ... blah blah.

On a diff. note, is K. Hale still with you guys?
 

redcoat

Well-known member
We just got COFDM for our morning show remotes! We'll be testing it in a week in a half when we give away a St. Jude Dream Home...we're going to use it to go from room to room in the house for kind of a live tour. I'm geeked!
This technology in central Illinois?! Have fun with that and let me know how it goes! (and let me borrow it). Just to balance the scales a bit, our July sweeps month is gonna be jam packed with all kinds of live coverage from our brand spankin new sat truck :)
 
driving live shot

Can you explain a little more how it works? Did you transmitt to station from COFDM? or to another truck.
 
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