News Story Project
The goal of this project was to make a video of a news segment reporting on something happening in Hanover, or on something we simply made up.
Brainstorming
Outline
Script
Opens on Miranda with a microphone:
Miranda: “Today we’ve got an amazing story for you”
Cut to shots of the forest where recording will happen
Miranda: “Local authorities are looking for the elusive ‘Daystalker Canibal. He’s reported to roam in the Hickory forest eating whoever he comes across. We have our reporter Tanner Rudisil on the scene”
Cut to Tanner walking through the forest
Tanner: “Thank you Miranda. Authorities are working tirelessly in these woods to find the day stalker. They call him the daystalker because he only kills during the day, and he loves to toy with his victims before-”
Mason in the distance (Offscreen): (Banshee scream)
The cameraman and Tanner go silent wondering where it came from
Tanner (Nervous): “I- I’m sure it’s nothing!”
Cut to more shots of the forest
Miranda: “The cannibal has affected many lives in the York County area in the worst possible ways”
Cut to Ryan
Ryan: “Yeah, the thing grabbed my dog, my wife, and my kids. He can keep my wife and kids though, I just want my dog back”
Cut to Tanner walking
Tanner: “The last time the Cannibal was seen was in Dalegrove stealing hammer drills from the local Home Depot. Home depot is reported to have lost-
Mason: (Banshee scream)
The camera turns to see Mason charging towards them
Tanner/Collin: (Terrified screaming)
Collin and Tanner start to run away
Cut to shots of the forest
Miranda: “Other sharp objects in stores around York have also been reported to be missing over the last two months.”
Cut to Deena
Deena: “Yeah, we just can’t seem to keep a hold on our stock anymore. Every time we come back, it looks like the doors were just chewed through”
Cut to Tanner and Camera man panting
Collin: “I think we lost him”
Tanner: “What was that!?”
Collin: “I think that’s the guy”
Tanner: “There’s no cannibal Cooper! The whole thing is made up, you know that”
Collin: “I don’t know! Why was that thing chasing us??”
Scampering through the grass and trees is heard
Collin while turning around: “What was that??”
The camera doesn’t see anything
Mason from behind: (Banshee scream)
Camera turns around again to see Mason rushing towards them
The two begin to scream and run again
Miranda: “Today we’ve got an amazing story for you”
Cut to shots of the forest where recording will happen
Miranda: “Local authorities are looking for the elusive ‘Daystalker Canibal. He’s reported to roam in the Hickory forest eating whoever he comes across. We have our reporter Tanner Rudisil on the scene”
Cut to Tanner walking through the forest
Tanner: “Thank you Miranda. Authorities are working tirelessly in these woods to find the day stalker. They call him the daystalker because he only kills during the day, and he loves to toy with his victims before-”
Mason in the distance (Offscreen): (Banshee scream)
The cameraman and Tanner go silent wondering where it came from
Tanner (Nervous): “I- I’m sure it’s nothing!”
Cut to more shots of the forest
Miranda: “The cannibal has affected many lives in the York County area in the worst possible ways”
Cut to Ryan
Ryan: “Yeah, the thing grabbed my dog, my wife, and my kids. He can keep my wife and kids though, I just want my dog back”
Cut to Tanner walking
Tanner: “The last time the Cannibal was seen was in Dalegrove stealing hammer drills from the local Home Depot. Home depot is reported to have lost-
Mason: (Banshee scream)
The camera turns to see Mason charging towards them
Tanner/Collin: (Terrified screaming)
Collin and Tanner start to run away
Cut to shots of the forest
Miranda: “Other sharp objects in stores around York have also been reported to be missing over the last two months.”
Cut to Deena
Deena: “Yeah, we just can’t seem to keep a hold on our stock anymore. Every time we come back, it looks like the doors were just chewed through”
Cut to Tanner and Camera man panting
Collin: “I think we lost him”
Tanner: “What was that!?”
Collin: “I think that’s the guy”
Tanner: “There’s no cannibal Cooper! The whole thing is made up, you know that”
Collin: “I don’t know! Why was that thing chasing us??”
Scampering through the grass and trees is heard
Collin while turning around: “What was that??”
The camera doesn’t see anything
Mason from behind: (Banshee scream)
Camera turns around again to see Mason rushing towards them
The two begin to scream and run again
Video
Google Drive Link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uz7wZngnRXNgQ58Ys4p_m01ztWJXQui7/view?usp=sharing
Summary
This video pretty much ended up being my magnum opus for both this unit and for the class in general. As soon as I heard that we had to do a news segment as our project, many ideas were racing through my head, and even more came through when I heard it didn't have to be a real event. I eventually landed on the idea of a found footage horror sort of scenario. Where two news reporters were looking through the woods reporting on a killer who had been taking people families, wives, dogs, etc. It ended up being really fun to make. Unfortunately I wasn't able to meet all the constraints this time, because it had to be between 1 minute and a minute and a half. Which made me end up having to cut a lot from the video, including most of the gags, since the video is also satirical by nature. Since there's no way I can get a 12 year old child chasing us through the woods to be scary with what I know how to do. And even after cutting all that stuff, it was still too long, and the quality of the video would suffer if I took anything else out.