VT Clip Mind Map

This is the current mind map of the VT clips for our news programme, including the basic details of what everyone is planning on researching and filming within our group.

Propaganda and Bias Opinions.

Documentaries, although factual, are often biased towards a certain opinion or another. It normally makes the documentary rather one-sided, and doesn't show the other side of arguments. During the Bowling For Columbine documentary, although he showed people telling the camera that they feel safer with a loaded gun in the house although they had never been attacked, the same person probably had enough security in and around their house to stop the threat of being attacked, yet they never asked people in the streets whether they had been attacked or not.

Most news programmes try not to be biased, as they are giving factual information that should not have an opinion. However, certain news companies - such as FOX News - appears to be extremely right-wing, and even goes to far to refuse to allow anyone to speak on the show if they do not follow their ideals.

When something is propaganda, however, instead of it being simply one side of an opinion, it is trying to get others to agree and influence their views on the subject. For example, once again, FOX News will only show stories that makes the right wing side of politics look better than the left, and they seem to be trying to make the population believe in their views and agree with them, without showing them the other side of things.

When being a journalist, however, things are supposed to remain completely unbiased and only show the facts in a way that doesn't support one side of debates and arguments, and also doesn't convince people to agree/disagree with something simply because of the reporter's own views.

Bias can be created within the news by selecting certain stories to broadcast. By doing this, something can be made to seem better, or worse, depending on how much positive/negative press one broadcasting station gives a certain thing - such as FOX News making the right-wing parties seem glorious compared to other political parties.

Headlines and captions can give a different light on a story, clearly showing an opinion on the story. For example, when most news stations reported on Nelson Mandela meeting the First Lady, Michelle Obama, they used headlines such as:

‘Mandela asks to meet Michelle Obama.’

However, FOX News clearly shows their views on Obama's political party, and clearly wants to put them in a bad light by using the headline:

‘Michelle Obama Snubbed in Africa, But Looking Forward to Private Safari.’

Anyone who only reads FOX News would think something completely different about the story than what is happening, and it is a form of propaganda because it is trying to get people to agree with their views.

News Programme Rehearsals.

In today's lesson one of my job roles in Deanna and Ellis' group was changed to a camera operator, so I feel as though I now have a little more to write about rather than simply stating my duties as a runner for the other three groups.

During Josh's group, I was still a runner, however. The majority of the time, they didn't need me to do anything and so I had to wait around until a job needed to be done, and that ranged from tearing tape for the floor manager to use, seeing as he struggled to do so, to taping the loose wires to the floor to stop people from tripping up and even running up to the technician's office to pick up a boom mic for use in the studio.

In the second half of the lesson though, I was operating a camera. It should have been camera three, although the set up seemed to have gotten mixed up somewhere along the lines and it ended up being camera two instead. 

At first, the camera was positioned here, focusing quite close to the two presenters sitting at the desk.

However, by the end of the session, the camera was positioned further out with a wide shot of the set. The plan is to pan the camera across the set before cutting to one of the other two cameras almost as an intro to the news programme - almost like they do on BBC news.

Notes For Visual Storytelling.

Screenplays are usually a page a minute. If an action scene in a film is supposed to last for five minutes, there should be five pages of the screenplay focused on the action scene.

The protagonist/hero normally enters the scene for the first time from the left hand side of the screen, walking to the right, and the villain generally enters from the right hand side, and walking towards the left. It’s subconscious, and the viewer tends to like/dislike a character more because this is the way that people have learnt to watch films.

Leading the eye is a detail in which can be put into the script. Parts of the scene can be focused upon by lighting, sound, character positions, camera angles and camera movements, to make things seem more important than others. Paranormal activity doesn’t have these cues to tell the audience where to look, which is why it is scarier to watch it in a cinema as you are unsure of where to look compared to normal films.

Symmetry is something that people always look for. It’s easy to throw the audience off by unbalancing something on screen, as it feels like something is missing or wrong, whereas a balanced and symmetrical shot feels calmer and safe. If a shot is described as having something missing, the audience will assume it is something important.

The size of things in the shot is important too, as framing can make things seem larger or smaller than usual, giving them more significance or less significance than usual. Something small like a nail or a ring could have a huge impact if it fills up the screen compared to if it was portrayed as its usual size in a wide shot. Framing could be used in this too, and help to get information across.

People often look for boundaries and lines within shots, things that stop characters and others from reaching their goals, or to relay important information – like Brody being unable to cross the boundary from the beach and into the sea due to his fear of water which is information that is relayed to the audience quite a lot. Lines breaking across the screen could be used if a character ‘crosses the line’, and it would be almost like a visual representation that the character has taken something too far.

Sound is another detail that is used a lot in films. In Jaws, the famous theme song is never used for fake shark scares, it’s only used for genuine scenes with the shark because otherwise the audience would stop paying attention to the music and wouldn’t tense up when the shark is actually nearby.

Some things shown on screen are just pieces of information to show or suggest things relating to the story, and aren’t something that characters in the film would be looking at. This allows the audience to link two things together, for example, and add to the story without them literally needing to be told.

Camera movements such as contra shots can be used to make the audience feel uneasy, or make something seem more important within the film.

Colours are sometimes used to represent things – such as the colour yellow appearing a lot throughout Jaws to represent danger and the shark, and it sets the audience up to subliminally recognise the colour when something bad is about to happen.

When going from one scene to another, always have something to lead the audience by the hand into the next scene. Whether it is a huge contrast, something exactly the same, or carrying something on from the previous scene – such as characters walking into a house from the rain being soaking wet rather than cutting to them being indoors and already dry. There should always be a continuity or a discontinuity between all scenes.

News Programme Live TV Studio

For the other three news programmes, I am a runner in each group. It doesn't particularly leave me much to write about on my blog, seeing as it doesn't have specific assignments each time - it's just helping out when it's needed. At first, I helped make sure that all the camera and sound equipment was out in the recording studio, I connected the wires to the cameras and helped move some of the set, and then then didn't really need me too much anymore and so I asked the producer/directors if I could work on my pre-production work in the other room and they could call me if they needed me again. They said yes to this, and so I spent my time - when I wasn't needed - working on the pre-production work for our group.

When it was time for us to rehearse, it didn't exactly go to plan as Connor said that he had done the script and the set layout for our news show, but it didn't appear on the day. So whilst Connor and Jemma were writing the smallest introduction and ending for the news show that I had ever seen, me and David began working on the set design. We moved the cameras and the furniture around a lot to test out different ideas for set design, before deciding on and settling with the following:

Also, here is out cast and crew list of who is doing what job role in our production:
Producer: Nicola Sinclair.
Director: Jemma Land.
Floor Manager: David Neale.
Script Writer: Connor Sadler.
Art Director: Ashley Hodges.
Vision Mixer: Ellis
Sound 1:  Frankie
Sound 2: Deanna
Lighting: Joshua Bates.
Lighting 2: Maddie
Camera 1: Chloe Pearce.
Camera 2: Lesley Cross.
Camera 3: Rory
Presenter 1: Steff Preston.
Presenter 2: Joe.
Runner: Corey
Researcher: Chris


Here's also a basic idea of how the show should run, with it being twenty minutes long in total:
-Introduction. [120 seconds/2 minutes]
-VT clip 1. [240 seconds/4 minutes]
-VT clip 2. [240 seconds/4 minutes]
-Advert break. [90 seconds/1.5 minutes]
-New/Live news story. [270 seconds/4.5 minutes]
-VT clip 3. [240 seconds/4 minutes]
-Possible ending? [60 seconds/1 minute?]

All this may change at some point throughout the production if we find that things run better in different ways than what's written here, however.

Types, Methods and Sources of Research.

These are the different types, methods and sources used when conduction research specifically for a news programme VT clip.

Types:
-Primary.
-Secondary.
-Quantitative (Amounts.)
-Qualitative (Opinions.)

Methods:
-Questionaries.
-Interviews.
-Self-shoot.
-Observations.
-Experiments/tests.
-Reading.
-Emailing/phoning.

Sources:
-People.
-Internet.
-Books.
-Survies/Questionnaires.
-Newspapers.
-Films/Documentaries/VTs.
-Leaflets/Flyers.
-Radio/Podcasts.
-Word of mouth/gossip.
-Archives.

The purpose of researching before filming the VT clip is to know that accurate facts and figures are being provided. It allows us to get a backstory before filming, and to know that there really is something worth filming that is interesting and relates to the news programme that it would be a part of. Going to the scene to film a VT clip without researching information prior to the filming may make things hectic on the day. Without research, you cannot plan what you are going to film, and therefore wouldn't know what to focus on once there, or what to ask people during interviews, for example.

If a VT clip is recorded, and it has nothing to do with the general idea of the news programme, and is not focused on the correct target audience, it would not be considered interesting and may either not be used within the programme, or if it is, it may lose the attention of some viewers as it is not what they would be expecting to watch.

2-3 Minute News Clip.

Task: Plan a 2-3 minute long news story.

Bush Fires, Victoria, Australia.

1 - Running order.
5 seconds of a intro with graphics.
15 seconds starting off in a studio with a reporter speaking about the bush fires.
40 seconds of a montage with the same presenter speaking as a voice-over.
30 seconds of an interview with a victim of the fires.
30 seconds with more montages/voice overs.
20 seconds back to the studio with the presenter, finishing up the report.

140 seconds (2.3 minutes) total.

2 - Script.

NEWS ANCHORMAN

The Australian bush burns out of control. Emergency warnings have been issued as the fire makes its way down the Northern Grampians, but it has since been downgraded and brought under control. Incident controller Russell Manning says he fire in the Grampians could threaten Halls Gap.

RUSSELL MANNING

(Interview)

“The situation is really serious, we’ve got temperatures in the high 20s overnight tomorrow, we’ve got winds that are 40 to 60 KPH from the north before we get a gusty South Westerly change which is of the same intensity so he fire could blow a considerable distance with that change”.

LINDY ALLINSON

I’m ready to leave my home as soon as the wind change.

NEWS ANCHORMAN

Local residents in Steglitz, in the Brisbane Ranges north of Geelong, are being waned a fast moving fire front, 6 people are being treated for smoke inhalation, 24 people have died of cardiac arrests since the heatwaves rolled in, about 19,000 customers were left without power around Frankston, in Melbourne’s South-East, So far power to 3,600 customers have been restored but it could still take several hours for the faults are fixed more than 5,000 homes have been cut-off from power near Ouyen in Victoria's North-West.

3 - V.T inserts.
Shots showing the extent of the fires, how large they are and the damage it's causing to homes/wildlife/towns. A mixture of ground shots and helicopter shots, edited together with simple cuts - nothing fancy - and at a medium pace; not to fast and not too slow.

4 - Graphics.
A short introduction of the news channel with the recognisable logo/tune of the station.
Text on the lower third of the screen stating what the news story is about.
The current time in the bottom left hand corner.
Perhaps scrolling text right at the bottom of the screen displaying other current stories.

5 - Presenters.
One person in the studio, continues to talk as a voice over for the montage of clips relating to the news story.
Another for one interview with a victim of the fires half way through the report.

6 - Interviews.
A brief interview with a victim of the fire who had to be evacuated from their home. Only a couple of questions asked, mainly about how they are feeling about all the fires and their own experience with being evacuated.

7 - Voice overs.
The presenter continues to read the news report as a montage of different video footage of the fires is shown.




Evaluation.

Our task was to plan for a 2-3 minute long news report on a real-life news piece. The general ideas of a news report was broken down into seven points in which we had to decide on and plan for. The story I chose was the out of control bush fires in Victoria, Australia, which is currently happening.

Whilst the others worked on the script, I decided on the other features of the news report - including the running time, graphics, VT clips and presenters. I worked out that this news story hasn't been reported on much on the main news channels, and so would probably be online, or on a 24-hour news channel instead as a smaller story. Therefore, only one presenter sitting in the studio, reading the report would work, using their voice as a voice-over as footage of the fires are shown. Another presenter on-scene could be used briefly during an interview with a victim of the fire, although this wouldn't be shown for too long as it is only a short news clip, and needs to be able to show the story within this short amount of time.

The story would mainly be a voice over with different footage of the fires to involve the audience and show them the size and the scale of the bush fires as they would probably not be able to do this first hand. It'll also give facts and figures about the events taking place, informing the viewers of what is happening.

The graphics wouldn't be over used, and would most likely be text on the lower third of the screen informing viewers of the story if they turn on the channel half way through the report, as well as perhaps the time, scrolling text to inform of other news stories and maybe even an introduction graphic to show the channel name/logo if just after an advert break, for example.

'Country Life'

A romantic comedy set in the countryside, starring Robert Downey Jr.

‘Country Life.’

On the brink of bankruptcy, a spoiled city man (Robert Downey Jr.) attempts to start a new life in the countryside after inheriting his father’s farm. He must learn how to retrace his roots as a country boy with the help of his father’s old farm hand (Gwyneth Paltrow) before his life falls apart completely.

A poster similar to the one above, with the two main protagonists. However, Robert Downey Jr. would be dressed in city clothes holding farm gear and clearly not wanting to work on the farm, though she is trying to get him to do so.