CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman (CBS)For this week's class we are going to discuss structuring feature stories around the concept of "scenes." The chapter you are to read talks about how much can be learned from how television and movies script their stories around scenes that can be visualized. In addition, while we are primarily focussing this semester on writing for print publications, there are many great feature writers for television news programs. One of the best, in my opinion, is Steve Hartman of CBS News, who often reports for a program titled "Sunday Morning" on CBS. This week, he did a story on a rare relationship between a taxi driver and one of his fares. It's available on-line here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5304943n&tag=contentMain;contentBody
(you may have to cut and paste the above into your browser for access, due to the length of the link).
Please view the story before class on Tuesday (we will watch it in class) and ask yourself how Hartman uses a sense of "scene" and what techniques he uses to recreate an event effectively as a feature writer. Please post your ideas as "comments" below.
To me, the scene of this story was about two lonely people that helped each other through difficult circumstances which resulted in a positive outcome for both of them.
ReplyDeleteI could almost imagine riding in Tom's cab as he spoke about Rita and her health situation.
He wondered why she had a grumpy attitude and set out to find the reason. He observed where he took her, and the frequency of the visits to the medical facility. He actually set the scene, with his own in-depth research of Rita's health problem.
When he offered Rita his kidney, he didn't know his own world would open up. Having his long-lost daughter call after 30 years put the entire story in context. It's like a "what goes around, come around" type of story that has a happy ending for everyone.
I can see how this story takes on movie qualitites. It seemed like something out of "Driving Miss Daisy." You have two completley different characters who just happen to come together. At first they don't really get along, but then they begin to form a friendship, and the result is life changing.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the way Hartman went a little deeper in his story. Like many movies, there are sub-plots, and I think this story does a great job of exploring the little extras, like Tom's relationship with his daughter.
I can visualize two scenes in this story. 1-The cab, with a unique passenger/driver relationship. 2-The hospital a-when Rita is going in to visit and Tom watches her and b-when the two will be there for the operation. These scenes are common and everyone can relate to them. Simply having ridden in a taxi or been to hospital, viewers of this special are able to relate and expand upon what they are viewing through imagination.
ReplyDeleteHartman uses a clear example of "CCR" and a "once upon a time/happy ending" feature. Once upon a time, a cab driver was late picking up a crabby lady. Crisis- Lady (Rita) is crabby/needs a kidney. Conflict- She can't get one, is constantly going to the hospital/Will Tom be a match? Resolution- Tom is a match. Happy Ending- Tom gets his daughter in return for his random kindness.
Echoing Amanda, Steve does a really great job of not giving the viewer the story right away. He leads you in with this woman who is cranky and makes you wonder why she's cranky. You take the same journey as the cab driver, really. It's interesting because you're not receiving the story exclusively from the cab driver's point of view, but you still take the same journey through the story that the cab driver did. I thought it was tremendous.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed the shots and sound bytes he used. The first we hear from Rita, Tom had just told us how she was cranky, and then the entire 2-second byte is her saying "Well, you'd just expect a cab driver to know where he's going." It fit the story perfectly and set up the viewer to see the transition from cranky lady to good friend. Also, something that I thought was interesting was the night vision shots in the cab. Who really thinks of using that in the story? But it was effective and made the story feel more like you were experiencing it, rather than them just speaking AT you. Absolutely tremendous. I loved it.
I don't know if I'm electronically dim-witted but the video has no sound. I've tried to watch it on CBS and youtube. On the CBS site the Chevy commercial has sound, but it disappears when the story begins. I've tried it on two different computers. Ugggg, this is very frustrating because it seems like a wonderful story. Can anyone help me figure this out?
ReplyDeleteHartman captured the emotion intrinsic of any touching story with careful reconstruction that lends to Shapiro's favorite words: “You made me feel as though I was there.” Obviously the details themselves are quite tender, but it is Hartman's method of subtly offering the viewer a chance to see the poignancy of seemingly innocuous details that gives it such profound meaning. He truly captures the essence of the scene, not only of the characters themselves, but of the characters contextualized with one another, their places in life, their plights, and their subsequent unity.
ReplyDeleteHartman does a great job of stringing the pieces of this story together, especially when he ties in the cab driver's daughter. It was an extraordinary tale about two of the most ordinary people a reporter could find. I also like how Hartman used subtle details to make the story much deeper and more heartfelt, such as when he mentions that Tom went to the library to research about kidneys...Just the fact that Tom even cared about his passenger's well-being in the first place enhances the ending and puts the story in a new perspective.
ReplyDeleteGreg said:
ReplyDeleteThe primary scene that stands out to me is Rita in the backseat of Tom’s cab. There is a unique and sometimes distant relationship between many cabdrivers and their passengers. I’ve taken several cabs, and most drivers insist that I sit in the backseat away from them. Their goal is to take me where I need to go and get paid for the ride. But in this case, the driver and passenger come together to help each other, even though they aren’t sitting next to each other in the cab.
I also enjoy the interview clips of Tom and how he reveals that his daughter contacted him after 30 years when she saw him on the news. Showing his emotion in this instance makes the story one with which viewers can easily connect.
I loved it and thought about it all day.
ReplyDeleteCreating the scene of a festure story is a matter of having trained eyes.
We all have heard about people that connects to other people and situations.
I see Hartman found the story in two different factors: the personality of each character and the scene of a cab as a endless possibility of things to happen.
This feature story is something out of the ordinary; yet, at the same time, it's an every day event: cab drivers and their customers. Steve Hartman took a general story and focused on specifics; thus, we know about Tom, Rita, and their emotions/thoughts about each other (hate to friendship). This story allows us to generally relate to the characters, but we can only imagine how it's like when their lives affect each other. Despite Rita's conflict solved, we all wondered about Tom's happiness ("What's going to happen to him now"). The story adds a special, emotional touch when Tom's own conflict was resolved; two happy endings that leaves the audience feeling complete.
ReplyDeleteWhat's great about how Steve tells this story is how he uses the visual scenes. By showing Rita's side of the story mostly from her home and Tom's from the cab, it gives the viewers a better sense of their personalities. In doing this, he's showing how they are both two oridinary, everyday people that in the end of the story, form an extraordinary bond and change each others lives. The scenes when Tom and Rita are in the cab together really create a feeling for how their friendship was formed.
ReplyDeleteI think this story would have actually been better if it had been done in print. While I did get a good notion of the cab driver's personality, his day-to-day routine and how the whole story panned out, I thought it lacked in setting the scene for the actual events, which I guess is the problem when talking about something that has happened in the past.
ReplyDeleteA written piece would have been able to recreate the scene in which he picks her up, how she was rude (something she said, she did?), how the conversation developed eventually leading him to offer to give her a kidney and, most importantly, how they both reacted when the results came back.
Those scenes cannot really be recreated for television except through their commentary but in written form, it would be like being there as it happened.
This was such a nice story! Every detail contributed to the outcome, like in the very beginning where Tom got to talking and missed his turn. The in itself was a little window into who Tom is. That talking and having an interaction sometimes takes proiority over the job he's supposed to be doing, probably without him even knowing it.
ReplyDeleteThe way Tom observed Rita and decided to do his own research set the scene because it was like Tom was the feature writer. Including those details in the story showed a facet to Tom's personality that many people would not expect to find in the cab driver who sit in thr front seat while you sit in that back, sometimes striking up a quick, slightly awkward conversation with.
Rita even seemed grumpy in her first shot on camera! That's how well the scene was set in this story. And in his stand up shot within the story and after the story finished, it really seemed like he got to know Tom and Rita and he cared about them, even though he's supposed to be an objective journalist.
The scenes were definitely enjoyable, but what stood out to me was the structure of the scenes and how they mirrored the piece so well. We start off looking into this story through a very small scope. There's a cab driver, he's gruff, a little clumsy, yadda yadda. What's so special? Then we get this perfect shot at around 18 seconds. It's from Rita's window looking out to the cab pulling into her driveway. We're really in the same position as Rita, looking out the window and wondering who this strange cab driver is and why he's late. Then the facts are slowly revealed and we learn why they are so close. We then see the shots of them talking like old friends in the cab and it really gives you a sense of the bond this situation has created. I felt good at the end, not only because it was a heartfelt story, but because I felt like I really knew each of these people and got a great sense, basically their sense, of just how extraordinary this situation was.
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