Construction

12th January 2016

To begin the construction element of my main news story, I planned roughly a mind-map of both my hard news story and soft news story, including the headlines of these stories and which media elements will be included in constructing these stories to create a professional and convincing news programme.

14th January 2016

Hard News Story

Headline: After various recent tragedies in the world regarding terrorism, do people in Birmingham feel safe?

For instance, my hard news story will be directly related to the current threat of racism in Europe and around the world, after the tragic terrorist attacks in Paris. Linking to the Galtung and Ruge News Values theory, the news story of a terrorist threat would display many of these values, such as:

• Threshold (under impact) - "the bigger impact the story has, the more people it affects" hence, is it affecting people in Birmingham or not? Of course the worry of the threat is affecting us, but do we have anything to worry about? We will aim to answer this question within our news story through vox pops and interviews with people and police).
• Frequency (under impact) the threat is constant now throughout Europe and worldwide after the Paris attacks. Will the worry ever be put to rest, or will it continue to be on-going? 
• Negativity (under impact) "Bad news is more exciting than good news." Bad news is more likely to score high on other news values, such as threshold  and unexpectedness, and the bad news and somewhat 'worry' of the terrorist threats is interesting for the public to hear about.
• Reference to Elite Nations (under cultural proximity). Stories concerned with global powers receive more attention than those dealing with less influential nations. This also relates to cultural proximity. Those nations which are currently closest to our own will receive most of the coverage. Hence, discussions about the Paris attacks between France and England and taking precautions for our country is interesting for us to hear and directly affects us.

Continuity (under pragmatics of media coverage)

A story which is already in the news gathers a kind of momentum - the running story. 

This is partly because news teams are already in place to report the story, and partly because previous reportage may have made the story more accessible to the public. Because the threat of terrorism is an on-going red alert, countries in Europe (and therefore cities within our country - such as Birmingham) are ready to report... It is somewhat expected.

15th January 2016

Soft News Story

For the soft news story, I will plan and conduct a weather update with an extreme weather warning for the West Midlands after the recent storm Frank and storm Eva. These storms caused a lot of disruption in all aspects of travel, especially during the busy Christmas and New Year period when traffic on motorways was congested and slow. The content of the story will be based around the impacts of this extreme weather and how it has disrupted certain travel operators, such as trains, buses and airplanes, and the delays in these services which directly impacts my target audience (the people living, working and travelling within the West Midlands).

19th January 2016

To help lead our hard news story, we did some research into recent terrorism scares within the West Midlands. Below is an article on a 'bomb threat' in Sandwell school. We thought that using a real life news story to lead our broadcast will aid in us producing a convincing, realistic broadcast. Also, the way in which the article is written will help us in producing our script; giving us an idea on what type of vocabulary to use to make the story interesting and suitable for the serious nature of the topic.

Sandwell School Bomb Threat

21st January 2016

NEWS STUDIO PLANNING

Rather than creating my own studio with props such as a laptop and papers on a desk, I particularly liked the way BBC Midlands Today conduct their 6:30PM evening bulletins with their presenter standing in the studio, as this makes him look more alert and pleasant to watch. As well as this, my news report can still look as realistic nevertheless, as I can implement my chosen news studio background into Corel through the use of my green screen and Chroma Key, as this will look more realistic and modern as well as complying with my chosen house style colours (Red, white and back), as I would not have the facilities to accommodate these needs of house style if I was to create my own studio. 

Here, you can see the similarities in my anchor and the anchor of BBC Midlands Today in their real news studio. Although this proves to be fitting with codes and conventions, it is still a somewhat unconventional option I have chosen for my anchor, as it is typically expected and stereotyped for a news reporter to be sitting at a desk. n this way, I am certainly developing codes and conventions of real news presenters and programmes in the hope to interest my target audience and make my news programme more original, intriguing and unique. 

24th January 2016

I tried to keep the props which I will need to use to a minimum because, although some of them are essential like the camera and camera stand, I would prefer a lot of my editing and use of conventions to be used through digital technology and the use of green screen, as I find that the green screen offers the inclusion of professional technology; creating a fresh and modern atmosphere for my audience to view. 

27th January 2016

I struggled to decide whether I should name my news programme 'iBirmingham' or 'The Midlander'. They are both inclusive titles and representative of a Local TV News programme,however we figured that 'The Midlander' would better suit a newspaper headline than a TV News headline.Although this can typically be seen as a disadvantage, I have chosen 'The Midlander' to challenge typical news story codes and conventions, as my name will be original and not like any other news programme. The sound of a newspaper headline is an interesting addition to my news programme as it will intrigue my audience and possibly add a classic theme to my programme. 

30th January 2016

To adequately prepare for my soft news story of a weather report, I first researched various videos on the BBC website presenting the weather for the day and also progressing into the week. Watching these videos helped me to gain a deeper understanding of how the weather works and also equipped me with the correct language to reference certain weather patterns e.g. strong gails and ridges of high pressure. 

Next, I looked back on my notes from the location visit at the BBC studios in Birmingham's mailbox for guidance on how weather reports are conducted in real, live broadcasting times. In my research I had noted that the weather reporter in the BBC has no auto-queue, and often has a limited about of time to present the weather to, depending on how long the main news stories have been aired for. This can put the weather presenter under slight pressure, meaning that they cannot speak from a script and a lot of the time have to improvise. Hence, when it came to producing my own weather story, I often struggled to say what I had wrote on my script as I would either hesitate, forget or not sound natural when simply memorising words off of a screen - it was also difficult to maintain direct mode of address with the camera by doing this. Therefore, I found myself much of the time looking at my weather screen and saying what came naturally, rather than directly reading off of a script. I found that this helped me create a natural and relaxed image as a presenter. I still produced my script and I wrote it on an A2 sized board which I could see from a distance - although this helped me more in the sense of reminding my what was coming next, or certain words which were key in my dialogue. This especially helped me to feel both the pressure and excitement of a real weather presenter; giving me a wider understanding of how the news is presented hence it was beneficial for me as a student to produce my weather story first. 

 

2nd February 2016

WEATHER NEWS STORY SCRIPT

[To be spoken as a voiceover (Sound On Tape) whilst weather PowerPoint is shown on screen]

NIAMH: *Standing in front of the green screen*

NIAMH: Good evening , have you slipped today? Maybe you had trouble starting your car this morning.

*Begin showing weather slideshow on the green screen behind Niamh*

Niamh: That is no surprise as there’s been a record amount of snow fallen over the United States this weekend and this same weather system has been charging across the Atlantic.

The cold arctic front is already showing its hand here in the UK.

This has already starting to show in some places and is felt by some of us this morning as we seen the rain arriving; the rain really starting to make its presence felt this week, persisting for most of the day for some of us.

It wasn’t just the rain we had to contend with, there was wind as well, this will continue through the week with a chance of Gail.

This will be followed with some incredibly icy conditions as we head on through the week – as a result of that, we have a MET office yellow weather warning in place for strong winds across Staffordshire and Shropshire, gusts are between 60 to 70 mph possible, not just there though we are all going to get some strong winds tomorrow, those winds already starting to pick up…

*shows stock image of tree on screen*

This tree came down on Harbourne road in Birmingham. We had really strong gusts of wind today… by midday, we had *figures (gfx) on screen* 53mph recorded in Coleshill in Warwickshire and the wind is going to stick with us as we head through the next 24 hours. The ice whirls packed tightly together and a mixture of weather fronts working in from the west – the wave on that weather front is going to push that rain up again through the day tomorrow and a ridge of high pressure.

But as we head in to tonight we have that rain continuing. It won’t be persistent everywhere it will break down for a time.

Then overnight our temperatures are going to plummet – that arctic front is making its way over from America - a very chilly night to come on Wednesday. Lows of between 1 and 2 Celsius a touch of frost is possible and there will be some icy stretches while those showers take their time to clear. There have been some MET office weather warnings for Wednesday night leading into Thursday morning so please be careful on the roads as roads will be very slippery.

That rain we saw on Tuesday will continue through the morning but gradually we start to see things improving from the north where we will get some brighter spells for a time… further south I’m afraid we’re going to keep that rain and that cloud for much of the day. Temperatures tomorrow between 8 and 11 Celsius and they’re already starting to change across the north of the region. Still breezy, eventually that weather system starts to pull its way southwards, behind that a ridge of high pressure builds that’s going to settle things down and change our wind direction. Would you believe it? It’s just in time for our morning rush hour and the winds will strengthen along it, so do stay tuned to your local [Midlander/iBirmingham] radio station throughout the morning for the latest travel updates and weather updates, too.  

5th February 2016

TV Local Weather from n14mhy

6th February 2016

Here is the timed PowerPoint which I used for my weather report. On PowerPoint, I included the use of transitions and animations - most of the time using the 'fade in' option as this looked most subtle and professional like in a  real weather report (seen in my research of BBC weather reports). This was created in time with my weather script, so that the images on screen would correlate with the words which I was saying. 

7th February 2016

Below are some images taken during the production of my weather report for The Midlander. As you can see below, I wrote my weather script including key words in large font on a board which I then placed behind the camera. This helped to give me prompts and helped me to conduct the report more confidently.

11th February 2016

To efficiently prepare for my hard news story on terrorism, I produced a script in order to plan what I will include in my news story and how to capture the interest and expectations of my target audience; specifically by making the news story relevant to local citizens of the Midlands. To begin with, I would like my presenter to welcome my audience politely to the news programme, displaying direct mode of address through eye contact and standing in a mid-shot with a respectful posture and body language. I also planned with my presenter that he would speak clearly and in a professional tone, placing emphasis on certain words in order to intrigue my audience and subconsciously inform them through his voice which elements of the headline and the news story are most important (e.g. words like 'Paris', 'Attack' inclusive pronouns 'Our region' making the information relevant and inclusive to my audience). This also links back to my creation of my own news story 'style' which I demonstrated in my research and planning: 

14th February 2016

To widen my target audience and make my weather story more modern, relevant and up-to-date, I decided to include convergent links of twitter to make my audience feel involved in the programme and to fulfil their roles of 'prosumers'. This is also demonstrated in my weather PowerPoint, as one slide was dedicated to a landscape shot of Warwickshire (another location within the Midlands and therefore widening my target audience in  this region as much as possible) with the tag of the senders' twitter @ name. This suits my audience as digitalisation is promoting the use of social media enormously and is somewhat becoming a source of stock footage 

and news sources for real institutions such as the BBC and ITV. 

17th February 2016

After planning my script and choosing the most relevant examples of terrorism I could find, here is my finished script which I will get my presenter to loosely follow in his sound on tape within my hard news story.

HARD NEWS STORY TERRORISM

*Begin with an establishing/long shot of the location of significance – Birmingham city centre. This shot will pan out whilst voiceover begins to introduce the story and read out the headline*

Presenter: "It’s been just over two months since the terrible tragedy that brought Paris to its knees, with a total of 130 people being massacred by Islamic State. Since the attack, there has been rising concern in all major cities across Europe, that they could be next. Is Birmingham next?"

*Stock footage of Paris attacks, people fleeing, police forces in both mid-shot and long-shots* 
"…These are the scenes from the awful attacks that rocked Paris, sending shockwaves of fear and worry across the globe and Europe. The attack, orchestrated by Daesh, killed 130 people and, since the attack, it has come to light that one of the gunmen had links to Birmingham. Abdelhamid Abaaoud"

*Show stock-image photo of him on screen*

"...is believed to be the mastermind behind the attack and, after a raid on his property by French police, it is believed that he made several phone calls to someone in Birmingham before he carried out the attacks. It is also believed that he had taken photos of the Bullring..."

*Show stock footage of timelapsed videos of the bullring*

"...and planned to carry out a similar attack to Paris, in Birmingham."

*Stock footage of Birmingham, people shopping etc.*

"I’ve come to Birmingham City Centre today to see what the people of Birmingham think; are we really in danger?"

*Play vox pops asking the same recurring question, also the headline: "After various recent tragedies in the world regarding terrorism, do people in Birmingham feel safe?”*

"Since the attacks, there has been a surge in terrorism-related arrests carried out by West Midlands Police, with just this week Mohammed Iqbal Hussain, 25, and Mohamed Suyaubur Rohaman, 32..."

*Show stock images of them on screen*

"...both of Walsall, being charged with funding terrorism under the Terrorism Act 2000. Many other arrests have been linked to ‘home grown terrorism’, with a heavy focus on preventing children growing up radicalised.

More than 400 children..."

*figures/graphics on screen*

"...in the West Midlands have been referred to a de-radicalisation programme over the last four years, records released under freedom of information laws have revealed."

Presenter: "In a statement issued by West Midlands Police, they said…" *show the statement on screen but read it out*

Presenter – "With the increase in schools and youth institutions working to de-radicalise children, the increase in security in the City Centre and surrounding areas and the increase in police raids, it’s safe to say that Birmingham as a whole is trying its best to prevent such an attack, yet the consequences of what could be brewing is not yet clear."

*Presenter sign off, name and position, also shown on strip* 

22nd February 2016

To begin producing my hard news story on terrorism, I placed my presenter in front of a green screen so that I could edit a professional looking studio background into the footage which matches the colours and house style of my logo. 

As my logo is red and white with black font, I wanted my news studio background to subtly match this, specifically with emphasis on red being my accent colour in my news report. I chose red as my accent colour as I feel that it is a perfect colour to both capture my audiences' interest about the news by implying a serious tone, yet conforming to news programme stereotypes of a professional and classic feel.  it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love. in essence this relates to every possible news story that could be presented and aired, positive or negative (or any of Galtung and Ruge's criteria) making it suitable for any presentation shown on screen. 

23rd February

 The studio I've chosen below has a modern feel, displaying intriguing technology and creating the sensation of a realistic, advanced and professional news studio. The inclusion of white in the studio creates a fresher feel, balanced by the black which reinforces its professionalism.

24th February

Below, I began editing my news programme by inserting the footage of my presenter behind a green screen, selecting the"Chroma-Key" effect from the"FX" option box. This is the tool which allowed me to blend my chosen image of a news studio into the green background of my green screen - I did this by using the colour swatch tool to select the shades of green which I wanted to replace with an image so that the computer would recognise the exact colour. Here I am altering the options to make the green screen identifiable as my alterable screen all the way through my clip; as the shades slightly fluctuate throughout the whole duration of the recording. 

25th February

After altering the brightness and other options, I successfully used the chroma-key effect to create the illusion that my news presenter is standing in a real news studio. This still has editing to do though, as the altering of brightness has made the image of my presenter look faded and therefore not as professional or convincing. Nevertheless, the chroma-key still proved as a working success as I can now begin to play my news story footage over a news studio background, as they are now working in cohesion with each other.

3rd March 2015

Here is evidence of me recording my footage, and the angles I stood to take the shots which I was aiming for (panning of establishing shots, zoom, steady mid-shot for interviews etc). 

4th March 2015

To begin editing my soft news story, I followed the same steps as above in creating my hard news story - using the "Chroma-Key" option to merge my presenter into the new studio background. I then imported some footage which I recorded prior to my editing in the school. This screen-shot shows the manipulation of my footage and fitting them to screen to transition well from one to the other. 

5th March 2016

Below, you can see how I've used Corel to integrate all of my footage and transition these together to create a smoothly-running news programme. Again fitting to screen one of my establishing shots, I will plan to include a sound file over the top of this stock footage (through the 'Overlay' option) to create the SOT (sound on tape) or voice-over which I will record with my presenter.

SOFT NEWS STORY VOICE OVER (SOUND ON TAPE)

At the end of the school day, as many students leave for home, others are still hard at work, putting in those all-important extra hours to secure their grades. We’ve sent Annabelle Jones to investigate.

And the art teacher seems to be really impressed with the work completed.

Last year saw a huge increase in not only the uptake of art based subjects at the school but also an increased pass rate at A* to C both in GCSE and A’ Level Fine Art.  This really is an impressive picture.   

...

"An impressive picture~" is a use of word play which I wanted to include in my news story to create a colloquial, relaxed feel to the programme to suit the contents of the 'soft-story'. As a wind down from the hard story, I wanted to make my soft story as relaxed and pleasant to watch as possible to offer a range of moods within my news stories to make my overall programme desirable for my target audience to watch. 

TITLE SEQUENCE

RADIO ADVERT

To create an effective, realistic radio advert, I wanted somebody with a charming, relaxed voice who was able to catch the attention of my target audience by talking in a projected, professional tone and emphasising certain words to maximise the effect. I wrote my radio script around the potential of my reader, planning with him which words should be emphasised for maximum effect, such as "see you there", "join us" and "have your say". The use of imperative verbs and personal pronouns make my audience automatically feel involved and a sense of belongingness, adhering to their social needs presented in Maslow's hierarchy. 

I listened to a range of radio adverts on youtube and on BBC radio 3, to get a feel of how radio adverts are presented and spoken. 

I noticed a few similarities in this research, which I took as to be the codes and conventions of a typical radio advert for local TV news: 

• The duration is really quite short, with the advert needing minimal information to capture the attention of my target audience. Duration ranges from 20 seconds to 50 seconds maximum. 
• The language chosen should be intriguing and a constant use of personal pronouns and imperative verbs to build excitement and curiosity for the audience. The language should also be colloquial and somewhat relaxed, with vocabulary matching the region to which the audience and local TV news is based around, e.g. The Midlander is based on citizens of the Midlands, mainly Birmingham. Some words used for this audience may be more effective than if they were used for an audience elsewhere in the country. A lot of radio adverts (I noticed) also have their own frequently used words or type of language, which makes the sound of this word instantly recognisable to the brand. For example, my radio advert ends on "see you then!" although this is said slightly different to how it is spelt; rather like "see ya then!". This is not an error, but rather the identification to the accent spoken by the receiving audience, which will play as a huge advantage, making the advert 1) relatable and 2) understandable. 
• There is almost always convergent links in modern radio adverts, especially withthe advancing of technology, as this would typically allow most programmes and brands to develop their brand and widen their audience. I have used a link to a twiter account and a website in my radio advert, as I found that these are both typical and common means of technology which most of ym audience would interqact with on a day-to-day basis. By using convergent links, I am able to interact with more of my audience and possibly widen my audience, suiting their needs and allowing them to "have their say" and act as prosumers and users of "we" media.