Short Drama Diary Entry (1).

Today I spoke to Connor about my project for the ten minute, short drama that will be our next task in college. Although I have ideas, I did not go into detail about these with him as it is something quite close to me, and I want to make sure that I get it right.

The idea for my ten minute drama is something that has been in my mind for quite a few years now. It was originally inspired by a music video that was created in 2011, and although the story behind the music video is quite light-hearted and bright, my drama will be something of a much darker version of a similar storyline.

Although they are not identical to each other, both my short drama and the music video will have aspects of a post-apocalyptic scenario, where what remains of the world is run by a strict and controlling government, and anyone who steps foot out of line is killed, or forced into exile and hunted down. I'm planning to have my story follow two brothers who are on the run from this government, however they have been living like this for many years and therefore have become well-known to both the government and other exiles alike. This has made them a big target for the government, but also an inspiration and a role model to other exiles.

The main focus on this story, however, is the daughter of one of these brothers. Her mother, and his wife, was killed by the government a while ago, which has only made the family more determined not to live by the strict laws that have been laid down, and to try and somehow destroy this oppressing government. However, just a little while before the drama begins, the three become involved in a fight with forces from the government, and the daughter is kidnapped, although it is unsure what they are trying to use her for. The only thing that's for certain is that the father feels the need to get her back at any cost. This is all recapped through a flashback in a nightmare that the father has a few days - or maybe even a week - after these events happened.

The fight left the two brothers injured, however, and they need help from other exiles to even come close to getting the daughter back. Many advise the father to wait a little while - the government clearly aren't going to kill the girl any time soon, and they are in no condition to fight. He ignores this, however, and plans to go into the heart of the city and the government to get his daughter back.

That is the main focus of the drama - the two brother's attempt at a rescue mission. However, the mission is both a failure, and a success. They manage to free the daughter, but at the cost of their own lives, leaving her in the hands of the other exiles to raise and care for. With the story being extremely character driven, I plan for the deaths to come as a surprise to the audience, and hopefully play with their emotions towards the end of the film, having an ending that is something between a transcendent and a existential ending. They don't live, but it's not necessarily a tragic ending as their daughter survives, and that was the entire purpose of them infiltrating the city in the first place.


The only issues I feel like I would have for this is locations. I know the characters extremely well in my mind, so writing a script for the story would not be much of a problem for me in the slightest. Finding locations that suit the idea of the film that I can get permission to shoot on is a different problem, however. It would need to range from abandoned, run-down locations that look like something that would exist after a disaster, to a clean city/office environment that looks like something an oppressing government would have created. I'm currently unsure how I will get locations such as these, but I am planning to keep looking and try my hardest to get something that fits.

I already have a number of people who are familiar with the storyline, and have stated that they would be more than willing to be extras in the film - as both members of the government, and also some of the exiles. Because I am planning to have the 'bad guys' wearing masks that makes them all unidentifiable from each other, they would be able to double up as both the government and the exiles, which makes things a little simpler for me. All that I really need to focus on is getting actors for the main characters, as I need people that can pull off the roles well in a believable way. I am thinking of asking the acting department in the college to see if anybody is interested in taking any of the main roles in the drama.

The only other problem is fitting the story within ten minutes. I'm hoping that I'll be able to do so, but I know I'll need to sit down and properly plan the idea out and script/storyboard it so that I can see exactly how long it'll last, and how long it will take me to film and edit the drama.


With these issues aside, I'm pretty confident with my idea. Having something that I've been thinking about for years means that it's extremely familiar for me, and I know all details of it extremely well. I'm actually rather excited to finally be able to script it and make it into a short film, and I'm hoping that it will turn out decent.

Hank D. Greenlight Presentation Research.

1. Research how each of the companies are owned -
1. who can produce content for these companies, why might it matter to Hank?
2. Research how each of the companies are funded
1. where do the fund come from, how much is there available for film/tv
3. Present your findings
1. Include your research findings with references
2. Conclude which company you believe Hank should work with


1. Justify why he should opt for that company over another

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BBC.

1.

The BBC is a statutory corporation, and has no shareholders. It is a semi-autononomous public service broadcaster, and operates under a Royal Charter, and a Licence and Agreement from the Home Secretary. [1]

The BBC Trust, however, is the governing body of the BBC to make sure that it continues to exist to serve the public, and complete its mission of informing, educating and entertaining. The trust is led by the Chairman Lord Patten, and consists of 12 trustees. It’s the guardian of licence fee revenue, and of the public interest in the BBC. [3]

There are several television channels in the UK. BBC One and BBC Two are the main two channels where the majority of the more well-known television shows and films are shown, although there are also several digital only stations however, which include BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC News, BBC Parliament, CBBC and CBeebies. [1]

It is available to everyone in the United Kingdom as long as they have paid their TV license. It is also both the world's oldest, and the world's largest broadcasting organisation with around 23,000 staff members. [10]

i.

The BBC is made up of a horizontal ownership, and they believe that there is value in working alongside others. They feel that if they work together with external partners, it allows them to support the creative industry on a wider scale, and will also deliver more to audiences.

They have a history of working with partners, and has collaborated with a number of organisation on both television and radio projects. They look to provide partnership with a higher profile, and working with others is now a central part to their strategies. [4]

Partnerships include:

-YouView - ITV, Channel 4, Five, BT, TalkTalk and Arqiva - to create an open, internet-connected TV platform.

-The BBC Academy is partnered with Channel 4 and ITV on a number of programmes to encourage and improve diversity in the media industry. 

-Fast Train is a number of training and networking events for freelancers and indie film makers, also hosted by the BBC Academy in partnership with Skillset and others. This allows film makers to learn how to pitch ideas, co-commisioning and developing new ideas. [5]

The BBC also fund independent film makers to make projects, and provide different tariffs for different categories of programmes and films. For example, the indicative tariff range for daytime and low cost drama would be £50K - £500K per hour, but the indicative tariff range for a scripted comedy broadcast across the network would be £110K - £600K an hour. [6]

2.

It was created for the public and therefore the public pay for the channel to be broadcast. The annual television licence fee is charged to all British households, companies and organisations that use any type of equipment that can receive live television broadcasts. The cost of this is set annually by the British Government, and is agreed by Parliament, however, this year’s fee is generally £145.50 for a colour TV Licence, or £49.00 for a black and white TV Licence, and can be paid annually, or in smaller instalments throughout the year. [2]

They also receive World Service grants, and get profits from commercial operations  such as programme and format sales through a completely owned subsidiary called BBC Worldwide Ltd. They earn additional income by selling certain programme-making services through BBC Studios and Post Production Ltd., which used to be known as BBC Resources Ltd. The majority of the BBC’s book publishing activities were sold in 2011, however. [1]

i.

Funding for television and film on the BBC comes from a number of places, including the UK Film Council, the British Film Institute, national and regional screen agencies, local councils, charities, completion funding, production schemes and competitions, or even crowdfunding through projects and websites such as Kickstarter. [7]

In 2012/13, BBC Worldwide generated headline sales of £1,116m, of which all of the £156m profits were returned back to the BBC. [8] It also supported independent production companies by returning £90.9m to independent rights holders through upfront rights investments, profit shares and royalties. [9]

References.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC#Television

[2] http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/pay-for-your-tv-licence/payment-methods/how-would-you-like-to-pay-for-your-tv-licence-pay8/?WT.ac=banner_wtp1_pay

[3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/

[4] http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/howwework/partnerships.html

[5] http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/insidethebbc/howwework/partnerships/media_industry.html

[6] http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/how-we-work/business-requirements/tariff-ranges.shtml

[7] http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/before-you-start/funding

[8] http://www.bbcworldwide.com

[9] http://www.bbcworldwide.com/annual-review/annual-review-2013/chairman's-statement.aspx

[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC

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Sky.

1.

Sky is a public limited company who are the largest pay-TV broadcaster in the UK/Ireland, having over 10 million subscribers. Rupert Murdoch set up BSkyB (British Sky Broadcasting) in 1990, however he passed it onto his son, who then stepped down, and the CEO is now Jeremy Darroch. You can purchase shares in Sky, however, which makes it a public company. [1]

In 1989, it's said that the four channels available in the United Kingdom doubled to eight, and since then there's now hundreds and hundreds of channels, and Sky believes that they viewers would want to be able to choose from a wider range of channels and shows. [2]

i.

They believe that they need to commission shows that are different, and viewers cannot get from regular channels such as the BBC or ITV. They also like to commission shows that the style of is widely loved by viewers so that they can make a better one than other channels, and make more of it. They try to communicate with customers constantly to research what shows they want, when they want them and how much of each show they want so that they would continue to pay the subscription fee. They don't commission into slots, or have a tariff like most other broadcasters. [3]

Because of the subscription fees of their channel, they commission fewer projects, and don't take on every indie film maker who asks for a meeting with them. They look through the briefs of project ideas, and only consider ones when they feel that there is a strong sense of purpose for a project that they think a lot of people would love. They acknowledge any idea generally within 48 hours of it being sent in, and then give a formal acknowledgement within two weeks for non-scripted, and six weeks for scripted. If they like the ideas, they will arrange a meeting with the filmmaker to see whether or not they want to properly take on their idea(s). [3]

They also have something called Sky Academy Skills Studios, in which they want to inspire and raise the aspirations of young people through a free learning experience, where they can create their own TV reports using technology professionals use on a day to day basis. [5]

2.

They are a subscription business, and isn't run by advertising. [3] The price of a subscription to Sky is from £21.50 a month. Also, as from the 30th of June, 2013, the adjusted revenue was £3,751 million, and the investment into programming was £1,313 million. The adjusted operating profit was also £595 million. [4]

i.

They invest about £2 billion a year in their channels. [2]

References.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSkyB

[2] https://corporate.sky.com/about_sky/what_we_do/our_content

[3] http://corporate.sky.com/about_sky/commissioning_ideas_submission/ideassubmission

[4] https://corporate.sky.com/about_sky/key_facts_and_figures

[5] https://corporate.sky.com/the_bigger_picture/inspiringaction/skyskillsstudios

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Netflix.

1.

Netflix is a publicly owned company that provides on-demand internet streaming media, available to people in parts of Europe, the Caribbean and both North and South America. In the third quarter of 2013, Netflix reported that they had a global total of 40.4 million subscribers. [1] Netflix can be run on games consoles, Blu-ray players, HDTVs, set top boxes, home theatre systems, smart phones and tablets, as long as they have a decent internet connection. [3]

i.

"If you are submitting a film for consideration: unfortunately, we do not accept or review unsolicited materials or ideas. For that reason, we will not consider any materials or ideas we receive that were not specifically requested by Netflix or submitted via an aggregator or established agent through the appropriate channels." [4]

2.

It costs about £5.99 a month to subscribe to Netflix, but you can have Netflix on up to six individual devices at one time. [2] 

i.

References.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix

[2] https://www.netflix.com/

[3] https://www.netflix.com/watch?locale=en-GB

[4] From an email I received from Netflix.

Hank D. Greenlite (Instant Smash Films) Presentation.

Here is the final presentation video:

Here is the powerpoint presentation:

Click here.


Here is the script:

Over the last few weeks, I have been researching three companies and how they are owned, funded and also how they distribute their products. These three companies are The BBC, Sky And Netflix.

Some things to consider before I go into more information about each of these companies are that:
-The BBC is the world’s oldest and largest broadcasting organisation, with around 23,000 staff members and several television channels in the United Kingdom which are available to anyone who has paid their television license.

-Sky is the largest Pay-TV broadcaster in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and has over ten million subscribers, with hundreds of channels available to choose from.

-Netflix is one of the biggest on-demand internet streaming providers, with 40.4 million subscribers around the world in the third quarter of 2013.

All three of these channels are owned in different ways, and have different ideas when it comes to new content for their viewers.

-The BBC is horizontally owned, and believes that there is value in working alongside others. Working together with external partners allows them to support the creative industry on a wider scale, as well as bringing more content to audiences. They also often fund independent film makers to make projects for their channels.

-Sky also appears to be horizontally owned, however they seem to be stricter on what projects they will take on for their channels because of the subscription fees, and they believe that they need to commission shows that viewers cannot get on other channels such as the BBC or ITV. Because of this, they commission fewer projects, and, in their own words they ‘don’t take on every indie film maker who asks for a meeting with them.’ They do look through project briefs, however, but only consider ones where they feel that there is potential.

-Netflix is vertically owned, and simply does not consider taking on independent film makers. In an email I sent to Netflix to try and research whether or not they would consider taking on films from smaller, and lesser known film companies, they stated that they ‘If you are submitting a film for consideration: unfortunately, (they) do not accept or review unsolicited materials or ideas. For that reason, (they) will not consider any materials or ideas that (they) receive that were not specifically requested by Netflix.’

Funding, however, comes from different places for each of the three companies.

-The BBC is mainly funded by the public through the television licence fee, which is charged to anybody - both households and companies - which use any type of equipment that can receive live television broadcasts. This fee is set annually by the British Government, and this year it will cost £145.50 for a colour TV licence, or £49.00 for a black and white TV Licence. However, they also receive world service grants, and get profits from commercial operations such as programme and format sales.

-Sky is generally funded by the subscription fees that viewers must pay for access to their channels. It is not run by advertising, as the cost of a subscription to Sky is from £21.50 a month, but depends on what channels the subscriber wants to view.

-Netflix is also run by subscription fees, as it costs about £5.99 a month to subscribe to Netflix, although you can have Netflix on up to six individual devices at once.

From all this funding they get, there are different amounts that the companies put back into television and film.

-In 2012/13, the BBC generated headline sales of £1,116 million, although returned £156 million in profits back to the BBC to continue showing films and television programmes. However, £90.9 million was returned to independent rights holders to support independent production companies.

-Sky invested around £2 billion a year into their channels from their operating profit of £595 million as of the 30th of June, 2013. It is uncertain how much of this is used to support independent film companies, however.

-Netflix recently took on $400 million in debt to produce original content for its subscribers, however it is unsure exactly how much Netflix usually spends on such things without taking on debt.

All three companies are different in terms of who can produce content for them. For example;

-The BBC believes that there is value in working with many others - both large companies and smaller, independent film makers. They believe that it allows the BBC to support the creative industry on a wider scale, as well as being able to deliver more content to audiences. They often fund independent film makers to create new content for their channels, and provide different tariffs for different categories of programmes and films. For example, the tariff range for daytime, and low cost dramas would be from £50,000 to £500,000 per hour, but the tariff range for a scripted comedy broadcast across the network would be £110,000 to £600,000 per hour, so it really ranges depending on what sort of content they are receiving.

-Sky does not take on as many independent filmmakers as the BBC does, and they are specific when choosing the programmes and films to broadcast on their channels. They often research into what content their customers want to see, and go from there - they don’t commission into slots, or have tariffs like the BBC and some other companies do. They do quickly look through briefs of projects, however, but do not take the idea any further unless they believe that there is a strong sense of purpose for the project, and think that many people would love it.

-Netflix, on the other hand, will neither review, nor accept materials or ideas that are not requested by them, or not submitted through an established agent. This means that they rarely take on independent film makers, or films/programmes that they are not specifically looking for at that time.

All three of these companies have their ups and downs to consider, so which one is best? Quickly recapping on the three companies, we can see that:

-The BBC is available to almost everyone in the UK and is the biggest broadcasting service in the world. It is also horizontally owned, and believed there is value in working alongside others, which is also why they fund independent film makers for producing new content for them.

-Sky, on the other hand, is only available to those who pay the monthly subscription fees, although they are also owned horizontally, but are not quite as spread out as the BBC which means that they only occasionally take on independent film makers if they believe that their idea has potential on their channels.

-Netflix is also only available to those paying the subscription fees, but they are a vertically owned company, unlike the other two. They are picky with the films and programmes they give to viewers, and because of this they only take on films that they request, and not ones that are submitted to them through independent film makers.

Overall, I personally feel that the best company format for Instant Smash Films would be the BBC. It reaches an extremely large audience across the world, and is available to almost everyone. It works closely with other film makers to help contribute to the creative industry, and allows independent film makers a chance to get their work seen if it is good. People do not have to pay a subscription fee to watch the BBC, and because of the way it is funded, almost all of their profits go back into showing television programmes and films. It is not as restricted as Sky or Netflix, and therefore shows an extremely wide range of programmes and films on their many channels, and that is why I feel that is the best company format for Instant Smash Films to take.

Documentary/News Programmes Essay.

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.

Popular news programmes nowadays tend to be structured in a certain way, with a title sequence opening the show, before the presenters begin with a summary of the top news stories. Then, they go into the stories in more detail, starting with the most popular and biggest story, and go all the way down until they begin on the sports headlines, the weather, and then they tend to generally finish with a happy and light-hearted news story  to lighten the mood.

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. For example, the majority of the time, they try to put Obama in a bad light, and make it seem like he is ruining America, and therefore the country should vote for Romney. 

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, by allowing confident and attractive people represent the Republicans, whilst making unconfident and unattractive people represent the Democrats. This then shows the right-wing parties as being 'better' than the left-wing, and the audience tend to pick up on this and believe it, even when it may not be entirely true.

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 rather than allowing people to make their own opinion on news stories.

Documentaries are often filmed in a number of different styles and ways according to what they are trying to show during the film. For example, expository documentaries, such as Planet Earth, or Blue Planet are designed to inform and educate people but the camera crew themselves are invisible to the audience, whereas during interactive/reflexive documentaries such as Bowling For Columbine or Louis Theroux's documentaries involve the film makers during the shots, and they usually aim to provoke reactions from the subjects and the audiences during the documentary itself rather than simply showing the facts.

However, there are some conventions that run throughout most documentaries. The majority of the time, facts and issues are focused on rather than a narrative, although occasionally - such as during documentaries that focus on something such as a musical band's journey to fame such as Life On The Murder Scene or The Filth And The Fury, they will have a slight narrative during the film. Most documentaries are non-fiction and are based on true events, with the exception of mockumentaries, like Spinal Tap, which parodies the ideas of normal documentaries to amuse the audience instead of displaying facts.

All the shots and footage used within the film is generally linked together in a way that keeps the viewer engaged and entertained, and both found and shot footage are often included to do so. For example, during the Bowling For Columbine documentary that we watched, Michael Moore used both footage that he went out and filmed, as well as clips from news programmes, adverts, television shows etc. A lot of interviews are used throughout this documentary, as well as during others that aren't completely fly-on-the-wall documentaries.

During most documentaries, voiceovers are used to explain to the audience the facts, or what is happening during the film, for example, Michael Moore uses voiceover through Bowling For Columbine to link together various facts and information, such as what happened on the morning of the shooting at Columbine. Also text can be used to relay these facts too. Text is mainly used to show locations, times and dates, although can be used to relay other information too, such as a translation of what people being interviewed are saying if the sound quality isn't terrific, like they do occasionally in Bowling For Columbine.

Depending on what is happening during different shots of the documentary, both digetic and non-digetic sound can be heard. Say there is a voiceover explaining the scenario on screen, for example, there is normally no digetic sound heard, although if it is an interview there can be. During Bowling For Columbine, there is a montage of footage, mainly involving terrorism, with the song 'What A Wonderful World' playing over the top of it, though this is used in an ironic way because clearly the images are not of a wonderful world. The music seems to be used satirically to point the finger at the American government's involvement in financing and training the terrorists themselves. Also, in the same documentary, phone recordings of people involved in the Columbine Massacre - such as teachers phoning 911 for help are played with a slight guitar playing in the background which makes the recordings seem more powerful and moving than they already are as it is more eerie that if they were played on their own. Meanwhile, in Louis Theroux's documentaries, he doesn't tend to play music over recordings, or during montages. Instead, he mainly has quirky and upbeat music as the introduction of the documentary, and also between interviews which both reflects his personality, and lightens the mood, because otherwise the footage and interviews being played would be extremely dark and serious for the style of the documentary that he is trying to create.

Documentaries are often filmed in a number of different styles and ways according to what they are trying to show during the film. For example, expository documentaries are designed to inform and educate people but the camera crew themselves are invisible to the audience, whereas during interactive/reflexive documentaries involve the film makers during the shots, and they usually aim to provoke reactions from the subjects and the audiences during the documentary itself rather than simply showing the facts.

However, there are some conventions that run throughout most documentaries. The majority of the time, facts and issues are focused on rather than a narrative, although occasionally - such as during documentaries that focus on something such as a musical band's journey to fame, they will have a slight narrative during the film. Most documentaries are non-fiction and are based on true events, with the exception of mockumentaries which parodies the ideas of normal documentaries to amuse the audience instead of displaying facts. Bowling For Columbine seemed to take a comedic approach to interest the audience whilst actually discussing very serious topics such as gun crime, the Columbine Massacre and biased media in America. 

All the shots and footage used within the film is generally linked together in a way that keeps the viewer engaged and entertained, and both found and shot footage are often included to do so. For example, during the Bowling For Columbine documentary that we watched, Michael Moore used both footage that he went out and filmed, as well as clips from news programmes, adverts, television shows etc. For example, during the interview with Charlton Heston (the head of the NRA) was footage that Michael Moore shot, but the 'Wonderful World' montage during the documentary was all footage from other people.

A lot of interviews are used throughout this documentary, as well as during others that aren't completely fly-on-the-wall documentaries. Also, during Bowling For Columbine, a single camera setup was used for most of the time, and this was because when going into public places such as supermarkets or streets, it would be extremely difficult for there to be a multi-camera setup as it would be too noticeable and take up too much space, especially in places where they were not really supposed to be filming. For example, the interview in K-Mart with the staff selling bullets that were used during the Columbine Massacre was shot with a single camera as it would be far too difficult to bring multiple cameras into the shop, where they were not supposed to be filming anyway.

During most documentaries, voiceovers are used to explain to the audience the facts, or what is happening during the film, and also text can be used to relay these facts too. Text is mainly used to show locations, times and dates, although can be used to relay other information too. Depending on what is happening during different shots of the documentary, both digetic and non-digetic sound can be heard. Say there is a voiceover explaining the scenario on screen, for example, there is normally no digetic sound heard, although if it is an interview there can be. The opening of Bowling For Columbine, where there was the voiceover about a 'typical day in America', which links the images together in a comical way that makes sense, because without the voiceover, the footage would make no sense. It is done in an ironic, yet informative way, and is used as an attack on America as well as intro ducting the rest of the documentary and the madness that goes on.

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.

News Show Recording (3).

During Stephanie, Chloe and Lesley’s recording of a news show, I was a runner, and so for the majority of the lesson, I was wandering around the studio asking anybody if they needed any help. I taped wires to the floor, helped move some of the set around, got wires connected and so on and so forth.

However, mid-way through the show, the production team appeared to be having many problems with their VT clips not working, for example, and seemed to be getting stressed out by this which was completely understandable. To try and help them by taking a problem off their minds, I offered to set up the auto cue with their script for them as I knew how to do it from the previous week. They accepted this offer, gave me a USB stick with their script on it and I transferred it to the laptop for the auto cue. I also edited it to make it look easier for the presenters to read it on (by removing large cues for the vision mixer, and making it clearer who was reading what lines, for example.)

The only real issue with the auto cue that day was that for some reason, parts of the script was cut off by the auto cues and I had to manually edit the entire script again so that the lines were only three quarters of the way across the screen as Paul did not seem to know any other fix for it. It took quite a while to do, but because Stephanie was attempting to get the VT clips working for the majority of the lesson, it gave me just enough time to do so.

During the rehearsals and the final recording, I continued to run the auto cue for the presenters, as I was able to just about understand the script when it was mirrored on the laptop, and so I knew where the presenters were through it, and how fast to scroll. Although the VT clips were not working at all, I think that the news show was pretty good with the stories that they chose to cover, and would have been even better if the VT clips were working. However, I believe that Paul stated that they could re-film the show in a spare hour or so, which means that they would be able to get a recording that included their working VTs.

Our News Show Recording.

Our final recording for our news show had a number of ups and downs to it. Some things worked extremely well, whilst other things barely worked at all. The main issue that the majority of us had was that the script was not finished until during the lesson that we were recording it in, meaning that none of the presenters could have rehearsed properly before the day, and we couldn’t edit or revise the script if we had any problems as there was no time to do so. The vision mixer also did not have a copy of the script to refer to, so they were unsure when to play VT clips, or when to cut to which camera. The other thing that bothered me and the rest of the production team was that Connor (our script writer) said at one point that it ‘doesn’t matter because (he) can make another in a month or two.’ This annoyed us because it felt as though he wasn’t taking into consideration that this was our project now,  and the rest of us wanted it to go smoothly the first time, and not have to re-do our show.

Another big issue with our group was the communication between members of the production team. From the very beginning of the project, decisions were not made as a group, which led different people to think different things about the show and how it was planning to run. This was confusing, as some of us were telling people one thing, and others were telling them another which didn’t help at all. I also suggested that David (the floor manager) and Jemma (the director) both have a headset, so they could communicate better in the two different rooms. I suggested that Jemma have a script, and tell Ellis (our vision mixer) when to cut to what camera, and when to play what VT, but nothing really seemed to be said and Ellis was left to seem to try and guess what should be shown on screen at what time, which could have been easily resolved through better communication.

One other major problem was the VT clips. Jemma and David both stated that they wanted to re-do their VT clips as they were not happy with the way that their clips looked. However, neither of them got them finished before the date of recording, and so we had to use their original ones. Connor also made another VT clip, as his original was more or less only the Robocop trailer, but the new clip was corrupted and did not play properly, so we had to play half of it that worked, and ask the presenters to apologise for the 'technical difficulties' afterwards. As I knew previously, my VT clip was far too quiet to really hear, so I made sure that before the show, I raised the volume of it to suitable levels for it to be used on the show.

For the majority of the show, Connor was running the auto cue after we put his script on there, but the presenters were having problems as at some points Connor was scrolling through the script too fast, and other times too slow so that they couldn’t read it properly. To fix this, during the final rehearsal and the live show, I took over the auto cue as I could somewhat read the script mirrored on the laptop so I knew how slow or how fast the presenters needed it to go, and they said that this was better for them to read from.

At some points, the show was extremely stressful and it didn’t help that it fell on a rough time for me, so I tried to cope as best as I could. Admittedly, I had to step outside for five minutes to take a breather, but I tried to stay as calm as possible throughout the show, which I found extremely difficult. Some of the crew members made this worse by not following instructions, and messing around on set, and the miscommunication between the members of the production crew only added to the stress, but I think overall it was a reasonably decent show. Of course, it could have been far better, but for our first attempt at recording a live news show, it wasn’t disasterous. We managed to get a recording done, with three working VT clips and a decent amount of discussion in the studio floor between the presenters, and although it didn’t end up anything like our original proposal and treatment that we had decided on, at least we managed to record something on the day.

The Ending Of A Story.

'You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might just find you get what you need.'

Michael Feit Dougan created a creative compass to help him figure out the endings of a story, he thought that there was four main endings to any storyline.

'Triumphant ending' - The character achieves both their want and their need.

'Transcendent ending' - The character only achieves their need, not their want.

'Existential ending' - The character only achieves their want, not their need.

'Tragic ending' - The character gets neither their need nor their want.

These four endings for my own story would be:

Triumphant - He gets his father's fortune and a relationship with Anne.

Transcendent - He doesn't get any of the fortune, but gets the relationship with Anne.

Existential - He takes his father's fortune and leaves Anne behind.

Tragic - He would return to New York without the money or Anne.

Alternative Genres.

A genre (noun) is a style or category of art, music or literature.


Blake Synder didn't think so, however. He broke down ten examples of alternative genres. After all, genre is a way of categorising movies.

He wrote that our standard way of looking at genre would suggest that Saving Private Ryan is a war/drama film, and that Dodgeball is a comedy. However, Blake Synder would believe that they are both the same genre. He calls this genre 'The Golden Fleece'.


So, how do you know if a movie is a Golden Fleece?

-Every Golden Fleece has a 'road' - spanning oceans, time or distance. It signifies growth of the characters.

-Every Golden Fleece has a team (or a buddy), who represent the things that the hero doesn't have.

-And every Golden Fleece has a 'prize' at the end.

Some examples of this would be 'Finding Nemo', 'The Hobbit' and 'The Road To El Dorado'.


'Out Of The Bottle' is another genre idea by Synder. In this, there needs to be:

-A 'wish' asked for by the hero or granted by another, and the need to be delivered from the ordinary.

-A 'spell' which has rules.

-A lesson to be learned.

Some examples of an 'out of the bottle' genre would be 'Freaky Friday', 'The Mask' and 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'.


A 'Fool Triumphant' would include:

-A'fool' whose innocence is their strength, and whose gentle manner means they are likely to be ignored.

-The fool encounters an 'establishment' in which they come up against and do not fit into.

-A 'transmutation' in which the fool becomes something new.

Examples would include 'Legally Blonde', 'Forrest Gump' and '40 Year-Old Virgin.'


And lastly, a 'Monster In The House' would have the following rules:

-A 'monster' with evil at its core.

-An enclosed space (A house, for example) which could include a family unit or a town.

-A 'sin'. Someone is guilty of something (like breaking rules/laws), which invites the monster in.

For example, the films 'Jaws', 'Alien' and 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' would fit into this genre.


Some other alternative genres with examples:

Dude With A Problem.

Die Hard, 127 Hours.


Rites of Passage.

Napoleon Dynamite, Stand By Me.


Buddy Love.

Lethal Weapon, Titanic.


Whydunit.

Blade Runner, Momento.


Institutionalised.

Police Academy, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest.


Superhero.

The Lion King, The Matrix.

News Programme Recording (1).

In today's lesson it was Maddie, Dee and Joe's group's turn to record their news show, and so they had the entire three hours to set up, rehearse and record the news programme. I was a camera operator in this group, on camera one, and so I knew where to set up and what to do during the news show, although they decided to change a few things at last second.

The camera operators were given a script to follow with camera directions on it, so at the beginning, they asked me to zoom in on Steff as she was talking, stay a close up of Steff for a while before returning to a wide shot of both Steff and Chris. This then changed half way through because the other members of the production group in the vision mixing room decided that they didn't like the way it looked, and also thought that the camera had been moved because they could see part of the black curtain in the shot. The camera hadn't been adjusted, however, so I spoke to Dee and we both agreed to simply move the camera to the left slightly so that the camera wasn't quite so far to one side, and therefore the curtain wasn't in shot. This worked out better, because even though it wasn't at quite an angle, it still worked.

I was also told half way through the second rehearsal that they were adjusting what they wanted me to do during the run through, and that they also wanted close ups of Chris during it, and not just Steff. They gave me an updated script with the new camera shots on it, and I followed it up until the point when they wanted me to cut from a close up shot of Chris, to a close up shot of Steff which was impossible to do during the few seconds that they stopped talking for, and so I told this to Dee. She agreed with my suggestion to simply leave it at a wide shot of the both of them during that part of the show, and then go back to close ups afterward that.

The only real trouble I had was that if I wanted to adjust the camera up/down (like I had to when changing from a close up shot of one of them to a wide shot of the two) the camera squeaked really loudly, and so I had to wait until a VT clip was playing to do this, so that the microphones wouldn't pick the noise up.

The auto cues were also finally set up, so the group used them. This meant that the presenters could look at the camera more and read from the auto cues instead of having to keep looking down at the paper script in front of them.

During the final recording of the show, I think things ran very smoothly for the group from what I saw on the studio floor. I obviously haven't seen the full recording, but there was no huge issues from what I could see, and I think things went extremely well for them.


We then had to choose who would be recording next week after packing away. It was our group that was chosen, so we have to work on the issues we had during our last run through and try to sort them before next week.

News Programme Rehearsals (5).

In today's rehearsals, we were able to get one run through of our news show, although there were many ups and downs, and also things that we need to sort out before our actual recording date. We only had two of the VT clips, one of which was mine, and another that was David's - but not the one he wants to use for the actual show. My VT clip was rather quiet, however, as I had an issue with the volume when uploading it for the deadline, and that needs to be altered before the day. An intro/outro for the news show also still needs to be made (Connor said that he is currently working on it at home), and the others still need to create their own VT clips for us to insert them. We also decided on using the blue screen for when Steff is sitting at the desk, however we need to work on what we're going to put in the background during these parts of the show, and make sure that's ready for our final recording.

The script also confused the presenters a little bit, as sometimes they couldn't quite work out what they should have been saying, where to look, or where to sit/stand. It also didn't seem like (along with the VT clips) that it would last for twenty minutes, and so it needs to be extended before the actual day of recording. The scripts should be printed out a number of times too - not just twice, so that the vision mixer, camera operators, sound and production team can all have copies to read from and know how the show should exactly run. I was also considering, on the day, to quickly look up some news headlines from the past week in the local area and insert them into the beginning of the script as some sort of 'news just in', as this would make the programme run for slightly longer, and it would be something different to add in, instead of just the four news stories that we originally had. On the day, however, we should be able to use the auto cues, so instead of the presenters needing to keep looking down at scripts on their desk, the majority of the time they can look at the camera and read it from there, which will make things look and flow better on the day.

It also seems that things have been altered without people informing or consulting me first, so as we did a run through, I was extremely confused as instead of the two presenters introducing the show side by side on the sofa, Jemma and David wanted the vision mixer to cut back and forth between Steff sitting at a desk in front of the blue screen, and Chris standing up in front of a black curtain, which in my opinion seriously looks odd, and doesn't match a news show at all. It's difficult for the vision mixer to cut back and forth between the two when they're introducing the show like that, and the change of background/standing and sitting looks extremely strange on screen. I mentioned this to the rest of the production team, although they argued that this is how things are apparently done in normal news programmes on television and refused to consider to change it, but I seriously disagree, and then went home to do some more research on news shows and could not see any introduced in this way whatsoever.

They also seem to have differed from our original idea of the show being a casual one that's shown during the early afternoon on Saturdays, to one that's shown on primetime television like BBC News, or ITV News. I was also not made aware of this, and was left to find this out on my own devices, which is extremely bad communication as I am not aware why they could not simply inform me that they were making these decisions.

The set design has also not changed from day one, as we feel that this layout works for our news show, and that Ashley (our art director) and Josh (our lighting) knows how everything is positioned and can set it up without really needing to consult us at all. The camera operators (Rory, Lesley and Chloe) also all seem to know where their cameras should be, and what they need to do whilst we're filming.

So with the exception of the script needing to be longer, the VT clips needing to be finished and the odd looking camera cuts at the beginning of the show, the rehearsal ran somewhat smoothly, and we managed to get something of a rehearsal in, and it didn't go too badly.


For the second half of the lesson, it was Dee, Maddie and Joe's group's turn to rehearse. I was on camera one during this rehearsal, and I knew where they wanted the camera and how they wanted things to run. We managed to do a couple of run throughs that went a lot smoother than our one in the first half of the lesson, and they managed to sort out more or less what they needed to do.


After we packed up the equipment after rehearsals, we randomly chose who would be recording their final news show next week, and it ended up being Dee and Maddie's group, which gives us slightly longer to work on our own one.