Modern News Promos?

[hotwire132002]

Well, I'm in charge of a new news program on our local access station. (I just finished the website--channel2news.org.)

We've gotten the funding to air some promos on CNN (locally only, of course), but I'm at a loss for the campaign. Being up here in northern Michigan, the only news station with any halfway decent promos is the news leader (9&10), but all their promos do are brag about their huge news team (which, of course, doesn't work for us).

I'm looking for a place online where I could view local news promos from different markets--I've found some sites with old (i.e. 70s and 80s) promos, but does anyone know of a site with more modern promos?

Thanks for any advice! One last thing--if anyone has an idea for a promo campaign that they're willing to share, I'd appreciate it! (FYI--we're on Channel 2 via cable, and are the area's only 4:00 news program. Also, we're the only high school students running a news program. Check out the piece we have online--http://www.channel2news.org/videoviewer.php?video=lectureluncheon-062405.mov. I did the open, and Evan did the report.)

 

[Rod Rod]

Since it's local and student-run, I'd recommend doing a 70s-style promo, sort of like the title sequences (and some trailers) for the recent movies based on 70s TV series. I'm not saying to dress up in 70s costumes but just to have a little creative fun with titling, fonts, multiple picture panes on screen, line art and bright colors. That will get noticed and it won't be a bad thing. I'm reasonably sure that people don't tune in expecting a "News Leader 9/10" style broadcast, but rather they tune in to see the youngsters report community events.

 

[hotwire132002]

Since it's local and student-run, I'd recommend doing a 70s-style promo, sort of like the title sequences (and some trailers) for the recent movies based on 70s TV series. I'm not saying to dress up in 70s costumes but just to have a little creative fun with titling, fonts, multiple picture panes on screen, line art and bright colors. That will get noticed and it won't be a bad thing. I'm reasonably sure that people don't tune in expecting a "News Leader 9/10" style broadcast, but rather they tune in to see the youngsters report community events.

The 70s style promo isn't a bad idea, but if you take a peek at the report we have online, you'll see that it really doesn't fit in with the look we have going.

I slept on it, and I think I came up with a good promo campaign. My concept is to do a few different promos that focus on the fact that we're just average kids reporting the news--I'm working on scripts, but I think that campaign will work nicely.

 

[Rod Rod]

Whatever you come up with, please post a link here.

I'm guessing things are casual in Cadillac but ithe reporters should wear a dress shirt and a tie for the website headshots. I mean, you can tell they're kids by their faces and haircuts, but your audience will appreciate seeing them in ties instead of just t-shirts.

Also, the headshot background color - that particular blue - is not flattering at all.

The reporter who interviewed the border security expert should have asked him what he meant when he said that our culture is at risk. That bite sounded pretty xenophobic. Of course it's sad that his son was killed but that doesn't excuse (potentially) racist opinions, and if it does excuse them, it's a journalist's job to challenge those opinions - not because the journalist opposes the opinion, but rather to get the "why" of the opinion.

I hope I'm not offending you by saying all of this. I just mean it as constructive criticism. I studied broadcast journalism in college.

 

[hotwire132002]

Whatever you come up with, please post a link here.

I'm guessing things are casual in Cadillac but ithe reporters should wear a dress shirt and a tie for the website headshots. I mean, you can tell they're kids by their faces and haircuts, but your audience will appreciate seeing them in ties instead of just t-shirts.

Also, the headshot background color - that particular blue - is not flattering at all.

The reporter who interviewed the border security expert should have asked him what he meant when he said that our culture is at risk. That bite sounded pretty xenophobic. Of course it's sad that his son was killed but that doesn't excuse (potentially) racist opinions, and if it does excuse them, it's a journalist's job to challenge those opinions - not because the journalist opposes the opinion, but rather to get the "why" of the opinion.

I hope I'm not offending you by saying all of this. I just mean it as constructive criticism. I studied broadcast journalism in college.

You're not offending me at all! I appreciate any constructive criticism.

We tried ties--that didn't work too well. We're getting some nice Channel 2 News shirts made--once those are done, we'll do new head shots.

As to the report, We're all learning as we go along. The main problem everyone has, at this point anyway, is not getting enough details. That's something we all have to work on.

Also, I'll work on the headshot backgrounds at some point here.

Thanks for the advice! I shot two promos today, and I'm cutting them right now. I'll post them here when they're done.

 

[Rod Rod]

Thanks for the advice! I shot two promos today, and I'm cutting them right now. I'll post them here when they're done.

You're welcome. I'm looking forward to seeing your work.

 

[hotwire132002]

You're welcome. I'm looking forward to seeing your work.

Here's the promos we shot... we may shoot another, as well.

We showed the promos to a few people around town, and they seemed to think they were good. (And DEFINATELY a lot better than most local ads that run over Charter!)

Obviously, the "Sponsor tag" at the end will be replaced with a "Channel 2 News is brought to you by..." message.

http://www.channel2news.org/media/evanpromo.mov
http://www.channel2news.org/media/ericpromo.mov

 

[Rod Rod]

Here's the promos we shot... we may shoot another, as well.

Very nice. I bet you already have b-roll of the community events that Channel 2 news has covered, or b-roll of Cadillac's sights (downtown shots, the police station, VFW hall and so on) - that might help drive home the point of the 4:00 news being about the community.

 

[hotwire132002]

Very nice. I bet you already have b-roll of the community events that Channel 2 news has covered, or b-roll of Cadillac's sights (downtown shots, the police station, VFW hall and so on) - that might help drive home the point of the 4:00 news being about the community.

Good point. I'll see what we have in the way of file footage of Cadillac--we're just starting up the newscast, so we don't have a lot just yet, but I'll check on it!