Edit guide
Briefing an Edit: A Practical Guide to Fast News Packaging
A step-by-step guide to handing footage to an editor so a report is cut quickly, matches your house style and arrives in the format your gallery expects.
Megan Thomas
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Short pieces from the production team on shooting breaking stories, editing against the clock and keeping footage moving through a newsroom.
These articles come from the people who shoot, cut and send news video every day. Expect practical notes on camera technique, live links, editing habits and newsroom workflow, written plainly and without padding.
Crew planning
Before You Book a Breaking News Crew: A Checklist for Editors
Six questions to settle with your desk before a camera crew heads to a developing story, from access and kit to delivery format and who signs off the pictures.
Daniel Okafor
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Studio Interviews
Studio Interview Mistakes We See Often, and How to Avoid Them
Most problems with a recorded interview start before anyone sits down. Megan Thomas goes through the slips that cost newsrooms time in the edit, and the simple habits that prevent them.
Megan Thomas
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Workflow costs
What Newsroom Workflow Support Costs and What Moves the Price
Megan Thomas explains how we price ingest, file naming and hand-over setup, which parts of a newsroom determine the cost, and what to have ready before you ask for a quotation.
Megan Thomas
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Case story
A flooded road, a dead signal and a live link that held
Daniel Okafor tells how a regional newsroom producer called Aled got a portable live unit to a cut-off village during heavy autumn rain, and what the gallery saw.
Daniel Okafor
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Editing advice
Cutting News Packages Through the Dark Months of Autumn
Shorter days change the pictures that arrive in the edit. Carys Llewellyn explains what to expect in the cutting room this season and how to keep bulletin packages clean.
Carys Llewellyn
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Trade terms
What "Standby" Means When You Book a Breaking News Crew
A crew on standby is not the same as a crew on the road. Megan Thomas explains the term in plain words, and what it asks of both your newsroom and ours.
Megan Thomas
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Studio Interviews
Studio or Your Premises: Choosing Where to Record an Interview
Two ways to run a lit television interview, in our Swansea studio or at your own premises. We compare what each gives you and say which we recommend for most newsroom requests.
Rhys Pritchard
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Behind the scenes
Behind the Ingest Desk: How Footage Moves Through a Newsroom
Rhys Pritchard walks through how a workflow setup actually happens, from the first visit to a newsroom's ingest point to the first clean hand-over of footage from the field.
Rhys Pritchard
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Live Feeds
What Do You Need on Site Before a Live Link Can Go to Air?
The question we hear most from newsroom producers: what must be in place before a portable live unit sends a signal back to your gallery. A plain answer from the production desk.
Rhys Pritchard
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Company news
Inside the Edit Suite: How Fast Packaging Gets a Bulletin Ready
A look at how our editors turn raw news footage into reports and clips finished to a client's house style and delivered in the format their gallery expects.
Carys Llewellyn
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Crew kit
The kit a breaking news crew carries and why each piece earns its place
Carys Llewellyn, our senior camera operator, explains what goes into a crew bag for a developing story: the camera, the sound kit, the lights we leave behind and the small items that save a shoot.
Carys Llewellyn
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How-to guide
Setting Up a Studio Interview: A Practical Guide From Sound Check to Recording
A step-by-step guide to preparing for a recorded interview in our studio or at your premises: room, lighting, sound, guest briefing and the first minutes of the session.
Megan Thomas
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Workflow
Newsroom workflow checklist: what to settle before you decide
A practical list of questions to work through before you change how footage reaches your desks: ingest, file naming, hand-over and who owns each step when a story breaks.
Megan Thomas
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Live feeds
Live Link Mistakes We See Most Often and How to Avoid Them
Most failed live links go wrong long before the red light comes on. Here are the common mistakes with remote feeds and the habits that keep a picture reaching your gallery.
Rhys Pritchard
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Costs
What News Edit and Packaging Costs, and What Moves the Price
A plain account of how editing time, turnaround, finishing and delivery formats shape the cost of a news package, written by a camera operator who sits beside the edit suite.
Carys Llewellyn
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Customer case
A Late Call, a Flooded Road and One Crew on Site
Carys Llewellyn tells how a newsroom producer, Aled, called in a crew at dusk for a developing flood story, and what the crew did in the first hour on site.
Carys Llewellyn
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Studio Interviews
Studio interviews through the darker months: what to plan for
As the evenings draw in, interviews recorded in a studio or on your premises need a little more thought. Carys Llewellyn sets out what to settle before the winter bookings begin.
Carys Llewellyn
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