Evaluation (Question 2)

How effective is the combination of your ancillary text and your main product?

 

Evaluation (Question 3)

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Evaluation (Question 4)

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Evaluation (Question 1)

in what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge conventions of real media products?

Website

Click here for the live version of the website, pictured below:

The website was created using iWeb utilising the ability to work from a template, useful in that none of the group members had direct experience in creating a website. However, despite this I believe overall it conveys a strong sense of professionalism. Personally, my role was contributing to the written content  and helping with the final design layout, for example, researching real news websites footer content.

TBC News at 6.30 - Final

The final completed copy of our local news production.

Decisions

Following the final upload of our final video, we made two alternative copies, each with different title music.

It was decided that Version A would be the final copy because the continuing beat made the soundtrack link more fluidly with the two scenes. Also, as this soundtrack was created by James, it made our production seem more unique as the one used in Version B was a standard sound found in the Final Cut library. 

Progress Update: Soundtrack

Whilst watching back the first edit of our production, it was clear something was missing. As a group we decided to insert a soundtrack to the background of the headlines to make it sound more like a professional production, for example, BBC News:

James has now begun creating a beat using the GarageBand software, which is starting to sound good.

Progress Update: Editing & First Draft

Over half term, with all filming complete, I began editing all the clips together on Final Cut Pro X at home.

Although a time consuming process, especially blue screening, I believe good first draft has been created:

However, it is equally worth noting that some changes are to be made:

• Add our own music over the headlines to sound more professional.
• Cut in some shots that do not start at the correct point.
• Colour correct a few of the initial shots, mainly too dark. 

Progress Update: Life in the Studio #2

The idea behind the Life in the Studio series is to give a behind the scenes into what we have been doing in the recent days.

Progress Update: Life in the Studio #1

The idea behind the Life in the Studio series is to give a behind the scenes into what we have been doing in the recent days.

Introduction Sequence (Draft) Analysis

A key part of every channels news production is their is introduction sequence, the most famous being the BBC's iconic theme tune layed over the top of a series of clips from around the world:

Using this for inspiration we created our own, and this is the initial draft of what we have created:

However, it is clear whilst editing the sequence together, in Final Cut Pro X, I believed that the sequence was too slow, and began to even verge along being a little boring and stale. To combat this, we believe that two more separate shots will need to be added, more than likely of a town centre scene, or a traffic orientated scene, to allow more movement into the sequence. 

 Right - Torquay Town Centre

[extra shot 1]

Left - Paignton Seafront

[extra shot 2]

Colour Correction:

Also, the skateboarding shot need to be adjusted, currently looking washed out and dull.

Title Correction: 

The 'Paignton' title isn't motion tracked properly, meaning I will have to adjust this using Motion 5, at a frame by frame level, a slow, but necessary process.

Music:

Currently, the music fits well, however we feel it is a little generic, so we continue the search for a better soundtrack, possibly delving into the possibility of creating our own.

Studio Research & Devolopment

A studio is the central point to which a news broadcast is identified, different channels offer alternative layouts, tailoring each to their audience or time slot. 

BBC News (National) Studio.

Throughout the day, at the 1, 6 & 10 o'clock news slots, the studio remains similar, although not the same. The key point of this, is that the studio provide continuity within the brand, it mainly achieves this through the use of colour.

The studio uses a simplistic colour scheme of mainly red and white, reflecting the colours of the brand, giving itself a solid brand identity. Also, this studio uses light in an effective way, ensuring that all areas of the studio are equally lighted, making it seem that the presenter is a room larger than it actually is. Finally the table in the middle provides a central focal point for the viewer to concentrate on. 

BBC News (Local) Studio.

Its clear that the local news adopt a more relaxed approach, having a sofa with a smaller coffee type table in front of the presenter, perhaps reflecting the lack of urgency and importance in local news.

Studio Development

Here you can see the gradual process of turning a classroom into a news studio, this provides numerous challenges mainly surrounding light, however we have managed to solve this issues using two high power work lights along with ceiling lights to ensure the studio is adequately lit. Although we were happy with this studio layout, after analysing the test footage, it soon became clear that our DIY blue screen wasn't quite as good as we'd hoped: 

Upon returning to the studio in the next lesson, a mild disaster has happened, a torrential hail storm had cause the buildings roof to leak, all over the blue screen, so it would have needed to have been replaced anyway. 

 Every cloud has a silver lining they say, and our silver lining was that this spurred us on to create a better blue screen, that gives the studio a more professional look, created using a cardboard cutout this time to ensure all corners was 90 degrees right angles, not chaotic like the previous one. 

This final video was the test for the new blue screen, and because it was filmed on a mobile phone, its caused some shaking which disturbs the video stability, but apart from that it looks good. We used Motion 5.  

Storyboards & Progress Update

Over the last we have constructed a series of storyboards in order for the filming process to run more smoothly - so we're not making up shots on the day. 

Audience Profile & Research

The BBC local news provides a stable platform on which to base our news production on, they're established brand attracts regular viewers because of their consistent quality in there filming approach.

In a recent review of BBC News and Local radio it stated that the majority of their audience is over 50, this is reflected in their stern approach to news-reading, often offering the clear facts in a stern yet clear tone. Although this makes the news easy to understand, it can appear a little formal and authoritative to younger audiences, even perhaps alienating them.

For our individual news production, we want to include this younger audience, perhaps working towards a more family orientated audience, with age upward of around 32, so not to exclude and patronize the older audience by making the broadcast too niche. The main way TBC News will attract this audience is through a more informal studio layout, perhaps more similar to that of the One Show on BBC1 or Daybreak on ITV1. This provides a more relaxed attitude that these viewers would find more appealing.

Also to attract this audience, we will adapt the style of the regular news presenters into something a little more informal, perhaps including some opinion into the matter but not enough to influence the viewer, this would help distinguish our production from the main BBC broadcasts which come off a little cold at times. However, it is still crucial that all presenters involved wear smart costumes in order for the program to be considered reliable.

Our Audience Demographic:

32-70 with no specific gender bias

In order for us to successfully portray a professional image, we conducted some direct research into our audience demographic using both qualitative and quantitive data.

We divided the audience into small sub-categories: 32-40 41-55 56+ (5 respondents for each category - 15 in total)

We then asked them a number of questions:

"What is your age?" (would then be placed into relavant category)

"Do you regularly watch local news programmes" (yes/no answer) 

11 yes vs 4 no

"If no, why not?" 

The main reasoning for this was that local broadcasts often use irrelavant stories that arn't of particular interest, particularly noted amongst younger spectrum of demographic.

"What do you expect from a professional local news programme?" 

Most answered stating important LOCAL issues, for example some quoted coverage of individual issues that particularly affect this area - a recent example being the closure of Brixham Coastguard. 

It is clear from this research that it is essential to use important LOCAL issues in order to convey any sense of professionalism - but it also confirms our demographic with most regularly watching local news programmes.

Research - Green Screen

In a modern day newsroom a green screen is an integral item and as we as a group have never
used one it was important that we practised before we came to film the real thing.

After ironing the screen, to eliminate any imperfections that may cause shadows, taylor held it up behind James and we recorded him speaking. Although not an ideal situation it worked well for just a practise; but in the real take we will securely attach it to a wall. To key the green out we used Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 which took some getting used too.

Progress Update - 27/11

Over the weekend we carried out some filming, during the day we filmed our progress.

Timings & Website Research

In a live broadcast, timings are crucial in delivering a professional production, as just one slip up can cause a domino effect on the rest of the schedule. To ensure our timings look professional, we conducted some research.

Order:

Channel ident -> introducer introduces news

Summarize the day’s top stories: 5 stories -> inserts of relevant footage

‘Also’, ‘And’ used as co-ordinating conjunctions -> last story is light-hearted/uplifting

Intro sequence

“Good Evening. Welcome to the news at 6” -> stood up in front of desk

Introduces first story -> “Our middle-eastern correspondent ‘John Davis’ reports from Gaza”

Dramatic opening shot of story -> outside reporter states time of incident -> reports the story

Shot of reporter talking about story -> may be walking towards the camera

Back to voiceover inserts

Interview with person related to incident

“Will Davis. BBC News. Gaza” sign out

Back to studio -> “Our correspondent Kathy Smith is in Ashbor. Kathy…” -> she gives her opinion, other facts she has learned -> LIVE -> “Kathy Smith in Ashbor. Thank you.”

Progress Update VLOG

Update: Filming over the weekend went successfully getting most shots we needed in a relatively small period of time, currently we are editing it together.

Marjons Media Trip

Today, 14th November, Our group to a trip to a nearby university to partake in a media production masterclass, in which we would learn some vital skills for our upcoming news broadcast.

This is the video diary of the day:

After an initial briefing, we were tasked to create a front page of a tabloid newspaper. This involved us creating a story that could be easily taken within campus. Naturally, as a sports university, Marjon had a great swimming pool, which we utilized to create a fictional story about a shark in the pool. After taking the shot, James photoshopped a shark into the frame and using Adobe Indesign we created the page. The story was meant to be unrealistic, just as a demonstration. 

We believe this helped us with especially creative writing which we can utilize when scripting the main leading story in our news broadcast.

Later in the day, we created a viral clip about Jam, a play on words on the Journalism and Media department at Marjon, which helped us creatively think about shots, especially framing. 

Media Day Trip

Tomorrow, 14th November, myself and the two other members of TBC productions will be visiting UCP Marjon's to partake in a news production course, this should enable our group to create a more professional news production. 

TBC News Logo & Research

James has now created the logo for our production company and the news broadcast.

Research

To create our logo, we first looked at other news organizations logo's to establish what the professionals were using, as a logo is a central recognition point for viewers its important to get it right.

BBC News: 

The colour scheme is what immediately strikes a viewer, with the deep red attracting the eye to ensure the viewer is alert and differentiates itself from the other BBC programmes that it follows. Also, local news programmes will just use a standard font to put next to the logo, to create continuity within the news branding, for example: 

ITV News: 

It's clear that ITV have gone for a more neutral approach in terms of colour scheme, continuing with the overall colour scheme of the channel. Also the reflective angle could represent the stance they take on news-reading, perhaps giving time to reflect on the story itself rather than blitzing through every story. 

Channel 4 News:

Again, Channel 4 have gone for a simplistic approach, appealing to a wide audience and making the news broadcast easily recognizable whilst still being heavily associated with the channel.

Animatic

Progress 26/10/12

Todays lesson involved the creation of the animatic, produced from the storyboards we created earlier, this was done by myself and James and is the final piece of planning we aim to do before we begin shooting. My personal role was editing the animatic, whilst James scripted. 

Storyboard

In order for a successful production, pre-planning is essential, part of this includes the creation of a storyboard and it was my responsibility to produce this essential piece.

 I went for a slightly alternative way of creating it, instead of drawing the exact shot, I found similar images to the ones we wanted, paying particular attention to the establishing shots and stuck them onto the storyboard. I believe this give  us more creative freedom on the shoot day whilst still having clear plans to work from. 

Progress Update VLOG

Progress 16/10/2012

After deciding to create a group blog we quickly realised we need a name for this, after much consideration it was agreed we would call the News Production company TBC.
  These initials stand for Torquay Broadcasting Company, a name we feel sits comfortably with our target audience of the community within the local area, whilst still sounding professional.

Currently, we are working towards our opening sequence, with initial storyboard under construction. With myself coming up with the initial concept and then Taylor and I developing it further.

The initial idea is based on the concept of sports and activities. We want to open with a skateboarder on the extreme left of frame, changing into perhaps someone on a bike then ending with someone on a mobile phone, using twitter to broadcast a new story, bringing a contemporary twist to the production.

Further Research

Pitch

EDIT 20/10/2012

After much deliberation we have shifted the target audience from a teenage audience to a more wider and perhaps older target audience, similar to the local BBC news programmes. However, our lead story remains the same, getting the teen and younger perspective on the drastic education changes. 

Progress 20/9/2012

Todays lesson mainly included discussions on the film pitch required for the A2 production. We felt it appropriate to create a filmed style approach for this task, as we felt we could more easily and creatively express our views on our production.

Initial Research

Today we began our initial research into news productions. Firstly we began by watching previous years A2 news productions and noting their styles of interaction with the viewers and how they had tailored their broadcast to a particular audience, of particular interest was their use of professional techniques noted in various 'parody' news how-to videos.

Research

Running Order:

BBC News @ 6: 1) Hillsborough Disaster
                            2)Libya Ambassador

BBC News @ 10: 1) Hillsborough Disaster
                               2) Libya Ambassador
                               3) Eurozone Crisis mices
                               4) Deaf

Brand Identity - Opening Sequence Analysis 

The heavy beat present in this clip reflects the serious nature of the News itself, perhaps a representation of the target audience, that being to 40 and onwards, whereas the News beat clip is lighter and less serious, perfectly suited to the young audience of CBBC. Similarly, the Channel 4 news clip has a more serious tone to the music, with lower tones and more bass, helping to establish both its brand identity, as a serious news broadcaster, and its target audience of the middle aged and above. The graphics of the newsround clip clearly distinguish themselves from the other two because of the simplistic manner of the shapes and light editing in terms of colours, for example the BBC use harsh red and yellows compared to the greens of blues of Newsround. Interestingly, channel Four opt for light blues and purples to establish how different they from the BBC perhaps.

The mis-en-scene is strongly differianted between mainly the BBC news and Channel 4's with Newsround, whilst newsround has a low sofa with a large green screen, the other two comprise of large screens containing relevant images and titles regarding the news.

2) It is clear that both channel 4 and the BBC are aiming their relevant programs at an older audience, whether that be the more formal mode of address or the harsher graphics. On the other hand, newsround is clearly aiming for the younger audience, because of its screening always being shown during CBBC times, meaning it would be from 6 to around 12.

3) All the title sequences clearly have merit with there respective audiences, hence their success, however i think the BBC's perhaps more than the rest, because of the tension it creates.

Beginnings Part II

After securing A at A-level, we begin another year in the editing suite -