The Possibilities of Imagining a New TV News
Theres some inventive news presentations out there, but more often there’s a lot of painfully cliche driven ones that are fodder for parody. If a newscast is making money—-well ok. If not, there’s tremendous opportunity to revolutionize. Imagine if tv news never existed and was invented today. What would it look and sound like in 2020? There lies in incredible potential of reimagined news:
I’m amazed that there are newscasts where:
There’s TV news backgrounds that lack imagination—— usually a darkened “norad” look or a fake city skyline…Lack of imagination in feature names—- as in “storm tracker” ( not a bad name but there must be 10,000 storm trackers) Non believable slogans— “in it for you.” (Yeah sure) …Percussive News music that is laughably dated…Stilted J-school writing that reeks the 1960’s…chit chat that is more annoying than friendly..All the sets look the same…anchors not quite looking at you (teleprompter)and a lot of head bobbing approvals…Everyone is too damn happy…OR syrupy sad
…There’s this standard timbre and style that everyone has….You can just smell the focus groups.,,,most cast members appears “sanitized for white suburbia”. Everything is colored blue. Must “test” well…It’s so “formatted” it’s surreal. EVERY story is breaking and everyone is first and best…among other countless cliches, so:
HERE’S AN IMAGINARY TV PRODUCTION MISSION TO BRING TV NEWS INTO THE 20’S SOME RANDOM THINKING PERHAPS, BUT DO IMAGINE TV NEWS THAT ADDRESSES THESE POINTS:
CINEMATIC: A movie like experience vs. a News report. A big picture…a big soundtrack…a newsmovie more than a news cast.
IN YOUR FACE OR IN YOUR HEAD: A story that either knocks you on your ass with intensity, or stirs your soul with cerebral emotion eliminating the average
MINUTE BY MINUTE: Where at any point in time, airing a better targeted piece than the competition. The realization that ANY moment of crap is deadly because there are so many competitors in real time. Think of it like radio—don’t like a song—change channels. Same thing with News (!)
STILL PHOTO FEVER: Boring stills that poison the work with visual boredom. Stills are fine: posters, Old magazine covers, logos etc… Stock photo stills are…boring.
PODIUM FEVER: Showing ANYone behind a podium talking away…. They can talk, but must you show the “excitement” of a podium?
MEDIA ARTISTS: What you are—Artists in writing, scoring, editing, etc… TV can be where Art meets Tech meets Commerce. Product is the Art. Media art.
ALL STAR AGGREGATORS: Showing star potential in FINDING components to elevate your story from typical to wow. The world is at your keyboard fingertips—USE IT.
TAKE YOU THERE NEWS: Where, through sound, pictures and writing you Transport people to the story…not the newsroom. Close your eyes and you see the location, not two anchors and a desk.
THE TV TRAVEL AGENCY: That’s what it can be—to take people on an informational journey A movie of the community and the world at the moment
TV-IZATION: Over graphics..over writing..over effects..over ANYthing that creates the fakeness that TV seems to Embrace
CAMERA MASTURBATION: Where perfectly good scenes are manipulated by over motion or other TVizations.
SOUND COLOR: Sound is to the ear what Color is to the eye
“LITE” NEWS: There’s a big market for ONION TV who is brilliant at it’s parody. Sometimes referred to as “Lifestyle.” (which is a catch all word for ‘lite.’), “lite” is a big reason places like China are kicking our ass in a lot of areas. Again there IS a market for it but there’s also a market for new approaches
THE WORLD IS HAVING A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN: It is—we are here to make sense of it…not feed it
PUKING: A Narrator who “announces” instead of talks
SOUL: The antithesis of plastic and predictable. A reality and honesty that old media avoids like the plague.
MEDIA “EXPERTS”: Expertise referenced from the POV of a bygone era. Usually fakers..
ISREAL AND SADUI ARABIA: Two Middle Eastern Countries that spelled wrong looks really dumb
FUNNY: …the stories might be ..but rarely are the presenters. The WORLD can be funny but the job is to present it…in it’s purest form. And some of it IS indeed hilarious
GENRE: Celebrate ALL genres. Multicultural, not a bunch of uptight old media guys…LIVE diversity
EYE EAR BRAIN: The Holy trinity. Visually stunning. A soundtrack to elevate the story and mass appeal intellect in its presentation
SPIRITUALITY: It isn’t a job…it’s a mission of a higher calling
ELEVATION: Where you do everything in your power to take the story to a higher level.
HIT STORIES: Simple. Popular stories/topics people are or will be talking about
ROCK N ROLL THINKING: NEWS/INFORMATION IS THE NEW ROCK N ROLL. Rock is pretty much over as a culture changer. Today instead of an album and a stereo, it’s a Topic and an Ipad . we are the New Rockers—and Information is our instrument. Music is obviously timeless, but the rebel rocker lifestyle lives in information and technology more than the latest Metallica song.
An attitude. A drive. As in;
HONESTY AND UNQUESTIONABLE CREDIBILITY…HAS A SOUL IN AN OTHERWISE PRE FAB WORLD
GENUINE AND AUTHENTIC…FROM THE HEART NOT THE FOCUS GROUP
GLOBAL IN ITS IMPACT…A CONNECTOR TO THE WORLD MASSES
PASSION OUT/PASSION IN…PEOPLE RESPOND PASSIONATELY TO WHAT IS DELIVERED PASSIONATELY
ECCENTRICITY…ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK
INNOVATION AS A DRIVER IN EVERYTHING YOU DO
ATTITUDE…A SPIRIT…A SENSE OF MISSION
SWAGGER…A SENSE OF CONFIDENCE
NEWNESS…THE STRUGGLE TO BE FIRST
BIG—MASS APPEAL
RE-INVENTION…A DESIRE AND MOTIVATION TO RE-INVENT
CREATES FANS NOT “USERS”
POWERFUL…CULTURE MOVING
CHANGING…ALWAYS PUSHING FORWARD WITH THE “NEW” THING
COMPETITIVE…FIGHTING FOR SUCCESS
ARTFUL…CREATING COMMERCE THROUGH ART (ART IS NOT A BAD WORD UNLESS
IT’S BAD ART)
INSTINCTIVE…THE “IT” FACTOR PEOPLE HAVE…OR DON’T
REBELLIOUS… A FIGHTING SPIRIT: AGGRESSIVELY CHANGING THE NORM
INTELLIGENT…IN A MASS APPEAL WAY
NON ELITIST…FOR THE MASSES–FOCUSED ON “THE NEW MAINSTREAM
QUALITY…LASTING (Quality lasts…fashionability is fleeting)
MASS APPEAL INTELLECT; Respecting intelligence. Teaching. Making people smarter. Not a small select public media group, but mass appeal… Inspire don’t insult. There IS a ‘market’ for that!
ECCENTRIC..ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK: Eccentrics are a secret weapon. Few traditionalists get it.
BRAINPOWER: The currency. You don’t have CBS/DISNEY money, but you DO have the ability to dramatically out think and out story tell them.
MULTI DIMENSIONAL STORYTELLING: Using EVERY resource to tell a story…smartly and with restraint. Retro, Drawings, Graphs, Film Clips, etc…ANYTHING not just a pretty face behind a desk and a reporter in front of a scene
FANS NOT USERS: Anyone can generate users…we will generate FANS
STORYBOARDING: Anyone can write…we STORYBOARD which is how you ‘write’ NewsMovies.’ We take the world and turn it into a MOVIE. Via Storyboarding.
COMPLETENESS: Where EVERYTHING we do has the station imprint on it. EVERYTHING. Nothing is immune
RE-THINKING: Before you accept something…re-think it. Ask: How can this be better?
BREATHING: Where stories happen at the speed of 2020 not the Speed of TV.
INTELLECTUAL SCALE: If Duck Dynasty is a 1 and Masterpiece Theater is a 10. There’s an opportunity to be a 7. Not elite….not dumb. Again, dumb works but there’s a giant hole for smart
LIFE CHANGING: What this is for you when we execute at the highest standard
The opportunity is incredible. We are in the NEW Information Age. A presentation that is as colorful and intense as the world itself just might work