RECOVERY

Purpose
This activity is designed to train students as anchors and crew on a 2-anchor news program. The activity not only trains students in basic studio operations, but also train talent to read difficult news scripts and recover on the fly when things dont go as planned.

Explanation

In this activity students are placed in a 2-anchor newscast scenario. Talent is given a prompter script to read that is actually a combination of tongue twisters. The script is made to be very difficult to read. This ensures mistakes, but also trains students on what to do in the event of a mistake. This was a particular problem for many of our beginner students who froze-up after a mistake. The script is written for three anchors. After the first finishes their part of the script a third is switched in on the fly. This keeps them somewhat unballanced and under stress, thus simulating the stress of a live broadcast. While the talent reads the script, the crew practices standard studio operations during a live 2-anchor newscast. This includes directing, technical directing, prompting, audio directing, live-graphics (Chyron), dynamic camerawork, and studio directing.

Sample Script

(Anchor 1) How many boards could the Mongols hoard if the Mongol hordes got bored? As many boards as they could afford before saying Oh My Lord! In other news, can you grab the groundhog from the glazed grass if grey geese are in a green field grazing? Of course! If not, then octupi will occupy eight eery elephant eyes. If one doctor doctors another doctor, does the doctor who doctors the doctor doctor the doctor the way the doctor he is doctoring doctors? Or does the doctor doctor the way the doctor who doctors doctors?

(Anchor 2) There was a fisherman named Fisher who fished for some fish in a fissure till a fish with a grin, pulled the fisherman in. Now theyre fishing the fissure for Fisher Look, sir. Look, sir. Mr Knox, sir. Lets do tricks with bricks and blocks, sir. Lets do tricks with chicks and clocks, sir. First, Ill make a quick trick brick stack. Then Ill make a quick trick block stack. Up next, Peter Prangle, the prickly pear picker, picked three perfectly prickly pears and proper copper coffee pot and Roberta ran rings around the Roman ruins with rubber baby buggy bumpers!