How to...Make Straplines

The straplines are a slightly under-appreciated part of any news broadcast when you are watching at home, but in the news room they are a vital part of any package that has any form of interview.It provides correct, precise identification which helps from a law aspect, as well as providing the viewer with more information on who they are seeing without the news reporter having to explain in too much detail. It also provides the knowledge that the person being interviewed has some relevance to the story and has an actual purpose in the package. It (almost subconciously) makes their soundbite relevant to the audience, because they then know exactly who it's coming from, and can make up in thier own minds that it is from someone that has a write to voice thier opinion on the subject. This is usually either someone in authority, or someone directly effected by the news story.

The current WINOL strapline

The way the name and position is added to the strapline isn't very complicated. The member of the production team in charge of straplines simply goes around the news reporters and checks if they need any straplines to be made. They write down the full name and the profession. Some reporters will occasionally say they only have the first name(this is usually when it's not someone with a high position, and may instead just be a campaigner or 'local resident'). The reporter may argue that the person didn't want to give their full name for some reason, and they may even say the full name isn't important. But of course, it is important. As reporter you should tell the person their interviewing that if they are happy to go on camera, then they should be happy to give their full name. If they still refuse, then you should simply find someone else to interview.
We currently add the names to the straps using 'microsoft paint', but hope to soon move over to using Fireworks, which would enable the strapline editor to remain in the newsroom instead of having to go into the mmc.

The straplines need to be saved onto a memory stick, so they can then be 'delivered' to each reporter. Usually you save them onto the desktop for the reporter to then add onto thier package.

How to put the strap onto you package using Final Cut Pro
Once the strapline is on the desktop you do the following:-

- Import into final cut pro
- Drag onto the timeline
- Place over the interview that the strapline is for
- Double click the image and select the modify tab on the middle screen.
- Change the scale to 80
- On the far right screen, you should be able to move the strapline(if not, then it you should be able to do it on the middle screen.
- The strap should be placed near the bottom left of the screen (make sure their is a slight gap between the strap and the very edge of the screen, like an invisible border).
- Go to effects, then to wipe, then selected edge wipe.
- Place edge wipe on the beginning and end of the clips.
- Reverse the edge wipe that is on the end of the clip. (You do this by double clicking the edge wipe that you need to reverse, then look at the middle screen, and thier is a reverse button that you need to click)

Hope this helps.

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