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.

Inverted Pyramid Example.

Five W's Chart Example.

Five W's Chart

Fill in each row with details that answer the question with a news story.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-25760351

What happened?

A man with severe chest pain died after waiting 42 minutes for an ambulance.

Who was there?

Fred Pring, 74 and his wife Joyce.

Why did it happen?

A statement read out from a paramedic on duty that night heard staff were constantly on the go with "call after call".

Staff were very busy that night and he had been threatened at knifepoint in a dispute over which hospital to take a patient to on the call before Mrs Pring's.

When did it happen?

21 March 2013.

Where did it happen?

His home in Mynydd Isa, Flintshire.

News Broadcast Conventions and How Things Have Changed.

The first BBC news broadcasts attempted to be completely impartial and unbiased way - not showing the presenter meant that they were unable to express their opinions through facial expressions. So many people had been used to radio beforehand, and were also worried that showing moving images as the news was read would distract the viewers from the audio, and so instead decided to show a newsreel footage at the end of the news. There was also background music as the stories were being read, which is something that is not used in modern news broadcasts. Interviews and graphics were still used in early broadcasts, however, although have developed over the years.

Overseas news reports still had to be sent back to England on an aircraft to be broadcast the next day, however. As news progressed, news broadcasts were displayed on camera instead of it simply being their voice. Reporters on the scene have always given a direct address, looking straight at the camera and talking to the viewers to make them feel closer to the news, and give them the feeling of interacting with the reports. Reporters always seem to wear clothes that match the location that they're in - for example, in the studio, they wear professional, smart clothes, however reporters on the scene in places such as war zones often wear more casual clothes.

As technology developed and improved, news reporters were able to broadcast live news reports from other countries, and show shocking news stories in which people had not been able to see in the full scale before. Events were able to unfold live on television in peoples' living rooms, putting them even closer to the action and events than ever before. However, in the modern days, the more extreme footage of deaths and killings seem to have been phased out slightly after people having somewhat of an outcry over the upsetting nature of the footage.

In the 1990s, 24 hour news channels became available, with more and more news available around the world to report on. The same kinds of stories such as disasters, wars, traditional events, sporting achievements and political news have always been broadcast on the news, even since it was first started. A mixture of graphics, a news reporter talking about the stories in the studio and reports from the scenes themselves became common. It became more and more common to have a montage of clips based on the news story with a voice over layered across the top, with the occasional cut away to a reporter speaking about the news to break it up.


To sum it up, the main conventions of news broadcasts can be summed up in the following list:
-A specific order/format. (Title sequence(s), a summary of the news stories, then a top story going down to sports, weather and finally a happy and light-hearted news story.)
-Graphics/text.
-Presenters, with the way they address the viewers and the clothes they wear.
-Voice overs with montages of news footage and cut aways to an on the scene presenter.
-Interviews relating to the news stories.
-The types of stories broadcast.

News Programme Proposal Letter

Killjoy Productions.
South-Essex College,
Southend-On-Sea,
Luker Road,
SS1 1ND.

Dear whom it may concern,

I am writing to offer you a chance to take part within a new project that is currently in the pre-production stages of development, focused mainly on local news, which will be presented in such a way that grasps the interest of the entire family.

Currently, the main members of the crew include Nicola Sinclair, David Neale, Jemma Land and Connor Sadler. We will be deciding at a later date on other members of the crew and cast – such as presenters, for example.

As previously stated, it will be targeted towards families of all ages, and also those within the local area. Therefore, it will probably be broadcast weekly during the mid-afternoon on a Saturday, possibly at some point between 2pm and 4pm on a larger channel. It will involve a wide range of all types of news stories, from politics to animals, and the main similarity between the stories will be that they are all within the local area.

The show will have a light-hearted feel to it, with a bright, colourful set and cheerful presenters. There will possibly be some uplifting graphics and intros/outros for the show and VT inserts which will match the lighter colour scheme. The majority of news stories will also take on this feel, and attempt to lighten up peoples’ Saturday afternoons with positive news stories that feel far closer to home than the larger news programmes show.

Our current working title is ‘South Essex News’, however this will most likely change over the course of the pre-production to match the programme’s feel.

Yours sincerely,

Nicola Sinclair and David Neale. 

'How To Make Your Screenplay Awesome!'

           1.    A clear setting.

When and where does the story take place? Lock that in your very first slugline.

For example:

‘INT. CAFETERIA, SOUTH ESSEX COLLEGE – AFTERNOON.’

2.    Describe that setting.

When people read your script, they probably wont know the environment you’re talking about. Describe it in a couple of short, sharp sentences.

For example:

‘INT. CAFETERIA, SOUTH ESSEX COLLEGE – DAY.

Bustling, busy, full of fashionably dressed teenagers. Chrome and glass surfaces, gossip fills the air as students talk and eat.’

3.    Introducing characters.

Throw in a couple of vivid details to make the reader picture the character in their head.

For example:

‘Kayla Frost, 19 – Stick-thin, looks like she might snap at any moment. Her Levi’s might be faded, but her eyes burn fiercely from under a gothic mop of hair.’

4.    Naming your characters.

Make sure each character’s name is different, and looks different when written down.

Give each character a surname, too. If they’ve only got a first name it comes across as an incomplete identity.

5.    Conflict, conflict, conflict.

Not only should your screenplay be based on a wider conflict of some kind, but each character should also have internal conflicts that they are dealing with.

Doubts, insecurities, unfinished business. None of us glide through life without stuff boiling away inside, and your characters shouldn’t either.

6.    She’s filled with secrets.

Giving your characters secrets, whether big or small, enables you to pick away layers and keeps your viewer interested along the way.

7.    Keep it consistent.

Make sure that you keep your characters consistent in both background and behaviour.

For example:

If Dave is an ex-con with a violent past, make sure that he acts that way when confronted by trouble.

8.    Dialogue stuff: sentences.

People don’t speak in complete sentences, nor do people all speak alike. You need to let your characters dictate where the punctuation goes. Gaps, pauses, unfinished sentences are more realistic.

Try recording people speaking and listening to it back.

9.    Stay away from the nose!

The phrase ‘on the nose’ refers to dialogue that states too clearly what a character is thinking, without filtering it through their personality and agenda.

For example:

If Dave tells his closest friend ‘I want to be a policeman,’ the chances are that this won’t play as well as having the application forms fall out of his gym bag might do.

10. Keep it unpredictable.

When Princess Leia tells Han Solo ‘I love you’ in The Empire Strikes Back, the scene is most memorable for his response of;

‘I know.’

You want dialogue to flow, but you need to rethink predictable exchanges. Throw away the first response you think of. Throw away the second one too. Maybe use the third.

11. Keep it varied.

Does a character even need to respond verbally to a statement? If someone says ‘goodbye’ to them, do they need to speak in return? Couldn’t they wink instead?

Once again, predictability is your enemy.

12. First line.

The first line that your character speaks should sum up an aspect of their personality. Your characters only get one chance to make a first impression, so make sure that it packs a punch.

For example:

If you’re introducing a party animal like Stifler from the American Pie series, his first line wouldn’t be something mundane about being late for an appointment.

13. Language = life.

Make sure your character’s dialogue reflects their life experiences.

For example:

A 70 year-old English professor won’t speak the same way as a 25 year-old football player, and a character born in 1960 will speak differently to one born in 1990.

Make their dialogue reflect this!

14. Double hyphen.

Has one character stepped on another’s line, cutting them off before they finish speaking?

The traditional way to show this in a scrip is with a double hyphen.

For example:

                                    WIFE

You know, I never told you—

                                    HUSBAND

I don’t want to hear it!

15. Fresh slang.

Why not make up your own slang? Using the latest words, phrases and cultural references will date your script extremely quickly.

Writers like Joss Whedon make up their own phrases and drop those into the script (For example: ‘What’s the sitch?’ meaning ‘What’s the situation/What’s going on?’ originated in Buffy The Vampire Slayer.)

An audience won’t know the difference between a slang phrase you’ve made up and one they’ve never heard before, but they’ll certainly notice a dated turn of phrase. You dig, man?

16. Mix dialogue and action.

In life, stuff happens all at once. People don’t stop talking because a bus is about to explode; the bus explodes whilst they’re in mid-sentence.

Don’t be afraid to have action and dialogue crash into each other, because things in real life don’t happen in a neat order.

17. Don’t tell me what I’ve seen!

If Debbie’s head just exploded, the viewer doesn’t need James to tell them;

‘My God, Debbie’s head just exploded!’

They’ve already noticed. Eliminate dialogue that narrates the action.

18. No place for closed questions.

If you’ve got a question that leads to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response in your dialogue, get rid of it. They stop the dialogue dead, and the audience can anticipate the response.

Replace them with open questions to let your characters’ personalities shine through.

19. Misunderstandings.

Characters should misunderstand and misinterpret at each other, just as people do in real life.

It gives you great opportunities for conflict and comedy, plus it makes the dialogue seem more authentic when read through.

20. Style stuff: present tense.

Always keep your action descriptions in the present tense.

For example:

‘Gaby chases Fred into the ice-cream shop.’

Not:

‘Gaby has chased Fred into the ice-cream shop.’

You need to have the action unfold in the present as it unfolds on the page.

21. What not to include.

The action descriptions in your screenplay should not include anything that can’t be shown visually, such as:

-Thoughts.

-Hopes.

-A back story.

If you want to include these things, you need to show them through events or dialogue.

22. Keep it clear.

‘The father of the bride, who runs a pizza restaurant’ is ambiguous. Who sells the pizzas? The father or the bride?

Compare it to; ‘The bride, whose father runs a pizza restaurant.’

Keep it clear - the less ambiguity, the better.

23. ‘OH MY GOD.’

Using ALL CAPITALS in your action descriptions signifies something important. It’s a way of making the important elements pop when someone reads the script.

For example:

‘The whole building EXPLODES.’

Don’t get carried away and end up with half of your action description in caps, however. Use it sparingly.

24. Keep it punchy.

Break long sentences and keep your descriptions as vivid as you can.

Is Jennie trying to keep her breathing under control as she walks across a tightrope? Sometimes fewer words work better.

For example:

Inhale. Exhale. Jennie steps out.

25. Write it first, then edit.

The script won’t be as punchy, exciting and engaging as possible on the first draft.

Your mission on the first draft is just to get the thing written.

Second, third, fourth and fifth drafts are the opportunity to make your screenplay everything it can possibly be.

Look How Far We've Come Music Video

This is the finished music video for the song 'Look How Far We've Come' by Imagine Dragons. Below is also the link to all of my production work for the video, including the concept ideas, treatment, proposal, storyboards, scripts, schedules, location recces, contracts, risk assessments and also the evaluation.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9hMqQxEohUBX3ZtSFd1Szhld2M&usp=sharing

Video Editing Five Minute Presentation

Here is my finished five-minute spoken presentation on video editing techniques and how they have developed throughout the years.