Our workflow is extremely simple and streamlined, so having a software that falls in line with that is important to us. My team and I have used pretty much every editing software out there. All of our equipment has to be capable of surviving the year with us and not failing when you have seconds to produce content. We choose our equipment based on its ability to perform reliably and stand up to the harsh conditions we are exposed to on a regular basis here in Southern California, like floods, brush fires, dust, smoke, snow, and extreme temperatures. We also have safety equipment like flares and PPE for brush fires. And, within them, you will find pretty much everything needed to produce breaking news video in the field like radios, tripods, cell network modems, and more. Our vehicles are basically our office while on assignment. They’re also more rugged than standard vehicles and hold up to the abuse of the job far better. We ride on Ford police interceptor fleet vehicles as they have room for our radio and computer systems. We capture all footage in 4K, and the cameras are outfitted with B4 ENG lenses.

We rely on three URSA Broadcast G2 cameras due to their portable and sleek design, 13 stops of dynamic range and most importantly, low light performance with dual gain ISO.

Of course, resolution has to be the minimum of 1080p, but the actual quality of the image is what is most important to us and our clients. Our only technical requirement is low light performance. Every time we hit record we strive to produce a piece in which our clients can use every second.

It’s extremely challenging because we’re at the whim of the lighting available and the conditions at the scene. We wish to see clean and clear footage that tells the story no matter what the conditions are. My role at KNN is director of photography, but I still shoot news in the field with my team. I’ve always had a passion for news gathering and photography. I’ve been working in the field since 2009. At Key News Network (KNN), we produce breaking and live news video at incident locations, on demand.

Editing in davinci resolve 15 with alex