Plain Vanilla

I felt like a normal person today.

I got eight hours of sleep, exercised (fast walked on the treadmill) for 30 minutes while watching TV and then went to work. At work, I translated two of my stories into Chinese, cut the video for one of them, translated a story from Chinese to English, voiced over a few stories, did some more production work and went to buy obento for the team. Granted, not many people do so many different things, but it was an EASY day for me. I guess the hard days are when I have to report on top of all this. Then I don't have time to even eat dinner. What a relaxing day. I was freezing in the office, but I didn't have those terrible headaches from a few days before. I think it had to do with enough sleep and some exercise. I even left right after the taping! I will try to keep it up.

Recently, I've been struggling with audience targeting. Our ratings are from very local audiences, apparently, those that don't know enough English to even understand the English subtitles. After we started the Chinese subtitles, our ratings went up, so that theory was confirmed. So the question for me became, "should I be doing stories for the local audience or for the foreigners?" Our show was originally for foreigners, but the locals are the ones that feed us. I don't want to disappoint either.

There must be stories that appeal to both. Some of the fun ones should definitely. Most people like kids, most people like sports and exciting stuff. Most people like interesting restaurants and places to visit. I guess I'm doing alright, then. My producer told me, though, that since the rest of the stories are all made for locals anyway, I may as well try to target the foreign audience more. I suppose that makes sense. But they'll still have to be "fun" stories, I suppose.

Well, for a fun story, here's the script to the kids football tournament I covered yesterday. We're airing it tonight.

Children’s Football Tournament

Lead-in:
Seventy kids from a football school got together in a tournament over the weekend. FTV reporter Michella Weng takes you see what these kids get to do in addition to studying.##


About 70 kids, ages 4-11, are here to compete in a football tournament.
大約有70位4到11歲的小朋友
來到這裡參加足球比賽

[NS: kids playing]

All of them have only been playing less than a year and a half, but they're getting pretty good, and most seem to be having fun.
雖然這些小朋友都只有
一年半以下的足球經歷
但是有些小朋友已經變得很厲害了
而且還玩得很開心呢

Sound byte:
Jean-Jacques
Football Player
I'm seven years old.
(How long have you been playing football?)
One year.
(You like it?)
Yes.
(Why?)
Because I can score goals.
我七歲
(你踢足球踢了多久?)
一年
(喜歡嗎?)
喜歡
(為什麼?)
因為我可以得分

Sound byte:
David
Football Player
My name is David.
When you're shooting the goal, it's fantastic.
我叫做David
球踢進去的時候感覺很棒

Sound byte:
Daniel Calvert
Head Coach
The theory behind us doing this is basically to promote sport in Taiwan, promote organized sport in Taiwan, so kids can get together, learn a sport and interact with each other.
我們主要是希望能夠在台灣推廣有組織的運動方式
讓小朋友ㄧ邊運動 ㄧ邊跟其他小朋友互動

Taiwanese children are preoccupied with studies most of the time, but activities like this can really help them grow up in a more balanced way, which will benefit them in their physical and social development.
台灣小朋友的時間大都花在讀書上
不過像這樣的活動可以讓他們
在身心上的成長更平衡

Closing stand-up:
Most of the time, kids only get to play against other schoolmates. But with leagues like this, not only do they get to play with other kids more often, they can also get to know the world outside their school.
Michella Weng, Formosa TV, Taipei.
小朋友通常都只能與學校的同學踢球
不過有個像這樣的足球學校
他們不止能與別的小孩有更多玩在一起的機會
更可以讓他們多看看 學校以外的世界
民視新聞 廖松筠 翁郁容 台北採訪報導