Barking Up The Wrong Tree?

Situation: This was the broadcast news story I worked on the day before Thanksgiving. We were hearing that more people are down on their luck during this period of high unemployment and are seeking out soup kitchens in higher numbers than ever before. In fact, at the Holy Apostle in New York City, they were averaging over 1300 meals a day, about a 500 meal increase above their average. But, today our task is to find people in a higher income bracket who perhaps had "white-collar" jobs, that would tell the story better. Remember, this is television news. We only have 90 seconds to tell our story. Once we arrive, it's a mad rush as we're on deadline. It's 10 a.m. and the writing and editing has to begin around 12:30, 1 p.m. the latest. At 3:30 a finished product will be made available for broadcast to the national audience of affiliate stations. My producer, Itay Hod, works the crowd looking for appropriate interviews. While he's busy I start filming the inner workings of the kitchen, trying to get as many activities as possible. It's like I'm in the game show, "Beat the Clock," as in how many items can I put in my basket. The buzzer sounds anytime Itay needs me to setup and shoot an interview. Also, our business correspondent, Alexis Christoforous, will arrive at anytime to do her stand-up (piece to camera) so I have to be thinking ahead to where we are going to shoot that, my lighting needs, and any sound issues.

Here's my inner conflict, my dilemma, as I move around the soup kitchen: My eyes scan and zone in on patterns, people, activities, and light but I have to find things that work as strong moving images. This ain't a magazine shoot. We're making movies here! O.K. Remind me again: It's TV News! Right. One of the first things I see is a stack of bread and I think, "Cool. A visual metaphor screaming out to me to be filmed." I gravitate to it and "work it." A man sits down, starts cutting the loaves, and tosses them on top of the pile. I think I have some nice images, something that is a somber truth about hunger in America, something the editor could use in our package. But, as I walk away I think maybe I've captured something that is stronger as a still than as a moving image! Who knows? If the scene is too depressing or doesn't fit somehow into our short video package, I've just wasted five minutes! I better hustle to get some other "bread and butter" (excuse the pun!) shots of food preparation.

I shoot a mound of bread with my video camera as if I'm shooting a still photograph. I'm either wasting my time or I'm betting on it becoming a useful shot used in a sequence of others from the soup kitchen for our news report. Only my editor knows for sure!

I get lucky when one of the cooks begins mixing a huge bowl of cheese. I avoid showing his face and work off the movement and sound of the bowl and his hands. The head cook enters and is opening and closing the oven doors. He reels of a list of different food items being heated up. In video, it's not always the images that are meaningful. Editors love "nat pops," those moments when a natural sound (like a door being slammed or steam shooting from a kettle) or even voices which might add a bright spot in between shots and could make it more entertaining.

I follow a worker down to the basement where he's getting food to be placed in the oven. Again, I'm not sure if I'm wasting time or might find a nice surprise. At the top of the stairs I notice glass block windows. I like the way the light is shimmering off the walls. Again, I see a simple still image and weigh whether it's going to help our story or be useless. I shoot it anyway and follow the worker up the stairs and into the kitchen. You just never know!














Some still frames from the video. The question for me while I'm working is always, "Will it pay off for the story or be a poor use of time on especially a painful deadline with so much to do?"

But, I know I'm sometimes drawn to images that don't always work into our short, news pieces so it becomes a minefield for me. I work the area where the women are lined up making the lunch plates for the guests. The women in a row make a nice pattern and the light coming in from the kitchen windows helps overwhelm the incandescent overhead bulbs. Lots of angles to pursue here, including a bunch of closeups of spoons and food and hands in action!
















Six women make up the food line and give me plenty of shots to make--all in good light. On right, Rev. Glenn Chalmars, Executive Director of the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, greets a visitor and displays his warm touch.

Usually after interviews we have to shoot some b-roll which are shots of our subject walking, sitting at a computer, talking on the phone, doing some activity to cover edits and introduce them to the audience (over a line of track). They can be very corny and contrived. It's always an issue with the clock and being creative takes a back seat. During my shoot this morning, and after we interviewed the director of the soup kitchen, I followed the Rev. Chalmars as he met and talked with patrons. He may have been hamming it up for me a bit, but when he saw this man wearing a Detroit jacket, he held on to the man's hand after a long handshake and then studied the jacket in admiration. My brain's shutter was busy clicking away as my video camera was also rolling. A nice still image and a sweet moment on video, too. Sometimes the two do meet.

Ultimately, the piece was centered on a gentleman Itay found who formerly worked in IT, was unemployed for some time, living in a homeless shelter and visiting the soup kitchen out of desperation. At the end of the interview he informs us that he's starting a new job the week after Thanksgiving. I was happy for him, but, excited for us that after a half dozen interviews, we found our guy that gave us our story.

Alexis Christoforous, CBS News Business Correspondent, reporting from the soup kitchen in Chelsea. While concentrating on follow-focusing Alexis while she walked around this table of men eating, I failed to notice the gentleman in the background waving to me during the shoot. There are always surprises!



Unfortunately, as he became to main focus of the piece, that didn't leave too much room to use my favorite images I had fished around for all morning in the kitchen. But, in the end, it's the story stupid! And in TV News, that's really all that counts!!