5

Saying It Twice

What You’ll Learn_________________________

One of the biggest differences between writing for print and writing for broadcast is in the use of sound—the sound of someone speaking, or simply the “natural sound” from a story, like rushing floodwaters, or noisy children, or machine gun fire. You have to choose the sound, then write a script that makes a transition smoothly into it, and just as smoothly out of it. I’ll refer to the process subsequently in this chapter as simply “writing in” and “writing out.” Print reporters don’t have to worry about this. You do.

Making the best use of sound is one of the toughest things to do smoothly. Why? Because if, for instance, you have tape of someone speaking, you’re stuck with what that ...

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