TV Journalism is one of the most difficult, but also the most captivating, courses held at the School of Advanced Journalism. It takes four weeks, during which students learn to be reporters, cameramen, editors and producers. The focus is on practical exercise, on assimilating the TV language and the techniques used to produce TV news and reports. Performance here depends on the ability to work in a team and to meet deadlines. Some of the best TV professionals worked along and together with students: Denis Rusu, Dorin Scobioala, Oxana Iutes and Andrei Cibotaru.

The course was made of several modules. The first module, Technical Skills in TV, was held by Denis Rusu, producer of the Campaigns and Production Department of the Independent Journalism Center. From him, students learned everything about a video camera and about work with video editing software. Denis explained to them how to combine various layouts, what a text insert is and how it is made, how to film a panorama, a detail, a foreground and a background – essential things for the weeks to follow…

The trainer of the second module, Dorin Scobioala, Director of the “Cat Studio” Agency and reporter for Reuters TV and Antena 3 in Moldova, explained to students what framing is and how the reporter and the interviewee should stand during filming; how to get the best possible surrounding sound; and how to make a successful standup. The module ended with the first practical exercise in TV – a TV report.

The last two modules offered to young people the possibility to apply the newly obtained knowledge in practice. Equipped with tripods, video cameras and microphones, guided by journalist Oxana Iutes, they learned how to make a social report and a TV feature. The focus was particularly on the content of journalistic materials and on use of TV language. “You need to learn writing correctly, simply and so that everyone could understand,” Oxana kept telling them. Students were searching for interesting stories, went to filming sessions, wrote texts and edited their materials. At the end of the course, Oxana urged them to do their job with dignity, pay attention to everything that happens around them and never stop learning.

The last and the most challenging module was TV Newsroom. For six days, students worked in the mode of a newsroom, experiencing what it means to be a TV reporter. In the morning, at the School they had an “editorial meeting”, where they determined topics for news. After hours of preparation and intensive fieldwork, students wrote and edited reports, and at 16.00 we together watched the newscast fully prepared by the students – domestic, foreign, political, economic, cultural and social news.

Like in previous years, the biggest challenge was to meet the deadline – a real test of endurance in television. “We had the opportunity to learn from the best and we got practical advice that will help us when we start working,” said student Adriana Vlas. Cristina Cornescu believes that only experience and daily work can make you become a true TV reporter. Her colleague Nicolae Galaju said that after the four weeks of TV journalism he understood how much effort is being spent for those very short two minutes of a TV news story or report. “It is huge and very difficult work,” Nicolae concluded.

Next week the SAJ starts the last course of the first semester – Visual Journalism. Students will learn everything about the design of print press and infografics.