5.3 Shot list

Whilst opening sequence is playing there is going to be a voice over of what is coming up in the show. with images and videos of the stories, with headings below them.

Main Headline:

1. Focus pull of camera moving towards the news anchor. Leading to a close up/mid shot of anchor at news desk.
2. Cut to a brief report on the main headline and then a 'live' feed of interviewing people associated with the headline story. During the interviews there will be a close up on the faces of the people being interviewed. Following this, there will be a interactive board used to show figures on the main headline, with a voiceover that will acquire them or the anchor telling the audience the figures whilst seated.

Second News Report:

1. Close up again on anchor, with framing so that an image of the news story can be seen on part of the screen either to the left or right of the anchor.
2. A report follows this with images, videos, facts and figure about the story. Whilst mostly using a voiceover to get the news across to the audience.
3. This is then followed by an interview with people, giving points of view on the story, associated with the story, using close ups as the main camera shots.

Third News Report:

1. As there is another close up on the anchor, this time it is with a voiceover and just images and video of the report.
2. Images fade in and out on screen, along with figures based around the story.
3. May include a very short report on the story with an interview with someone associated with the story or just a report on the story from the reporter.

Final News Report:

1. Cut back to anchor from the last report for the final news report.
2. Includes a very short report on the story with video of the area which is being reported on. Also include a voiceover from the anchor on the report.
3. May include figures on the interactive board or just on an image from the report.

Sport

Camera will cut to a screen displaying results of the football, and may include a piece on the leisure centre with a reporter describing events taking place at the centre.

Weather

For the weather there will be a brief voiceover of what the upcoming days will look like with images of the weather conditions on screen.

Deconstruction of Video Channel 4 News (1.1.1)

Deconstruction of Video Channel 4 News

• Interactive images of what is coming up in the program
• Another focus pull towards the anchor
• Small clips of what is going to be shown in the news
• Also uses interactive board/television behind the anchor with figures/results
• Opinions from both sides of the arguments on news reports
• Images from newspapers on news stories
• Many special effects used but are done simple

As above suggests, Channel 4 News uses the common conventional requirements in news programs, but comes across as being more professional, along with being formal, due to it being for a for a maturer audience, with news stories and themes that support this. Compared to the BBC News, which is less formal, there are differences that are easily spotted between them. For example the choice of music to accompany the opening sequences are substantially different.

The use of shot types and framing in Channel 4 news is conventional as the news anchor is seen as the focus point, with the camera focusing mainly on him. However there are slight differences to the BBC as the news anchor in Channel 4 is standing, which gives a broader view on what is behind and to the sides of him. This in turn shows a more formal way of presenting as if the anchor is talking to a class or small group as he is seen as the main attraction/leader, compared to the BBC anchor whom is seated. As the focus pulls towards the anchor are slow, this gives the anchor time to tell the main headline straight to the audience, whilst the other news stories are presented with the anchor seated. Overall this shows that presenting the main headline whilst standing is more formal and gets the story's importance across to the audience. The use of interactive backboards are used throughout news programmes but especially Channel 4 News.

As this Channel 4 News programmes seems to be shot in the evening, the colours used are used to represent the time at which the programme is on. Using blue, purple and green in the opening sequence gives the audience the idea that the show is on at a later time than BBC, whom use much brighter colours. This convention of using darker toned colours has been used in many other news programmes such as channel FIVE News, which uses similar colours. However in my opinion the colours of Channel 4 News seems to contrast with how formal the show is trying to come across to be as I would expect them to use brighter colours to convey a sense of formality amongst viewers. For example the BBC uses formal colours which come across to the audience as being attractive to the eye. Compared to more historic news programs, the use of flat screen interactive televisions has increased, leading to a reduction in needing the use of actual human involvement. For example the use of the interactive figures appearing on screen seems to have been done quite simply and this type of news feature is being used to an advantage over past years news programs.

The lighting used in Channel 4 News is mostly non natural lighting as it seems to look much darker than the BBC's studio. As the anchor is the main target for the audience, the technique of focusing most of the unnatural light towards him is used throughout the headline story. The use of natural light is used in the reports which are shown on the news programs, as there is no need in using unnatural light through the day. Compared to the BBC's anchor, Channel 4's anchor seems to look quite darker compared to the natural light used in the BBC, as the Channel 4 anchor seems to look distant in the dark background he is in. Conventionally, Channel 4's lighting seems to be irregular as the audience can only focus on the news anchor and not what is in the background, compared to for example from the BBC's studio.

Through the use of editing in Channel 4's program, the opening sequence seems to look futuristic which contrasts with how formal the show is trying to come across to be. The use of cutting from story to story in the opening sequence shows many special effects and the opening sequence of the images appearing on the screen seem to look futuristic. The use of cuts between the news reporters and videos of the news story are conventional as they compare to the BBC's cuts. As for the conventional way of informing the audience of the headline story, Channel 4 News does portray to the audience the normal/conventional way in which the anchors gives the main story information and the there is a live report, which switches to an earlier filmed report on the story. This way in getting across the story is conventional and is a good way in getting across a news story as it informs the audience well of the stories important aspects and is used throughout news programmes world wide, but especially in the United Kingdom.

Through the use of special effects in this news programme compared to other programs, it uses much more effects than other news programs, with the effects mostly being in the opening sequence of the show. This extensive use of special effects does contrast with how formal the show is trying to come across as being, as it conveys a sense of futuristic/fun to the news programme. However through the music which is used in the program, this counters the effect that the special effects may have on the audience with the music being very formal and almost orchestral. For an audience of a younger generation this programme would be seen as a program mostly for maturer adults whom are interested in politics and the world news, with less news on entertainment and sport compared to the BBC.

The use of the shows title is very formal in that it tries to get across to the audience the main news programmes coming up in the show along with a voiceover from the news anchor on what is coming up in the show. In my opinion the music which acquires the images from the opening sequence seems to be out of place in that it does not seem to go along with the images on screen. However this music is probably used as it has been used for many years from when Channel 4 News first began in 1982. The title is roughly 15 seconds long, as it then cuts to a slow camera focus pull on the anchor.

Deconstruction of Video BBC News (1.1.1)

Deconstruction of video content - BBC News

• Colours include red and white along with images and names of certain countries
• Slow camera movement towards anchors face
• Sharp cut to a live feed with a reporter
• News bar fades in and out with names and titles of the guests speaking
• Interactive images are placed on still backgrounds which give figures on news report
• Many transitions from image to image, done with little special effects

As from above the BBC News program has the conventional values associated with many news programs. The use of sharp cuts from live feeds to reports is used extensively throughout the program, along with the use of slow camera movements towards and from the anchor.

Shot types and framing in the BBC News program are used to convey conventional aspects in news as the types used, are used throughout television. For example the focus pulls towards the news anchors and the framing where the anchor is situated in the middle of the shot at a desk. This gives the impression of the news programme being more formal along with it also being professional and understandable. Another example of shot types would be the still camera shots of the live reporters and the tracking used to focus on the anchors. The use of interactive backgrounds helps to get figures across to the audience, along with the voiceover that acquires them.

Through mise en scene in the BBC News program, there is contrast between it and the Channel 4 news program. For example the colours used are those that are much brighter colours and this seems to show that it would have been on at a much earlier time than the Channel 4 news. As the BBC use brighter colours this represents the conventions of morning/afternoon programs, as many other news programs use darker colour tones to represent the time at which their news is on. Compared to more historic news programs, the use of flat screen interactive televisions has increased, leading to a reduction in needing the use of actual human involvement. For example the use of the interactive figures appearing on screen seems to have been done quite simply and this type of news feature is being used to an advantage over past years news programs.

The lighting used in the BBC news program is conventional in that the main focus pull is used as a target for the audience, with the light being situated around the anchor. Through lighting there seems to be less use of natural light as the anchor is in studio, and there seems to be more natural light as reporters are reporting their stories along with guests. Compared to the use of lighting in Channel 4, there seems to be a difference where that less light seems to be portrayed in Channel 4's program, as there seems to be more use of unnatural lighting. For example the studio lighting in Channel 4's program can be seen quite clearly compared to the use of it in the BBC news.

Through the use of editing and the transitions from story to story, BBC news uses very conventional cuts and camera shots/movements when it comes to focusing on each story. For example the use of cuts between the news anchor and the live reporters is very simple and conventional compared to the use of Channel 4's opening sequence where they use a lot of effects. Compared to conventional uses of transitions between stories for headlining news, the BBC uses very similar conventions, where a summary of information is given to the audience and then a live report is shown with some more information, which is the followed by a report into the story with a voiceover and then a cut back to the live reporter, followed by a cut back to the news anchor.

Through the use of special effects the BBC seems to use very little effects compared to the Channel 4 news program. However the use of interactive boards behind the news anchor is used to help the audience understand the major figures which are trying to be established between the news program and the audience. This use of interactivity is beneficial for capturing a certain target audience within a particular sector as this use can help attract attention and make the show seem a bit more easy to understand, compared to that of the Channel 4 news.

Through the use of titles the BBC uses a video image of what seems to be the world revolving in white red and orange, with the names of countries written upon screen. This titles also plays along with the music in that the music seems to have a pulsing sound to it as the world revolves. This title is roughly 15 seconds long and cuts straight to a focus pull towards the news anchors. The use of this title is used to show the importance of world news and not that of only UK news, and could be a sign of trying to capture a particular audience through the use of diversity amongst cultures.

Recap On Ancillary Text

Towards the end of the As level course, I started with the first part of the A2 course which required me to produce a radio advertisement and the opening sequence for a local news programme.

Radio Advertisement

I began by using a sound recorder to record a voiceover for the radio advertisement, which lasted for no longer than 30 seconds. After recording the voiceover, I transferred the sound clip over to a program named Soundtrack Pro, which is where I was able to enhance and adjust the sound, along with being able to add effects to the voiceover. This program helped me add effects suitable for the advertisement and also helped with editing the clips to the correct size. However I found this program quite hard to use and began to add too many effects which made the sound very poor.

Local News Opening

For the news opening, I began by brainstorming ideas of what other news programme openings had such as there different colours and the type of music that they used. For instance BBC news used opening music which sounded futuristic and which had a pulsing sound to it. On the other hand ITV news used a more conventional style of music, with chimes and orchestral music which many associate with a news programme.

Along with listening to the sound, I also had to observe the way in which images and video clips were used in the openings of these news programmes. For example the BBC news used mainly white and red colours with the names of countries from around the world. ITV news used mainly blue and black as this made it look more sophisticated along with the pictures they used from around London.

I started by using Flash which I had received help with from a course my media class went on, which helped me with the basics of making images move around screen and adding effects the these images. I then found a picture of the Hackney borough sign which I transported to Flash and added text to. I then tried to make the image move with the help of a student in my class, however this took rather long to do, so i moved on to adding images such as a 73 bus and Clissold Park which was much easier to do.