Four fall FCHS classes were able to practice how a real broadcast news package is created by collaborating on fake news videos.

Elizabeth Pellicane’s Social/Media & You 1st and 2nd block classes had students break into small groups to brainstorm and write scripts for fake news stories, practicing broadcast news terms and techniques. They then joined with David Small’s 1st and 2nd block TV Production students to have them film the news broadcasts and edit them into news packages. The whole project took about a week to complete. Students from the classes gathered in Small’s room on Nov. 19 to snack on popcorn while watching the completed news packages.

This is the 10th year that Pellicane and Small have collaborated on the project. “I love to see the creativity of the students, and what they learn about news techniques, as well as how they adapt to working with students they don’t know. Some of the videos are hilarious,” said Pellicane.

Sophomore Landon Yellets and junior Brady McCauley wrote the news script “Fluvanna County Channel 6 News” (see attached video) based on the idea of a fake kidnapping at the school. The parody of a live newscast features Yellets as an eager news reporter reporting on a breaking story.

“Landon’s portrayal of an excited reporter really getting into his reporting is what makes the video so fun. It’s also hilarious that the story is about student Brady McCauley getting kidnapped, but Brady–in a gray wig–is sitting next to the anchor the whole time. It’s an inside joke,” said Pellicane.

Yellets and McCauley collaborated with TV Production students Esteban Ballester, Micah Vogt, and Delontia Woodson, who filmed and edited the video.

“We came up with the idea for our video together, and I just knew it was going to be a fun activity,” said Yellets. “I loved being able to be myself during this project and have fun.”