Thursday, April 02, 2009

All in a Day's Drive
Darn School Bus

On the way back from gathering the newest video and information about Sunday's Carthage Shootings, Nicole Ferguson and I were face with a challenge that many people face if they're anywhere on the road in the early afternoon....a school bus...and this school bus stopped 4 times...in a quarter mile.




I was beginning to worry that we might not make it back to the station in time for our six o'clock story slot. But the bus took the next left and we were good to go.

It's a good thing. We didn't leave Carthage until after 3 o'clock because of all the hustling we had to do just to flesh out a story in the first place. Being day 3 after the fact, most of the nuts and bolts information has been said. The key players who can or will talk have been talked to and the rest of the people who may have something to do with the case won't or can't talk.

Take the 911 operator who took the calls from the nursing home. She handled herself so camly that we wanted to give her 15 seconds of fame. Her bosses said no.

And the ex-wife of the the gunman, she had given interviews in previous days, but she said one of the other news crew had ambushed her for that interview and as nice as she was and as nice as Nicole could be, the former Mrs. Stewart declined our request for 2 minutes of face time.

A neighbor who knew Robert Stewart 10 years ago reluctantly went on the record for us and that gave us a basis for a story but we thought we could do a little better.

When we got back to town from Stewart's old neighborhood we noticed white ribbons popping up all over the place. A quick step into one of the businesses and we soon discovered that the local florist was making ribbons and giving them out all over town.

A quick glance across the street and, believe it or not, there she was. We followed her around for about 20 minutes as she popped in on businesses and hung more ribbons. Now we had a story. Something a little different and a nice way to wrap up this 3rd day of coverage.






Deal or Dud - Strap Perfect

You know, some stories are just plain fun to shoot. Take our consumer franchise 'Deal or Dud' for instance.

Deal or Dud - Strap Perfect


This week's Deal or Dud - Strap Perfect was one of the more interesting...ahem...visually appealing.....and fun to shoot segments.


Deal or Dud - Strap Perfect


Deal or Dud Lady, Melissa Painter and I started our shoot in our studio with Creative Services Producer Jeff Fabrizio as our "still photographer" so we could shoot our model Wendy in her natural enviroment.


Deal or Dud - Strap Perfect


From the studio we went to a clothing store where a stylist met us to try out the Strap Perfect under several different outfits. Of course...I didn't get pictures in the other settings...you'll have to watch the video for that.


Deal or Dud - Strap Perfect


After the clothing store we headed off to see how comfy the Strap Perfect would be over time...during a workout. We went to Planet Fitness and let Wendy jog on a treadmill for 15 minutes to see of the piece would aggravate her.


Deal or Dud - Strap Perfect


Today I spent 9 hours going through video, making edits, finding music and re-adjusting scripts. All so you, the viewer, can enjoy, just as much as I did, our Emmy Nominated Deal or Dud segments...especially this one.


Watch the Story Here