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