Case Studies Essay

NEWS -

Codes and conventions of studio based news programmes - The two news programmes that I am going to analyse using the codes and conventions are the FOX News and BBC News 24. Both of these institutions are very similar in many aspects. The most conspicuous factor is present in both news shows is the use of 1 or 2 main presenters in a studio talking about breaking news. Usually the presenters are very well dressed to make the news formal. Another main aspect of both of these news shows is interviews. These interviews usually take place in the studio mainly next to the main presenters or sometimes in a different room depending on what is involved. If the host is just speaking to somebody about something then the interview would take place with the presenter and the guest in the studio whereas if there was a demonstration taking place or for any reason the person being interviewed could not be in the studio, the interview might take place via video link. Another way interviews can be shown in news stories is through VT inserts. Usually, a VT insert will involve 1 reporter at the scene of the story that is being reported, it will be shot on a single camera and will include some interviews, more information on the story and clips of things to do with the story usually with a voice-over. The reporter will be dressed suitably for the area that he/she is reporting in, for example if they were on the seafront, they will be wearing less formal clothing but if they were somewhere like the house of commons, they would be dressed very smartly.

The main layout of these news shows will usually start with breaking news stories from around the nation or region that the news show is held (London, England, USA etc.) and the main layout will start with the most important stories or by the widespread effect on people. If a story affects a lot of people, it will more than likely be one of the first news stories of the show. Things such as widespread flooding or something a lot more tragic such as a killer on the loose will need to be shown quickly and be covered in more detail due to the amount of people that could potentially be affected. These large and more important stories could be covered in the studio and have VT inserts because they have a lot of relevance and a lot could be added in VT inserts. You will find that most of these things will be present in almost all news shows because they need a logical structure to appeal to the audience as well as presenting the news to the viewer’s correctly.

In my opinion, VT inserts make the story a lot more realistic. If somebody is at the scene of the incident then we can assume that it is serious and we will have a better inside knowledge of what is happening as it happens. VT inserts are usually very up to date and accurate as the things said and show happened when and where they were filming and the reporter would have been constantly updated. Another thing in VT inserts that give us very accurate information are interviews with victims, witnesses or even the person that did the main thing that the story is about.


The Programme's audience, political bias and contract with the viewer - Most news shows have a very widespread audience due to the stories covered. Throughout each news show you will have a breaking news section, a normal news section, possibly a sport/entertainment section and most of the time a weather report.

All news stories have a contract with the viewer to provide accurate information at the time of showing and to not provide false stats, news, interviews or anything else involved with a story. Another part of the contract with the viewer includes making the story fair in ways such as not having information on one side of an argument and not the other side and things such as the main presenter (whether it be in the studio or in a VT insert) not giving their opinion to try and sway the thoughts of the audience.

There is always the issue of the news company using persuasive information or interviews with certain opinions to make the viewer believe certain things. A news story can easily use political bias in a story and it will be effective because they always have a big audience when they are showing these stories. Sometimes the political bias is shows as something one sided. If somebody is interviewed in a place that is not very well looked after and they are reporting on something such as a redevelopment of the area, it shows that there is not much progress. Whereas if the report was in somewhere that was fairly developed, the audience would be under the impression that it was going well and there were no issues. Small things such as location, tone of the reporter, questions asked and answers could all potentially give a politically biased view.

In Outfoxed, we are shown the political bias when it comes to a relationship between Rupert Murdoch and somebody around him. For example, there was a representation issue that we can see when he airs his opinion on Ronald Regan and we can also see that he had a story presented on somebody that he had a falling out with. He made his editors show something in a certain way just to show his opinion on somebody indirectly. This is going against the contract with the viewer in a way because it is showing opinion and not giving factually correct information. This can be done on a fairly wide scale without anybody being able to change this due to the wide spread monopoly that Rupert Murdoch has on the industry.

Issues of representation - Throughout all of the news shows that are around, there is issues of representation. These representation issues are usually about something to do with Race, Gender, Age, Beliefs and much more. When watching 'Outfoxed' we can see clear examples of representation, starting mainly with the Ronald Regan broadcasting. Rupert Murdoch (Owner of News Corportation) ordered his employees to cut away from certain stories and broadcast things about Ronald Regan. Due to the owner of these massive companies (Rupert Murdoch) having a particularly positive view on a certain person, his massive audience can believe what they want him to believe to a certain extent, this is one major issue of representation.

Why multi-camera setups are used and how the studio might be set up - In a news show, the studio is set up in a multi camera way. The use of more than one camera is very helpful from a live point of view. Due to the news mainly being presented live, if there are mistakes or camera problems, the multi camera set up can work around this. All of the news show that is filmed in the studio will use a multi camera setup to avoid any potential issues because if the studio was set up with one camera, if there was a problem with the camera, the show would not carry on.

Another reason why multi camera setups are used in news shows is so that live interviews and performances can effectively take place and be shown smoothly to the viewers. When multi camera is set up for interviews, the camera can focus on both the person being interviewed and the interviewer so that the viewer can see everything that is being done and said clearly.

The studio will more than likely be very open planned. You will have a sofa or a desk with the main presenter(s) and then another desk or sofa with somebody to interview. On the other sofa you will more than likely have a witness or an expert that knows a lot about the story being reported.


DOCUMENTARIES

Codes and Conventions of Documentaries - There are many things that all documentaries should contain. These things include interviews, a voice-over, use of witnesses, archive footage, music, montages, irony, sarcasm, and occasionally black humour (Humour that makes light of an otherwise serious subject matter). In every documentary that I have seen, there are clearly Voice-overs, witnesses and archives. This is present in both the Louie Theroux documentary and also in Bowling for Columbine. Although black humour is classed as a convention of documentaries, it is sometimes hard to spot and may not be present at all in some documentaries. We can see all of these conventions used in Louie Theroux's documentary about Nazi's.

The documentaries audience, political bias and contract with the viewer - In Louie and the Nazi's we can see that the intended audience is anybody that is an older teenager or older because the views would not be understood by younger audiences and younger audiences therefore would not be suitable as viewers. The political bias in the documentary is swayed against the Nazi's heavily and we can see this due to Louie Theroux showing that certain things are wrong in most people's eyes and this therefore is bias against the people shown in eh documentary.

Issues of representation - In general, documentaries have a distinct view on a certain subject before the filming is done and this could in ways be a problem. Most documentary subjects are controversial issues and the point of view shown by the 'reporter' and the camera crew is usually the wide spread opinion of everybody watching. This view may be anything from a strong view on a subject or just something small that leaves the viewers needing to make a decision for themselves. In Louie and the Nazi's we get a very distinct representation of how the people in the documentary are shown to the viewers and also how they live their lives. This documentary clearly wants to give the viewer a certain view on these people because we see Louie Theroux's strong opinions throughout and the way he tells the people what is right and wrong, which then makes the viewers believe that Louie's views are mainstream due to the documentary being official and widespread and therefore does not leave much room for the viewer to make the decision for themselves.

Why single camera setups are used - Usually single camera setups are used to show a point of view perspective of the thing that the documentary is about, and makes the viewer feel more involved in the action. Single camera setups are more versatile in a way that they can get into the action and can therefore get information that you couldn't get by using a multi camera setup. Another reason why multi camera setups would not be effective is that the cameras are usually still or not moving much due to needing to be plugged in. By not being able to get into the action and the slow setup makes it less effective and also less realistic. When you need time to setup multi camera, you may miss or not get involved in the action and you will definitely not get accurate reactions. For example, when using the single camera setup in Louie Theroux's Nazi documentary, we see how people live their everyday lives as well as their reactions towards what people think of them. Using the single camera setup for this type of documentary also makes it easier to get into the houses or workplaces of the people that are involved in the stories. In the documentary I have mentioned before, if the crew were to use multi camera setups, they would not be able to easily film in properties with the added benefit of reactions from people.




POILITICS -

- Conservative - Republican - Family, Religion, Individual
- Liberals - Democrat - Society of Equals, National Health Service
- Labour - Democrat - Society of Equals, National Health Service

Rupert Murdoch is a republican

b) Write case studies of the following -
1. TV News
2. Documentary

For each you will need to cover:
Codes and Conventions of TV News and Documentary
- Representation
- Single Camera (Documentary)
- Multi Camera (TV News)
- Make sure you have primary and secondary research
- Bias

Representation - Select examples of men and women from both documentary and news