Monday, 30 November 2015

Fiction Adaptation: Shoot

On Friday 27th November I held my shoot day. I used another course member's spare room for my set, a UCA actress as my main character and another course member as my camera person / helper.

Expectations vs. Reality
I used one day for shooting as I wanted three different types of lighting, as the film's tone gets darker, I wanted the outside light to get darker with it. So I filmed a number of shots in the morning and early afternoon, a small amount of shots in the late afternoon and a larger amount of shots in the evening. I had worries on the day that I would not complete the 'daylight' shots in time, however using my shot list made shooting go very smoothly and in a more timely manner than expected.

I found that while shooting in a bedroom allowed me to have no worries about issues such as weather or interruptions, the size of the room caused some issues. I found that the room was too small to get certain shots that I wanted and was too small to set up certain equipment such as a lighting kit. Due to the tightness of the room, I had to film most shots on my own so that the room only had myself and the actress, allowing her to move around more.

An example of the lack of space in the room

Issues
Due to the lack of space in the room meaning that I couldn't use a lighting kit without it being either dangerous from the possibility of overheating or it being in shot or too bright due to closeness, my lighting suffered. While I didn't need to rely on extra lighting in most daylight shots, it became more obvious that the quality of lighting decreased in the evening and 'sunset' shots.

Another issue with lighting was the affect of weather outside. Due to it being very overcast with dark clouds, the daylight in the room often dipped and became very dark, so this not only made the lighting in the room vary from scene to scene, but made it difficult to get quality lit daylight shots in certain places. I will need to use certain effects and make changes in Final Cut when editing to create consistency in lighting and colour between shots as well as fix some over and under exposure issues.

I found that claustrophobic feel of the small room had an effect on myself and my actress when filming, it seemed to make filming more difficult and more draining, which meant that I struggled with energy when consistently holding up the camera for steady handheld shots, and she felt less energetic in her performance. However, the timeliness of filming allowed us to have a number of breaks to regroup and regain our energy.

Filming was delayed slightly towards the end of the shoot due to running out of space on the memory cards. This meant that I had to take a break and look through every clip and be brutal in deleting a large amount of them to make room for my final scene.

I planned to use a Go Pro camera for my top angle shots, with it mounted onto the ceiling or wall, facing down onto the bed. However after a lot of effort, we could not get the mount to stay attached to the surfaces. So my solution was to stand on the bed, leaning over the actress with the Sony camera to get my top angle shots. While this allowed me to get the shots I needed, I feel it took away from the look I had in mind and lacked in quality of the shots slightly.


What Worked
Due to being prepared in scheduling of set up time, set dressing, time slots for shots and breaks, I think the overall filming process ran smoothly. We were on location for approximately 8 hours, and filming for about 6 hours in total. I think having all of my props ready along with having the script and shot list to hand allowed me to be organised and get into a flow when filming.

I feel that I got a great amount of coverage when filming, I had 99 shots on my shot list, and I now have 158 clips, with approximately 100-110 of them being original shots and not reshoots of certain moments. So I feel very accomplished with the amount of footage I captured.

My actress portrayed both sides of the character very well, I feel that she was great at bringing emotion to the film and was very professional to work with which made filming much easier.


What I Would Change
I would use a larger location for the set of the film so that I had more options when filming shots, for example wide shots. As well as the actress being able to use more space and being able to have more crew members involved. Also being able to set up a lighting kit would have highly benefited the shoot.


Final Result
Overall, while I had a lot of issues in filming, I think the end result has turned out very well. There's a lot of improvements to be made in post production, especially to lighting. But the amount of coverage I have along with my actress's performance will benefit the film in editing.

Fiction Adaptation: Preparation

In order to have all of my decor and props ready for filming day I had to undergo a lot of preparation. From both purchasing items and gathering my own items to use as well as personalising certain props.

Items I purchased for filming:
  • Two vanity mirrors
  • Pyjamas for the main character
  • A man's shirt for the main character
  • Notepad
  • Marker pen
  • Bed sheet

Items of my own and borrowed items:

(Props)
  • Men's cologne (CK One)
  • Collapsable chair
  • Desk (really a vanity chest to fit in the room)
  • Photo frame
  • Laptop
  • Books
(Decor)
  • Candles
  • Women's clothing on hangers
  • Make-up bag
  • Hair products
  • Handbag
  • Jewellery
  • 'Girlfriend' greeting cards

I then prepared four different props for the film's plot...

Firstly I created a fake Facebook profile for the character Ben using Microsoft Paint and Adobe Photoshop. As I used a member of my course, I used his real Facebook profile as a template...

Original Facebook profile

Fake / transformed Facebook profile
Changes made:
  • Name on profile (in 4 places)
  • Name of girlfriend (in 3 places)
  • Some photos changed in 'Photos' section
  • Profile picture (the image is an uncropped version of the image in the prop photo of Ben used in the film)
  • Cover photo
  • The 'Friends' button changed to 'Add Friend'
  • Removed occupation
  • Created fake 'Timeline' posts for representation that he's in a happy relationship
  • His name in the search bar
  • The small profile name and picture changed from my own to an image of my actress and the character name, Dawn.
Here is the profile in film...

(Lighting to be fixed in post-production)

I then picked out a number of photos of the character Ben and the character of his girlfriend, Maddie. I used real images from Jordan (Ben) and his real girlfriend Charlotte (Maddie)'s Facebook profiles with their permission. The photos of Ben were to be stuck on the wall in-film along with images of Ben and Dawn from my photoshoot as well as one image to be framed as a prop. The photos of Maddie were to be used when Dawn rips up the images hidden in a book due to her hatred of the new girlfriend.

After carefully selecting and cropping the images, along with carefully selecting the best images from my photoshoot that portray Dawn and Ben's past happiness, I printed them out and cut out each image. Lastly, I placed an image of Ben in a frame to create the prop object for Dawn's use.

Before

After

Lastly, Dawn breaks her vanity mirror in the end scene of my film. So this meant keeping one mirror in tact for scenes of her using it unbroken, and breaking the second mirror before filming. This allowed me to avoid any accidents if my actress broke the mirror on set, along with having control of the end result of the broken mirror by doing it beforehand.

I took the mirror outside and lightly tapped areas of it with a hammer to carefully and strategically break it. I then glued certain loose pieces back on for the cracked reflection I needed in-film and kept other broken pieces to place around the mirror the make it more realistic that it has been thrown to the floor in-film.

Before

After
In film
I'm very pleased with how all of my props and decor turned out for use in my film. I think preparing all of the items beforehand and keeping organised benefitted me a lot on shoot day with it's smooth running and organisation, allowed areas such as using the broken mirror to be safer and allowed the quality of the props to be higher than it would have been if prepared last minute.

Wednesday, 25 November 2015

Fiction Adaptation: Shot List

Something that I find extremely important to have by my side during filming is a shot list. So I have created one that has nearly 100 shots. I want to get an extremely large variety of shots so that I have a lot of coverage and more options when editing the film. It may also space out the timing of the film, allowing more of the poem to be presented on screen between the character's actions.

Viewing / Download Link: Megan Waters Shot List

Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Fiction Adaptation: Photoshoot

As previously mentioned, I planned to hold a photoshoot to create in-film photographs of the characters Dawn and Ben - appearing as if they are from a time when the pair were in a relationship.

I decided to take the photos at my house, as I've noticed that most photos of couples are often photos taken of themselves when alone together at home. I used the living room and my bedroom for this. I also had them use three costume changes so that the photos will look like they were taken separately to each other.

The style of photos I took were having the characters appear as if they were taking the photos of themselves, and as if a friend captured photos of them. I think this makes them appear more personal and realistic. I also decided to take the same photos for each costume, and then I will select certain pictures from each location and outfit. The camera I used was Nikon for high quality photos.

I'm very pleased with how the photos have turned out, I think they clearly tell the audience that the two characters were once in a relationship and appear to be realistic. I will now print them off to use in the film.

Examples of the same shot used for different outfits....




Fiction Adaptation: Storyboard

I spent a few days working on a storyboard that closely resembles how I expect the overall appearance of my film to look and to visualise the script. 

I plan to use a wide variety of shots (alongside a change in lighting) to compisate for the fact that it will be set in a small room, this will also bring a lot of variety to filming and build a lot of drama. As well as give me good coverage. The shots aren't as detailed and accurate as they will be in my shot list, however I feel that this was a good way of producing the images I am preparing for before filming.















Friday, 20 November 2015

Fiction Adaptation: Workshop Film 'Fear'

After attempting to test different slow motion techniques and learning about montage techniques. I decided to base my workshop film on the theme 'fear' and create a montage that consists of two separate scenes and a variety of shots, that allows the audience to put the story of domestic abuse and an accident together, and the woman's fear of getting caught.

My shot list in preparation of filming...



I also incorporated the use of slow motion into the film for testing for my poem adaptation. I deciding on using post-production slow motion, meaning that I filmed in in 25fps, and then slowed it down in Final Cut.

The last physical feature I added to the film was the use of heavy colour. By using red to define the scenes of danger, and using a cold blue to define the fear that the woman is feeling and the eeriness of after the incident. This will also influence my film due to the use of costume colours - for example the actress wearing a red shirt that signifies passion, love, and anger.

I also added dramatic music over the film to create more drama and a fearful atmosphere.

Overall I think that this has been good practice for my poem adaptation and while I struggled to get a large variety of shots, I'm happy with the end result.




Thursday, 19 November 2015

Fiction Adaptation: Update

Casting Issues & Resolution
After posting a job for the character in my film on Casting Call Pro, I had three applicants by the time of my scheduled audition date, Monday the 16th of November. All of which matched what I was looking for, a history of working in dramatic roles, slim build and within the specified age. I was able to schedule one face to face audition at the studios and two Skype auditions. However on the day of auditions, my first Skype audition failed to respond to me and both my in-person audition and second Skype audition cancelled last minute. All of the auditioners failed to respond at all when I attempted to reschedule the auditions.

I was hoping to have cast my actress on Tuesday, however I now needed to keep searching. So thanks to another course member, I was added to a Facebook page for acting students of UCA on Monday night, where casting directors such as myself and others on similar courses, post job advertisements. Here is the link to page UCA BA (Hons) Acting & Performance.

From this, I had four responses in one night from interested actresses. While two of which unexpectedly failed to respond after their first message, I was able to schedule two Skype auditions with Farnham acting students for the following day. I was finally able to carry out both auditions, and cast my actress on Wednesday. I decided on a young woman named Nicoletta who had the look I was going for and was able to deliver a great emotional performance during a very limiting Skype audition, she also seems to be very enthusiastic about the film and the poem.


Script Update
After receiving feedback on my script from my tutor, advising that I create two scripts, one with the poem included and one without, for my actress to look at both. I took her advise of doing so and making the poem more clearly represented as post-production on screen text in the poem-included script. I also made the location and presentation of the character more descriptive to give my actress more information and inspiration for her role.

I feel that my final script is a large improvement on my draft script:

Love Ambitions Script - With Poem


Schedule
I now have everything organised and in place. My schedule is...

  • Monday 23rd November: Photoshoot at my own house in Maidstone for prop pictures of characters Dawn and Ben from when they were a couple. I will be using Jordan as Ben (with the approval of my tutor) and Nicoletta as Dawn as stated earlier.
  • Tuesday 24th November: I will be buying the props that I have previously talked about and printing the pictures from the photoshoot.
  • Friday 27th November: Shoot day. I will be filming in the spare bedroom of Jordan's house (dressed to look like Dawn's bedroom) using Nicoletta as my cast and Harry and Jordan as my crew. I will be filming my script in the daylight and under the lights of the room once it is dark outside.


Call Sheets
Below are the call sheets I sent my actress today for the photoshoot and filming day. I have calculated how much time I will need for both days.

Photoshoot Call Sheet

Filming Day Call Sheet


Next Steps
Other than the tasks listed in the schedule above and writing about them, my next steps before filming are...

  • Creating a storyboard for preparation
  • Creating a shot list for preparation and for on set
  • Poet & poem research
  • Other adaptations research


Wednesday, 18 November 2015

Digital News Production: Critical Analysis Draft

INTRODUCTION
This critical analysis will be discussing the online news channel Game-Over and the genre of news. This will be explored by focusing on certain aspects of news, involving the research of concept/brand development, audiences, platforms, news stories and their development and scripting and storytelling. By researching these areas of news broadcasting while simultaneously analysing the same aspects of the channel Game-Over, it will discussed in what ways the channel was influenced by other news channels and programmes, and why each decision was made in the process of its creation.

CONCEPT/BRAND DEVELOPMENT
When branding a news channel, there are several important things to consider. Chapman states that in news channels ‘The style, structure and very ‘look’ of the programmes [are] needed to underpin their reliability and impartiality.’ (Chapman, 2009: 219). For instance, in the case of BBC News, the programme keeps its integrity intact with a serious and bold branding approach with the simplistic colours of red and white. BBC News also offers its audience the reliability that they will provide globalisation-based stories among their reports from the offset, with their opening sequence involving a GFX globe (see fig. 1).

Fig. 1. BBC News Brand (2015)
The branding of news programmes such as BBC News, heavily influenced our approach of boldness alongside seriousness and simplicity when developing the brand of the YouTube news channel, Game-Over. For example, our use of the sharp and straightforward colours, red, black and white allow for the impression of intelligibility, rather than using overly broad and seemingly immature colourings that could be seen as insincere for the styling of a news channel.

As human-interest news stories are focused on those that relate directly to the audience, they seem to be strongly appealing to viewers. As it’s said that ‘If news is to be worthwhile, it should accord to something we value.’ (Chapman, 2009: 59). So it was decided that our channel would be based on video games and why they are being released unfinished. This decision was also due to the rise of social interest in video game news reporting. For example, the popularity of the television gaming news channel, GINX is rising. With their ratings growing by ‘59% year on year’ (Develop, 2015) and their programmes ‘available in 26 million homes globally’ (Develop, 2015). Therefore being that news content’s focus is on the contemporary and current matters, a video game news channel ties in with this in today’s culture.

Other news channels such as The Know, a popular online YouTube video gaming news channel, also influenced the branding of Game-Over. Such as the use of a geometric green screen background, electronica music and the use of GFX (The Know, 2014). These aspects of the programme are used frequently and appear to be effectively visually stimulating for young gaming audiences.

AUDIENCE RESEARCH
BBC News is also a prime example when discussing the popularity of news around the world. For example, recent figures revealed that BBC News’ weekly global audience ‘has increased by … 7 per cent since last year, to a record-breaking 283 million’ (BBC Media Centre, 2015) meaning that ‘one in every 16 adults around the world uses BBC News’ (BBC Media Centre, 2015). While in 2012 it was found that the audience of news channels such as BBC News, Sky News and Sky Sports News were mostly over 35 years old (OFCOM, 2012). Although, it seems that the topic of news can allow the age range of different news programmes’ demographics to vary.

With experience of our own as a gaming audience, as well as conducting research into who the target audience of a video gaming news channel is, there is a variety of statistical information to support our findings. The target age of the news channel is fifteen to thirty-five year olds. This is due to the fact that as of 2015, the highest percentage of game players is ‘30% 18 to 35 years’ (Theesa, 2015). However, 26% of gamers are under 18 years old (Theesa, 2015), therefore the target audience for the channel consists of the two statistics combined.

When looking into the gender of a target audience for a gaming news channel, it is found that 56% of game players are male, while 44% of game players are female (Theesa, 2015). As these percentages are extremely close to the population of gamers being half male and half female, Game-Over’s content is able to appeal to both genders with video game content.

A more recent development in news is the audience’s ability to comment and connect directly with news channels and their stories, mainly doing so online. For example, BBC News has their own page called Have Your Say, a page on their website focused solely on viewers discussing current news items, as well as the public sharing stories of their own (BBC News Have Your Say, 2015). Game-Over incorporates the technique of the viewer becoming involved and sharing their own opinions by directly stating ‘let us know with your comments’ (Game-Over: Why are Video Games Being Released Unfinished? 2015) alongside on-screen information of Twitter, YouTube and the channel website links. Allowing the channel to be as modern and current as other popular news channels by having the audience become a part of the discussion.

PLATFORM RESEARCH
There are four main platforms in which the news is presented to the public, these are television, radio, print and most recently, online. While it appears that audiences of television news channels such as BBC News are slowly growing, it would seem that over the years, digital media could be overtaking other platforms in news reporting. As of 2013, ‘72% of adults get most news from friends and family, including social media’ (Teckel, 2013) and it has been found that over 50% of smartphone and tablet owners get news on their device every week (Teckel. 2013). The sources of new media news reporting includes on demand broadcasting websites such as YouTube and television channels’ own websites such as 4OD and newspaper websites, for instance, The Guardian. As well as this, social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook are also used as a method of the public sharing and discussing news stories with others.

While there are negatives to the introduction of new media news reporting, for example, the 27% reduction of printed newspaper staff between 2006 and 2011 (Teckel, 2013). It has been found that there are a number of positives to the digital age and reasons as to why it is appealing to the public. These including that due to the costs of production in television before digital media, broadcasters had needed to ‘reach several hundred thousand viewers in order to run a sustainable service … digital broadcasting has a far cheaper cost of entry and offers interactivity, thus undermining older business models’ (Chapman, 2009: 44) and the fact that new media allows there to be ‘content available anytime and anywhere on a wide variety of platforms’ (Chapman, 2009: 42).

When discussing news reporting on YouTube, it has been found that the website is becoming a successor for the publics’ news reports. As ‘in 2011 and early 2012, the most searched term of the month on YouTube was a news related event five out of 15 months’ (Pew Research Center, 2012). Among a recent study conducted by Pew Research, certain facts were discovered about YouTube and news:
  • ‘At any given moment news can outpace even the biggest entertainment videos.’ (Pew Research Center, 2012)
  • ‘The most popular news videos are a mix of edited and raw footage.’ (Pew Research Center, 2012)
  • ‘Citizens play a substantial role in supplying and producing footage.’ (Pew Research Center, 2012)

Not only do a large amount of news channels such as Sky News and CNN have their own YouTube channels to present its audience with snippets of their programmes, but YouTube also has a variety of user-generated content in news. It is said that ‘The internet shapes the media landscape towards a more decentralized and community-orientated form of publishing, media organizations are no longer gatekeepers of information’ (Chapman, 2009: 14), meaning that it could be argued that first hand or eye witness citizen journalism could be a more credible source of reporting as it’s not being presented by journalists being influenced by media organisations.

In relation, Game-Over is presented in a new media style, broadcast as a YouTube news channel. The programme uses the tools that have been created with the digital age of reporting by including the combination of classic in-studio reporting from a professional along with formal interviews, as well as new media content such as incorporating the public’s opinions through the discussion of Twitter posts and the use of user-generated video gameplay footage. All of which are influenced by the normalities of news reporting within the digital media platform.

NEWS STORY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
There are key parts of a news channel’s agenda in reporting, the structure of which consists of presenting the ‘coming up’ section, reporting the stories of the day in certain styles and incorporating presenter types, the brand and locations into the structure. For example, a serious and well-respected news programme such as ITV News consists of two well-presented and stern in-studio presenters, one male and one female (ITV News, 2015). Not only is the use of a female presenter now extremely common in news, for instance the use of main BBC News presenter, Fiona Bruce, it is an extreme contrast and break-through in news in comparison to only a few decades ago. As in 1994, journalist Joanna Coles found in a survey that ‘most male and female viewers didn’t have very much confidence in female news readers’ (J’Accuse The News, Part 2, 1994).

The modern use of female presenters on news channels allows Game-Over to use women in both its news package and OB and still have it remain very current. However, the two presenters are in contrast to each other, as the news package presenter, Lisa, has a typical news programme style of reporting and presentation (see fig. 2 & 3). Whereas the OB presenter Candice, has a much more upbeat style of presenting. That similar to the cheerful presentation of other gaming news channels such as Ginx and Rooster Teeth.

Fig. 2. Fiona Bruce – Biography and Images (2015)

Fig. 3. Game-Over Package Presenter (2015)
There are typically two main types of in-studio locations used in news, these being a studio set and the use of a green screen. Studio sets are most commonly used in typical and generalised television news programming such as BBC News, ITV News and Channel 4 News. Meanwhile, it is found that green screen sets our found in smaller news productions such as BBC Three 60 Second News (BBC Three, 60 Seconds, 2015) and digital media platform news such as YouTube news channels, including the aforementioned ‘The Know’. Similarly, Game-Over involves the use of a green screen background transformed into a geometric print, fitting with the conventions of a simplistic and relaxed style of small new media news channels.

Often in news, the branding and entertainment value can overtake the value and importance of news stories. With the focus resting on the atmosphere that news creates and the way in which the channel, programme and reporters are advertised, this can often damage the amount of important information that is communicated. Mark Tully, an ex BBC Correspondent, stated that the industry is ‘influenced by pressures, by what we think the viewers want to see, by what other networks are doing … not out of any proper consideration of what we should be doing’ (J’Accuse The News, Part 3, 1994) meaning that media organisations are influencing the amount of GFX, incorporation of dramatic soundtracks and more popular human interest news stories rather than hard-hitting journalism.

The reason for this is said to be that it is to keep the audience entertained and more likely to keep watching. BBC journalist Francis Wheen has pointed out that news has developed ‘the need to have constant activity on screen. Because they think that people will be bored if they don’t … use lots of studio gimmicks’ (J’Accuse The News, Part 1, 1994). While this can occasionally be over-used in news programming as a way of advertising and distracting the audience, by using a small amount of cutaway imagery in Game-Over, it was found to be an effective way of supporting the information and topic that was reported due to the relation between the images and the discussions.

SCRIPTING AND STORYTELLING
Game-Over’s package and OB news story focuses on the topic: ‘why are video games being released unfinished?’ The opportunity for this story was created when we found our peg, that being the midnight launch of the video game Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. When researching the Assassin’s Creed game series, it has been found by gamers and customers to have a lot of problems in gameplay. Even Unity, the most recent Assassin’s Creed release before Syndicate, has caused reviewers to state that there is an ever-present ‘series-long frustration of your assassin not doing quite what you want him to do’ (Sliva, 2014). The fact that the series has glitches that increasingly frustrate gamers allowed the topic of unfinished games to become a captivating human interest news story in Game-Over’s news package, as well as the peg of an exciting game release in the OB.

When researching the approach of reporting a news story, it can be found that there are a number of certain techniques that are used. For instance, when observing the agenda of BBC News and ITV news, the storytelling style of both news channels includes an in-studio introduction of the story, OOVs, cutaways, live piece to camera shots, GFX imagery and interviews in almost every news story. It could be said that using a variety of presentation techniques in storytelling allows a more in depth and layered report of the story, at the same time as keeping the audience entertained.

Game-Over’s news story involves all of the mentioned techniques of reporting. Examples of each feature are…
  •  Piece to camera reporting in the studio.

This allowed for a conventional appearance in the reporting technique, similar to most other news channels.
  • The use of an OOV when presenting on-screen video game glitch footage while the presenter simultaneously pin points the exact issues in each clip.

It was found that using an OOV to present the viewer with the factual information on the issues of the game, coinciding with footage of the game itself, allowed for a showing and telling approach that could be said to be more captivating and entertaining than the presenter simply reporting the story in long piece to camera shots.
  • GXF imagery of game discs with statistics presented in bold text. Also with the presenter vocally reporting the statistics.

While it could be seen that overuse of GFX imagery can become distracting and take away from the integrity and importance of the news story, it was found to be effectively appealing for one use in Game-Over’s report.
  • An interview between the presenter and a gaming enthusiast university lecturer.

While remaining conventional in news by using an interview with a professional to gather further information, Game-Over stands out from other news reports by dressing the set with sofas and gaming memorabilia to create a relaxed and informal atmosphere during the interview.
  •  A cutaway to introduce the interview.

This allowed for a brief visual introduction of the interviewee with a simultaneous verbal introduction from the presenter. Again, allowing the viewer to be both shown and told.
  • Piece to camera reporting in the OB, alongside interviews.

In a conventional approach to live broadcast reporting, the presenter reports in a continuous piece to camera shot, while interviewing customers on the street about the topic of the game launch.
While the set-up and scripting of Game-Over’s news story is slightly typical and conventional for a news channel, the variety in approaches alongside an unusual angle and topic allows it to stand out from other news channels.

CRITICAL REFLECTIONS & CONCLUSIONS
There were a small amount of issues in the creation of Game-Over. For instance, the original structure of the OB was changed to have a new location, new interviewees, a new shooting time and a slightly different script due to last minute changes in accessibility to film the original peg. However, issues such as this were able to be quickly resolved in the short amount of time permitted, and a new successful plan and structure was created for the OB. A great deal of the channel’s quality is due to the large amounts of research conducted on not only other video gaming news channels, but generic news channels also. This research on a variety of areas in news allowed the structure and story in Game-Over to obtain conventional news programming features, while still perceiving the overall style and atmosphere that is found in video game news channels.

It was found in the conducted research that news channels in modern times pay a large amount of attention to branding and advertising, entertainment in news is slowly becoming of more importance, there is a typical structure to the techniques of reporting news stories across all visual platforms, and new media is becoming the most used way for the public to become involved in the news. In relation to this, Game-Over fits successfully into the conventions of generic news channels and programmes, as well as having a fresh and contemporary take on the genre by being broadcast through new media.



Illustrations List:

Figure 1. BBC News Brand (2015) [Logo] At: http://tvforum.uk/thegallery/bbc-rebrand-2015-06-style-40590/page-3 (Accessed on 09.11.15)

Figure 2. Fiona Bruce – Biography and Images (2015) [Image] At: http://tvnewsroom.org/biography-images/fiona-bruce-955/ (Accessed on 13.11.15)

Figure. 3. Game-Over Package Presenter (2015) [Image] At: http://meganwaterstv.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2015-10-30T15:27:00Z&max-results=7 (Accessed on 13.11.15)


Bibliography:

Chapman, J. (2009) Broadcast Journalism [online] At: http://ucca.ent.sirsidynix.net.uk/client/en_GB/default/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:224295/ada?qu=Broadcast+Journalism+a+Critical+introduction (Accessed on 09.11.15)

Develop. (2015) Video Gaming Channel Ginx Looks to Raise £540,000 and Give British Gaming Media a Power-Up [online press release] At: http://www.develop-online.net/press-releases/videogaming-channel-ginx-looks-to-raise-pound-540-000-and-give-british-gaming-media-a-power-up/0213628 (Accessed on 10.11.15)

The Know, Halo: The Master Chief Collection Multiplayer Having Problems [television programme online] YouTube (2014) 1 min 20 sec At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GUsEj7-C1c (Accessed on 10.11.15)

BBC Media Centre. (2015) BBC’s combined global audience revealed at 308 million [online press release] At: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2015/combined-global-audience (Accessed on 11.11.15)

OFCOM. (2012) Channel Demographics [online press release] At: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/market-data-research/market-data/communications-market-reports/cmr13/tv-audio-visual/uk-2.78 (Accessed on 11.11.15)

Theesa (2015) Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry At: http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ESA-Essential-Facts-2015.pdf (Accessed on 11.11.15)

BBC News Have Your Say (2015) At: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/have_your_say (Accessed on 11.11.15)

Game-Over: Why are Video Games Being Released Unfinished? [television programme online] UCA. YouTube (2015) 2 mins 57 sec At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AvPOet4ivU (Accessed on 11.11.15)

Teckel, G. (2013) Traditional Journalism: Is it Old News? At: http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/traditional-journalism-is-it-old-news.html (Accessed on 12.11.15)

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Wednesday, 11 November 2015

Fiction Adaptation: Beginning Casting

Due to the quality of actors and actresses that I've had in my previous work that came from Casting Call Pro, I decided to use this to find my actress for Fiction Adaptation.

Casting Call is also a clear way of letting the actresses that are interested know exactly what the film is about, what I'm looking for and what they can expect.

Below is my job description...



When deciding on my audition script for auditioning actresses, I wanted to use parts of my original script that capture the obsessive personality and dramatic actions of my main character, Dawn. I also needed to use parts of the script that allow them to perform in an audition with minimal props and space so that it focuses more on their deliverance than anything else...

I'm excited to see the ways that different actresses portray the character in auditions next week.