3MW Feedback

An introduction to the news

Part 2

What is the role of the newsreader / presenter in a news broadcast?

The newsreaders role is to inform the audience on what is going on around the world.

What skills are necessary for newsreaders / presenters?

Firstly, you would need to be calm and comfortable in front a camera but also in front on hundreds of thousands of live viewers, you would also need to be smart, professional and well informed as people are looking at you in a sense to take the things you say and make conclusions on this information and even more so when it’s on political and social issues.

Part 3

What is meant by the term “news ordering”?

This means the order that the news stories appear for example a news broadcast may start with a sad story to entice the viewer and keep them watching, then for the last story a broadcast will likely end with a happy or heart-warming story.

What is the term given to the list of stories that will likely appear on the broadcast?

Which story is likely to be shown first and how / why is it selected?

The first story that is normally shown first is the more interesting stories to grab the viewers’ attention this is because they get more views, by doing this they viewer may continue watching the less interesting stories.

How do the other stories appear?

Other stories then appear must more relaxed and claim. They will often also tend to have a higher production value and be more entertaining.

Why is the ability to think and act quickly important in news?

 This is a very important skill for anyone working on live television to have, firstly because silence is also very awkward even on the news, they must try to keep things moving while also being informative

What is meant by the term 'slow news day'?

The term “slow news day” refers to when there is not any important news stories that have recently broke or have not already been reported on. They must then fill the news with unimportant stories like celebrities, or trying to come up with fill the air time.

What is the final story often called and what is its function?

The last story in a news broadcast is called the ‘kicker’ which is usually a heart-warming story that puts a happy ending feel to the broadcast which makes the less impacted by other more saddening stories.  

What is meant by the term 'news values' and which G & R wrote about them?

The term 'News Values' are the general guidelines and criteria that most news outlets use. It also comes under the G & R 'Frequency'.

Find a topical example for each of G & R's news values.

Immediacy - Sometimes news broadcasts will fill in a slot by using an old story but an immediacy story would have happened recently. Familiarity - News broadcasts often cover events from all over the world and some of those stories have not be culturally relevant and this makes sure that the stories that are could are relevant to people in Britain.

Part 4

Discuss bias through selection and omission - find an example

Anyone who works on a news stories can add to it being biased, in this one it would mainly be the editing as they can change words, headlines, remove facts or concept something as meaning one thing but it really means something else.

Discuss bias through placement / order - find an example

Placement and bias is the order that the stories are shown for example front page or back page.

Discuss bias through headlines - find an example

Headlines are likely the most read part of the news article and many people read that could take it at face value. Sometimes people will make a headline obscure just to catch people’s interest

.

Discuss bias through shot selection and camera angles - find an example

Photos can often make something look completely different to what is really happening just by taking a photo at the right time.

Discuss bias through names and captions (how you describe a person) - find an example

People use names and places in their article titles as a way of getting more people to see the post this can often mislead people and give them a very wrong impression of what is really going on.

Discuss bias through use of language (phrasing and emotive language etc.) - find an example

Everybody writes and reads differently to each over which results in one thing meaning something good to one person and the same thing being bad to another, it’s the writers job the clarify theses language barriers and make the article clear and understandable.

Documentary 'mini-task'

What is a documentary? How would you define ‘documentary’?

A documentary can be about anything, it can show the viewer a different angle on what the documentary is about, it normally provides more accurate information about a particular subject.

Key Features of Expository Documentary: This type of documentary normally talk directly to the viewer, it normally has a voice over or titles, and provides a strong argument or viewpoint, which is meant to persuade the viewer. An example of an expository documentary would be “America’s Most Wanted”.

Key Features of Observational Documentaries: This type of documentary has no input form the filmmaker, no questions, no commentary. They normally film what is around them, the way they do this is the director of the documentary points his microphone at what he wants the camera operator to film. They also use smaller cameras to film. An example of an observational documentary is “Public Housing”.

Key Features of Interactive Documentaries: In this type of documentary the filmmaker’s presence is well known, they are usually a participant in the topic they are presenting, lots of revelling interviews and audience interaction. Due to the often sensitive and opinionated topics in these documentaries they can sometimes be accused of manipulating the audiences’ opinions, this is because the way they are presented does not leave the viewer to have to make their own conclusions. An example of an interactive documentary is “Bear 71”.

Key Features of Reflexive Documentaries: These types of documentaries are known for being quite experimental. They normally cover a topic, person or place that which in some cases are controversial for example Louis Theroux’s documentaries called “Louis and the Nazis” covers the topic of white supremacists.

Key Features of Performative Documentaries: in this type of documentary, more of the budget is spent on the re-enactments, unique camera angles, and specified sound tracks. This form is largely considered to be a little less truthful then others but are often much more entertaining to the viewers. An example of this is “Tongues Untied”.

Conclusion: What is you philosophy as a filmmaker? I believe when making a documentary everything should be factual, it should not be one sided or misleading to the audience. 

Evaluation

Section 1. The brief

a.       What was the brief?

The brief consisted of an idea of someone having a long busy day, which is tiring, and is filled with challenging tasks. Our advert would then show the effects of our drink, he would be filled with energy, completing the tasks with ease and at the end of the day fatigued.

b.       What was your chosen product and how did you decide, as a group, to choose it?

The product we decided to choose was PG tips, we chose this because it was the most realistic and enjoyable to make.

c.       Who is the current target audience for the product and whom did you decide to appeal to? Why?

      

         The target audience we decided to aim our advert towards was teenagers and young adults. We did this because they would be the easiest group to relate as we are in that age group. The product is aimed at teens because they are commonly known for sleeping in and not having much energy in the morning, compared to middle aged/ older adults.

Section2. The finished product & feedback

a.       How did you collect the feedback (comments from others) on your finished advert from your target audience? Provide a summary of the main points.

After we finished our advert, we got feedback from people in our class who are in the age group of our target audience. We created a questionnaire to see what people thought of our advert. From the feedback people said it was entertaining and funny.

b.       Appropriateness to audience: do you think you managed to get the main message to your target audience you specified in pre-production. Would the advert have an appropriate impact on them?

Part of our message got across to our viewer but I think that some of our message was lost. Our goal was to show how energetic the drink would make you; this was a lot harder than we first thought, this would be a lot easier for a production team with a lot more money. One of the reasons that I believe that we our message partly failed is that we focused more on storyline, shots, and editing rather than how the drink would affects you. Form our feedback, all of the people who took part in the questionnaire knew the implications we were trying to get across.

c.       Think about the technical and aesthetic qualities of your advertisement. Analyse your use of mise-en-scene; camera; editing and sound.

In our advert, we used a variety of camera shots throughout the advert as we were filming in different locations and scenes including tracking and zooms. We used mise-en-scene when changing the scenery and lighting. While editing we did mess around with the speed of the shot to help demonstration how effective the drink is. We also have many fast cuts in our advert. Lastly, we have a single sound track throughout most of the advert; this also fades out when someone talks.

d.       Effectiveness of content: Do you think your finished advert effectively sells the product to the specified audience through its storyline/narrative?

I think that that the advert may appeal to some, but for the majority of people it would not sell mainly because the message was somewhat lost. We could have improved the message we were trying to get across if we spent more time on trying to make the message a lot clearer and improving the shots, we could have improved it if we did not have to keep re-shooting most of the shots. We could have aimed it more towards people who are active rather than a specific age group.

e.       What was the effectiveness of the persuasion techniques you used to sell the product?

We attempted to show our product giving people who our normally quite lethargic and unmotivated and showing that even people like that can become energetic by drinking our drink, it also shows that our product last all through the day. We could have improved the situations on in the advert but we could not think of any at the time. In spite of this, the advert got our point across quite humorously.

f.        Clarity of communication: what was the message you were trying to send to the target audience? What were the main techniques you used to send that message?

We wanted to tell our target audience that our drink gives you long lasting energy that last all day, we also aimed our advert at a younger audience, even though PG Tips is commonly aimed at an older audience. In the advert, we used a teenager who is quite unenthusiastic about doing any work, part way though they drink the drink and you can see the difference in his motivation to do work.

g.       Overall, do you feel your advert is fit for purpose?

Overall, I feel that the advert fits its purpose considering its purpose is to show that it gives you long lasting energy and can make anyone who drinks it energetic. The quality could be improved but considering that, the footage kept getting lost meaning that we had less time to improve visual or sound quality.

Section 3. Personal reflection

a.       How does the final advertisement compare with your original intentions?

The final advert was changed quite a bit from the original idea, as we had to change it to fit the period, production schedule and resources. Even though the idea changed quite a lot, I am somewhat pleased with what we made.

b.       Self-evaluation: Reflect on how satisfied you are with your final advert. Would you do anything differently if you were to undertake the task again? Finally, evaluate your own involvement in the project.

Looking back at the advert it does look very unprofessional compared with some, one of the main reasons that the quality of the video went down is because we kept losing footage. However, I am satisfied with the final project as it was fun to go out and film even if we had to do the same shots multiple times. If I had to do this again I would try making the pre-production schedule more organized and easier to follow, this is because we didn’t know how long each shot had to be, meaning that we would need to cut down the shot or re-shoot because it was too short.

My involvement in in the pre-production work was creating the item and costume list, budgeting sheet, risk assessment, and I helped with the questionnaire. While filming I was mainly helping behind the camera and was an actor.

TV advert analysis

This advert is used to promote pot noodle, the advert is used for brand reinforcement; the ad is comical so the viewer will remember the advert and the brand.

The target audience for this add is working class and students (17-21) for the students and any age for the working class because the product is cheap and enjoyable, you can see that the product is for the working class in the ad because the main character’s family looks low to working class and they are all eating pot noodles for dinner in the advert.

The ad is separate from the other ads pot noodles but it follows the same comical theme as the others pot noodle adverts, the only difference in this on is it has a twist ending unlike the other ads which are meant to be funny throughout the entire advert.

This advert has two different style the first is it’s serious because you see a guy working hard trying to achieve his dream and humour because you realise what his dream is at the end, the ad is amusing because of the twist at the end in where you think he’s training to be a boxer but he’s training to be a ring girl.

The advert is used to increase the products recognition and to maintain the products awareness, they achieve this by making the advert comical, in the other pop noodle adverts the whole thing is meant to be a joke, in this ad in particular the twist ending makes it funny. The advert attracts the attention of the viewer by showing us the main character is working hard for something but you not quite sure what but it gives you small hints, until you realise that his dream is to be a ring girl (or in his case ring boy). With it arousing the viewers interest, the product they are selling is cheap but you wouldn’t know this by watching the advert, but the story does intrigue the viewer. The name of the advert is called “you can make it” and at the end they show this, although his dream is small the pot noodles helped him achieve his dream, this ad won’t help you achieve you big dreams but it will help you accomplish your small ones. The promoting for this product is for brand reinforcement so you’ll remember their brand because of the entertaining plot twist they have at the end.

There is multiple unique selling point for pot noodles, one of them is that it comes in a pot instead of a packet this saves time because you can eat it out of the pot instead of putting it in a bowl meaning you only need a fork to eat the noodles, another USP is the variety of flavours they offer unlike their competition which only have a few flavours to choose from. This advert uses entertainment to catch their viewers’ attention they do this by adding a plot twist in this ad or in the rest of their ads use humour though out the entire ad.

This ad specifically doesn’t have any persuasive techniques because its advertising is used for brand recognition the only persuasive technique it does have is the name of the advert which is “you can make it” this shows that if you purchase this product you’ll be able to achieve your goals.

The Pre-Production Process

Type of production

We were given the task to create a Depict short 90 second film. For our distribution, we uploaded it to YouTube.  There many ways to distribute films, for professionally made films they distribute through box office or put on to CDs, Distributing through box office makes the most money.

Finance and sources of funding

There are different types of media products, some are short films that are 30 seconds long and others, which are professionally made, which are can vary in length for 90 minutes to 180 minutes, each type distribute in different ways. Professionally made films gets a well-known distributer who have a lot of money to distribute their films, these companies normally release the films to cinemas, and after they release to onto DVD. Other films, which are made by lesser-known producers usually, go straight to DVD. Some films are played on TV, which gets them money from the adverts played in the brakes.

Some of the funding for films come as donations from various websites from people who enjoy a certain director’s films or believe that the project will be a success. Other well-known films are funded from companies that feel that the film will be a success invest in the movie and will earn profit when the movie hits the box office. Some movies are fund by the actors involved in the project who believe that the project will be a success.

Requirements

The crew already owned everything we needed for the Depict task. Some of the required thing we needed were; camera, music, location, and actors.

Personnel

In different types of media production, you require different quantities and types of personnel, for example in a low budget short production you would we limited to the amount of personnel based on how low the budget or how much the production costs. So a normal crew for a low budget short would only we a few people doing multiple jobs, this normally means that the entire production takes longer.

In a Hollywood feature film the personnel, because of the amount of funding going into a Hollywood feature film; people would have their own specific job making the production go a lot faster compared to a low budget film. In a TV programme they would have, a team working on things together like a Hollywood feature just with a lower budget and less money on CGI. When making a film the crew normally consists of a;

• ·        Director
• ·        Second unit director
• ·        Music director
• ·        Writer
• ·        Producer
• ·        Executive producer
• ·        Line producer
• ·        Production manager
• ·        Assistant manager
• ·        Assistant production manager
• ·        Unit manager
• ·        Production coordinator
• ·        First assistant director
• ·        Second assistant director
• ·        Production accountant
• ·        Location manager
• ·        Assistant location manager
• ·        Location scout
• ·        Location assistant
• ·        Location production assistant
• ·        Casting director
• ·        Cast PA
• ·        Camera operator
• ·        First assistant camera
• ·        Second assistant camera
• ·        Film loader
• ·        Digital imaging technician
• ·        Gaffer
• ·        Grip
• ·        Key grip
• ·        Dolly grip
• ·        Sound grip
• ·        Production sound mixer
• ·        Boom operator
• ·        Production designer
• ·        Art director
• ·        Set decorator
• ·        Prop maker
• ·        Costume designer
• ·        Costume supervisor
• ·        Make-up artist
• ·        Hair stylist
• ·        Stunt coordinator
• ·        Film editor
• ·        Negative cutter
• ·        Visual effects producer
• ·        Compositor
• ·        Sound designer
• ·        Sound editor

In our group, we spread the work out equally between our group, because there was only three of us for the pre-production I worked on the risk assessment, Budgeting. I also helped with the filming and was an actor. Everyone was involved with the editing.

Time

If the deadlines are not met in a professional media industry, it can result in people who are linked with whatever part that caused it being fired. In our Depict film, we did not meet our deadline mainly because we lost the footage multiple times causing us to re-shoot the same shoot multiple times.

Equipment/ Facilities

Equipment like cameras and props for professional media productions are either rented or created by the crew. For our Depict project the camera and tripod were all provided by the college and all out fits where owned by the actors.

Locations

Location recces are used by scout out an area where you will be filming so you can determine if that area is safe enough to film at. A location release gives you permission to film at the location if it if private property, it also lets the owner of the property know that if any damage done to the property while filming it will be the production company fault.

For our Depict video we chose outside of East Norfolk Sixth Form College because it was perfect for the establishing shot, we also filmed in down in Gorleston high street. While down there we kept having to re-shoot the same shot because we were filming in a car park and cars occasionally came into the car park causing us to stop filming, this only happened a few times so it didn’t really affect us too much.

Legal issues

When filming outside in the view of the public using props like a knife or gun even if fake can cause panic to avoid this you should inform everyone in the area, you should also try to clear the area and get a police form so the police are informed about your filming.

Copyright can affect many productions because it can cost them money if they use certain sounds or music. In our Depict production, we never used anything that is copyrighted, we checked before using it.

Public liability insurance covers the costs of any legal claims due to injury of a third party or if property sustains damage when under your use.

Clearance in media refers to securing permission of copyrighted material and researching property to see if there are any ownership claims and disputes.

Completion guarantee is an insurance that is offered by a completion guarantor company in return for a percentage fee based on the budget of a media production.

Regulation

OFCOM is the communications regulator in the UK. There main legal duties are to ensure:

• ·         The UK has a wide range of electronic communications services, including high-speed services such as broadband;
• ·         A wide range of high-quality television and radio programmes are provided, appealing to a range of tastes and interests;
• ·         Television and radio services are provided by a range of different organisations;
• ·         People who watch television and listen to the radio are protected from harmful or offensive material;
• ·         People are protected from being treated unfairly in television and radio programmes, and from having their privacy invaded;
• ·         Viewers of video on demand services are protected from harmful content;
• ·         A universal postal service is provided in the UK - this means a six days a week, universally priced delivery and collection service across the country; and
• ·         The radio spectrum (the airwaves used by everyone from taxi firms and boat owners, to mobile-phone companies and broadcasters) is used in the most effective way.

The BBC is regulated by the office of fair trading (OFT)

Trade union and trade associations

A trade union is an organized group of workers in a particular trade, group of trades, or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests. Trade unions are important because most actors work by a contract and the trade union will make sure they get paid the right amount.

BECTU provides a wide range of services including:

• ·         Negotiating pay, conditions and contracts with employers
• ·         Advice and representation on health and safety
• ·         Training support and courses

A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry. An industry trade association participates in public relations activities such as advertising, education, political donations, lobbying and publishing, but its focus is collaboration between companies.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/what-is-ofcom

TV adverts feedback