Digital News- Notes for Workshop

Bursaries and Scholarships

Digital News- Workshop research

During the workshop today we had to look at a press release from the education sectary in reference to graduates who train to teach and the advantages to attract high grading graduates to becoming teachers. They have released the press release to attract those who have studied 'academic' subjects.
The government have created a advertisement film that features a teacher known from educating essex. This advertises how teachers can affect other peoples lives and create people into careers, such as nurses.



As a press release the government would have mocked up the document and created to serve an agenda for the government, the agenda seems to be to get graduates to go towards a teaching career with their chosen subject.

While looking at the tag line for the news we decided that we could look at it from an angle that does not appeal to the governments advertisement. We decided the tag line would be; "25,000 for top graduates to become teachers while nurses are denied a 1% pay rise."

We are then looking into the when, where, who, how and why. We decided we would look at the press release we were given and then make a separate section for what we would like to show and write about in our script.

While Andrei is looking into the information about teaching I have decided to look at information about the nursing union and their statements that con-side with the 1% pay rise denial. The Unison is one of the largest unions in the UK, it is the union for nurses and therefore represents nurses. I have decided to get most of my information on the pay reform from this website. 

From the website I managed to find some good quotes that can be used in our script that we need to create. I have found that Christina McAnea is the Unison head of health care. 

After looking at the Unison fro health care I decided to look into the teachers union and came across NASUWT- I went onto the website to look into their opinion of standards at schools as that directly relates to the governments press release, the government claim that if graduates became teachers that it would raise the standard of teaching and build a stronger economy. 

The union believe that the way towards change is to take industrial action, 'standing up for standards'. 

Andrei and I are looking at breaking down the story into sections and then writing the script. 

We are looking into graduates as that is the main focus for the story and how much they are paid to do the jobs they would have originally looked at and then how much they would have for starter salary. 

Fiction Adaptation- Contact

I have decided to write and email to a local WW1 re-enactment society and see if they would be interested in helping me with my project.  

"To whom it may Concern, 

I would like to get in contact with your society as I am doing a remembrance project on World War 1 and was wondering if you would be willing to help me. I am trying to create a short film piece based on the Cenotaph. I was hoping to have images of people holding frames of relatives from WW1 and make it into a remembrance piece with the poem spoken over the images. This is for a university project and I would like to produce a memorable piece. 

Please get in contact, 

Kind Regards 

Roxanne Meats"

Fiction Adaptation- Ideas

Fiction Adaptation Essay-

I was looking into television series and what has been adapted from books to television. Recently I have decided to read Agatha Christie books and a very famous series of Poirot was produced in the late 80's. I decided I would read the first book in the series and find out the episode and also watch that. The first book is entitled "The Mysterious Affair At Styles" which was made into a television episode in series 3 of Poirot. The book was written in the 1920's and adapted in the 1990's but not modernised. The television series made Poirot famous with a younger generation and was watched for years from the first episode, it ended up having 13 series ending in 2013. The episodes were either 60 mins or longer and the shorter episodes were based on short stories created by Agatha Christie. The majority of the episodes were based in 1938 even though the books were written in a different time.
Here is a clip from the episode I may analyse.


I would like to also include works such as Phantom of the Opera to be compared for the essay, even though the book was adapted into a film and a theatre production by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Other pieces of articles that I may use will be from books such as The Grimm Fairy Tales.

Digital News- Technology in the News

After talking over with the group it seems that our idea is technology based and therefore I thought I should look into how the current news providers cover technology stories.

The BBC have set up the page as a usual news page with the main stories the largest part of the page with smaller stories down the side. The stories when clicked on can be linked to other parts of the BBC like the story on the phone photos being hacked have been linked to the news beat part of the BBC. 

We are interested as a group in looking at the leaked photos as well as how the iCloud can be accessed, posing the question if something can be loaded to your phone without you knowledge can something be taken downloaded off your phone? 

After apple downloaded the album to the iPhones they had to come up with the option to delete the album for some iPhone users were upset with the sudden 'gift'. 

Digital News- Research (Structure)

While looking at digital news we decided to look into the different news programming and how it is structured. I decided to record the BBC at 6 on the Wednesday 24th September 2014, I decided to watch the structure to look at the way the BBC told the stories and in which order they classes stories, to be compared with the ITV recored at 6 on the Thursday 25th September 2014. For this project there is an necessity to look at the news and how it is produced. It can be produced in a number a different structures, the news can be formatted to show the more "important" stories in the beginning and the less towards the end before the normal slot of sports. The important stories are determined by the editor of the news production as they can decide if a news story is more in the interest of their target audience or not. As the editor of the BBC can lean more towards domestic and serious stories as to keep the public interested.

• Start with a summary of the stories 
• In teaser can be displayed the likely order of the storied to come 
• At the end of summary they show the local news and what will be presented 
• Title sequence 
• Top story- Is the likelihood of war (international politics), studios to foreign correspondents report.  The report includes archived images and interviews that may not have been acquired by the BBC them selves. Some images provided by military, parliament images from archive is used throughout. The interviews are with people who are considered experts. The report includes images of the reporter standing outside talking to the camera. Back to the studio with the presenter talking to the north American reporter. This story is passed to different reporters but is built in the same structure of using interviews and archived footage. Ending in a reporter outside of west minister live talking about the political view. (10 mins on main story)
• Secondary story- politics, studio starts with talking about the issues before, political correspondent, images of public and exclusive interview for the BBC, archived footage is featured with the working of a personal story used by Labour for support. The setting for the interview used by the BBC is in a hospital looking room as the main point of the Labour campaign is pointing out that they will support the NHS. (4 mins on secondary story)
• 3rd Story- Daily Mirror (Business), phone hacking scandal having new evidence with different papers. Studios to the graphs report, archive footage of celebrities used, interviewing with a former Daily Mirror reporter. The reporter of the story is made to stand in front of buildings of the place of work where the publications are produced to add a more personal touch, then archive footage of the trials is used. Interview of a spokesman is used exclusive to the BBC as in studios. (3rd story 3 mins)
• At 17- 18mins the main presenter goes over the tops stories with still to come stories. And has the upcoming stories for local. 
• 4th- Political news to do with deportation of a terrorist, story begins in studios but transferred to home affairs corespondent, archived footage captured by many cameras. A translation of the footage is required and the outrage at verdict is also provided with back ground. The reporter is on location, a BBC interview is made with the home secretary. (3 mins)
• 5th- Update on missing girl story,(crime), archived footage with voice over, images are shown of suspect, the reporter is on location in Latvia to show the location and make it more 'real'. BBC exclusive interview with Latvian Police. Interview with brother to help with both sides of the story to make it a fair story. (2 mins)
• 6th- Politics about Scotland and the referendum, (1 min or less)
• 7th- Historical and in remembrance, Duchess of Devonshire, archive photos, with the history of the family. Archive footage of previous interviews, and family videos, history of the women with  trying to make the story relatable and personal to the passing. (2 mins)
• 8th- Weather- weather in London in the studio. (2 mins)
• Reminder of the main story, then a link to the local news. 

ITV news Thursday 25th September news to be compared to the BBC news from above. 

• Start with the opening sequence including iconic images of london such as images of 'taxi' and of street names. 
• Setting outside instead of studio for the top story, live from Hanwell, to make the 4 week anniversary since she went missing  
• Tonights program synopsis 
• 1st story of missing girl "Alice", army of volunteers, reconstruction from the police. The main reporter recapping the story. Moving to another reporter and archive footage, 4 week anniversary. Interview with parents asking for their daughter to come home. Reconstruction footage is used as well as CCTV footage, the footage from the locations is used. Secondary reporter that was not the voice of the VO is used, set next to the canal. More reconstruction and interview is used. Photos of the daughter is put throughout as well as footage of the police actively looking. With the highlighting of yellow ribbons to show throughout. Back to the main reporter in the live location where they also use images from archive. Another reporter is used talking about the same story but from a different angle aimed at the suspect. More archive footage is used as well as an interview. They interview a the mother in-law of the suspect having a human interest involved more as they use crying footage over the death of the suspects wife. More graphics is used with photos that are from the case. An interview with an expert is used, to talk about the suspect who was an immigrant. The story follows by changing to look at the police aspect, another reporter is brought in with an interview with the police to talk about how they are trying to find out more about the missing girl. It is a 2 shot interview. Back to Hanwell with an interview with another expert but live, the former MET detective is talking about the police and their involvement and how they could be to late.They then move on to the 'army of volunteers' of a community united looking for the young missing girl. Interviews and archive footage is used with a VO. Actuality footage is used of the volunteers tying ribbons. We return to the original reporter to talk about the charities used and advice to parents about children and how to keep them safe.  Although this is one story there have been 5 aspects with different views seen. (20 mins)
• 2nd story, live in the studio moving onto terrorism and arrests made recently, a package of VO and archive footage is used. Footage of the homes searched and of the reporter in the street where the suspect use to live, an interview is carried out with an neighbour to bring more of an idea of the road. All archive footage that is used are of rallys and some graphics of twitter is used. An interview with an expert is used. (2 mins)
• 3rd story, terrorism is another focal point but is only summarised (30 sec)
• 4th story, police corruption? a story of how a man died in custody. (30 sec)
• 5th, police officer that stole from people in Heathrow, and expert is interviewed. (30 sec)
• 6th back to Hanwell, with a recap of the first story. The reporter leads to another that is a senior correspondent talking about the investigation and where it is going from today onwards. They are going from the location that the girl went missing. (1 min)
• 7th politics to be shown at 6:30 after the news that is currently being shown. 
• They return back to Hanwell to talk about the main story with a plea for people to come forward. More on the story with graphics and following the view from twitter to show how social media affects. An expert in the area is interviewed from a website. Not only are their websites they highlight where people can find information. Finishing time (29 mins) 

The difference between the two structure is not very different as they both use the use of packages and going back to the studio/anchor. But the difference in the two shows is that the ITV have made their Thursday night program based on the need to find the girl and then making the other stories smaller and less relevant. The BBC focused on politics but then have a human interest story towards the end. From watching the two programs I would say that ITV are more interested in the human interest aspect of the news and BBC focus on the international and political news. 

Digital News- Research

I decided to look into the theoretical side of the production and out of the first book I found these are the notes I decided to take and keep for my personal reference during the project.
Television Production and Broadcast Journalism, Philip L. Harris. 

Script writing

Program formats;

• Lecture- the lecture program format is the easiest format to shoot. The talent speaks directly to camera, shot in a medium close up, other names for this format include BTF (big face talking) or talking head. The lack of camera movement makes it dull and uninteresting.
• Lecture Demonstration- This format can be more interesting due to movement, its more of a how to it adds action that corresponds with the lecture. (this is mainly used in cooking shows and shows such as Good Morning)
• Panel Discussion- Mainly used on a sunday morning network program that bring a group of professionals on news and current affairs. (can be used for the news, Channel 4 use this often)
• Newscast- A collection of individual news stories. Each story within the program may be developed with a different script style, but overall program has its own script. 

Broadcast Journalism 

Types of stories 

• Reader- is a story that an anchor simply reads aloud from the television prompter for the audience to hear. 
• VO- is a type of story that incorporates B-roll video rolled in from the control room in addition to a script being read by a news anchor. 
• VO-SOT- is a type of story that is one step higher in a complexity than VO. The audience sees B-roll video and hears the anchor reading from the tele prompter, followed by footage of a comment from the principle player connected to the story. 
• Packages- is a story shot and edited before the newscast. It is a complete unit that can be inserted into a newscast. 
• Extended Package- 2-4 min story that is shot and edited before a newscast and typically provides more in-depth coverage of a specific story. 
• News package- Package that covers hard news/current events.
• News feature package- package covering soft news stories that are connected events. Also called a feature package or feature.
• Personal feature- type of human interest story that focuses on one person and why that person is worthy.
• Stand-up- Footage in a package that depicts a reporter standing in front of the camera, speaking directly to the viewers from the location 

News writing for broadcast

Finding stories 

To find if a story is news worthy you should ask yourself;

• Is there some conflict in your story to sustain the viewers interest?
• Is the story unusual?
• Is someone well-known involved in the story?
• Is there a segment of the audience that will be impacted by the story?
• Can the story be brought "home" to the local audience?
• Does the story include emotion or human interest aspects? 

Researching stories

The purpose of research is to gather all the information necessary to frame a story responsibly, fairly, accurately and completely for viewers. There are several ways to get information, and the reporter should be persistent in finding out everything possible about the story and getting the facts straight. The information, and the information of the story should be double checked to ensure that every word is verifiable. 

Legalities: Releases, Copyright and Forums 

Terms that should be known and used:

• Release- A release is a grant of permission that is commonly provided in written form with signatures of all the people involved. 
• Property Release- A signed document that grants a video team permission to shoot on private property. 
• Public Property- Property that is owned by local, state or national government organisations. It is usually legal to be on the premise of the public property.
• Telent release- A document that gives video producers permission to photograph the talent and/or to use audio of the talents voice. 
• Copy right law- Set of laws that protect the creditors of original materials from having their materials and creative work used without proper permission and compensation. 
• Transformative use- Using a work for an entirely different purpose than it was originally created and intended to be used. 
• Trademark Law- A set of laws that protects a company's brand identification in an effort to avoid confusion in the marketplace. These laws ensure that when a consumer sees a logo or label on  a product, the consumer knows who makes that product. 
• Public Domain- A status designation applied to material that is no longer copyrighted due to the passage of time or when rights are relinquished by the copyright holder. 
• Public forum- An environment or location, typically public property or media, where an individual can stand and publicly speak their mind. 
• Non-public forum- Either public or private property or media that is not typically used or made available for public expression. Regulation on speech is allowable in non-public forum, but must be reasonable and not internationally exclude any a particular or opposing viewpoint. 

 

 

Here are a few photographs from the book about scripting and finding stories. 

Digital News- ARMA

ARMA- this is the initials of my group.

Andy
Roxanne
Mark
Andrei

But while looking at this we came up with something else that the letters could mean as a news channel.

Alternative
Revolutionary
Media
Association

We want to have a logo of a shield that we are going to design in our next production meeting.
The colours that have been decided in what they represent;
White- safety, purity and cleanliness
Dark Blue- knowledge, power, integrity and seriousness

I would like our news to almost represent the neighbourhood watch of the internet.

Roxanne- Producer
Andrei- Director, graphics
Andy- Camera Operator, editing
Mark- Presenter from news room, editing

Our target audience is 18-35 and therefore it's those that use YouTube to watch videos and have the technology we are talking about.

Fiction Adaptation- Ideas

My ideas at the moment are to look at a Remembrance parade in Rochester by looking at the Cenotaph poem, when I read the poem I think of remembrance;

The Cenotaph

BY CHARLOTTE MEW

Not yet will those measureless fields be green again

Where only yesterday the wild sweet blood of wonderful youth was shed;

There is a grave whose earth must hold too long, too deep a stain,

Though for ever over it we may speak as proudly as we may tread.

But here, where the watchers by lonely hearths from the thrust of an inward sword have more slowly bled,

We shall build the Cenotaph: Victory, winged, with Peace, winged too, at the column's head.

And over the stairway, at the foot—oh! here, leave desolate, passionate hands to spread

Violets, roses, and laurel with the small sweet twinkling country things

Speaking so wistfully of other Springs

From the little gardens of little places where son or sweetheart was born and bred.

In splendid sleep, with a thousand brothers

     To lovers—to mothers

     Here, too, lies he:

Under the purple, the green, the red,

It is all young life: it must break some women's hearts to see

Such a brave, gay coverlet to such a bed!

Only, when all is done and said,

God is not mocked and neither are the dead.

For this will stand in our Market-place—

     Who'll sell, who'll buy

     (Will you or I

Lie each to each with the better grace)?

While looking into every busy whore's and huckster's face

As they drive their bargains, is the Face

Of God: and some young, piteous, murdered face.

Fiction Adaptation- Research

While looking into the poems that we have been given I decided to see if there were any videos already created looking into the work.

This was posted July 1st 2014 on Youtube. Mainly has the used of still archived images all in black and white with a classical piece of music in the background. This becomes a very apt poem for the loss of youth, with the author having died 7 days before the end of the war and having of signed up due to propaganda pressures.

Digital News- Idea

During the briefing of the digital production unit we talked about ideas and how we should look at them individually, Kent online.

While looking into news stories that are new and relevant I found that there is a local story that is serious and heart warming. It is a local story which should be able to mean better access to the people in the story as they should be easier to find. With the structure of the BBC news they can be seen to have personal stories for local people to tune into. A story such as this would belong on the BBC/ITV local news not the national therefore aimed at the audience within the area of the incident. 

Fiction Adaptation- The Choice

For this project we have been given poems to select from and adapt into a television piece. While going through the poems I came up with a struggle in which poem would suit my ideas and which poem I feel I could adapt without losing the meaning. To help me decide I thought it would be a good idea to research the authors and the poems to give a back ground to the authors meanings.

Anthem for a Doomed Youth- Wilfred Owen 1917.
After typing the title into Google a popular world war website came up with some tips for students to understand. While looking into the website it has a range of poems and help into reading into them. WW poetry

 

While looking to the life story of Wilfred Owen I found out he was in the war in France and died after being shot in the war. He became a tutor in France but did not experience the horrors of the war first hand until he joined up even though he had been in a hospital with a doctor examining those who had been on the front line.  There is more information on his life and on the poems he produced at this website- Wilfred Owen.
The poem Anthem for a doomed youth bring images for youth and the echoing of lives that may have been. I think that I would chose this poem but adapt it into using more sound than images to show the youth being lost due to war.

The Cenotaph- Charlotte Mew (1919)
While looking into where I could find out more about the poem I found Poetry By Heart website, with the poem and the back ground to the author.

The Cenotaph refers to a tomb, The London Cenotaph is the focal point for the Remembrance Day services ever since 1919. This poem was written at the same date that the Cenotaph was built and used for the remembrance services.