NewsTeam Class

Inception News

Timing the Show

Quick Start Guide to Creating a New Rundown

Adding Content to the Rundown

Creating Stories

Creating Facebook and Twitter stories

Timing the Show

Using the Assignment Manager

All the steps below require the rundown to be open.

The total length of the newscast is 29:57.

Target Time

When the producer first opens a new rundown from the template, they will need to start inputting the Target Times for their intended stories. The Target Time is a column in the rundown where the producer can manually type in how long they want a certain segment.

Basically, the Target Time helps the producer know that they're able to fill the "news hole" so that the Target Time adds up to 29:57. Some segments, like Teases and Breaks already come with designated times. For example:

Weather is always 3 minutes long (this is just a placeholder until the Weather person adds their script)
Sports is always 5 minutes long (this is just a placeholder until the Sports Producer adds their script)
Breaks are always 1 minute long
Teases are always 20 seconds long.

Note: if the placeholder Target Time for Weather and/or Sports is not deleted, the timing for the show itself will be inaccurate.

At the bottom of the rundown, the producer can see the Target Time adding up, which will show 29:57 once all the Target Times are inputted.

Estimated Time

When scripts are written, Inception will then use the word count to come up with an Estimated Time, which might differ from the Target Time by a few seconds at most. Anchors must try to reach the producers Target Time as closely as possible.

Media Time

The producer manually inputs the length of SOTs and Packages - or any video that is self-contained (when the anchor isn't reading live copy).

When using media, such as a SOT, the story as it appears in the rundown takes on a certain structure. For example, for a SOT in the A-block with the slug, CLINTON RALLY, the anchor first appears on camera reading an intro that leads into the SOT; then the SOT plays; finally we return to the studio with the anchor on camera reading the tag. So the story has these elements.

CLINTON RALLY Intro
CLINTON RALLY SOT
CLINTON RALLY Tag

In other words, for each of these elements the producer creates a new story with its own block number, which is a cleaner way to break down the stories in the rundown. On the rundown, the story takes this form:

In the script for the SOT, the producer needs to type in the exact words that are spoken, then highlight the script and click on the SOT button.

Highlighting the text and then clicking the SOT button will tell Inception not to add the SOT to the read time, or Estimated Time. Instead, the producer will manually type in the exact length of the SOT in the Media Time column. Packages are done much the same, but the entire package text needs to be copied and pasted in the script, which then gets highlighted and treated as a SOT. The exact TRT for the package is then typed in the Media Time column.

Note: For Closed Captioning purposes, anything with words that goes into the newscast must be typed in as a script. Reporters will need to make certain their package scripts are copied and pasted into the rundown.

Total Time

This column shows the sum of the Estimated and Media time. The producer needs to pay close attention to the total time, making sure it doesn't fall short or above what should be the length of the newscast, which is 29:57.

Timing the Show

Monitor

Before the show starts, the Rundown Monitor needs to be turned on so the prompter can use it. The Monitor button activates the MOS, which communicates between other broadcast devices and systems. The Monitor button is located in the Rundown toolbar.

Remember to 'un-monitor' when the show ends!

Start Playout

In the rundown toolbar, click the Start Playout button.

The time bar becomes visible at the top of the rundown. The Clock will tell you the current time; Under displays how much time you're running short - it will say Over if you are running long. The Story time indicates the length given for the story.

Take Next Story

Once the show starts, the student running the time bar clicks on Take Next Story. This will highlight the story currently on the air in red. Once that story is done, the student needs to click Take Next Story (or on the number pad press the + key) to move the red bar to the next story. The student needs to be diligent moving the time bar as closely as possible to what is actually happening on the air. When the show ends, click Stop Playout and then Unmonitor

During the show, the rundown items that are currently on air will be highlighted in red. The student needs to be diligent about clicking the Take Next Story button as closely as possibly to the actual start time of the next story.

Quick Start Guide to Creating a New Rundown

Adding Content to the Rundown

Creating Stories

Creating Facebook and Twitter stories

Timing the Show

Using the Assignment Manager