5.8 Logistical and Technical Successes

January February and March 2010
Over these three months I was able to successfully edit evaluate and film my production to a high standard with little problems. The quality of the final

Monday 19th October
Today I was able to begin filming. After buying a tape, I had to film two pan shots of the local leisure centre, and also had to do my focus group. The focus group was a success as I was able to obtain four interviewees and ask them relevant questions about my production.

Thursday 22nd October 2009
After obtaining my equipment from the media technician I was able to begin filming the green screen parts of the news production rather quickly. This benefited me as I only had two days to complete filming and I was already running behind, a fraction.

Friday 23rd October 2009
As this was the final day to film I was in a hurry to finish filming as I still had to get most of the interviewees interviewed. However this did not take long and I was able to get these shots done rather quickly, and by the end of the day. I was unable to upload the production on to the school computers as I had ran out of time, but this was not essential, as this can be done after the half term.

Monday 3rd November 2009
Todays successes after our half term break were that I was able to begin working on my website design. I used my designs on paper from over the half term to begin work on my website. The programme we used was Adobe Dreamweaver as this is a main programme for designing websites. During a two lesson period I was able to begin my homepage and create a simplistic view to my page. I used conventions such as a search bar and news stories to the left of the screen and a conventional navigation bar.

Tuesday 4th November 2009
Today I was able to continue working on my homepage design whilst working on the colours that were going to be used. I was also able to add text to the website and also a navigation panel to the left of the screen.

Monday 9th November 2009
Today I was able to begin work on my second page of the website as I referred to the story on the leisure centre improvements. I had already designed a text for this section and I was able to just copy the text straight into the text box, whilst adding a few figures and key personnel. I also added text and hyperlinks to the pages such as the Home icon and the title of the news programme.

Tuesday 10th November 2009
As we had a cover teacher today I was able to carry on working on my webpages and added a search bar to the top of the page. This search bar involved a variety of different scripts and settings and took a long while to complete. I also carried on work on my second web page where I added more text and look to add images in the near future.

Friday 13th November 2009
Today I was able to upload my footage from my tape onto the computer and Final Cut Pro. This took extremely long to do as I had a lot of footage on the tape. There were no problems on this unlucky day!

Monday 16th November
As from the previous lesson I had uploaded my footage from my tape, I continued in editing the clips and cutting parts in and out of the clips. Today I was aable to apply a green screen effect in that I had a black background where the green screen was. I am looking to adjust the background for the anchor to have an image behind the anchor, perhaps of the school or of a certain part of the school or a news room. I was able to order the clips into their correct places and was able to begin tightening the clips so that the cuts seem more professional, which was one of my targets along with using Final Cut Pro.

Tuesday 24th November
Today I was able to carry on working on my editing process of the production. A success today was that I was able to create a title bar for each of the clips. This title bar was created to match the logos colour of blue and I used white font on the blue title bar to relate to the genre and conventions of my show.
Also today I was able to add a title sequence to the beginning of the program, which looks modern and matches the conventions and hopefully the logo of the program, as I have yet to create a final logo. I was also able to capture footage from the camera to Final Cut Pro, of the panning shot of the Clissold leisure centre.

Sunday 19th November
Today I was able to create a logo for my production using adobe illustrator as I used a variety of colour schemes and techniques to provide a more eye pleasing logo. I made a transparent version to sit on the screen and I was able to follow the conventions of many news programs via having the transparent logo in the top left hand of the corner of the screen

Thursday 3rd December
Todays success was that I was able to acquire a very good background image that I had earlier photographed during the day and it seems to look of a high quality. I was also able to crop the image to a size that suited the production on screen more and I added the logo made earlier in the week to the image on screen.

Friday 4th December
Today I was able to film the very last needed parts for my news production and get them edited in Final Cut Pro. I filmed the interviews with the schools head teacher and I also manage to record the voiceovers for certain parts of the production.

Monday 7th December

I was finally able to upload my focus group to the video server website YouTube after handing in my production work earlier in the day.

5.7 Logistical and Technical Problems

Thursday 22nd October 2009
On this day I arrived to school at 8:40 to begin my final production piece, however filming was delayed as the media technician arrived late to school and did not arrive until 10:00am. This meant that acquiring equipment and facilities were delayed and so was the time that I had to film.

During the filming process, the scene of a reporter reporting from outside the school was delayed also, as a lorry parked in front of the school gates in which we were about to film. However this problem resolved as the lorry parked in the school.

Another problem from this day would be that during filming in the green screen room, sun light shone through the windows on the green screen canvas behind the anchor of the news. This delayed us further as we were unable to film whilst the sun shone through the window as Final Cut Pro would pick up this as white during the editing process, which would mean that we would have to film again if we were to film during the sunlight hitting the green canvas.
To overcome this problem we had to wait for the sun to move behind a cloud for us to begin filming.

Friday 23rd October 2009
This day was the day that I had used to spend most of my time doing most of the interviewing aspects of the production. As I already had a list of interviewees the matter of finding/filming these interviewees was made easier. After filling out the student and teacher agreement forms, I was able to film these interviewees on questions based around a particular news story. However during trying to obtain a main interviewee, I was unable to find them as they were very busy. This was however a minor setback and I was able to easily replace the interviewee.

A major problem from today was that we were unable to film due to the immense drilling noise which disrupted us whilst filming. We overcame this problem via calling our teacher for her to email the workers to stop the drilling, as they should not have been doing this during school time.

Monday 24th November
Today I was told that I had to add more footage to the production, as I had only had footage from interviews, and I needed a story to go with these interviews. However I believe that I will be able overcome this problem as it is not as major as first thought.
I will also need to record a voiceover over my clips of certain areas, as these are still missing.

Friday 4th December
As there were no earlier problems during much of this production I encountered one today as I was not able to finish the editing voiceover parts to my production. This was due to the fact that the school closed earlier today and I thought I had enough time left to do them.

Location Shots 5.5

Above are the location shots that are going to be used in my media production. I focused on various parts of the school especially the Building Schools for the Future project as this was my main headline. I also focused on the main area reception of the school whilst also looking at the library and the corridors.

Outside school I focused on the Clissold Leisure Centre as this would be a component of my website along with the astroturf for my sports coverage. I looked at the local church as it is an iconic image of Stoke Newington as well as the infamous shops on Church Street. I also looked at the junk food shops towards the bottom of Clissold Road, where they would take part in my website design. Finally I looked at the road works on Church Street as they would also be used through my website design.

Time Management 5.4

Above is my time management table showing the different tasks, dates and times of what should be done in leading up to my media production and also during my production. This timeplan includes aspects such as filming, editing, problems and successes, website design, synopsis, shot list and time management.

Conventions of news texts. (Local)

Conventions of news texts. (Local)

Titles;

The use of colours such as red, grey and white are a convention of the BBC news programs and are also used in their national news program. This theme is used as it is the convention of BBC news and can be related to by the public audience that it attracts. The use of iconic images to represent London, are used in the titles to represent that the show is actually based around news values around London. As the title shot is a continuous shot and has various images about the program, this can be seen as a conventional value used in industry as it represents not only what the show is about, but whom the target audience is being represented as.

Reporters/Anchors;

With the anchors usually being seated in Local news programs, this gives the impression that the show is less formal compared to the national news programs. However the anchors do still wear smart clothes such as suits and dresses. The reporters on the other hand wear clothes that would not be seen as formal enough for national news programs such as sweaters and v-necked jumpers. This also represents the fact that the show is less formal than the national show and the fact that this is also a convention of local news. The anchors are usually shown in the same position as in the national news programs, with them being to the right of the screen, and the interactive information to the right of the anchor. The accents of the anchors and reporters are also different as they seem to be of a more Londoner accent compared to the national news anchors. The use of different ethnicities is used throughout the local news as it portrays the cultural differences in London society.

Mise en scene;

As for the mise en scene aspect of local news, this is usually the same as the national news, with exception of being a little less formal. For instance the audience seem to be closer to the anchor than in the national news program, which affects how the show is put across to the audience. There are sometimes aspects of the audience being able to see the news room behind the anchors and the people involved in creating the show. The use of stylish furniture and modern themes in local news is used to attract the target audience, which is an impressive use of attracting audiences.

Sound
The sound used in the Local news for the BBC, is the same as the national news’s music. This is due to the BBC trying to use a specific theme in throughout their broadcasting shows, as it is a tool used to create conventions that audiences relate to. The use of the orchestral, instrumental and electronic music can be seen as it is used to modernize the show as the sounds and music has changed over the various years. Tax payers also reflect on how the show is broadcasted, as it is their money that is being put towards making the show, and they expect the show to relate to new fashions such as modernized music.

Camerawork
The main difference between camerawork in the national and local news is that in the national news, cameras are focused more towards the front of the presenter whilst in local news, there is a slight drop in formality as the anchors can be seen from the side and below waist height. The local news camerawork is also different in the main opening sequence as iconic images from around London are used instead of the whole world in the national news. The themes in the camerawork are shown through the opening sequence in the local news as they are in the national news, with the pulsing of the red, grey and white lines. Between cuts in the opening sequence showing what is coming up in the show, there are also themes represented in the show as the pulsing clip is between each cut.

Brand Identity
The brand identity for London local news is that viewers want serious news that is of their interest, such as happenings in the capital of entertainment, politics, sport and weather. There is a more in depth of views into London society through local news as the target audience is being targeted by the news program. As viewers pay tax towards the station, they expect news that covers what they are paying for. However as audiences are not able to choose between news stories there are problems with identifying audiences in relation to choosing news programs in which viewers like.

Conventions of news texts. (National)

National News Conventions

Titles;

As of titles in National News texts, the use of primary colours is a specific convention in television news as colours are used to promote the time of which the news programme is aired. Colours such as grey, white and red are used for the BBC News as this shows what time the show is on and the colours also make the show look professional and minimalist. The use of the world rotating with icons of the many countries on earth is used as a brand identity, to catch a certain type of target audience whom are interested in world news in general. With the use of just one shot throughout the whole title sequence, this use of editing is continuous and shows the use of editing to attract a specific audience. As of the theme of the world pulsing is also an editing feature, this is used to create a different form of convention to other news programs as none other have this kind of feature associated within their titles.

Reporters/Anchors;

As reporters are usually positioned to the right of the screen, with the interactive boards to their right, this is a convention that is used throughout news programs in industry. As humans, we read images from left to right so it makes sense that the anchors and reporters are situated to the right of the screen, with the most important informations to the anchors right. The age of the anchors and reporters are usually similar to many other national news programs, with females usually being 30-40 yrs and males being 40+yrs. The use of standard english and well spoken anchors is used conventionally throughout national news programs. The ethnicity of these anchors and reporters vary through national news with anchors being White, Mixed, Black and Asian. The use of what anchors and reporters wear is very formal, as all male anchors/reporters wear suits and female anchors wear smart dresses.

Mise en scene;

The main mise en scene items in national news are usually desks, keyboards, computer, background news rooms and large flat screen televisions. These mise en scene features are used throughout national television news programs as they are the conventional values in national news. An extra feature in national news is of picture in picture; a traditional and conventional value in national news as it is used widely and is presented in many news programs. With the normal introductions of the news reports and stories from reporters in which cuts and fades are used, this shows that these features are used widely in national news programs throughout industries involving national news.

Sound;

The use of sound in National News is varied from program to program. As in BBC the sound is very futuristic and it has a pulsing theme to it. On the other hand in Channel 4 News, there is use of more orchestral music involved in the opening titles. The use of sound in reports is varied as many use special effects between reports such as kids playing over a report on young students at school. The use of electronic sound is becoming more available and varied amongst the industries in National News, where BBC uses a lot of technology to create the sound used.

Camerawork

The use of camerawork in National News is used in the conventional ways such as that many news programs use the same shots and types of framing as eachother. The use of plain and still images and video across screen is widely used in National News given a more formal edge to the National News programs. The editing in these programs is simple and gets to the point rather quickly with long time spent on the main headline, other than other more lower reports.

Brand Identity

As viewers of the BBC pay TV licence fees, they expect to be given news which they are paying for through tax. They ask for stories that are of interest to them and news that is serious and for the whole of the general public. The BBC however does show a variety of reports into their stories, giving it the edge over its competition and making it the most popular national news. program

5.2 Synopsis of complete programme.

My news extract will be called 'SNS Local', which will be aired during the afternoon. In my news extract I will be including news from around the school and around the local area. In my news programme I will be including areas such as:

School:

• A level results- Not being as good as expected. Interview with Mr Hewitt and other teachers, on their views about the A level results. May include interviews with students now in Yr 13 and could interview parents on this matter.


• BSF project on the school- How it effects students and teachers in school. Good points and bad points on how it effects the teacher and students. Get opinions on if teachers like or dislike the new school layout.


• Could talk about the communication problems as a result of the BSF project. Interview some teachers on the problems and how they have dealt with them.

Local News:

• Clissold Lesiure Centre- Story on improvement works taking place or story on students sports success in the leisure centre ie swimming competition. Opinions from users of the leisure centre.


• Story on Junk food stores running out of business as more students choose the healthier option provided in school. Healthy eating story report. Helps to combat obesity in the borough. Including a voiceover with on screen video of the local junk food shops.


• Clissold park sports tournaments such as tennis and football tournaments.


• Also include a Local weather report/forecast.

As I have chosen the colours of red, blue and white to use in my titles sequence and theme, I have chosen the time of afternoon to air my news programme. I am planning on using local icons such as the church, park, buses, gym and Church Street (all in Stoke Newington) as this shows the news is from the local area and is a convention of many news programmes.

As I have chosen a target audience of Stoke Newington senior students, this represents the fact that I am aiming to broadcast the show to a wider audience, with stories that suite teachers and students. Local residents will also be a main focus in this news programme as I aim to include stories that effect them. Interviewing many people associated with the stories in the news programme will effect the audience that is being represented as many interviewees will be chosen. I also aim to interview people associated with the local area as they may see Stoke Newington School as a local landmark.