Transcript File

JOURNALISM/YEARBOOK
WEEK 16
MONDAY:
• WORK ON INTERVIEW PAPER
• WHEN FINISHED, NEWSPAPER IS DUE WEDNESDAY!
TUESDAY:
• TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO WORK ON YOUR INTERVIEW PAPER AND NEWSPAPER ARTICLE.
• PLEASE WORK… IF WORK IS NOT BEING DONE, YOU WILL LOSE THE PRIVILEGE OF WORKING
ON YOUR NEWSPAPER ARTICLE IN CLASS…
• YESTERDAY WAS NOT GOOD.
• DUE DATE REMINDERS:
• ADVERTISEMENT SALE OR NO SALE FORM: DECEMBER 16TH
• NOV NEWSPAPER: NOVEMBER 30TH
• CANDY GRAMS: DECEMBER 1ST – DECEMBER 16TH
• MIDTERMS: DECEMBER 19TH, 20TH, 21ST.
WEDNESDAY BELL RINGER & AGENDA:
BELL RINGER:
AGENDA:
• BELL RINGER
• CAPTIONS & HEADLINES
COMPLETING YOUR COPY WITH
CAPTIONS AND HEADLINES
Before anyone reads your well-crafted story on a yearbook spread, their eyes will be
drawn to your headline and captions.
Photos will draw their attention first, so it’s automatic that people will read the
accompanying captions to learn more about the people and what they are doing.
Cleverly written and well-designed headlines will attract readers to a spread
almost as much as the dominant photo.
COMPLETING YOUR COPY WITH
CAPTIONS AND HEADLINES
Your journey to writing great caption and headline copy that readers will
enjoy starts now. In this unit you will learn to:
Write great captions using the ABCD formula
Write intriguing headlines that are vivid and descriptive
while staying factual
LESSON 1: WRITING
GREAT CAPTIONS
Each year when schools are planning coverage and how to best write a story,
there are always yearbook staffs who say, “Why do we write body copy? No
one reads it.”
While it may be true that not everyone reads it immediately, people
read it when they are reminiscing or before a reunion.
will
However, you cannot use that same defense against caption writing.
Photos are the largest, most-seen graphics in the yearbook.
If the photo has stopped the reader, he
the story.
will read the caption to know
LESSON 1: WRITING
GREAT CAPTIONS
Captions are small bits of information given to the reader in
digestible chunks.
They tell the reader all the factual information they need to know
about the photo. To make it more personal, you can include a quote from
someone in the photo.
So, all of the good rules you’ve been taught will still ring true for caption
writing.
You still need to attend
to the facts.
events, interview those involved and stick
Once you know the 5Ws and H – Who,
How – captions write themselves.
What, When Where, Why and
WRITING A CAPTION IS AS
EASY AS ABCD
LESSON 1: WRITING
GREAT CAPTIONS
• List three to five words that grab the reader’s
and link the photo and caption together
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attention
Lead-in states the obvious in an unobvious way
• Include the five
• Use a variety
• Be
Ws and H
of adjectives and adverbs
descriptive
• Use strong,
visual specific nouns
• Consider the action before and during the photo and reaction to the event
LESSON 1: WRITING
GREAT CAPTIONS
• Don’t
state the obvious
• Don’t
begin leads with names or overuse the same lead
pattern
• Don’t
use label leads (example: basketball girls, swimmers, etc.)
• Don’t
use an excessive amount of –ing verbs
• Avoid
“During” to begin your lead as it’s overused
LESSON 1: WRITING
GREAT CAPTIONS
• Don’t use “Pictured/Showed Above,” “Seems/Attempts to”
• Avoid using “to be” verbs
• Don’t use “gag” or joke captions
• Don’t comment or question the action in the picture; you are
telling the reader what happened, not conversing with him
walsworthyearbooks.com/yearbooksuite
LESSON 1: WRITING
GREAT CAPTIONS
Special considerations:
• Identify both schools’ players and opponents by jersey number and name
• State position of the player(s)
• Consider plays leading up to the action
• Tell the result or outcome
LESSON 1: WRITING
GREAT CAPTIONS
Special considerations:
• Begin with name of group
• Identify from left to right, but don’t write that as part of the caption
• Give clear row designation in a different font than text
(CHEERLEADING Front: Name Here, Name Here. Row 2: Name
Here, Name Here. Back: Name Here, Name Here.)
Lesson 1: Writing
Great Captions
• Attend the event and know what you are writing about
• Write the caption as soon as possible after the picture was taken
• Identify everyone in the photo
• Describe what is happening in the exact moment of the photo
• Give your photo a timeframe
• Avoid passive voice
• Don’t add unnecessary phrases such as “left to right” or “pictured
above”
• Check and recheck the spelling of the names and text
• NEVER make up information – it is journalistically wrong!
LESSON 1, ACTIVITY 2:
WRITE THE CAPTIONS
CAPTION 1 – MUSICAL CHAIRS
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Juniors Jessica Peterson (left) and Mary Lopez (right)
Participate in blindfolded musical chairs at the first pep rally of the year
It was 97 degrees outside and two people suffered from heat exhaustion
This was a competition between the classes
Occurred on Sept. 6
“I couldn’t see so I sat really quickly on someone
and when I looked, it was Mary [my best friend],
so it was the perfect person to sit on. It just stunk
I was still out,” Peterson said.
“The music ended so quickly. I just sat as quickly
as I could. I thought it was so funny that Jessica
ended up on my lap,” Lopez said.
The seniors won this event.
Blake Waranch
LESSON 1, ACTIVITY 2:
WRITE THE CAPTIONS
CAPTION 2 – ACTOR
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Junior Clark Thornton plays a townsman who has an ailing back.
This was the drama department’s production of Anatomy of Gray.
The production ran Oct. 4, 5 and 6 at 7 p.m. in the school’s auditorium (unnamed).
Debra Christopher, a former student, directed the play.
This program earned the troop four Critic’s Choice Awards and 10 Best in Show
awards at the district competition.
“Being able to play a crazy man was so much fun,”
Thornton said.
“Through staging, I get to see every actor almost as a
unique chess piece, and it’s the director’s job to play the
game with the pieces and play it well,” Christopher said.
The setting was Gary, Indiana, in the 1800s.
Photo provided by Boone High School
THURSDAY BELL RINGER & AGENDA:
BELL RINGER:
• GET OUT YOUR WORKSHEET FROM
YESTERDAY.
AGENDA:
• BELL RINGER
• CAPTIONS & HEADLINE ACTIVITY
LESSON 1, ACTIVITY 2:
WRITE THE CAPTIONS
Now that you’ve written a few captions, swap with a peer. Evaluate and critique
each other’s caption writing using a Caption Checklist. See how much you
remembered.
CAPTION 1 – MUSICAL CHAIRS
__ Makes a creative caption/photo connection (Attention getter)
__ Present tense sentence identifies who (everyone in photo) and describes what is
happening in each photo (Basic info)
__ Past tense sentence takes reader beyond moment of photos (Complimentary info)
__ Quotes are interesting and not just facts (Direct quote)
__ Caption is factual
__ Avoids editorializing, school name, and terms like: this year, apparently, seemingly
__ Written in third person (no you, us, we, our)
__ In active, not passive voice verb
__ Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are correct
__ Doesn’t begin with name or -ing
__ Overall captions are positive and interesting.
LESSON 1, ACTIVITY 2:
WRITE THE CAPTIONS
CAPTION 2 – ACTOR
__ Makes a creative caption/photo connection (Attention getter)
__ Present tense sentence identifies who (everyone in photo) and describes what is
happening in each photo (Basic info)
__ Past tense sentence takes reader beyond moment of photos (Complimentary
info)
__ Quotes are interesting and not facts (Direct quote)
__ Caption is factual
__ Avoids editorializing, school name, and terms like: this year, apparently,
seemingly
__ Written in third person (no you, us, we, our)
__ In active, not passive voice verb
__ Spelling, grammar, and punctuation are correct
__ Doesn’t begin with name or -ing
__ Overall captions are positive and interesting
CRITIQUE CAPTIONS
After checking off your captions:
Take a newspaper section or magazine. Find three photos with captions. Write down the captions and answer
these questions.
1. Critique the captions. How could each caption be improved? Is anything missing from the captions?
2. Rewrite the captions with the information provided in the current caption and/or the accompanying story.
Remember to keep them factual.
CAPTION 1:
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CAPTION 2:
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CAPTION 3:
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