News Room 30 Second Signal

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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: The news room thirty second signal is a silent method of cueing the news anchors and warning them that their time is almost up. Learn more about the thirty second signal from an ABC53 floor director in this free video.

Views: 357 | 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 30 Second Signal

Alright now in this segment we're going to learn what the 30 second silence signal is. And, of course, there's obviously a couple different ones. So when, of course, when you want to give your signals, you want to be as close to the front of the camera as you can. Because, obviously that's were the anchor or reporter is going to be looking at. Now, the universal, I can't really say universal but the most common 30 second signal is your two arms crossed like this. You want to have it kind of high in the air but nothing too high to where the anchor has to look awkwardly off camera. So like I was saying, you want to try and get next to the camera as close as you can without bumping the camera or moving it. Because if they are on camera, it's going to look pretty shaky. So, of course, you want to get your two arms crossed like this. You don't want to do a little something little short or anything like that or to low. You want to get it up, visible and hold it for about 2 or three seconds. Something so that they can really see it. Now there are other ways of doing the hand signals. Of course, every anchor is going to have their way of doing it. Now we've had a couple different anchors here. So they are generally have their ways set in. But pretty much, if it's a permanent anchor, you know you guys should adapt to each other pretty well. But if you do have a fill in anchor or a part time anchor, you're going to want to go with their cues. That way you don't confuse them to much. We've also seen a 30 second cue be like this. Like a C with your hand. But that's always something that an anchor has brought with them usually. Unless you're at a station that is accustomed to that.