'Strike Eagle News'
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on May 13, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Senior Airman Nathan Stout edits video for this week's "Strike Eagle News" in the public affairs office at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base Wednesday. With just more than 50 episodes, Stout was one of several airmen who were instrumental in changing the format of the weekly broadcast to something more entertaining. This week's episode can be found on the Seymour Johnson AFB Facebook page today.
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News-Argus/ALAN CAMPBELL
Senior Airman Levi Rowse gives direction before beginning filming this week's "Strike Eagle News" broadcast. In addition to filming in front of a green screen in the studio, airmen use footage from events around the base.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Senior Airman Nathan Stout reads his script off of an iPad as Senior Airman Levi Rowse holds it under the camera he is using to record the introduction to this week's episode of "Strike Eagle News."
Senior Airman Nathan Stout is hung up on the word "initiative."
Stout is running through the introduction of the newest episode of "Strike Eagle News" -- Seymour Johnson Air Force Base's news program for its airmen.
He's starting from the top, rifling through the news broadcast with all the speed of a nightly newscaster and working to nail down each word of the segment.
After 13 takes, the introduction -- a preview of each item in the newscast -- is complete.
The entire episode, on the SJAFB YouTube channel today, takes 49 takes to complete.
"It takes us a full work week to put together each episode," Stout says of the weekly broadcast. "We spend Monday and Tuesday writing and getting B-roll, then we record on Wednesday and edit it all together on Thursday. It goes up online on Friday at 11 a.m."
The weekly broadcast used to air much less frequently, appearing about once a month.
It was much more formal, too, mimicking an "NBC Nightly News" broadcast with airmen reporting from behind a news desk.
"Now we try to work in pop culture and current news," Stout said. "Our audience is mainly retirees, but we're trying to reach a younger audience too."
There are three broadcasters that work on the show -- Stout, Senior Airman Levi Rowse and Senior Airman Patrick Cole.
Each episode goes through an approval process before it's posted, working its way up through the chain of command.
"If any portion is not approved, we have to re-film it," Stout said.
Stout said when he first began working on "Strike Eagle News," the episodes would peak at several dozen views on YouTube.
"At first it was an old-school style news broadcast, and it was stuffy, and I had to wear dress blues when we did the show," Stout said. "We were imitating what we saw on regular newscasts. We switched it to a news roundup where we could cover four to five stories at once in a short amount of time.
Episodes now run for two to three minutes and peak between 800 and 1,000 views, routinely getting 100 to 300 views.
"When I first came on base as a new airman, our video coverage was low. We had been making videos for years and might peak at 40 views. I took the idea of reworking the show to my commander, and it was shut down at first because they were concerned with the workload it would put on us," Stout said. "Then he thought it could work, so he told us to make an episode. We took it from a news desk style broadcast to a type of news roundup that was more informal. When he watched the first episode we made like that, he immediately asked us when the next episode would be."
Stout said the show has gained much popularity on the base, and people recognize him and the other two broadcasters during daily activities.
"We're branded now," Stout said. "People will see us and go, 'You're the guys from "Strike Eagle News."'"
Each episode has a formula for its roundup -- preview the episode, preview upcoming events on base and then recap the week's news.
After each episode is recorded, it's edited in a video editing software program called Final Cut Pro, and music and other sound effects are added.
The green screen each episode is recorded in front of is used to edit in a 4th Fighter Wing logo behind Stout and his fellow airmen, and Photoshop is used to edit in graphics.
"I've primarily made all the graphics," Stout said. "I taught myself how to do it."
"Strike Eagle News" recently recorded its 50th episode -- a considerable milestone for the program.
This week's episode can be found on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/SeymourJohnsonAFB/videos.