Digital News Production: Comparing the News Research - BBC News

As part of my research, I will be watching and comparing two separate news channels/programmes and their main stories, as well as discussing the programmes' relevance and inspirations for our own news channel. These programmes are BBC News at Six and ITV News. They both aired on the evening of Wednesday the 14th October. The first news broadcast that I have watched is BBC News at Six...

The News Stories
Main story, The murder of Georgia Williams: this story is mainly reported from the point of view of the victim's parents due to the presenter reading out their statements and interviews with them. It focuses on them blaming the police and social services for not picking up on how dangerous the killer, Jamie Reynolds has been in the past. Their use of reporting the story consists of...

• Introducing the story in the studio.
• An OOV of the reporter talking about the victim with on-screen images of the her and the murderer.
• A short C/A clip of an interview with the victim's father in a simple and dimly lit room. This is a MCU shot.
• OOV continues with GFX to present on-screen dates of his past crimes and whether or not he was prosecuted, done so in a police file style.
• Continues with a previous victim and friend of the family talking to Georgia's mother.
• C/A to a MCU of her telling us her point of view.
• OOV with a MCU of a member of the police discussing the issue
• C/A to the prime minister talking about the issue.
• Reporter on-location outside police station with PTC
• C/A to MCU interview with victim's mother
• OOV with on-screen image of victim
• Finishes with live reporter PTC

The main story has a lot of variety to it with in studio reporting, interviews, OOVs, GFX, PTC and live reporting. Using so many different ways of reporting kept the story moving quickly at the same time as going in depth with the issue and giving it emotion. The main story didn't feel flat and was very serious. It took a large portion of the programme by last approximately 7 minutes.

Divorce settlement story: Telling the story from more of a woman's side of a divorce story when two women won their divorce settlements, shown from a celebratory side of the winning women and getting their perspective. The reporting consists of...

• Introducing the story in-studio.
• Reporter OOV with GFX of divorced couples' images seeming to split apart, eventually revealing an image of a large amount of money.
• Continues with footage of the two divorcees smiling and posing for photos outside of the courthouse, footage of one divorcee's ex-husband approaching the courthouse (presumably earlier) with his lawyer and GVs of the court and it's sign.
• C/A to the judge discussing the case in the court room.
• Interview with divorcee's ex-husband's lawyer.
• Reporter PTC on steps of courthouse.
• Reporter V/O with footage of reporter walking with the second divorcee.
• CU interview with divorcee in a public park.
• Reporter V/O with GXF of hand with a wedding band
• CU interview on street with a divorce lawyer.
• OOV with divorcee's posing for photos.

I found that this story was presented in a way that was too fast paced, it only consisted of no more than 2 minutes and had almost as many different OOVs, GFX etc. as the main story in that time.

Critically ill nurse story: As more of an update of the condition of the British nurse that contracted Ebola, the story discusses the unusual fact that the nurse became ill again after previously recovering. The reporting consists of...

• Introducing the story in-studio.
• C/A to live broadcast with reporter PTC outside of the hospital where the nurse currently resides.

At this point in the programme, this is it's shortest and most simplistically reported story. This may be due to the fact that it is dealing with someone who is ill, so they are unable to film anything, and that it's mostly a short update on her condition.

Child being held in hospital for 3 years story: A story of an autistic child being held in a specialist hospital for 3 years despite he and his family pleading for him to come home, is finally getting to do so. Reported in a way that makes the audience feel for him and the family. The reporting consists of...

• Introducing and briefly discussing the story in-studio.
• Reporter OOV with footage of the child and his father watching plains - their hobby together.
• C/A to MCU on location with his father.
• Back to OOV with footage of his home being prepared for his return.
• Reporter PTC as she walks through the home.
• V/O with shots of the home.
• MCU interview in the home with the child's mother.
• C/A to footage filmed by the father, telling us there's been a delay.
• OOV with footage of plain taking off, view from plain.
• MCU interview with expert.
• OOV with family footage.

While there was a lot packed into this story visuals-wise, it didn't take away from the story and remained as a story and emotional story.

RAF final rescue story: The story of the RAF helicopter carrying out it's final rescue, with the reporter accompanying them. Also telling stories of their previous rescues. The reporting consists of...

• Introducing the story in-studio.
• OOV with shots from inside the helicopter, archived footage of the RAF's early days and footage of the helicopter.
• CU interview with squadron in front of the helicopter on land.
• V/O set up for reporter actuality of his taking part.
• Reporter PTC in the air.
• OOV with footage of the final rescue and more archived footage, leading to a previously rescued woman walking with the reporter
• CU interview with the woman
• OOV with footage of the public watching the helicopter and it moving along the skyline.

This is by far the most upbeat story of the programme. It's a very humbling story and finishes the programme on a far less downbeat note.

Presenter
The presenter, Fiona Bruce, comes across as both very professional and serious with her body language and speech. She's dressed as one would expect a BBC News Reporter to be dressed by appearing professional and well presented in a suit.

The presenter begins seated behind her desk for the 'coming up' portion, and then takes place standing next to a screen of visuals for the current news story, this goes back and forth, adding variety.

Fig. 2. Fiona Bruce (2015)

'Coming Up'
The opening of the news programme instantly pulls on the heart strings of the audience by starting with the 'Murder of Georgia Williams' story and placing a picture of the victim on screen, followed by the murderer's image on screen, then a clip of the parents' interview - all within the first few seconds. It's then followed by a much more brief mentioning of other news stories, the 'divorce settlement' story accompanied by a clip of the divorcees, a short video of the critically ill nurse when she was healthy, the autistic child walking happily with his father and footage of rescue in the 'RAF final rescue' story.


Soundtrack
A low-key soundtrack plays in the background of the 'coming up', creating an intense atmosphere, especially with a strong sound of drums between each of the news stories.
The music during the opening titles is very powerful and quite fast paced, it gives off an intense atmosphere - which is fitting for their hard hitting stories.


Brand
BBC One is known for being more of a low key channel and it's mix of red and white, BBC News outright represents the channel by also using these colours with little others.
The opening titles - again consisting of red and white, is a short graphical video of the earth as it zooms out, with the title of BBC News at 6 appearing. It's extremely short lived so in my opinion doesn't feel very strong.

Fig. 1. BBC News Logo (2015)

Similarities to Our Channel

• We will have a female presenter in studio and another as a live reporter.
• We will have a specific brand type and colours - ours consisting of red, black and white.
• Our package will consist of a studio piece, OOVs with both images, new footage and archived footage, actuality, presenter PTC and interviews.

Differences to Our Channel

• Both of our presenters will appear to be more casual and upbeat, due to the nature of our channel and story.
• Our story is far less hard-hitting and more of a human interest story.
• Our soundtrack will be a lot less intense, and more light-hearted to fit the theme.
• Our in-studio piece will be in front of a green screen, not at a desk.
• Our interviews will show both the interviewer and the interviewee.
• Our OB will consist of moving around and talking to people on location, rather than stood on a marker.

The set up of how we're reporting the story in our package isn't dramatically different to that of the stories in BBC News, as we're using a lot of the style that they use with OOVs and PTCs etc. so it's a good representation that we're on track and have good knowledge of how is best to report a news story. However, our channel greatly differs to BBC News due to having a very different tone, as their stories are serious and slightly down beat, whereas ours will be more light-hearted and easy going.

Illustrations List:

Figure 1. BBC News Logo (2015) [Poster] At: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11313672 (Accessed on 14.10.15)

Figure 2. Fiona Bruce (2015) [Photo] At: http://www.tellymix.co.uk/reality-tv/strictly-come-dancing/226524-strictly-come-dancing-2015-bbc-newsreader-fiona-bruce-turns-down-offer.html (Accessed on 14.10.15)

Digital News Production: Package Workshop

Our 'as-live' video from the package workshop is a rough practice of how our OB will be expected to turn out script-wise.

The set-up involved for this
As this is a practice/rough run through of the OB, it didn't require a great deal of setting up. It involved:

• Setting up the Canon - which was decided on for the OB due to manoeuvrability and weight allowing filming to run smoother than it would with the Sony.
• Deciding on location - we chose an empty lecture room to not disturb others, however this greatly differs from how our real location's atmosphere will be.
• Deciding on roles - I held the female presenter role as our real presenter is a woman, Wez as the interviewee due to having practice of this in our auditions, Harry on camera as he will be the camera operator on the night, and Jordan on sound to get an idea of sound quality.
• Deciding between using the rode mic in the conventional way or as a microphone - We originally wanted to use an actual microphone, but as it's incompatible with the camera, we decided on the rode mic. However for the presenter to look more professional and to get a closer and clearer sound when asking and answer questions, we decided to use it as a microphone.

The set-up involved for the real OB

• Setting up the Canon and Steadicam - this takes a long time to set up so will take a while on the night, but will be worth it due to how smooth it will make the camera's tracking movements
• Setting up on location - this will involve deciding on where to place floor markings for our presenter to start and finish
• Working together in as a group and in our individual roles
• Picking out members of the queue to ask if they're willing to be in our OB and talking it through with them
• Rehearsing - to ensure the smooth running of the OB we'll rehearse the entire thing at least once

Overall, there'll be a lot more to do and many more complexities when it comes to filming our real OB, but we're prepared for every detail.

What we plan on keeping the same

• The equipment - Canon, Steadicam, Rode Mic as microphone
• The script lines and questions
• The number of people talked to (which would be three)
• The rough positioning of the presenter, with her starting as PTC at the end of the queue, working her way along as she talks to customers and finishing again with PTC on a marker (which would be in front of the shop, GAME)

What we hope to avoid or improve

• The general atmosphere - Our presenter will be much more lively and enthusiastic than I was able to be!
• The excitement of the customers - Again, we're hoping and expecting the fans of the game in the queue to be a lively crowd to make the question portion more exciting.
• The lighting - Bluewater is a very well and brightly lit centre, so it should create a better appearance than the workshop's.
• No script in-hand - Our presenter will obviously be off book
• The steadiness and smooth running of filming - once rehearsed on location and the Steadicam is in use, it will flow a lot better.
• Camera shots - There will be CU of the customers answering the questions to give variety
• Timing - I think I slightly rushed through my lines and our Q&A was quite rushed, so we will make sure to take the time up from under 1 minute 40 to 2 minutes exactly.

I think our short practice run was helpful to establish exactly how the equipment will be used and how we'd like our positioning to be, as well as how well the script will flow with our real presenter.

Digital News Production: Assassin's Creed Syndicate Research

Our entire OB will be focusing on the release of Assassin's Creed Syndicate as we'll be attending the Bluewater midnight launch to hear about fans expectations of it and what they thought of Assassin's Creed Unity. We will also be finding out in our package whether or not the game has glitches like the last. So to get an idea of what we can expect from the game and what to expect the fans to say during the OB, I've gathered some information on what the expectations are.

Fans have already taken to Twitter to talk about the upcoming release. Below are what I think of as two very different outlooks on the unreleased game...

Fig. 1. Rumours Twitter Screenshot (2015)

Fig. 2. Move On Twitter Screenshot (2015)

Figure 1. is a prime example of fans fearing that Syndicate will turn out to be exactly like Unity, released unfinished. While Figure 2. captures the thoughts of the more optimistic fans. This gives me the impression that fans aren't completely expecting Syndicate to let us down, so I'm hoping to hear from both of these types of fans in our OB.

A writer for the Irish Examiner agrees with many in saying 'there’s a lot riding on Syndicate, especially in the wake of the 2014’s Assassin’s Creed Unity which was plagued with issues at launch including graphical bugs' (Tech Now, 2015) but has been able to give a positive insight into what Syndicate may bring. Having been given the chance to play the unreleased game, they stated that 'it all bodes extremely well' and that there are 'improvements to the movement controls. Upwards and downwards motions are back but they’re less rigid, while mounting walls and buildings is smoother.' (Tech Now, 2015)

So potentially, the game could be glitch free, which would work out extremely well for us, as it will allow our story to have a turning point and a positive end.



List of Illustrations:

Figure 1. Rumours Twitter Screenshot (2015) [Screenshot] At: https://twitter.com/hashtag/assassinscreedsyndicate (Accessed on 12.10.15)

Figure 2. Move On Twitter Screenshot (2015) [Screenshot] At: https://twitter.com/hashtag/assassinscreedsyndicate (Accessed on 12.10.15)


Bibliography:

Tech Now (2015) 'Assassin's Creed Syndicate preview - will it fix the problems of Unity?' In: Irish Examiner [online] At: http://www.irishexaminer.com/technow/games/assassins-creed-syndicate-preview--will-it-fix-the-problems-of-unity-358016.html (Accessed on 12.10.15)

Digital News Production: Assassin's Creed Unity Research

In order to report on broken and unfinished games, I've needed to gain further knowledge on them. As our main focus is Assassin's Creed Unity and Assassin's Creed Syndicate, I've first conducted research into the former.

General Research
Assassin's Creed Unity is 'the next-gen evolution' (Assassin's Creed Website, 2014) of the Assassin's Creed game series, meaning that it's the first of the series to be released on newer versions of consoles e.g. PS4 instead of PS3. The fact that it was released for next gen implies that it was supposed to be groundbreaking. Due to the graphics and smoothness of gameplay being on a whole new level with next generation consoles, the expectations are set even higher. It's the most recent Assassin's Creed release, being released on 11th November 2014, before the upcoming release of Assassin's Creed Syndicate, due for release on 23rd October this year.

Bugs & Issues
Unity clearly had problems right from the start. The release date was originally set for 28th October 2014, but was delayed to 11th November 2014 due to being incomplete. The executive director of the game's publishing company Ubisoft, said in an interview 'If we think we’ve ended up with a 70 percent Assassin's Creed game, we’re not going to ship it' (IGN, 2014) yet even after pushing the date back, it was still released unfinished. As even the chief executive of Ubisoft Montreal & Toronto put out an email saying 'Unfortunately, at launch, the overall quality of the game was diminished by bugs and unexpected technical issues' (Kelion, 2014)

The game has been reviewed favourably in areas due to the beauty of it's next gen graphics, but the main focus has continued to stay on the issues of the game. With one reviewer mentioning that 'When it all worked perfectly [it] brought me a great sense of satisfaction. The key phrase there was “when it all worked,” because the series-long frustration of your assassin not doing quite what you want him to do is still present here.' (Sliva, 2014)

While it's clearly seen as frustrating for most fans, many of them are seeing the funny side. Some find them simply entertaining, with entire articles dedicated to presenting and listing the glitches while saying 'What all of these have in common, though, is that they're hilarious.' (Hernandez, 2014)

The bugs/glitches in Assassin's Creed Unity include textures not loading, unusual behaviour from non-player characters, the main character getting stuck, climbing invisible objects, walking on air and even falling through the map. As can be seen in the video below...

The fact that fans and customers are both extremely frustrated by the incomplete nature of the game as well as entertained by it's unusual and frequent issues will be worked into our news package. We'll be connecting with the annoyed fans by exploring the issues in-depth and taking the topic seriously, but as it is a human interest story and it's quite a light-hearted subject, the whole feel, appearance and presentation of our channel will be an easy-going one.

We have also been given consent to use the above video's footage by the YouTube user in our news package, allowing us to show the game's bugs first hand.



Bibliography:

Assassin's Creed Website (2014) Assassin's Creed® Unity At: http://assassinscreed.ubi.com/en-gb/purchase/assassins-creed-unity.aspx (Accessed on 12.10.15)

IGN (2014) Release Date At: http://uk.ign.com/wikis/assassins-creed-5-unity/Release_Date (Accessed on 12.10.15)

Kelion, L. (2014) 'Ubisoft apologises for Assassin's Creed Unity bugs' In: BBC News [online] At: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30226586 (Accessed on 12.10.15)

Sliva, M. (2014) 'Assassin's Creed Unity Review' In: IGN Articles [online] At: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/11/11/assassins-creed-unity-review (Accessed on 12.10.15)

Hernandez, P. (2014) 'Assassin's Creed Unity Has The Best Glitches' In: Kotaku [online] At: http://kotaku.com/assassins-creed-unity-has-the-best-glitches-1657939797 (Accessed on 12.10.15)

Digital News Production: Recruitment

I've had brilliant results by using Casting Call Pro to hire actors in the past, so having told the group this, and us deciding that it's the most professional and trustworthy route to take, I created two job adverts last week.

We want talented, professional actors for both our package presenter and our OB presenter. After discussing the details of the job advertisement with the group, and using the last CCP job advertisement I created for guidance, I posted this...

Fig. 1. Casting Call Pro Job Advert (2015)

In a week, the advert had brought in 6 applications for our female OB presenter, and 3 applications for our male news package presenter. To keep all of our options open, we've agreed to have every applicant audition for us on Thursday 8th October. So tonight I sent out 9 audition invitations along with an audition script. As our official script is unfinished, we have created two short audition scripts for the two presenters, this way they can show us how good they are and give them a feel for what they'll be doing. Below are the audition scripts...

Fig. 2. Package Presenter Audition Script (2015)

Fig. 3. OB Presenter Audition Script (2015)

They should capture exactly what we want from the actors and give us the ability to decide who's best for the role. With time slots already being arranged, we're close to having our presenters decided on.



Illustrations List:

Figure 1. Casting Call Pro Job Advert (2015) [Screenshot] At: http://www.castingcallpro.com/uk/job/294906/short-student-digital-news-production (Accessed on 05.10.15)

Figure 2. Waters, M. (2015) Package Presenter Audition Script [Screenshot] In possession of: Waters, M. Maidstone.

Figure 3. Waters, M. (2015) OB Presenter Audition Script [Screenshot] In possession of: Waters, M. Maidstone.

Fiction Adaptation: Chosen Poem

After reading through all of the poems on offer, I decided on Love Ambitions by Deanna Rodger...

LOVE AMBITIONS

I wanna be your mirror so I see

What you see.

And you see

What I see

And all I see is you

Gazing at me.

I wanna be.

A debilitating disease,

Make you weak in the knees,

But bless you when you sneeze,

And miss you,

Like a ghost misses form when you leave.

I wanna be.

The big issue

Maan, that you give 2.50 to,

Compassions material form once held by you

Smell like you,

The scent that you apply

Provide the glisten of desire that resides in your eye, I

Want to 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

Your, coco butter

Invade your pores with the cream of me

Just so I can touch you ubiquitously.

Your pupils, teach me to see

That, I'm the one for you and

You complete me.

The only facebook message you'll reply to.

I wanna be the receptor your ligand will bind to.

The pen lids you chew

Your most comfortable shoes

The one thing you'll never lose

The only choice you'll ever choose.

I want to be.

Every,

Single,

Girl you've,

Ever,

Encountered.

So that technically,

I'm the only one.

The game you play for fun.

I'll let you monopolize

And think that you've won

Fairly!

I wanna be,

The hand that you lay

I'll let you handwrite my game

For

I wanna be

The poetry you write

Sublimation with a flow that's so,

Tight.

Like your boy,

Share all instances of carefree joy

Fight your fights

Share your pain

Then make it my own.

Your phone,

Use me to communicate

All feelings to love loss despair and hate

For I wanna be

The Soca that makes you whine, pine

The architect of your love line

Please, let me design.

The memory you trigger when you're down.

The riddle you ponder that makes you frown

With confusion, tryna figure the answer

I'll be your lecturer

Guide to conclusion that it's all cos you love her

Me.

Your

Student ID

I wanna be

Part of your identity

Provide knowledge

See you need me

To get into the library

Fuck it,

I can only be

The woman I am

The woman you see.

The reason this stood out to me and led to me choosing it is due to how manic it feels. When I started to read it I thought "Oh here we go, another cheesy love poem". But the further I got into it, the more I started to spark ideas of how this could be presented. Certain words stood out to me like disease, smother, and invade. It made me start to automatically create the film in my mind, consisting of nothing but a young woman in a brightly lit room, beginning with the impression that she's pining over her lover, and then slowly, the mood turns more and more unusual, and we start to realise that she's actually deeply in love with someone that she's not in a relationship with, and has created an illusion in her mind and developed an obsession.

I can really see this working, with no narrated words or V/O, just the audience connecting directly with this broken woman as she makes them really physically feel the words on screen while she's acting them out, closed off, living this psychotic fantasy in her bedroom. I can imagine piano-based, subtle but fitting music, and lots of handheld shots at varying distances, but mainly close-ups.

After doing some research on the poem, I found two videos. One is the poet herself, reciting the poem on stage. I feel that this backs up the dark tone that I feel the poem has, due to how manically she presents it...

(Deanna Rodger - Love Ambitions, 2012)

The second video has a mixed feel. There's the romantic colour of pink used in certain shots, however there's a very creepy vibe coming from the shots that include the poet reciting the poem as a silhouette, with pre-production effects of black and grey ghosts of her in the background, and an echo on her voice. I think this perfectly captures the feelings I'll want my actress to portray. As I want the audience to find her clearly obsessed and delusional, but still have some sympathy for her. Below is the creative video directed by Theresa Varga...

(LOVE AMBITIONS, 2013)

I plan to get into contact with Deanna Rodger, let her know of the film I'm planning on creating, and have her input on my portrayal of her poem.

Bibliography:

Deanna Rodger - Love Ambitions [television programme online] Love Writers Block YouTube (2012) 2 mins 26 sec At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzAM7RJ2opE (Accessed on: 30.09.15)

LOVE AMBITIONS [television programme online] Youth Media Agency YouTube (2013) 2 mins 40 sec At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qCoj_abuNw (Accessed on: 30.09.15)

Fiction Adaption: Essay Starting Point

To start, I have decided on the below question for my essay...

In adapting a novel the adaptor inevitably infringes the integrity of the original text - discuss with reference to at least one text adapted for broadcast on television.

The text I have decided on is the memoir book Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman, and it's adaption into the American tv series Orange Is the New Black.

This is a very recent text to choose, as the book was only published in 2010, and the series was released in 2013, so I'm aware there's not a large amount of history behind it. However, it's based on life in women's prison, so being an extremely fresh, modern and intense topic, as well as being based on real life, I think I have a lot to work with.

Piper Kerman, the author and reason for the show and book, is in support of the show, so she serves an argument against the opinion that adapting the text for television infringes it's integrity. However she provides good topic for discussion with the fact that she says "when you watch the show, you will see moments of my life leap off the screen ... But there are other parts of the show which are tremendous departures and pure fiction." (NPR, 2013)



Bibliography:

NPR (2005) 'Behind 'The New Black': The Real Piper's Prison Story' In: www.npr.org 12.08.13 [online] At: http://www.npr.org/2013/08/12/211339427/behind-the-new-black-the-real-pipers-prison-story (Accessed on 29.09.15)