An essential element of storytelling is the use of text and graphics.  Often you’ll be asked to be creative when a visually weak story comes your way.  A good video editor has ideas always ready to go; simple ideas.  This story was produced over 15 years ago.  The lesson is simple; graphic and text elements can add to your story.  Just a few simple effects can enhance a story.

In my time in a broadcast newsroom, one of my favorite types of stories to edit was an investigative story.  I was always challenged with stories that weren’t full of visuals.  This is one of my favorites from my time at KUSA.

 

This story is an investigation of a sheriff’s misuse of prisoners.  Time is going to be a factor in this story.  So you’ll notice me telling the viewer what time it is relative to the video. The first time I use text is at [:14]

 I put the time up in the top left corner.   I put the time on two layers, I just made the text bigger and slowly dropped the opacity on the 2nd layer.  The reason I did the outline text is simply I wanted something to grab the viewer’s attention to they see the time.

The next time I use text, there’s a lot more going on.  The mugshot and the stack of arrest records were created in photoshop. The documents are at an angle. I l like to create depth any chance I get visually.

I keep it simple. The text I’ve generated is moving slightly as well as the arrest records and mugshot.  I think the movement is critical.    I pull out the arrest record slightly to imply they are coming from those papers, which they are.

Also, notice in the upper left is a cutout of the prisoner.  This is a super simple element that can quickly be created in photoshop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You see a cutout of a prisoner more prominently in this shot.  See him in the middle of the screen?  This was also accomplished in Photoshop.  Very easy to do, I do the same thing here again.  Bringing mugshot and arrest record forward.  Notice you also see Thaddeus in the background.  I still see these same tricks in news stories today.  What works, works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have 8 layers of video.

1. The shot of the 3 prisoners all blurred
2. a cutout of the prisoner the reporter is discussing
3. The Mugshot
4. The text of the prisoner’s name
5. A layer of the arrest record
6. A layer of the arrest record
7. A layer of the arrest record
8. Text highlighting convictions

In all three of those, the position of the mugshot and arrest record is simply so you can see the cutout of the prisoner in the background.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I use time again here.  Same idea as before.  Keeping it simple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t create this graphic, the graphics department did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did create this graphic.  Again time is part of our story.  I do a simple stretch of the titles. The times come in the same way as I’ve been doing the whole rest of the package.  I blur the left side of the screen.  Why? Prisoners are on the right side of the screen, and the left side is an excellent place to put the text.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One last thing I want to talk about in this post.  I created this wipe as a transition. Why?  I’m not a big fan of the stock wipes in any NLE.  So I decided to create my own.  Try crafting your own wipe.

Thanks for reading.