How to Make a TV News Resume Tape

Contributor

By Kent Ninomiya
eHow Contributing Writer

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(6 Ratings)

If you want to work on camera in TV news, then you need a resume tape. Basically it is a sampling of your on-camera work. How you put it together and what you put on it often can make the difference between being hired or not. Here's exactly what news directors want to see on a resume tape and how to put it together.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Video camera
Tripod
Microphone
Computer
Editing equipment
DVD or VHS tape
DVD burner or VHS recorder

Step 1

Realize that most news directors will look at a tape for just a few seconds before ejecting it and tossing it in the garbage. There are literally hundreds of resume tapes sitting on the news director's desk. Either hook the news director in the first few seconds or lose him for good.
Step 2

Do not put a slate with your name and address first! The first thing on your tape must be your beautiful face. Open up with three or four standups in a row. A "standup" is the portion of a news story where you see the reporter on camera. You don't need these to be from actual stories. Go out with a camera and shoot yourself in a variety of situations saying things a reporter would say. Use a microphone and tripod. Nothing is worse than bad audio and shaky video. One standup should be from a breaking news story. Another should be you demonstrating something. Another should be a light-hearted story where you are smiling and happy. All standups should be active and involve movement. Try to make use of your environment and justify why we are seeing you in the shot. Be sure you look different in all your standups. If you are shooting them all the same day, take along several changes in clothes and consider wearing your hair differently. Give the news director a taste of your range.
Step 3

Follow up your standup montage with three packages. A TV news "package" is a story you would see a reporter do on the news. The mixture of packages should be similar to the standups. One package should be a breaking news story. Another should be an investigative or other "hard" news story. Finish with a "soft" feature story or something that shows off your personality. The standups in the opening montage should not be the same as the standups in your packages. They should be completely different looks, stories and backgrounds. Limit your stories to 1 minute and 20 seconds each. For more details on what goes into a TV news package, see "How to Make a TV News Package."
Step 4

Finish up your resume tape with some anchoring. This is the only part of a resume tape that you can't do by yourself. You will need a television studio and a teleprompter. You can gain access to these by interning at a television station, going to a cable access station or using equipment at a school or college. There are also private businesses with facilities, but they will charge you a lot of money to use them. It is better to go the free route. Call around where you live and see what is available. Your anchoring should be about five minutes long. You should be seen and heard as much as possible. Include a few voice-overs with sound bites. Avoid packages and anything that features anyone else but you. If you don't have access to anchoring facilities, you can leave it off your tape. If this is your first TV job, you probably won't be anchoring much anyway.
Step 5

Use a slate to end your tape. The very last thing you should put on your resume tape is a slate. It should be a full-screen graphic with your name, address, phone number and email address. Do not put this slate first on your tape. That is a common mistake beginners make. If you must include a slate, put it on last. It certainly is not mandatory. Your personal information should be on your cover letter, resume and cover of the tape. There is no reason it has to be in the tape itself.
Step 6

Lay out your resume tape on your computer, using editing software such as iMovie or FinalCut Pro. (Entry-level television reporters are now expected to edit their own stories, so you'll need to know basic editing.) Start right off the top with the three or four standups edited together. Follow with two seconds of black. The add the three packages, leaving two seconds of black between each package. Add two seconds of black, then your five minutes of anchoring. Cap it off with a minute of your slate. Feel free to omit the anchoring and slate if you don't have them. Dub it all to a tape or burn it to a DVD and you are done. Congratulations! You have a resume tape.