It’s not just a cheesy song from the 70’s, it’s the direction that local TV news is going. Producing, reporting, shooting and editing also known as MMJ (multimedia journalist). It can be challenging but also very rewarding.
My news director came to me mid summer of 2020, just a couple of months after the start of the Black Lives movement. He wanted me to tell the personal side of three people who were part of the movement. We discussed the topics we wanted to touch on and he came up with the three subjects. I took it form there.
I wanted a similar look to the three pieces, even though the topics the interviewees would be talking about would be slightly different. The interviews and the shooting was easy. I sat each person down for 10-15 minutes and had a conversation. I thought it was important for the subjects to “break the 4th wall”, look directly into the camera, so they could give a more personal touch to the viewers watching on tv or online.
The editing was the most difficult part, not just pressing the buttons, but deciding what to leave out. I was fortunate that my news director gave me extra time, in fact each piece was it’s own stand alone block during the newscast.
It ended up being a mentally draining but rewarding process that is one of the best projects that I’ve worked on.
Mike Piskorski 