When the camera is rolling, shut up!

[Joey Ketcham]

When the camera is rolling, SHUT UP!

The topic is pretty self explanatory, and I’m not saying this in a hateful way so please do not take offense to it. And this is not directed at any one specific person. I’m just saying this in general.

I was watching the video on cnn.com of the storm chaser who got caught in the tornado in Nebraska and I was very annoyed at how loud this guy was. He was constantly talking and even worse how he was basically celebrating it.

I have just as much love and respect for tornadoes just like any other storm chaser, but I also avoid talking and celebrating it when I have my camera rolling. I do this for a couple reasons.

I’m sure that John Diel and anyone else who has or does work in the media field will know where I’m coming from when I say this.

When I worked as a news videographer for several years, one of the things I learned pretty quickly is that audio is just as important as the video is. Seriously, audio can make or break your shot. When you have a combination of both great video and great audio, it’s like it comes to life... it becomes a 3D experience. If that makes sense.

Take away the audio or add in constant talking and, to me, it just ruins the surreal experience. Seriously, when I watch video I want to hear the nat sound. I want to hear the wind, the sound of the tornado… not someone in the background screaming “YEAHHHHHHH… WOOO HOOOOOO… LOOK AT THAT.. YEAH YEAH.. WOOOOâ€.

Secondly if my video is shown on TV, I certainly don’t want my voice heard in the background yelling with excitement and cheering on the tornado as if I was at a football game.

I’m not saying that we should stop enjoying the beauty of tornadoes and that we shouldn’t be filled with adrenaline during the moment, I’m just saying to keep in mind that the victims of that tornado who lost everything might see that video and may not like the fact that a storm chaser is openly celebrating something that destroyed everything they had.

And lastly it’s about having a certain level of professionalism. I know, professionalism in storm chasing? What I mean is this. Listen to the guy in that video, every other word out of his mouth was cussing. I’m not offended by cussing at all, but there are people who do take offense to cussing. And it certainly does take away the full experience of the video when you nothing but beeps in the audio because the guy can’t contain himself.


So when I say professionalism, I’m not talking about going out chasing dressed in full suit and tie. What I do mean is when the camera is rolling, pipe down and watch what you’re saying, especially if you plan on selling your video to a news organization.

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

While I agree...

Counter point: It's their video/life, they can do whatever they like. If the media still will buy it, why should they care?

Aaron

 

[David Drummond]

One thing to remember too, it's not always the chaser doing that. Last year there were some locals around me that had stopped. The tornado came down and I was live on the air reporting it. Everyone out there started hooping and cheering and it came out loud and clear on live TV. It's all over the video as well.

If you chasing and licensing your video though, do yourself a favor and do some creative editing if necessary on your video's audio track. It's not that hard to get rid of a cuss word or some hooping and hollering and dub in some wind or traffic noise.

 

[Josh Morgerman]

jketcham, I agree with your post for the most part. Good sound can add so much to tornado or hurricane footage-- and, like you, I think excessive "woo hoos!", etc., can really detract from the experience. I once watched a chaser video from the eyewall of a Cat 3 hurricane that was completely ruined-- rendered almost unwatchable-- by the incessant cheering of the cameraman. A good storm is like good theatre-- and during good theatre, you want others to hush up and let the dramatic events speak for themselves. That is my feeling, although I'm sure others feel differently.

This having been said, I think sometimes some cool, calm, sparing on-camera narration can add a lot-- for example, "We're in the eye and the barometer reads 950 mb" or "The tornado is crossing Highway X and seems to be heading toward Town Y."

 

[Shane Adams]

What is a chase video without the chasers? The people who shoot the video are as much a part of the clip as what they're shooting. I can't stand uptight, silent, same pan, same zoom, tripoded video like you see on TWC everyday...it's boring. When I see a chaser video clip and there's no sound or talking, I always ask myself "is this person even alive?"

Not everyone who shoots video does so to make money. Some of us do it to document the event itself. And just because a video isn't shot on some $10,000 media format camera and on a tripod doesn't mean it sucks. People need to worry less about what sells and more about what's entertaining, if they're going to publicly proclaim video "good" or "bad." Otherwise, it's simply "sellable" or "unsellable", which has nothing to do with "good" or bad", because the whim of the month in the producer world seldom parallels the realities of good storm chaser video.

 

[William Coyle]

What is a chase video without the chasers? The people who shoot the video are as much a part of the clip as what they're shooting. I can't stand uptight, silent, same pan, same zoom, tripoded video like you see on TWC everyday...it's boring. When I see a chaser video clip and there's no sound or talking, I always ask myself "is this person even alive?"

Not everyone who shoots video does so to make money. Some of us do it to document the event itself. And just because a video isn't shot on some $10,000 media format camera and on a tripod doesn't mean it sucks. People need to worry less about what sells and more about what's entertaining, if they're going to publicly proclaim video "good" or "bad." Otherwise, it's simply "sellable" or "unsellable", which has nothing to do with "good" or bad", because the whim of the month in the producer world seldom parallels the realities of good storm chaser video.
[/b]

Well the tripoded video with that pan and zoom and so on sell in stock video and might make you some money to pay for that $120 worth of gas that got you there. And as well might make you some more money later on stock video. And your right not everyone is out there to make a buck but with everything so dam exspensive and gas sure to hit $3.00 a gallong soon I think I could shut up get the shot and yell my ass off later.....

 

[Dan Robinson]

I think it depends on the 'genuineness' of the speech rather than its presence or abscense. What I mean is that there is some instances of 'reality'-type talking that makes the video more dramatic - like a chaser radioing in the report to the NWS, talking to his chase partners about future road options, safety issues he/she is watching out for, radio chatter, etc. It's the gratuitous hooping and hollering that IMO does not do much for the video.

Either way, I will say this about cursing. I don't bring this up that often because I don't want to seem judgemental, but there are still a lot of people in this country that do not appreciate nor like to hear cursing, whether it be on a chase video or in person. Curse words hit me like arrows and make me want to turn a video off no matter how good it is. I realize not everyone feels like this, but I'm here to say a lot more of us don't appreciate cursing than people might think. We tend to be a silent majority because we don't want to come across as critical or judgemental, but we *are* here. I personally have great appreciation for chase videos that have clean language.

 

[Edward Ballou]

I totally agree with Aaron. I've met Randy, and he's one crazy guy. But that's who he is, neither you or I could do anything to change that.

The only negative thing I'll say about it, is that I hope the chaser community doesn't get the stigma from the public that we're all like that.

 

[David Drummond]

I totally agree with Aaron. I've met Randy, and he's one crazy guy. But that's who he is, neither you or I could do anything to change that.

The only negative thing I'll say about it, is that I hope the chaser community doesn't get the stigma from the public that we're all like that.
[/b]

Not to worry....99% of the public thinks we are all like Bill and Jo and that is how storm chasing really is. All the screwing up any one or two self proclaimed storm chasers can do will never overcome the hype of a blockbuster movie. :blink:

 

[Andy Wehrle]

I can certainly understand where you are coming from, Joey, because there is a piece of my own video that I feel would have been better served without my attempt at quote-unquote narration. On August 18, 2005, it became clear from radar that a tornadic supercell would be passing close to my house, so I went outside to see what I could see. I was astounded to find myself looking straight up into a furiously rotating cloud with pieces of debris sailing through the air beneath and falling to the ground nearby, as the F3 Stoughton tornado passed about a block and a half away.

I shouted at the top of my lungs, “WHOA! WHOA! TORNADO! DEBRIS! DEBRIS IN THE SKY! WOWWWW!!!! (Pause) UH, DEBRIS IS LANDING ON ME, I'M GETTING OUT OF HERE! â€￾

I am not particularily proud of this outburst; which is why I uploaded that particular video clip to my website without the soundtrack, although I suppose it was “genuineâ€￾ in that it was a spontaneous exclamation of astonishment and awe. It definitely distracts from the sound of the nearby tornado, which can best be described as the “waterfallâ€￾ sound building in a steady crescendo as the wind starts to whip at the trees. Overall I think it does detract from the video but there is not much I can do about it except keep that in mind next time I have tornadic rotation in my viewfinder and keep more levelheaded, or at least close the filter from my un-level head to my mouth (if there is a next time, which I hope there is but not while destroying a neighborhood, particularily my own neighborhood).

 

[John Diel]

Obviously, this has always been a subject of some debate. I myself, generally try to keep quiet when I'm filming. That's not to say I have been heard on tape muttering a four lettered explicative on occasion (August 2004 comes to mind).

Generally, the large media outlets (Big Stations, CNN, ABC News, etc.) are going to look for the footage that gets the most impact from the viewer. That means the more excitement in the background, the better. Just straight up plain jane video of a tornado in a field, isn't going to get as near the impact of the same video with someone in the background whooping and hollering. A few bleeps for good measure and you just made the News Directors day!

Is it distasteful? IMHO, yes. Does my video get aired? Occasionally it does, but probably not near as much as it would if I were getting hammered by debris and shouting. Sensationalism is the key for ratings. The more exciting, the better.

Here's another example of how sensationalism can get out of hand quickly. The Weather Wars in OKC are hot and heavy this year. Gazzilion watt radars, more spectacular video, more media chasers and someone back at the News Desk looking at it saying, "How can I make this exciting?" How far does it go before it becomes entertainment over news? One station goes with wall to wall coverage of a marginally severe t-storm and the other looses ratings because of it. You may "respect" the other station for NOT covering the storm that dropped a couple of chunks of hail then dropped out of sight, but respect won't pay the bills either.

Aaron is very right. We each make our own choices and what we say in the heat of the moment could come back to haunt us. But, it's your video, Freelance media or simple weather enthusiast, we all have our choices to make. I personally choose to stay reasonably quiet when filming. When I'm reporting on the radio, I try to keep as calm as possible and report what I see as opposed to what I think it might be.

Last week was a case in point. Outside Shidler, OK there was a Severe Warned cell moving rapidly NE. I was on this storm and had actually called the station three times to go on air with a Wall Cloud report. I cancelled each time, because the "Wall Cloud" wasn't rotating at all. It was a lowering in the cloud base that certainly resembled a wall cloud, but I was never quite sure. I know there were several listeners in the Shidler area that were listening to this on our station. The last thing I want to do, is incite panic in a small town. Yes, it was a scary looking feature. I reported it as such and emphasized to keep tuned to NOAA radio as well as our station. This storm moved on to Kansas and was later TOR Warned in a rural area.

Was I correct in doing what I did? What were the other radio stations in the area reporting, or were they even reporting? I don't really know. I know there was another Media Chaser in the area, but I don't know what he was reporting. We even ran the video I did have back and FF it to see if there was any rotation on the feature. I was hard pressed to tell. The feature was also skirting to the north of town into a very sparsely populated section of Osage county.

The other side of the coin, it's very hard to contain oneself when you've been out all day and you've just landed the Big Trunk and all that hard work and driving just paid off in this beautiful work of nature. It's your video, play it like you see it. Be careful in offering it to News Agencies. It could come back to bite you.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I should have been more specific.

There are exceptions to the rule and there are times it's fine. Things like noting the location, the time, and even what you're looking at. Even the voice of you making a report on the ham radio or phone is ok.

What I'm talking about is the people who are practically yelling "YEAH.. WOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YEAH" and just never shuts up and the ones that makes every other word out of their mouth a cuss word. Like I said, I cuss too but I like to keep it off my video because it's something I like to show to people and there are people who are offended by cussing.. The best example is the CNN video of the chaser who got caught in the tornado.

 

[Bill Hark]

It can be very hard to refrain from yelling, cursing etc but try as such video does make chasers look bad. Also, editing cursing is a real pain in the you know what. Unless one does very careful and time consuming copying of nearby background noises, it is still obvous that the videographer is cursing with assorted bleeps or drop outs. I try to keep my videos "family friendly"

For those who don't sell video or release highlights, keep in mind that some day, your children may be looking through your videos. Or your relatives after you are deceased in the future. Therefore, it is best not to record anything that would be embarassing.


Also think before doing interviews or while chasing with media. Speak in "soundbites." I have talked continuously for 15 minutes and the only stupid thing that I say is used on the program.

Bill Hark

 

[Josh Morgerman]

Also think before doing interviews or while chasing with media. Speak in "soundbites." I have talked continuously for 15 minutes and the only stupid thing that I say is used on the program.

Bill Hark
[/b]

That's a great point. I've had that happen to me twice-- the "stupid thing" made it to print/radio, while what I believed P) to be insightful commentary got left out. Funny how that happens.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

That's a great point. I have had that happen to me twice-- the "stupid thing" made it to print/radio, while what I believed P) to be insightful commentary got left out. Funny how that happens.
[/b]

That's why I don't give interviews

Actually I did do an interview once. It was back on April 20th of 2000, the day next morning after Parsons KS and surrounding areas was hit by tornadoes. KDFI out of Wichita came to the area and did an interview with them about the tornadoes and the tornado we taped and saw near Erie KS.