More From The Newseum

While Mrs. TANBI and I were walking (ok lost) to the Newseum some very nice boys in Newseum t-shirts happened to walk by and straighten us out. They also gave us vouchers for the Be a TV Reporter experience. So we did it.


They put you in front of a blue screen (or a green screen - we did blue so I wouldn't disappear) and give you a story to read off a teleprompter to match the background you choose. You get to do one rehearsal and then you do a real take. After, you get to see your broadcast on the TV there and the next day you can download a photo (above) and your video:



It's ok for what it is, but it could be a lot better. What's missing is the TV part. The woman running the thing didn't do the "5-4-3..." countdown that everyone who's seen Wayne's World knows. They obviously didn't take an audio level. There's this monitor off to your side where you can see what's happening, but you don't have any opportunity to look at it. All of that would be easy.

And then they could kick it up a notch by adding some edumacation. Maybe you could do a guided activity where you write the text that goes on the teleprompter. You could watch a video about chromakey technology. You could watch a video about reading off a teleprompter; there's a great scene in Broadcast News where William Hurt is coaching Albert Brooks that comes to mind. Maybe they could tape the rehearsal and then you could edit the two together.

I understand that they want to keep the thing streamlined for when it is busy - but it isn't always busy. While we were participating it was clear to us that the priorities were to not leave our bags and to not touch the equipment. That shouldn't be the impression the audience gets. If you go to the Newseum, wander around a little bit first to try to get yourself some vouchers, I would have felt ripped off if I had paid.

Oh, about reading of a prompter - it's hard. I kept getting ahead and running out of text. I really did need the rehearsal.