19 January 2007

SNL Stock Footage Awards

I do a fair amount of interviews and commentary for the so-called mainstream media on a variety of subjects, usually pertaining to UCaPP effects on society. Today's interview with CityTV had to do with the changes in political engagement among those who are connected, spurred by Senator Barak Obama's online announcement of his candidacy for the White House.

What annoys me about most television interviews is the "b-roll" - those stock shots of the interviewee typing at a computer, walking into an office, taking a book off a shelf, or entering a building. (Thanks, Amber, for not doing a b-roll today!) But I'm being unfair. Without the b-roll or stock footage, what would illustrate the breaking news story of the day? With that in mind, here is Saturday Night Live's homage to the lowly b-roll, the Stock Footage Awards.


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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Mark -

Thank you so much for taking the time to chat - too bad I only had 1:30min for the story!

We put all my daily "web" news stories online, so here's the link from today's Citytv report:
http://www.citynews.ca/international/day/1-19-2007.aspx

All the best, and I'm sure our paths will cross soon enough.

-Amber Mac
ambermac.com
citynews.ca/international

Unknown said...

Its surprising that b rolls leave you with a bad taste in your mouth...These b rolls help in uprooting the viewer from the monotonous setup of a one to one interview. First time viewers of a news story get a summary for the related news through b rolls. And if the b rolls have transcriptions by a good transcription company, the experience of listening to unclear footage becomes informative as well as intersting.