News Room Hand Signals & Cues

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Part of the video series: How to Be a News Room Floor Director

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What Is a News Floor Director?

Summary: Hand signals and cues are used frequently to direct the flow and actions of the news room floor. Learn more about news room hand signals and cues from an ABC53 floor director in this free video.

Views: 279 | Tags: floor, camera, tv, television, room, news, operating, directing, signals, anchor, cues, careers, newscaster

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About the Expert

iwishproductions Brett attended Howard Specs School of Broadcasting in Detroit. He currently works at ABC53 in Lansing, Michigan. He has been a PA for two years. He's run the ... read more

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Video Transcript

News Room Hand Signals & Cues

Now, in this segment we're going to show you what the hand signals are for time signals and how to cue a anchor or reporter, usually anyone that's on-air talent. Now, there are a couple different hand signals. You know, obviously, there's a bunch of different signals because there's a bunch of different stations. The usual, normal, universal ones are usually going to be taught at any school, but it also comes by region. So, each region has their own signal and way of doing things, just like any other profession. Now, when you give a signal, you're going to want to be right next to the camera that the anchor or reporter is looking at. That way, they can see it clearly, have a better chance, and they don't have to look off-camera. So, it makes it a little less awkward when they do it. Now, usually your time cue is going to be something that's done silently, to where you don't talk. So, it is going to be a signal that you have to give them, and it's usually something that you will know, they will know. So, if there is any discrepancies between that, if they are used to a different signal, you guys definitely have to work out which signal is going to work best for you two. It's kind of like a team. You guys got to work together. So, when you do give your cues, like I was saying, try and get as close to the front of the camera as you can. That way, you can be visible to them without them having to look off. Also, when you cue them, you also want to make yourself very visible. So, that way, if you're standing here, you don't just want to point to them. You want to make it pretty big. So, you want to either drag your finger across to make it now a big production note for yourself, but definitely something that they can see. So, of course, you either want to, you know, give something big and a lot of body movement or something that they know to look for.