NEWSLAB Research Summary

(From ShopTalk)

I tend to squirrel away articles that I think are loaded with great information and I want to share one such article from NEWSLAB

DEBORAH POTTER is a veteran network reporter and is President and Executive Director of NEWSLAB.

She says the following information summary is a culmination of many years of television news research and "the information never goes bad."

Images And Visual Content -- Consider The Impact
Compelling negative images affect what viewers remember. Studies have found that viewers remember best what they see during and after negative images, but not what they see before the negative images. And they don't remember what they hear before and during the negative images.Stories with pictures are remembered better than those without. But negative, emotional visuals can make stories harder to remember.

Audio/Video Redundancy -- Connect The Elements
Research does not support the common newsroom rule that any video is better than none. If visuals are not linked to content they can become a distraction. Routine video (file tape, meetings, arrivals and the like) that doesn't match the content may make it harder for people to remember the content of a story. When video and audio don't match, people can remember what they saw just about as well as they can when the two are redundant, but they remember much less of what they heard. When video and audio match, viewers understand stories better and remember the details of those stories better than stories where the video doesn't match the audio.

Editing Pace And Style -- How Fast Is Too Fast?
Quick edits increase attention but only to a point. If you're cutting between different scenes, rather than editing within a visual sequence, there is a falloff in detail memory as edit speed increases. If you stay within a sequence, it doesn't seem to matter how quick your edits are -- memory for detail just keeps getting better. A combination of fast-paced editing (changing from scene to scene) and emotional content can overload viewers. They pay attention and remember they saw something, but they can't recall the details. If you have one or the other (fast edits or emotional content) people pay attention and are better able to recall details. Edits within a scene increase both attention and memory. But edits between scenes decrease memory for information following the edit, for about 2 or 3 seconds.

Production Techniques -- Grabbing Attention Can Affect Credibility, Memory
Production features like music, sound effects, slow motion, the use of flash frames as transitions between shots, and the obtrusiveness of the reporter's voice can increase attention, but they appear to have no effect on memory. Viewers say they find stories produced using these techniques (music, sound effects, slow motion, flash frames, and obtrusive voice) less enjoyable, less believable, and less informative than stories with identical content produced without them. Graphics in stories can decrease memory for audio information at the time of the graphic, particularly if the content is difficult or unfamiliar. This was true even when the audio matched the graphic. Animated graphics hold attention better than full-screen graphics or BRoll, and they improve viewers' understanding and memory, especially for stories rated difficult to understand.