For example, I’ll introduce the viewer to Chuck, who has a lush, green backyard. I call it the “Pregnant I.” I start and end each package with a single thought, subject or personality. The writing style I usually employ allows me to do a lot of stand-up bridges. (Hopefully I instead pull it off live.) A bridge allows me to be creative and not interfere with the producer’s plans.

What if I front a story live? I don’t want to waste any time recording a creative stand-up tag only to leave it in the can. That’s almost a procedural habit of mine. I usually avoid stand-up closes because very often I am fronting the story and will appear at the beginning and end of the story live. A stand-up close wraps up the story at the end with a final thought and a sign off, “in Chula Vista, Joe Little, 10News.” Little: In the way of background, a “bridge” literally bridges two thoughts together in the middle of the story. Tompkins: All of the stand-ups on your sample reel are “bridging” stand-ups, not closing stand-ups. I’ll bet my next paycheck that people would rather see my video than any city council chamber video. But spice up a city council meeting or a water authority announcement.

Some days, you just can’t do these stand-ups for murders, crimes, etc. Now, to be honest, I would love to say I whip one of these babies out for every story. Once you do enough stand-ups by yourself it gets easier and easier. There has to be room for my fat head, any subject matter and any movement. I look for meaning, balance and creativity. The tricks I use are the same ones a good two-man crew would use. Without that, I add at least 15 minutes to a shoot. I can flip the viewfinder over, stand in front of the camera and see (with the help of laser-corrected vision) where I am framed up in a shot. Little: The biggest breakthrough in one-man-band/visual journalism technology is the flip-over reversible screen. For starters, how do you frame stand-ups that you walk through? Share some of your tips and tricks with us. Your stories, though, are more creative than the work of most two-person crews I see. Tompkins: Lots of one-man-bands (OMBs), or “digital correspondents” as you at 10News in San Diego call them, struggle to include stand-ups in their pieces. Watch this video featuring excerpts from his stand-ups, then hear from Little about how he does his work.īelow is an edited version of our exchange: (A stand-up for those of you print and online folks who don’t know is when a journalist appears, talking, on camera.) The e-mailers all marveled at how this guy, working alone, could be so creative, especially shooting his own stand-ups. In other words, he shoots his own video, reports the story and edits it. Inside of one week, four people sent it to me.

A YouTube video of KGTV’s Joe Little has been making the rounds lately.

One man band videos