Monday, 9 June 2014
Friday, 6 June 2014
Single Camera Drama Pre-Production
Proposal/Treatment - For my single camera production I will use a mixture of drama and thriller. My main storyline will be based around 2 people stranded in a small area trying to get to safety. My main characters will be teens and they will also not be equipped to fight themselves out of the area they are trapped in and need to make their way to a safe point before getting caught by the thing that is after them or stopping them leaving the area they are trapped in. After they reach safety, one of my main characters is going to start daydreaming and the other tries to shake him out of the trance. When this happens, I will have the daydreaming character 'wake up' and the whole thing would have been a dream.
How the production will be split -
1. The 2 teens return home just before dark to see something lurking near their house. After they see this they rush indoors and get away from the 'danger'
2. Strange things start happening around them and they start to get worried.
3. They panic for a while trying to work out what to do. They decide where to go and how to get there.
4. After going over their plan, they make a move towards a safe point.
5. On the way to the safe point they get chased and people jump out at them along the way.
6. They make it safely to the safe point and get away from the problem.
How the production will be split -
1. The 2 teens return home just before dark to see something lurking near their house. After they see this they rush indoors and get away from the 'danger'
2. Strange things start happening around them and they start to get worried.
3. They panic for a while trying to work out what to do. They decide where to go and how to get there.
4. After going over their plan, they make a move towards a safe point.
5. On the way to the safe point they get chased and people jump out at them along the way.
6. They make it safely to the safe point and get away from the problem.
7. One character starts daydreaming and gets 'woken up'
8. Whole thing was a dream and they get on with their everyday lives.
Location Reports -
Locations - Nathan's house, nearby field and the roads connecting the locations.
This is where the start of my SCD will be filmed.
This is the surrounding area to the first image. This area will be used throughout the rest of the SCD. The red circle towards the bottom is where the start of my SCD will be filmed. The red circle towards the top of the picture is where the ending of my SCD will be filmed. The line between the circles shows the route of where my actors will be going once they leave the house.
The only minor risks that I could come across throughout the planned route is the slight possibility of slow moving cars and some slightly uneven surfaces going through a pathway to the circle at the top of the picture. The roads that will be used for filming are mainly private and some are public but they are not near any main roads or motorways, therefore the roads would only be used by residents and not for cars passing through the area. This minimises the traffic around the surrounding areas. The uneven surfaces are natural ground (30-40 metres) and should not be a hazard in the way that I will be filming in that area. I will be filming mostly slow movements on the uneven ground so this risk is also minimised by small things such as the actors being careful in the way they move around in this small area.
Budget - £0, no expendeture due to free hiring of equipment and actors.
Relevant Research - Horror/Thriller Genre
- Made to be unsettling. I have used two teenagers staying at home and get targeted.
- Often overlaps with other genres.
- Often the victims are home alone, in my story the two characters are home alone.
Source - http://g321elizabethmcphail.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/horror-codes-and-conventions.html
- Include creative heroes that stop the 'villain'. I have used one of my characters to do this in my story.
- Sometimes the narrative presents ordinary situations in which extraordinary things happen. I have just used a regular day for two teenagers before they start getting targeted by something for no specific reason.
Source - http://www.slideshare.net/gueste004c90/convetions-of-a-thriller-film
Script -
As they are about to go indoors, they take a look behind them and see something in a bush. It does not look human and it looked like it was after them.
The object in the bush makes a grunting noise and starts to move forward. John and Simon quickly go indoors and shut the door behind them.
Planned shots -
Soundtrack Planning (intended techniques, list of required sound recordings needed, equipment and caballing needs, evidence of knowledge of appropriate sound levels etc.) -
For my soundtrack I will only use a few sound effects when it comes to emphasis on things such as doors closing and footsteps. When I am filming my SCD I will be using a shotgun microphone and therefore a lot of movements and sounds will be picked up accurately and will not need to be changed in any way. So far in my editing process I have not faced any issues surrounding sound that specifically need to be added in my soundtrack. I am going to use freesound.org for my sound effects. One major thing that I will be adding using sound is the presence of the mystery thing that is chasing the two main characters in my story because it is not shown straight to the camera and leaves everything up to the imagination of the audience. By adding these sound effects I hope to give the audience the impression that this mystery thing has power and if somebody was to be in contact or near it, they would have a lot of fear.
Final Production - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmLRNyFh6EU
Self Evaluation - After completing my production, I am generally happy with the outcome. I am happy with the overall feel of the project and in my opinion the storyline is easy to follow. The way the shots link together turned out fairly well with only a few issues that were eventually resolved.
If there was anything that I would have changed through the making of this short film, I would definitely be more organised when it came to getting actors as I had quite a few timing issues that ultimately led to me missing some shots due to rushing and not being able to have that much diversity when it came to locations. Although this was the main problem that I faced, it did not affect my progress much. Some things that I could have improved on is sticking closer to my script because although I did stick to it, I had to remove some parts due to either a lack of footage of the dialogue or not enough time to cover everything when I was filming. I also missed a few essential shots during the main time I spent filming such as shots connecting other shots well so I had to go back and do what I could to film these shots in the time I had.
I was happy with the overall product and the main things that I thought went well was the sound recordings on set, the soundtrack and how it fitted with the picture and my time management when it came to editing. I feel as though I had a reasonable amount of time for editing so I did not have to rush at any point and miss things out.
This is a selection of storyboard shots picked from random parts of my short film. I have shown my two characters both in different situations throughout the short film.
Characters -
John 17, Male, Average height, not very confident, fairly smart
Simon 18, Male, Tall, Slim, Confident, knowledgeable.
Simon 18, Male, Tall, Slim, Confident, knowledgeable.
The idea of my story is that 2 young adults get caught in a situation that somebody their age would not normally get caught into. The basis behind the story is that the two main characters in my story are just regular young adults going about their everyday lives when things around them start to become irregular. They hear rustling noises in the bushes outside John's house as they get home but choose to ignore them. When things start turning stranger after they entered the house, they decide to take a look out of the window, only to find that something is after them. They are surrounded in John's house and need to think of something to get themselves to the fields and to safety.
Location Reports -
Locations - Nathan's house, nearby field and the roads connecting the locations.
The only minor risks that I could come across throughout the planned route is the slight possibility of slow moving cars and some slightly uneven surfaces going through a pathway to the circle at the top of the picture. The roads that will be used for filming are mainly private and some are public but they are not near any main roads or motorways, therefore the roads would only be used by residents and not for cars passing through the area. This minimises the traffic around the surrounding areas. The uneven surfaces are natural ground (30-40 metres) and should not be a hazard in the way that I will be filming in that area. I will be filming mostly slow movements on the uneven ground so this risk is also minimised by small things such as the actors being careful in the way they move around in this small area.
Budget - £0, no expendeture due to free hiring of equipment and actors.
Relevant Research - Horror/Thriller Genre
- Made to be unsettling. I have used two teenagers staying at home and get targeted.
- Often overlaps with other genres.
- Often the victims are home alone, in my story the two characters are home alone.
Source - http://g321elizabethmcphail.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/horror-codes-and-conventions.html
- Include creative heroes that stop the 'villain'. I have used one of my characters to do this in my story.
- Sometimes the narrative presents ordinary situations in which extraordinary things happen. I have just used a regular day for two teenagers before they start getting targeted by something for no specific reason.
Source - http://www.slideshare.net/gueste004c90/convetions-of-a-thriller-film
Script -
EXT. Street, Early Evening. Just getting dark
JOHN and SIMON are walking towards their house and start to hear things behind them.
JOHN and SIMON are walking towards their house and start to hear things behind them.
JOHN
What was that? I think we are being followed lets go inside.
SIMON
I'm sure we will be fine we are only a couple of steps from home. Come on.
As they are about to go indoors, they take a look behind them and see something in a bush. It does not look human and it looked like it was after them.
SIMON
That is definitely someone looking at us!
JOHN
Stay here.
SIMON
Where are you going?
John leaves the room and goes to look out of the window near the door. As he puts his head to the window, he jumps back in horror and panics. He goes back to Simon in the other room and looks in shock.
SIMON
What's happened? Is something there?
JOHN
We need to get away.
SIMON
Why what's happened John?!
JOHN
It's there..
SIMON
What is there John? Talk to me!
John continues to not make any sense and Simon goes to the other room to have a look for himself. When Simon looks into the window there is nothing. Simon pulls the curtains across the window.
SIMON
You must be seeing things, nothing is there!
JOHN
I saw it, it wasn't human and it looked annoyed.
SIMON
Sit over there and calm down.
John and Simon walk to a table and John sits down. Simon walks into the other room and gets John a glass of water. Simon then hands over the glass and sits down next to John.
SIMON
Drink that.
JOHN
I've never seen anything like it Simon. It was like it wanted something from me.
SIMON
So it was just out there? Looking at you?
JOHN
Staring. Like it was angry. Check that it is gone.
SIMON
Okay.
Simon walks up to the window where John first looked and checks behind the curtains.
SIMON
There is nothing there I think we will be safe.
As Simon turns away from the window and walks back towards John, there is a loud bang on the window.
JOHN
It is still there, Im not making this up!
SIMON
Okay get away from the window!
John and Simon move away from the window and sit down at the table.
SIMON
What are we going to do? This thing is not human and knows we are in here.
JOHN
I don't know but we have to think of something or we will never leave this house!
SIMON
We could try running past and going down the road?
JOHN
It's risky but I don't think we have a choice.
Simon goes to the other room and searches through the kitchen cabinets trying to find something to write on. Simon takes a few pieces of paper out of the cabinet and takes them into the other room where John is still sitting.
SIMON
This is what we are going to do.
Simon starts writing on the paper quickly and roughly drawing a diagram of where the pair need to go. John is watching over the plans.
JOHN
It looks right but what can we do if this thing just chases us? It looks faster and stronger than we are, we wouldn't be able to get away!
SIMON
What choice do we have? We stay here, we definitely don't make it out and if we run we have a slight chance of making it out of here.
JOHN
Okay we have to run then.
Simon looks down at the paper and starts to explain to John what exactly needs to be done and where to go. Simon points at the paper a few times and John nods in agreement.
SIMON
Firstly we need to go out the front of the house because that thing is probably still in the garden.
JOHN
Okay but we would have to walk past the garden anyway?
SIMON
I know but if we are quiet enough we can go past without being seen.
JOHN
We don't know that for sure, it could have very good hearing and hear us running past!
SIMON
You have to trust me here, there is no other way we can go.
JOHN
I don't think we can do this.
SIMON
Come on we have no choice!
JOHN
Okay and what if it does see us?
SIMON
We have to move very quickly. Chances are we could get away we need to go.
JOHN
Okay.
John and Simon get up and leave the room. They walk towards the front door of the house and get ready to leave. The pair move cautiously out of the front door and start to walk away from the house.
SIMON
Come this way, keep watching around us.
JOHN
Be quiet it could be anywhere by now.
Simon and John continue to move cautiously up the road, they walk past the garden and the spot the thing that is following them.
SIMON
It can't see us here so we need to move quietly.
Simon and John sneak past and do not get seen. As they continue to move up the road, they get spotted and start to get chased.
JOHN
We've been spotted!
SIMON
Keep moving.
JOHN
It's getting closer.
SIMON
Down here!
Simon and John take a sharp turn and get out of sight. They crouch near some bushes and hide.
JOHN
That was close, do you think we are hidden here?
SIMON
We should be fine just wait a second.
The pair wait as the area goes silent. They look where they can see and there is nothing blocking where they need to go. They are not being chased any more and start to move slowly back on to the road.
SIMON
Okay we move this way and get to safety.
JOHN
If we just move and keep watching our backs we should escape.
Simon and John check for the last time if it is safe to move and once they confirm that this, they start to move further away from John's house. As they reach the end of the road, they seem to be safe and continue walking just to be sure. They walk to the nearby field and sit on the grass.
SIMON
Well that was an experience.
JOHN
It's fine we are safe now.
Simon doesn't respond to John and starts staring blankly forward.
JOHN
Simon? What you looking at?
There is still no response from Simon.
JOHN
Simon!
John starts to push Simon to try and shake him out of the state he is in and the shot switches to Simon laying on the sofa at John's house.
JOHN
Are you okay? You were shouting about something chasing you!
SIMON
Oh I must have fallen asleep sorry.
JOHN
Come on let's go we need to finish our project.
Simon and John leave the room as the camera fades to black.
Planned shots -
1. Fade in from black to LS of Simon and John walking. Camera behind pair.
2. Switch to front shot of walking. LS.
3. MS of the pair stopping still and spotting something.
4. POV shot looking at bushes.
5. CU of John talking.
6. MS of pair.
7. LS as pair walk further towards home.
8. CU as the pair reach the front door and stop to check behind them.
9. MS one characters turns back to open the door.
10. LS walking through door.
11. MS from inside showing pair walking through the door.
12. CU for speech.
13. MS showing John walk from Simon and leave to go into the other room.
14. MLS John opening door.
15. MLS John walking through to the other room.
16. MS Simon spectating.
17. MLS John walking up to the window.
18. Over Shoulder Shot of John looking through the window and stumbling away in shock from Simon's perspective.
19. MS Simon walking into the room to meet John.
20. CU Simon speech.
21. CU John speech.
22. MS Simon walking to other room.
23. ECU John head in hands.
24. MS Simon looking through a window.
25. LS Simon turning around and walking away from window.
26. ECU John still head in hands.
27. MLS showing both John head in hands and Simon re-entering the room.
28. MLS Simon walking to the window and drawing curtains.
29. MLS Simon leaving room again.
30. LS Simon getting glass and pouring a drink.
31. MLS Simon enters room.
32. CU John hands clenched and water put infront of him.
33. MS Simon sitting down next to John.
34. CU shots of both aspects of conversation. One shot of conversation focused on each character.
35. LS Simon checking behind curtains.
36. MLS of seating area with speech.
37. MS Simon with curtains behind as he turns back towards John.
38. CU Simon telling John to get away from the window.
39. CU John confused.
40. MS Simon angry telling John to hurry.
41. MLS Pair sit down other end of table, away from window.
42. MS of conversation.
43. MLS John in focus, Simon walks past into other room in background.
44. LS Simon returning with supplies.
45. MLS Simon sitting down.
46. CU Simon writing on the paper.
47. MS scene.
48. CU of each character in turn.
49. MLS of pair leaving the table and going towards the front door.
50. MS of pair opening the front door and starting to leave.
51. LS of pair walking out of front door.
52. MS of pair talking.
53. Mixture of CU for speech and MLS for movement as the pair move up the road.
54. LS of pair walking past garden and spotting thing.
55. CU of pair looking to sneak past.
56. Over The Shoulder shot as one character cautiously moves past.
57. LS as the other character moves past.
58. Shot from behind of the pair walking past camera.
59. Pair look behind them and look shocked at something.
60. ELS as pair start to run away.
61. MS as the pair decide to hide in the bushes.
62. MLS as they move into their hiding spot.
63. CU of speech.
64. MLS of the pair looking towards where they came from.
65. Camera changes to POV as it looks around the corner.
66. CU of speech.
67. MLS of pair moving back cautiously onto the road.
68. LS of pair walking away.
69. CU of speech.
70. Mixture of shots as the pair walk far away.
71. MS pair arriving at a field.
72. MLS pair sitting down.
73. CU John talking to Simon.
74. CU Simon staring blankly.
75. MS showing John pushing Simon.
76. CU Simon being woken up.
77. MS John. Speech.
78. MS shot. Simon sits up. Speech.
79. MLS pair. Speech.
80. MLS pair leaving the room.
Soundtrack Planning (intended techniques, list of required sound recordings needed, equipment and caballing needs, evidence of knowledge of appropriate sound levels etc.) -
For my soundtrack I will only use a few sound effects when it comes to emphasis on things such as doors closing and footsteps. When I am filming my SCD I will be using a shotgun microphone and therefore a lot of movements and sounds will be picked up accurately and will not need to be changed in any way. So far in my editing process I have not faced any issues surrounding sound that specifically need to be added in my soundtrack. I am going to use freesound.org for my sound effects. One major thing that I will be adding using sound is the presence of the mystery thing that is chasing the two main characters in my story because it is not shown straight to the camera and leaves everything up to the imagination of the audience. By adding these sound effects I hope to give the audience the impression that this mystery thing has power and if somebody was to be in contact or near it, they would have a lot of fear.
Final Production - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmLRNyFh6EU
Self Evaluation - After completing my production, I am generally happy with the outcome. I am happy with the overall feel of the project and in my opinion the storyline is easy to follow. The way the shots link together turned out fairly well with only a few issues that were eventually resolved.
If there was anything that I would have changed through the making of this short film, I would definitely be more organised when it came to getting actors as I had quite a few timing issues that ultimately led to me missing some shots due to rushing and not being able to have that much diversity when it came to locations. Although this was the main problem that I faced, it did not affect my progress much. Some things that I could have improved on is sticking closer to my script because although I did stick to it, I had to remove some parts due to either a lack of footage of the dialogue or not enough time to cover everything when I was filming. I also missed a few essential shots during the main time I spent filming such as shots connecting other shots well so I had to go back and do what I could to film these shots in the time I had.
I was happy with the overall product and the main things that I thought went well was the sound recordings on set, the soundtrack and how it fitted with the picture and my time management when it came to editing. I feel as though I had a reasonable amount of time for editing so I did not have to rush at any point and miss things out.
I used Final Cut Pro to make my short film and I encountered no problems throughout my time using it and I feel like my project was successful using Final Cut Pro to edit. I used freesoung.org for my sound effects and I am very happy with the way they turned out.
Storyboard
This is a selection of storyboard shots picked from random parts of my short film. I have shown my two characters both in different situations throughout the short film.
Thursday, 5 June 2014
TV Studio Roles - Live Shows
Charlie Johnson, Harrison Atkins-Swallow, Dan Hewitt, David Semple
For this show my role was sound. I was working with Sam Murray for this show and we set up 2 clip microphones, 2 boom microphones and the talkback microphones. We started by setting up the clip microphones on both Joe and Sana (hosts) and due to having some slight issues with sounds levels and other background noise, we set up 2 boom microphones to use as backup. We set up the boom microphones in both places that the hosts would be shown (sofa and table) so we had all areas covered in case there was a problem with either clip microphone. We also set up 2 headsets on talkback (one for each camera operator) and 2 headsets in the control room so there was a lot of chances for maximum communications between the set and people controlling everything inside the control room.
Joe Mander, James Clarke, Tom Davis, Sam Murray
My role was also sound for this show. The setup was almost identical to the previous show in a way that the microphones were setup through clip microphones with book microphones as backup in case there were problems with microphones. The talkback microphones were also setup so that everybody operating a camera had communication with the control room making everything easier including transitions into VT's and breaks.
Nathan Bull, Alice Berry, Emily Tozer, Briana Santiago
This show was my group's show. My main role was director for this show and therefore I had to watch over everything that happened and keep everything on track. Throughout the afternoon, the production went well in a way that everything was kept on track and nothing went wrong. Everybody in the group and crew stuck to the job roles they were assigned and did their jobs well and also had a slight bit of help from myself and my group. The live show went almost faultlessly in my opinion due to the fact that there were no errors with equipment throughout, the hosts had no issues and performed as we had planned, communication was accurate and we did not fall behind schedule, meaning the live show was performed well.
Sana Hufthy, Rislene Oukili, Becky Harvey
My final role in the live shows was once again sound. As this setup was similar to the other 2 shows that I was assigned sound for, I opted to go for the same approach. I firstly decided to use clip microphones as well as boom microphones but due to having problems with the clip microphones, I decided to just use boom microphones. The studio was set up with the host in a chair and the guests on a sofa, therefore I decided to put 1 microphone facing between the 2 guests and 1 microphone facing the host. Using this setup worked well as both microphones were picking up a reasonable amount of sound from all members of the cast.
Re-Writing Dialogue - Nigel Conversation
INT. SCOTT'S HOUSE, DAY
SCOTT and DAN are in Scott's house talking about Nigel and the plan to bring the Catacombs to life.
Scott gets up from his seat and checks that there is nobody around listening to the conversation. He then sits back down and speaks to Dan again.
Dan looks shocked and doesn't know what to say. He gets up and paces up and down the room in front of Scott.
SCOTT and DAN are in Scott's house talking about Nigel and the plan to bring the Catacombs to life.
SCOTT
There is a plan to bring the Catacombs to life. I found out about this when I was talking to my friend Nigel earlier today.
DAN
So what part do you play in this plan?
Scott gets up from his seat and checks that there is nobody around listening to the conversation. He then sits back down and speaks to Dan again.
SCOTT
This is a secret Dan. You can't tell anybody, I trust you.
DAN
You can tell me things Scott, whats wrong?
SCOTT
You might remember a few years ago when I was not at work?
DAN
Yeah I didn't have a clue where you were! No contact, nothing! Where were you?
SCOTT
I was running a few tests in a lab with Nigel. One thing led to another in these tests and it turns out that they gave me super powers.
DAN
That is insane, how am I meant to believe you? It makes no sense, is this how you can help with this plan?
SCOTT
Technically yes. With these powers we plan to bring the Catacombs to life, but you don't know about this. You cannot tell anybody, especially Nigel.
Dan looks shocked and doesn't know what to say. He gets up and paces up and down the room in front of Scott.
DAN
I want to know more about him.
SCOTT
Who?
DAN
Nigel, when did you meet him?
SCOTT
The main reason I was not at work for them few days is because I was at an Armed Forces convention. He was there too, we got talking and had a lot in common.
DAN
So it was there and then that he came up with this plan? Why does he want to do it anyway?
SCOTT
He has the same powers as me. I am the only person that knows. He got these powers from the same tests that he did on me a few years ago. He was serving for the army in Chernobyl and was made to do these tests, from which he gained the powers. He needed help, I could help him, thats how it worked out.
DAN
So you had no choice, he has dropped you in at the deep end?! I need to speak to him, this is madness.
SCOTT
It was my choice. I told you that you don't know about these powers and not to tell Nigel, just leave it.
Scott storms out of the room and leaves Dan with his head in his hands. After a few seconds, Dan walks out after Scott and calls him.
DAN
Scott we need to talk more about this come on!
SCOTT
I know how you feel, just leave it like I said!
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
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
Jaws Notes
1. Vladamir Propp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp
2. Tzvetan Todorov -
Equilibrium - Party, everything is calm
Disruption - Shark Attacks
Resolution - The shark gets killed
New Equilibrium (Order Restored) - The area goes back to normal with no threat
3. Roland Barthes -
A number of codes that we can see in a narrative
a) Enigma Code -
b) Action Code - Killing the shark
4. Sigmeund Freud -
Superego - Law, Parents, Government
Ego - Self
Id Unconscious - Desires
Brody - Police Officer - Superego and Id Unconscious
Jaws - Id Unconscious
Hooper - Id unconscious
Quint - Id Unconscious
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp
2. Tzvetan Todorov -
Equilibrium - Party, everything is calm
Disruption - Shark Attacks
Resolution - The shark gets killed
New Equilibrium (Order Restored) - The area goes back to normal with no threat
3. Roland Barthes -
A number of codes that we can see in a narrative
a) Enigma Code -
b) Action Code - Killing the shark
4. Sigmeund Freud -
Superego - Law, Parents, Government
Ego - Self
Id Unconscious - Desires
Brody - Police Officer - Superego and Id Unconscious
Jaws - Id Unconscious
Hooper - Id unconscious
Quint - Id Unconscious
Tuesday, 6 May 2014
Video CV Script
INT. SOUTH ESSEX COLLEGE, AFTERNOON
NATHAN standing in front of the camera giving an introduction.
Music fades in whilst a title comes up introducing the video. Title will read "Nathan Bull, Video CV" in a font that is not basic.
Nathan standing on the left side of the shot and skills appear one by one on the right as if they are being dropped onto the screen (wonky/unorganized).
Nathan standing on the right of the shot and information appears on the left side of the screen.
Nathan bends down as if to pick something up and the shot then gets covered with pictures of certificates/paper showing achievements. One by one the sheets of paper disappear and reveal Nathan standing in the middle of the screen. One piece of paper stays in the corner.
Nathan waves his hand as if to push the piece of paper off the screen.
Nathan picks up a set of drum sticks and looks at them. Nathan throws the sticks out of shot (one left, one right) and catches a football thrown from the left and a boot thrown from the right.
FADE IN
NATHAN standing in front of the camera giving an introduction.
NATHAN
Welcome to my video CV.
FADE TO BLACK
Music fades in whilst a title comes up introducing the video. Title will read "Nathan Bull, Video CV" in a font that is not basic.
MUSIC GETS QUIETER
NATHAN
Here is a list of some of my qualities.
Nathan standing on the left side of the shot and skills appear one by one on the right as if they are being dropped onto the screen (wonky/unorganized).
NATHAN
Not bad hey? Now lets have a look at my qualifications.
Nathan standing on the right of the shot and information appears on the left side of the screen.
NATHAN
Hold on a second I just dropped something.
Nathan bends down as if to pick something up and the shot then gets covered with pictures of certificates/paper showing achievements. One by one the sheets of paper disappear and reveal Nathan standing in the middle of the screen. One piece of paper stays in the corner.
NATHAN
This never works properly!
Nathan waves his hand as if to push the piece of paper off the screen.
NATHAN
Now that we have sorted that out lets move on to my main hobbies! I play drums!
Nathan picks up a set of drum sticks and looks at them. Nathan throws the sticks out of shot (one left, one right) and catches a football thrown from the left and a boot thrown from the right.
NATHAN
I'm a big fan of football! The last thing I like to do in my spare time is gaming.
Shot is cut to black as if there is a powercut. Shot of Nathan standing in the middle of the camera as the shot re-appears as night vision.
NATHAN
That's one way to sort it I guess? Now that you can see me I just wanted to say thanks for watching my video CV.
FADE TO BLACK
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