Earlier this week, WTVF aired a dramatic report on a man who crashed his truck through the window of a gas station convenience store in Nashville (video of the report is after the jump). The segment, complete with exclusive surveillance video of the crash, was reported on by WTVF’s Nick Beres, who talked to Poynter about the challenge of writing copy for dramatic video.
Here’s Beres:
When photographer Alex Lucas and I first screened the surveillance video we both knew we had something very compelling — beyond the usual or ordinary. I figured, keep it simple. The video tells the story. But we had the luxury of playing it over and over for ourselves. The viewer does not. They get one chance. And I know with grainy surveillance video it’s hard to take everything in at once. So I decided in this case to explain or guide the viewer through the video rather than narrate. I wanted to literally tell them where to look. I emphasized to Alex not to be afraid to repeat the same shot. Don’t worry about clean sequences. Be redundant … zoom in … highlight … whatever. I just want the viewer’s eyes to go where they need to go.
And here’s the WTVF segment: