Fiction Adaptation: Critical Reflections

Research & Influences

• Poem analysis
• Poet research
• Poem adaptation research
• Adaptation research

I think that by analysing each individual part of the poem Love Ambitions itself allowed me to consider what the poet may have intended for each line to mean, how I interpret it and what visuals would suit each part, allowing me to plan the adaptation thoroughly. I think that by also looking into the poet, Deanna Rodgers and exploring her work taught me about the kind of style that she has, and her other adaptations gave me inspiration for my own.

The most helpful research I conducted however was by analysing the Youth Media adaptation of the poem, analysing the poem/theatre piece adaptation For Colored Girls and techniques used in novel adaptations such as Bridget Jones's Diary and Sherlock. The combination of these sources gave me a lot of inspiration and guidance in creating my adaptation.

Script
I feel that the script came slightly naturally to me. As after analysing the poem and considering the type of story I could create from from it, I could see it play out in my mind. As most of it needed to be heavily based on visuals instead of dialogue, I wanted the film to be emotional and dramatic.

Although, I wanted to use the technique of occasionally working the poem into the film through in-film writing or certain lines of the poem being spoken as dialogue. For example, a line in the poem is 'I am the one for you and... you complete me.' so I wrote in the script that the character looks at an image of the man she loves and speaks to it, saying "you complete me". I think that by weaving the poem into the film itself rather than completely in post production gives it depth.


Casting
The largest struggle that I had was within casting, as I wasn't able to find an actress until a approximately a week before filming. While I put out an advertisement for the role on Casting Call Pro about two and a half weeks before filming, which was as early as possible, I was continuously let down by actresses that scheduled an audition and failed to attend or reply to me.

Thankfully, I was told of a Facebook group for UCA Theatre & Performance and posted the role there. Which is where I got two auditions that were fulfilled. I decided to cast my actress Nicoletta, for her ability to instantly go into a dramatic emotional state as the script called for, as well as being able to portray the sweet side of her character. Although I initially struggled with casting, I'm very happy with the actress that I cast.

I had also initially planned on using a friend to pose as the character's ex boyfriend in my photoshoot and in film, however they dropped out soon before the film, so I was given permission to use a member of my course, which not only worked out great, but gave me piece of mind due to his reliability.


Location
I decided early in the process of planning that the film would take place all within the character's bedroom to resemble the dramatic occurrences in the film being a typical day in her life. My own bedroom didn't have the layout that I needed for my script, so I thought of a course member's spare room that I knew had the exact type of style that I required.

While the whole film being set in a bedroom also allowed for convenience due to not needing to set up in a number of locations or face any weather issues, there still ended up being a large number of problems, as discussed below.


Filming
I had seen the room in person previously, and looked at recent images of it. But had gotten the size of the room wrong in anticipation of it being larger than it actually was. This meant that there was no room for more than myself and the actress, barely any room for filming equipment, no room for a lighting kit, not much space for the actress to move around in when acting, not much room for props and decor and there wasn't a great deal of natural lighting through the small window.

These factors all meant that I struggled to get the shots that I had intended and that the lighting of the film suffered greatly. However, thanks to preparing all of my props, the shot list, script and filming schedule way in advance, the help of two course members, and the co-operative and professional attitude of my actress, a positive of filming was that the timing went according to plan.


Editing
The largest amount of time spent on the film was definitely through editing, as I find it can often be what will make or break a film. While I was initially not very content with how filming had turned out after all of the complications, I think I managed to turn it around quite a lot through spending a lot of time and hard work on editing it.

In the process of editing the film now has the additions of:

• Four separate colour tones
• 2 classical pieces of uncopyrighted music for a soundtrack
• Enhanced vibrancy and exposure
• Sound effects
• Visual effects
• On-screen, animated text
• Narration

What Worked

• The photoshoot for in-film prop photos of the character and her ex boyfriend, which ran smoothly and the photos turned out great
• The actress portrayed the character very well
• Aside from the casting issue, the planning and organisation of the film went extremely well
• I feel that the script/storyline ties in very well with the poem
• Thanks to one of my course members I was able to add a very well-done voice over recording to my film in a short amount of time

What I'd Have Changed

• I'd have used a larger location for the ability to have my crew member with me and for the space to set up the intended kit
• I'd have used someone else instead of course members for my photoshoot and voice over simply to have it feel and seem more professional, however this was only done so due to complications
• I'd have possibly made my script slightly less complex, as my film was largely over the time allowance which meant having to cut parts of the film out to meet the time

What I've Leant

• I've learnt a great deal when it comes to adaptations. I had little knowledge on them before, especially with poetry adaptations and techniques when creating them. I feel that I've learnt a lot from this
• I've learnt that even if I've been to a place that I plan to film in before, that I should make sure to go back there just to refresh my mind and avoid what occurred when filming
• I've learnt to make sure to post my job role on multiple websites and pages instead of just Casting Call Pro, as while it has worked out very well in the past, it wasn't a good option this time

What I Want to Improve On

• I want to improve on my camera skills. I'm not entirely happy with a lot of shots that I took as some are off centre or slanted. I feel that this is something that will improve with further practice

Final Result Thoughts
Overall, I'm very pleased with the result of my adaptation. I think that the story remains very true to the poem and resembles it well, without distracting from it too much. I think that it's turned out nicely after having many issues during filming and has a very unique feel to it.

Fiction Adaptation: Post-Production

Step By Step
There were many features to be added and changes to be made to create the look that I needed for my film. These were...

• Comparing each shot with guidance from my shot list, selecting the ones of the best quality and usability (for example shot #1 filmed four times, then selecting the clip of the third time it was filmed)
• Placing all of these shots together in chronological order in the Final Cut timeline as a starting point
• Due to the length of the film totalling at approximately 9 minutes 50 seconds, cutting down areas of each clip that weren't completely necessary, speeding up certain clips, and eventually having to lose one small portion and one large portion of the of the film to cut the time down to 5 minutes 32 seconds. All of which needed a lot of time and detail, as although it's simple to delete parts of clips, each one still needs to flow into the next

A clip from the small deleted 'scene' made for the lines 'Smell like you, the scent that you apply. Provide the glisten of desire that resides in your eye'. These words were added to a different set of clips

A clip from the larger deleted 'scene' made for the lines 'I wanna' be your bed, your sheet, your pillow and your cover. The one that I smother, your bedtime lover. Comfort in the form of a significant other'. These words were then added to a different set of clips.

• Adding the poem to the film through on-screen text in almost every clip and using a number of effects on the text
• Adding carefully selected music for the films' soundtrack. Then cutting the music in multiple places so that the tones, highs and lows fit with the atmosphere and actions in the scenes
• Enhancing the vibrancy and exposure of each individual clip to improve their quality
• Changing the colour of each individual clip for atmosphere setting
• Adding a visual effect that enhanced the films' quality
• Adding in-film sound effects for sounds that could not be created during filming
• Correcting the sound of the film
• Adding the unit introduction GFX
• Creating and adding a simple and subtle GFX film introduction
• Adding credits
• Having a voice-over recorded, adding it to the timeline, carefully placing it inline with each section of the poem and adding effects to it

On-screen Text
From the start of creating my idea for this adaptation, I knew that I wanted to incorporate the poem into the film by using text instead of narration. I felt that as the script is so active and dramatic, that it tells the story itself. However, while this strengthens the look of the film, it seems to clash slightly with the amount that is happening to the character at the same time as the audience needing time to read the on-screen text.

With feedback from my tutor, I made the following changes to the text...

• Making the most standout-ish and bold words such as verbs more eye catching by putting them in a larger font
• Using a tool to have each piece of text slowly move during it's appearance
• Placing certain sections of the poem in different areas of the screen to make them clearer and easier to read

These additions and changes have made a very large difference to the text's significance and how captivating it is in the film, by bringing it to life and giving the impression that it is more 'involved' in each moment.

An example of before improvements

After improvements

Sound
I wanted classical music with the main instrument being piano for my soundtrack, as I feel that this type of music can portray both a lighthearted, romantic atmosphere, as well as a dark and dramatic atmosphere when used in different ways.

I searched on a number of copyright free music websites and found two soundtracks on Bensound. One called November, and one called Sad Day. November is a slightly upbeat, relaxing classical track, while Sad Day is a more downbeat and dramatic piece of music. After testing these with my clips, I found they were extremely suitable to use in my film for the separate tones that take place. The calm and romantic tone that the film starts with, the change in atmosphere as the character becomes distressed, and the emotional, dramatic tone that the film ends with.

I successfully mixed these tracks together half way where the mood of the film turns, and edited them to lengthen them and have them fit with each individual moment of the films' drama.

I also added three separate sound effects to the film from Freesound to make it more realistic. I searched and found an iPhone message tone for the moment that the character receives a text and a vibration sound to accompany it. I could not have created these sounds on set as the timing would have been overly complex and the interference static sound from the phone would have been picked up. The other sound effect was the sound go glass shattering for the moment that the character smashes her vanity mirror, I could also not create this sound due to the health and safety issues of her throwing a mirror and the possibility that it could have smashed beyond use for the 'cracked reflection' ending.

Lastly, I added a number of echo and room type effects to the sound effects to make them sound more like they take place during the scenes and to create a bolder sound for the mirror shattering moment.


Aesthetics
I first had the thought to change the colouring of the film when beginning to colour correct each clip to improve their quality. After exploring the idea of overlaying a certain colour on the clips through testing, I decided to use four separate, subtle colours.

I have used pink/purple for the first part of the film, to create a relaxed, romantic atmosphere that comes from the feelings portrayed through the characters actions and surroundings. I used cold, blue tinted colouring for the moment when the character becomes distressed and upset, signifying the moment when the films' tone changes and resembling these feelings of distress. The third colour overlay is a warm, yellow tinted colour to match the now florescent evening lighting and represent the warmth and relaxed feeling the character has momentarily returned to. The fourth and final colouring is pale and slightly yellow and blue tinted, for the final turn in the film where the character begins to fall apart and the atmosphere is at it's most intense and emotional.

My inspiration for using certain colours for segments of the film comes from the Youth Media adaptation of Love Ambitions and their use of a heavy pink colour and from previously using the technique when creating a film in the style of David Fincher. I've found that adding extra atmosphere-setting colour to a film brings it to life more.

Before adding first colour

After adding first colour

Before adding second colour

After adding second colour

Before adding third colour

After adding third colour

Before adding fourth colour

After adding fourth colour

 The other visual enhancement that I made during editing was changing the vibrancy and exposure of each individual clip, along with adding an effect overlay called Vignette. I think that the combination of this creates more of a three dimensional style of image and creates a more professional film look.

Before enhancement

After enhancement

Voice Over
Taking the advice of my tutor, I decided to use a voice over/narration in my film later in post-production. This is to have the poem be more of a centre stage item and feel of more importance in the film, it also allows the poem to be presented to the audience in a clearer and simpler way for them, as they don't need to focus on reading text.

Although, I decided that I should not use my actress for this, as she has a strong accent that I found isn't quite clear enough for narration. So in the short time remaining, I decided to use someone on the course that has a clear speaking voice, as well as being believable as being the character's own voice.

Having tested the voice over on the timeline that already included the on-screen text, I decided to keep both the text and the voice over instead of removing the text. This is because I feel that the text remains as a reminder that the film is an adaptation of the poem and that it flows nicely with inline with voice. I think that adding narration to the film is a huge improvement and allows the audience to feel as if they're hearing the characters thoughts and feelings, bringing more emotion to the film overall.


End Result
Some of the editing process was a struggle, due to the lighting issues that I faced when filming, there wasn't much I could do to dramatically correct this. However, after a lot of hard work and adding a very large amount of detail to every single part of the film, I feel extremely pleased with the end result.

Fiction Adaptation: Adaptation Research

Storytelling Through Dialogue Adaptation
There are only a few well known poems adapted for live dramatic film, such as the 2004 film Troy - adapted from the poems Aeneid by Virgil and Iliad by Homer, and the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? adapted from the poem Odyssey, also by Homer. However, these adaptations have less of a direct connection to the poems themselves, and instead have used the poems as inspiration. By which I mean that there is not dialogue from the poems spoken, voiced over or placed on screen throughout, therefore there is not a clear reminder of the original poem when an audience views the adaptations.

An example of an adaptation of poetic monologues that remains closer to the original themes and plot is the 2010 film For Colored Girls, which is adapted from the poetic 1976 theatre piece For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf. The adaptation keeps the original plot of focusing on nine African-american women and their struggles, and retains the issues faced by the characters that are explored in the original play including love, abandonment, rape, infidelity, and abortion

The trailer for the film is a clear representation of how closely the adaptation resembles the original production. Through including original dialogue from the play, and the use of different and specific costume colours for each woman, identical to those used in the theatre piece.

For Colored Girls Trailer

While there are a number of differences between this adaptation and my own, I was inspired by the use of colour in both costume and lighting of the scenes as representations of certain feelings. For example, reds, pinks and yellows (resembling sunlight) being used as a way to portray feelings of love and calmness. I have used this technique in my own adaptation of Love Ambitions, I feel that it is a strong technique for portraying emotions and themes in a subtle way.


Love Themed Adaptation Example
Bridget Jones's Diary is a 2001 film adaptation of the 1996 novel of the same name by Helen Fielding. The 2004 sequel, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, is also an adaptation of the 1999 sequel novel of the same name.

Although Bridget Jones's Diary heavily involves satire, it mainly focuses on the story of a woman who struggles with her love life. When focusing on the appearance of the film and the main character, similarities can be found between my own adaptation and the film series when looking at the conventions of aesthetics in romance films.

Bridget Jones's Diary - The Last Scene

When focusing solely on the shots, costume, colouring and lighting of this scene, a number of key things can be picked out...

• Her costume is simply pyjamas, resembling her vulnerability
• There is a close up shot of her diary, which explains the situation the audience without any vocal explanation in addition
• The outside lighting is dark due to the time set, yet with yellow colouring. This warms the scene in contrast to the wintry set
• Mid shots of the main character with empty space around her, again signifying vulnerabilty
• Tones of pink in the lighting in the final shot, representing their new romance

With inspiration from the above, my adaptation of Love Ambitions has visuals that closely resemble this style, however in a different situation. For example the tone of pink in the first half of my film signify the loving feeling that the main character has on her own, instead of between two characters on screen.

The Use of On-Screen Text
I have chosen to use on-screen text for presenting the poem line by line in Love Ambitions. To do so, I looked at a number of examples of the use of incorporating on-screen text into moving images.

Referring back to Bridget Jones's Diary, it is also a great example of the use of text. Due to being adapted from a novel based on the main character's diary, the adaptor, Sharon Maguire, decided to keep a close a resemblance to the novel by occasionally having her diary entries appear during certain scenes. Such as below...

These text appearances often occur along with the character Bridget's narrations of the same words and while she has the diary in-hand during the scene. I found this to be a very natural and well structured addition of on-screen text.

Another example is the 2010 series Sherlock, which is well known for it's use of text naturally appearing during its scenes. However, in this case it is usually placed on screen as a mobile phone message that a character is reading. While I haven't used this in my own film, it is great material for inspiration on text size, movement and placement in my use of on-screen text when trying to achieve the most natural looking and easy to read sentences.

Sherlock example

I feel that my previously conducted research of these aspects of adaptation along with features such as text have benefited me in creating, filming and editing Love Ambitions and when creating an adaptation of someone else's work.



Bibliography:

For Colored Girls Trailer [film trailer online] Lionsgate. YouTube (2011) 2 mins At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIDrfLIjnLo (Accessed on 04.12.15)

For Colored Girls Website (2010) At: http://www.forcoloredgirlsmovie.com/ (Accessed on 04.12.15)

Bridget Jones's Diary Last Kiss [film clip online] YouTube (2013) 3 mins At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ige4ZFeST2k (Accessed on 06.12.15)

Digital News Production: Critical Analysis

By Megan McLellan-Waters

Television Production – Year 2

Word Count: 2494

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 globally-focused stories among their reports from the offset, with their opening sequence involving a graphical globe (see fig. 1).

Fig. 1. BBC News Brand (2015)

With influences from news programmes such as this, the YouTube news channel Game-Over uses the sharp and straightforward colours, red, black and white allow for the impression of seriousness and simplicity, such as how news channels including BBC and ITV that use the same branding techniques of simple colours are known to be taken seriously. Rather than using overly broad and seemingly immature colourings such as pink or wild patterns that could be seen as insincere for the styling of a news channel and more often found in a more relaxed genre of television.

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. Supporting this, Chapman states that ‘A contemporary event is newsworthy if it has certain intrinsic news factors’ (Chapman, 2009: 64) and that news has its ‘own socialised dynamic that account for news selection’ (Chapman, 2009: 64) allowing modern topics such as video games to be news worthy due to the publics interests.

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 key global brand 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.

By 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. This is seen as important within modern news as it is ‘likely that consumers and citizens will benefit from the potential benefits of relevant digital content by the introduction of alternative voices and services.’ (Chapman, 2009: 44)

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 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. Additionally, 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, such as the negative impact on print media. 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. 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 seems that 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 many major network 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. As Chapman explains, ‘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.

Similarly, 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. For example, the use of recorded game footage submitted by the public in the news programme The Patch, produced on YouTube, is a common occurrence and is their key way of presenting visuals in their news stories. (The Patch, 2015)

NEWS STORY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

There are key stages of a news channel’s structure in reporting its news stories. This consists of presenting the ‘coming up’ section and reporting the stories of the day in certain formats such as live broadcasts or news packages consisting of features such as interviews and or statistical information accompanied by GFX visuals. In addition to this, they incorporate presenter types – including gender, age and personality, and 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).

We applied this model to Game-Over, using women in both its news package and outside broadcast (OB). 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 network television news such as BBC News, ITV News and Channel 4 News. Meanwhile, green screen sets are used 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. It was found in 2013 that the main reason for the rising popularity of the green screen in news is down to its timeliness and cost effectiveness, as ‘where a client will save money is in project management costs, because [they] won’t have three months of building a completely new set’ (Dodson, 2013), allowing news channels and programmes main priorities and time consumption to be on their news reports. 

Often in news, the branding and entertainment value can overtake the value and importance of news stories. 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 often a desire 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 providing infotainment in its report 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 news peg – ‘a news story that forms the basis of or justification for a feature story’ (Dictionary.com, 2015), that being the midnight launch of the video game Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. When researching the Assassin’s Creed game series, it has come to light that gamers and customers 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, there are a number of certain techniques that are used. For instance, when observing the reporting style of BBC News and ITV news, the storytelling of both news channels includes an in-studio introduction of the story, out of vision (OOV) pieces, cutaways, live piece to camera shots, GFX imagery and interviews in almost every news story. It could be said that using a variety of presentative 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 news genre appearance in the reporting technique, similar to most other news channels such as BBC News’ use of this technique.

• 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.

By 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.

• GFX 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 due to its infotainment.

• An interview between the presenter and a gaming enthusiast university lecturer.

While keeping general news conventions 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. Whereas channels such as BBC and ITV usually conduct interviews in the studio, keeping a formal atmosphere.

• 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, found in almost every news programme, including BBC, ITV and Channel 4 news, the presenter reports in a continuous piece to camera shot, while interviewing customers on the street about the topic of the game launch.

CRITICAL REFLECTIONS & CONCLUSIONS

There was mainly one issue in the creation of Game-Over. As the original structure of the OB was changed to have a new location, new interviewees, a new shooting time and an altered 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. 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.

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)

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