We made another a social action video this time around the theme of democracy. Because of the 2017 UK general election we have designed a short video as part of Ufilms productions in order to make sure young people remember use their voice and vote in the general election. The video is a short piece to camera where we explain the importance of using your vote, as well as this we went around the college and got some vox pops and peoples reactions to the upcoming election with the message being that all people (especially young people) should get out and vote. Myself, Kane, Danniella and Matthew worked on the project. Matthew wrote the script and we all stared in it, as well as this myself and Kane operated the camera and Matthew was on Boom while Danniella directed those on screen. After we record the video messages in our studio we went out into the college to get the vox pops. Later that day I then edited the video and uploaded it straight to our YouTube just in time for the general election the next day. The following day the students were invited to watch the video along with a Q and A with Stockton South Labour candidate DR. Paul Williams. Everyone enjoyed the video and I think it motivate everyone to vote especially those in the audience who would have been first time voters. Here at Ufilms we believe in the British values of democracy and think everyone should take advantage of this great system our ancestors died for by using their vote.
Thursday, 15 June 2017
Wednesday, 14 June 2017
Unit 6: Critical Approaches (Debate Notes)
I don't think the news effects the way people behave because in the recent general election the news papers Tory propaganda failed to help Theresa May retain her majority. During the election campaign many news papers rallied against the labour party and Jeremy Corbin in order to protect their best interests, spewing out garbage headlines that had no truth to them and taking many things Corbin has done out of context and twisting his words to help make the Tory's look stronger. The Sun has been one of these news papers but unfortunately for them their audience isn't as passive as they thought. The hypodermic needle theory suggest that mass media could influence a very large group of people directly by 'injecting' them with messages designed to trigger a response, in the past news papers would have been peoples only source of information so they would not know to question what the news papers are saying. People aren't listening to the papers and are seeing the oppositional reading. However these days audiences are more active than ever and no longer take everything that is said by the news papers for granted, because of the internet anyone can get any source of information at anytime giving them the ability to question the views of the news papers. The hypodermic needle theory may have proven to be outdated as the news papers have failed to brainwash the nation with their Tory propaganda. Despite all the hate campaigns against Jeremy Corbin readers challenged the views of the news papers and didn't just accept everything they said, we can see this because Corbin's labour party gained the most seats during the election and Theresa May lost her majority .
I believe that the news doesn't influence the way people behave however people do. Reception theory is how people understand things not from the media it's self but from the audiences reception of it. In this scenario people may be less influenced by the news but more influenced by people and we can see this from labours domination of social media in order to win the youth vote. A record number of young voters came out to vote in this years general election and the majority of them voted labour, this may be because they have been influenced on social media, everyone I follow online weather being into politics or not has had their say on who to vote for and if you trust someone you follow then you would be likely to listen to their viewers. This means people are listening less to the news and more to individuals.
I believe that the news doesn't influence the way people behave however people do. Reception theory is how people understand things not from the media it's self but from the audiences reception of it. In this scenario people may be less influenced by the news but more influenced by people and we can see this from labours domination of social media in order to win the youth vote. A record number of young voters came out to vote in this years general election and the majority of them voted labour, this may be because they have been influenced on social media, everyone I follow online weather being into politics or not has had their say on who to vote for and if you trust someone you follow then you would be likely to listen to their viewers. This means people are listening less to the news and more to individuals.
Tuesday, 13 June 2017
Unit 31 (Task 4): Whoever controls the media controls the mind
Evaluation
Today we presented our social action and community media video 'Educating Granddad' to four people from the college who had come to judge it for the equality and diversity competition. At first I was worried about what their reaction to the video was, I didn't know If we had covered enough points however the judges loved the video. They were really impressed with the quality of the video and the points that it covered, they praised the way we had written about and addressed really sensitive topics. After seeing the video they expressed a great deal of interest in showing the video around college and using it for equality and diversity competitions, obviously this made myself and the team very proud as the college had recognised all the hard work we put into the video. As well as this we uploaded the video to YouTube and shared it on all of our social media platforms to try and reach as many people as we could with it. The feedback from the college, tutor, peers and people online has been overwhelmingly positive about this project and I think people believe the video can help insight a change in peoples mind sets about mutual respect and tolerance in and around the college and hopefully further students understandings of British values. As well as the college wanting to use our video to help educate other students we also won the 1st place prize in the equality and diversity competition winning £150 for the group.I think that the project went well and while there were a few hiccups in the process the finished video was a great success. In the pre production process things got off to a slow start, at first we struggled to come up with a unique idea for a video that could explain all of the points we needed to cover but also be entertaining. As a full class before we were assigned our individual jobs we sat around and brainstormed many ideas for what our video could be, in the end we came up with a sit-com styled conversation around a table. The story we came up with is that there is a family enjoying a quiet day in with their Granddad when all of a sudden he airs some politically incorrect views, the family then educate granddad (hence the name) on why his views are wrong and how he should be more tolerant and understanding towards people of different; races, cultures, sexuality's and ethnicity's. I was project manager and during the pre production process this meant I had to assign jobs for everyone one to do, I put Kane and Chloe in charge of writing the script for our idea, as well as this Jess and Matty helped edit the final draft of the script. The first issue we had with writing this was that it came across too serious and we felt the viewers would not retain much interest in it, over time we eventually came up with a script that was more light hearted and that handled the subjects in a friendlier way. A bigger issue we had was getting cast, we knew we would need a racially diverse cast to improve the credibility of the video. Unfortunately for us the acting class that we usually use as our pool of talent there is not many people of different ethnicity's, this became an issue as it meant we did not have a lot of people to choose from. In the end we got around our casting issue and managed to find someone who would fit the part. Another issue we had was that we put Adam in charge of location, this wasn't a problem at first as he managed to get us his girlfriends house for us to film in however 1 day before the shoot Adam told us he had an exam at the time we were scheduled in. Obviously this annoyed everyone as at first as it meant we might not be able to use the house and we already had everything schedule in but luckily Adams girlfriend was okay with us coming round with out him.
During the pre production process I think that I did a good job project managing my team and making sure that everything got done. As a PM my duty was to over see the production process so I delegated jobs and managed my team making sure that everything was in place before filming, I did research and over saw the writing of the script before putting together a team to work on the production process, I assigned myself as director, Matty as DOP, Jess as AD and Ben as boom.
Shooting went well, we got all the footage that we needed and our only main issue was that we ran over a little. The team worked very well together on set and everyone pitched in with ideas. Myself and Matty worked closely and collaborated on what shots we wanted and how we wanted to shoot everything. Being critical I would say that we could have worked a little faster and we may have spent to much time coming up with shots which may have slowed us down. In the end after our many discussions about shots and which shots would be best we finally got finished.
Unit 31 (Task 1): Whoever controls the media controls the mind
Here is the link to the presentation that myself and Jess made for task 1 as this assignment. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Vox55NZSiFhEYW2Q7a0mnS0uVoeNDrzYPv4kTFDM6gQ/edit?usp=sharing
Wednesday, 7 June 2017
Unit 6: Critical Approaches: Downton Abey
There are many ways we see the difference in class between the character's in this extract of Downton Abey.
When the show opens we see the maids in the maids quarters, right from the off set we can see that the maids are of the lower class. There are many things that point this out to us, one of them being that the lighting is very grey and dull, everything looks washed out and miserable reflecting upon the tedious life's of the maids. As well as this the shots themselves contain lots of camera movement this helps to show the audience how busy everything is, making it feel like the audience is rushing around with the workers. coinciding with the moving shots is frequent cuts, lots of cuts between different shots also gives the feel that everybody is rushing around and in a very busy and stressful work environment. To back this up the use of lots of background noise makes the scene sound even busier, the audience can hear everything that is going on around the characters as they talk and speaking of the dialogue everything the lower class workers say is rushed and said in an accent that compared to the rest of the accents is clearly more common. The Mise En Scene in the areas on screen surrounding the maids and the maids quarters was very different to the rest of the house, for example the maids quarters weren't as furnished as the rest of the house, they had very basic décor and everything was grey and dull. It looked dirty and sad and was clearly, in terms of status, below the rest of the house. The difference between the colour and lighting from the main house to the maids quarters is our biggest indicator in the gulf in class, the main house is elegant and looks incredibly detailed with expensive furnishings and has large open spaces with bright and orange lighting painting the picture of a welcoming home where as the maids quarters are small, cramped and had grey lighting and was in general very dark with people rushing around everywhere.
As well as all of these visual and audible clues we can also get information about the characters class based upon the narrative. For example there is a line of dialogue between two maids about the use of electricity. One of the maids tells the other that they are 'daredent' use the electricity as they are sceptical of it. This shows us that the maid is that poor that she has never used electricity giving us an insight into her social class and her life before she became a maid, this sets how different the life's of those who live in the house and those who work in the house are. The codes and conventions of the genre can also tell us a lot about the characters before we even hear them speak, for example the character's costumes are those that you would expect to find in a period drama with lots of Victorian styled dress with the lower class maids and servants wearing blacks and greys and the upper class residents wearing suits and elegant dress's.
At the start of the extract there is a tracking shot from the maids quarters up to the main house, as the maid walks from the quarters to the house we see the lighting change from grey to orange, we see the décor change from basic to detailed and elegant, we no longer see small cramped rooms and see larger open spaces with huge windows and lots of light. This is our first clue on how different the life's of the maids are to the life's of the residents. As well as this the pace of the show slows down dramatically when were with the upper class character's, when we are with the lower class character's there is a lot more cuts and everything feels much busier.
There is a huge difference between the style of the scenes in the maids quarters and the style of the scenes in the main house, in the main house the shots are more static with fewer cuts and more drawn out scenes this helps build tension and drama among the character's. As well as this the colour is completely different in the main house, the colours are vibrant and have a warming orange glow about them. The way the upper class characters speak and deliver lines tell us just how important they are. They enunciate every word and speak with a powerful town of voice, they talk down to the maids and servants and this shows us that they are a class above them. As well as this there seems to be a hierarchy structure within the house, the lord sits at the top as he has the greatest status, the other residents of the house and the lady's come next, after that it is the people whom are in charger of the servants and the butlers and personal assistants, then at the bottom of the food chain there are the maids and servants. This status system is evident as the characters lower down the hierarchy system are spoken down to by those above them and it soon becomes apparent who those who sit at the top are.
Scenes in the main house often feature wider angles, so that we can see the extent of the huge house, this gives the scene an awe of importance as we can see how elegant everything is. The elegance of the house then reflects upon the residents of the house, telling us they are important upper class people. When the lord is shown on screen for the first time some very gracious piano music is played as he walks down the stairs, this indicates his importance to the audience before we even hear him speak.
When the show opens we see the maids in the maids quarters, right from the off set we can see that the maids are of the lower class. There are many things that point this out to us, one of them being that the lighting is very grey and dull, everything looks washed out and miserable reflecting upon the tedious life's of the maids. As well as this the shots themselves contain lots of camera movement this helps to show the audience how busy everything is, making it feel like the audience is rushing around with the workers. coinciding with the moving shots is frequent cuts, lots of cuts between different shots also gives the feel that everybody is rushing around and in a very busy and stressful work environment. To back this up the use of lots of background noise makes the scene sound even busier, the audience can hear everything that is going on around the characters as they talk and speaking of the dialogue everything the lower class workers say is rushed and said in an accent that compared to the rest of the accents is clearly more common. The Mise En Scene in the areas on screen surrounding the maids and the maids quarters was very different to the rest of the house, for example the maids quarters weren't as furnished as the rest of the house, they had very basic décor and everything was grey and dull. It looked dirty and sad and was clearly, in terms of status, below the rest of the house. The difference between the colour and lighting from the main house to the maids quarters is our biggest indicator in the gulf in class, the main house is elegant and looks incredibly detailed with expensive furnishings and has large open spaces with bright and orange lighting painting the picture of a welcoming home where as the maids quarters are small, cramped and had grey lighting and was in general very dark with people rushing around everywhere.
As well as all of these visual and audible clues we can also get information about the characters class based upon the narrative. For example there is a line of dialogue between two maids about the use of electricity. One of the maids tells the other that they are 'daredent' use the electricity as they are sceptical of it. This shows us that the maid is that poor that she has never used electricity giving us an insight into her social class and her life before she became a maid, this sets how different the life's of those who live in the house and those who work in the house are. The codes and conventions of the genre can also tell us a lot about the characters before we even hear them speak, for example the character's costumes are those that you would expect to find in a period drama with lots of Victorian styled dress with the lower class maids and servants wearing blacks and greys and the upper class residents wearing suits and elegant dress's.
At the start of the extract there is a tracking shot from the maids quarters up to the main house, as the maid walks from the quarters to the house we see the lighting change from grey to orange, we see the décor change from basic to detailed and elegant, we no longer see small cramped rooms and see larger open spaces with huge windows and lots of light. This is our first clue on how different the life's of the maids are to the life's of the residents. As well as this the pace of the show slows down dramatically when were with the upper class character's, when we are with the lower class character's there is a lot more cuts and everything feels much busier.
There is a huge difference between the style of the scenes in the maids quarters and the style of the scenes in the main house, in the main house the shots are more static with fewer cuts and more drawn out scenes this helps build tension and drama among the character's. As well as this the colour is completely different in the main house, the colours are vibrant and have a warming orange glow about them. The way the upper class characters speak and deliver lines tell us just how important they are. They enunciate every word and speak with a powerful town of voice, they talk down to the maids and servants and this shows us that they are a class above them. As well as this there seems to be a hierarchy structure within the house, the lord sits at the top as he has the greatest status, the other residents of the house and the lady's come next, after that it is the people whom are in charger of the servants and the butlers and personal assistants, then at the bottom of the food chain there are the maids and servants. This status system is evident as the characters lower down the hierarchy system are spoken down to by those above them and it soon becomes apparent who those who sit at the top are.
Scenes in the main house often feature wider angles, so that we can see the extent of the huge house, this gives the scene an awe of importance as we can see how elegant everything is. The elegance of the house then reflects upon the residents of the house, telling us they are important upper class people. When the lord is shown on screen for the first time some very gracious piano music is played as he walks down the stairs, this indicates his importance to the audience before we even hear him speak.
Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Wednesday, 15 March 2017
Unit 37 Presentation Techniques (Task 1)
Part A:
British Pathe
As part of the presentation techniques I have been asked to take a look at the development of presentation styles from Pathe News to Newsround. Pathe News was originally formed during 1896 in Paris France created by Charles Pathe and his brothers whom were pioneers of the moving image. Pathe News invited the first cinema newsreel in 1908, this would pave the way for the way that we view the news today. Now instead of just reading the news people could go to the cinema and pay to watch a newsreel, this would be the first time people could watch the news as a series of moving images and though now days going to the cinema to pay for news would seem silly back in 1908 it was a revolutionary concept. By 1910 Pathe News had established an office in London and from then on all the way until the 1970's they would continue to produce cinema newsreels. They were now known as British Pathe.
When Pathe news first started it was very basic, there was no narration over the news footage. In fact the cinema newsreels featured no sound all the way up until 1928. They were issued biweekly and only ran for about four minutes each time. In the early days Pathe News was not to frequent as they were difficult to produce, back in those days cinema was not digital and everything had to be shot on film with the film reel being cut together to form coherent news story's. Pathe News mostly consisted of static camera shots however sometimes the coverage would include pans and even multiple angles. Which can be best demonstrated during coverage of Franz Reichelt's infamous fatal parachute jump.
What surprised me the most about this clip was how graphic the content was, in the clip we literally see a man die due to a failed parachute jump and back when this happened it was seen as perfectly acceptable to air. One of the biggest changes in news coverage from Pathe News to modern day news is what kind of content can be aired, regulations such as the BBFC did not yet exist and as such there was nobody controlling the content of news and cinema in general meaning that much more edgy and sometimes offensive clips could be shown. For example in todays day and age there would be know way that you would turn on the news and see a man hitting the floor after jumping off the Eiffel tower. As well as this other tragic events such as the suffragette Emily Dawson's death being caught on Pathe News during coverage of the 1913 Epsom Derby. Today such graphic content would not be shown on news broadcasts as today's audience's are more likely to be offended by graphic content such as this.
By the 1930's British Pathe would go on to produce newsreels covering news, entertainment, sport, culture and women’s issues through programmes including the Pathétone Weekly, the Pathé Pictorial, the Gazette and Eve’s Film Review. As well as this British Pathe also aired a number of TV programmes but ultimately the rise of the television meant the end for cinema newsreels and due to not being able to compete with TV British Pathe stopped producing newsreels in 1970. In a way Pathe News inspired todays modern range of news programmes such as Newsround, they did this by being the first people to visualise news and turn it into moving picture images making it a more enjoyable and informative viewing experience. Todays news programmes don't just cover world news they cover, sport, entertainment and culture too and this was a trend started by British Pathe during the 1930's so really they are the pioneers of the multi topical news shows we have today
So to summaries British Pathes style was very old fashioned and how you'd expect it to be being the first moving image newsreels. They had a very formal approach and zero narration until at least 1928. After the addition of narration and sound the presentation style was formal, serious and informative with the aim of providing the viewer with as much relevant information as possible as appose to actually entertaining them. Below is one of what is beleived to be the very first cinema newsreel films still remaining, it was not the first but many of the oldest cinema newsreels have been lost.
Newsround
Newsround is children's news programme from the BBC which started back in 1972. Up until 1989 it was known as John Cravens Newsround and was originally planned to be a 12 part mini series commissioned by the BBC's children's department, it was part of the BBC news family. Despite being pitched as a mini series Newsround still runs today and has drastically developed over the years and it is now known as CBBC Newsround airing on the BBC's children's channel known as CBBC, the channel was founded back in 2002 and since then the Newsround programme has aired on there.
After John Cravens departure Newsround, much like it is today, was presented by a number of presenters whom would rotate on a daily basis. The presentation style was informative yet light so that children from ages 6-12 could watch it, it was and still is a great way of getting kids interested in the world that we live in as children as young as that might not be able to get to grips with more formal and adult news programmes such as BBC news. Despite being originally pitched at the children aged 6-12 Newsround covered serious topics in order to inform and educate the youth, for example, Newsround was the first British television programme to break the news of the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger on 28 January 1986. This edition was presented by Roger Finn, who had only recently joined the programme. The programme was also first in Britain to report an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in Vatican City in 1981 and provided the first reports from the Windsor Castle fire of November 1992. The BBC clearly had faith in Newsround as a format allowing them to break such big story's.
As you can see from the clip above Newsround has had to change its style to stay modern in todays times, In the original Newsround it was very formal with one man and sometimes a co presenter covering other stories sat facing the camera as the occasional graphic was displayed in the background, the pace was quite slow and the show did not really feature many graphics or indents with the set being simplistic featuring a person facing the camera in front of a green screen in which pictures can be super imposed on to. These days CBBC's Newround is a faster show, notice that length of the 1982 show is almost 10 minutes where as the length of the modern day show is only 5 minutes. This is because kids these days are a lot less likely to pay attention to an informative programme for a longer period of time. As well as this the Newsround of today features a lot more graphics and indents between segments and detailed reports from correspondents on location. As far as the presenting goes it is a lot less formal and more cheery in order to appeal to the children of today, the show is colourful and eye catching and the young viewers will associate the colours green and purple with the show. As a former child I was once the target audience of Newsround and can say that the show successfully made me interested in the world around me and keeping up to date with the news.
Part B:
As part of the presentation techniques assignment I will need to study current TV presenters in order to learn about their styles and in turn develop my own style.
The second presenter I have chosen to look at is Bradley Walsh. Walsh is a game show presenter who host shows such as The Chase on ITV, he also appears as guests on shows such as play to the whilst. I like his style as he can go from being very serious to very funny, he has a great sense of humour and uses his dry wit to make moments funny. He is less formal than Gary Lineker and has a thicker accent which I guess fits his style more and could make him more relatable. He presents himself as an all round good guy who isn't afraid to have a laugh sometime making jokes at his own expense.
His verbal techniques include using his accent and tone of voice to relate to the audience, his accent makes him seem like a real person as it is quite strong but also very friendly. Usually TV presenters have neutral accents in order to either appear to everyone make sure that they can be understood.
In my presentation I would like to adopts Bradley Walsh's style by being humours, hopefully this will engage the audience and keep them entertained.
British Pathe
As part of the presentation techniques I have been asked to take a look at the development of presentation styles from Pathe News to Newsround. Pathe News was originally formed during 1896 in Paris France created by Charles Pathe and his brothers whom were pioneers of the moving image. Pathe News invited the first cinema newsreel in 1908, this would pave the way for the way that we view the news today. Now instead of just reading the news people could go to the cinema and pay to watch a newsreel, this would be the first time people could watch the news as a series of moving images and though now days going to the cinema to pay for news would seem silly back in 1908 it was a revolutionary concept. By 1910 Pathe News had established an office in London and from then on all the way until the 1970's they would continue to produce cinema newsreels. They were now known as British Pathe.
When Pathe news first started it was very basic, there was no narration over the news footage. In fact the cinema newsreels featured no sound all the way up until 1928. They were issued biweekly and only ran for about four minutes each time. In the early days Pathe News was not to frequent as they were difficult to produce, back in those days cinema was not digital and everything had to be shot on film with the film reel being cut together to form coherent news story's. Pathe News mostly consisted of static camera shots however sometimes the coverage would include pans and even multiple angles. Which can be best demonstrated during coverage of Franz Reichelt's infamous fatal parachute jump.
What surprised me the most about this clip was how graphic the content was, in the clip we literally see a man die due to a failed parachute jump and back when this happened it was seen as perfectly acceptable to air. One of the biggest changes in news coverage from Pathe News to modern day news is what kind of content can be aired, regulations such as the BBFC did not yet exist and as such there was nobody controlling the content of news and cinema in general meaning that much more edgy and sometimes offensive clips could be shown. For example in todays day and age there would be know way that you would turn on the news and see a man hitting the floor after jumping off the Eiffel tower. As well as this other tragic events such as the suffragette Emily Dawson's death being caught on Pathe News during coverage of the 1913 Epsom Derby. Today such graphic content would not be shown on news broadcasts as today's audience's are more likely to be offended by graphic content such as this.
By the 1930's British Pathe would go on to produce newsreels covering news, entertainment, sport, culture and women’s issues through programmes including the Pathétone Weekly, the Pathé Pictorial, the Gazette and Eve’s Film Review. As well as this British Pathe also aired a number of TV programmes but ultimately the rise of the television meant the end for cinema newsreels and due to not being able to compete with TV British Pathe stopped producing newsreels in 1970. In a way Pathe News inspired todays modern range of news programmes such as Newsround, they did this by being the first people to visualise news and turn it into moving picture images making it a more enjoyable and informative viewing experience. Todays news programmes don't just cover world news they cover, sport, entertainment and culture too and this was a trend started by British Pathe during the 1930's so really they are the pioneers of the multi topical news shows we have today
So to summaries British Pathes style was very old fashioned and how you'd expect it to be being the first moving image newsreels. They had a very formal approach and zero narration until at least 1928. After the addition of narration and sound the presentation style was formal, serious and informative with the aim of providing the viewer with as much relevant information as possible as appose to actually entertaining them. Below is one of what is beleived to be the very first cinema newsreel films still remaining, it was not the first but many of the oldest cinema newsreels have been lost.
Newsround
Newsround is children's news programme from the BBC which started back in 1972. Up until 1989 it was known as John Cravens Newsround and was originally planned to be a 12 part mini series commissioned by the BBC's children's department, it was part of the BBC news family. Despite being pitched as a mini series Newsround still runs today and has drastically developed over the years and it is now known as CBBC Newsround airing on the BBC's children's channel known as CBBC, the channel was founded back in 2002 and since then the Newsround programme has aired on there.
After John Cravens departure Newsround, much like it is today, was presented by a number of presenters whom would rotate on a daily basis. The presentation style was informative yet light so that children from ages 6-12 could watch it, it was and still is a great way of getting kids interested in the world that we live in as children as young as that might not be able to get to grips with more formal and adult news programmes such as BBC news. Despite being originally pitched at the children aged 6-12 Newsround covered serious topics in order to inform and educate the youth, for example, Newsround was the first British television programme to break the news of the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger on 28 January 1986. This edition was presented by Roger Finn, who had only recently joined the programme. The programme was also first in Britain to report an assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in Vatican City in 1981 and provided the first reports from the Windsor Castle fire of November 1992. The BBC clearly had faith in Newsround as a format allowing them to break such big story's.
As you can see from the clip above Newsround has had to change its style to stay modern in todays times, In the original Newsround it was very formal with one man and sometimes a co presenter covering other stories sat facing the camera as the occasional graphic was displayed in the background, the pace was quite slow and the show did not really feature many graphics or indents with the set being simplistic featuring a person facing the camera in front of a green screen in which pictures can be super imposed on to. These days CBBC's Newround is a faster show, notice that length of the 1982 show is almost 10 minutes where as the length of the modern day show is only 5 minutes. This is because kids these days are a lot less likely to pay attention to an informative programme for a longer period of time. As well as this the Newsround of today features a lot more graphics and indents between segments and detailed reports from correspondents on location. As far as the presenting goes it is a lot less formal and more cheery in order to appeal to the children of today, the show is colourful and eye catching and the young viewers will associate the colours green and purple with the show. As a former child I was once the target audience of Newsround and can say that the show successfully made me interested in the world around me and keeping up to date with the news.
Part B:
As part of the presentation techniques assignment I will need to study current TV presenters in order to learn about their styles and in turn develop my own style.
The first presenter I am using as inspiration is the BBC's Gary Lineker. I have been a big fan of lifestyle programme television presenter Gary Lineker for many years, he is best known for being the host of BBC's match of the day whilst also working as a football pundit for both the BBC and BT Sports. His presentation style is formal and informative, as well as this he is opinionated and is never shy to voice his opinion on subjects as well as debating and discussing matters with guests on his show. I always see Gary Lineker as someone who is very knowledgeable and appears as an expert in his field, as a presenter I would also like to be viewed in this way. I think it is very important that the presenter comes across as someone who knows what they are talking about because then the audience will trust their opinions and view them as someone that deserves their attention. Lineker uses verbal techniques such as tone of voice, pace of delivery and phrase structure to come across as genuine guy whom is intelligent and has a deep understanding of his subject as well as this he is well spoken and uses illustrative language to present himself in a high manor.
Visual techniques he uses include body language and physical gestures. Lineker gesticulates using his hands whilst talking which implies that he is passionate and enthusiastic about the subject he is talking about. As well as this he always looks smart and respectable dressing nicely for his show. This is something that I will be looking to replicated with in my presentation as carrying yourself in this manner is important to appearing as respectable presenter.
Gary Linekers background is in football, as an Ex professional footballer he played for England and world class teams such as Barcelona and Leicester City. His background allows him to have lots of knowledge about what he is reporting on meaning that he comes across as an expert. Obviously I do not have a large background in the subject I am reporting on and therefor will need to conduct lots of research.
His verbal techniques include using his accent and tone of voice to relate to the audience, his accent makes him seem like a real person as it is quite strong but also very friendly. Usually TV presenters have neutral accents in order to either appear to everyone make sure that they can be understood.
In my presentation I would like to adopts Bradley Walsh's style by being humours, hopefully this will engage the audience and keep them entertained.
Tuesday, 14 March 2017
Unit 37 Presentation Techniques (Task 4)
Evaluation
The Ufilms Oscars Rundown is finally over and in my opinion the whole thing has been a success, though at times it has been difficult we have managed to produce two weeks worth of content for our YouTube channel. Overall the experience has been rewarding as I know we have created some good quality content for people to enjoy.
Firstly I think that my first show 'The Ufilms Music Rundown' was the better out of my two as I feel it was more entertaining than my second one, this might be because there was two presenters making the show feel more chatty and less formal. I liked the set up of the first show better two with the two presenters sat on sofas angled toward each other on the set like a real talk show. I had a three camera set up and used tow lights. I had a master shot of both me and my co-worker with the other two angles being our close up cameras, one on me and one on my co presenter. This meant we could engage with the audience by talking directly into the camera and at them. If there was one thing I would improve about my set up it would be to have more props on the set. It would have been cool if I could have had a disco ball hanging above the set however due to the studio we filmed in this wasn't possible, as well as this I would have had vinyl record on the table just because it gives the set a bit more dressing and as soon as the audience see these things they will realise we will be talking about something music related. I liked the script I had wrote and thought it was a good mix of informative information and humour. The only disadvantage to having a script was that at times the performances may have looked scripted where as I would rather have it look natural however I used cutaways to hide times the presenters were looking at there scripts which were placed out of frame on the floor. However saying this I had to write a script as I was aware that my co presenter Ben may not have prepared as much as I'd asked him to and low and behold he hadn't. This meant we had to use the script as Ben hadn't researched the topic and therefor couldn't naturally hold a conversation about it. If I was to evaluate Ben's performance in the first video I would say that his presentation style was good but he lacked the ability to improve and came under prepared as well as at times delivering lines unnaturally on camera. I was also disappointed that Ben didn't help out as much as he could have during the pre-production stages of our show. Saying this I am happy with the end product of the first show, I think it was an entertaining video and that myself and Ben were overall good presenters. Evaluating myself now sometimes I messed up lines and forgot what to say however I had never been on camera before so I had to quickly learn how to adapt my body language to come across as confident presenter but I am happy with my performances and I think that I carried the first show working hard in front of and behind the camera to make sure it looked how I wanted it too.
Moving on to the second show now and this was the show I presented on my own called the 'Music Reaction Show' I thought this show was good but not as funny as the first show. When your presenting on your own you need to rely on your own charisma to keep the audience engaged as you do not have a co presenter to talk to and make jokes with. I think I manged this reasonably well but in hindsight would have rather worked with another presenter. The show was a simpler set up than the first one as I only used two cameras, thinking three would be a bit over kill for just one person, the cuts may have become tedious and made the pace of the piece to quick. For this show I didn't prepare a formal script I just created a research sheet with information that I wanted to include about each subject on, as well as this I wrote an intro and outro as well as notes on what I wanted to say. I highlighted the important facts and figures to ensure that I remembered to read them out. My lighting for both shows was pretty much the same, sometimes it was difficult I was not casting a noticeable shadow due to the lights but the crew managed.
Speaking of the crew I thought the Ufilms team was fantastic, everyone pulled their weight and helped star in and film various videos. People under took a number of roles and did everything they were asked never complaining about a role. Lots of people had never presented before too (like myslef) and they did well to show confidence on camera. Everyone managed to get their videos out on time even if some where a couple of hours late people went to great lengths in order to get their videos up as to not let the team down. Peoples dedication was admirable. We worked long and hard days in order to film and edit as much content as possible and it payed off as we produced lots of good quality videos. I'd say that out YouTube channel was good and I really like the header and logo that were created for it by Ben and Matty. Our branding was good too as we managed to create an intro graphic for the start of the videos and we all also ended our videos with the same way using the Ufilms Oscars logo, If we could do this again I would say that the biggest thing our videos lacked was graphics. Sometimes there were breaks or pauses in the video that were hard to edit around and the use of a transitional graphic or indent would have provided a shortcut during editing and made our content seem more professional.
I think that people enjoyed the Ufilms Oscars Rundown, we tried to push our content as much as possible on Facebook and Instagram even live streaming some behind the scenes stuff from a shoot. Our reach on Facebook was quite good and the videos tended to get a lot of support and positive feedback, infact we didn't get any negative feedback on social media.
So to conclude the Rundown was a success, we were only limited by our equipment and studio. I think if we were to recreate this in the future we could create an even higher quality product. We achieved our goal and produced a video a day (sometimes more) about the 89th annual academy awards!
The Ufilms Oscars Rundown is finally over and in my opinion the whole thing has been a success, though at times it has been difficult we have managed to produce two weeks worth of content for our YouTube channel. Overall the experience has been rewarding as I know we have created some good quality content for people to enjoy.
Firstly I think that my first show 'The Ufilms Music Rundown' was the better out of my two as I feel it was more entertaining than my second one, this might be because there was two presenters making the show feel more chatty and less formal. I liked the set up of the first show better two with the two presenters sat on sofas angled toward each other on the set like a real talk show. I had a three camera set up and used tow lights. I had a master shot of both me and my co-worker with the other two angles being our close up cameras, one on me and one on my co presenter. This meant we could engage with the audience by talking directly into the camera and at them. If there was one thing I would improve about my set up it would be to have more props on the set. It would have been cool if I could have had a disco ball hanging above the set however due to the studio we filmed in this wasn't possible, as well as this I would have had vinyl record on the table just because it gives the set a bit more dressing and as soon as the audience see these things they will realise we will be talking about something music related. I liked the script I had wrote and thought it was a good mix of informative information and humour. The only disadvantage to having a script was that at times the performances may have looked scripted where as I would rather have it look natural however I used cutaways to hide times the presenters were looking at there scripts which were placed out of frame on the floor. However saying this I had to write a script as I was aware that my co presenter Ben may not have prepared as much as I'd asked him to and low and behold he hadn't. This meant we had to use the script as Ben hadn't researched the topic and therefor couldn't naturally hold a conversation about it. If I was to evaluate Ben's performance in the first video I would say that his presentation style was good but he lacked the ability to improve and came under prepared as well as at times delivering lines unnaturally on camera. I was also disappointed that Ben didn't help out as much as he could have during the pre-production stages of our show. Saying this I am happy with the end product of the first show, I think it was an entertaining video and that myself and Ben were overall good presenters. Evaluating myself now sometimes I messed up lines and forgot what to say however I had never been on camera before so I had to quickly learn how to adapt my body language to come across as confident presenter but I am happy with my performances and I think that I carried the first show working hard in front of and behind the camera to make sure it looked how I wanted it too.
Moving on to the second show now and this was the show I presented on my own called the 'Music Reaction Show' I thought this show was good but not as funny as the first show. When your presenting on your own you need to rely on your own charisma to keep the audience engaged as you do not have a co presenter to talk to and make jokes with. I think I manged this reasonably well but in hindsight would have rather worked with another presenter. The show was a simpler set up than the first one as I only used two cameras, thinking three would be a bit over kill for just one person, the cuts may have become tedious and made the pace of the piece to quick. For this show I didn't prepare a formal script I just created a research sheet with information that I wanted to include about each subject on, as well as this I wrote an intro and outro as well as notes on what I wanted to say. I highlighted the important facts and figures to ensure that I remembered to read them out. My lighting for both shows was pretty much the same, sometimes it was difficult I was not casting a noticeable shadow due to the lights but the crew managed.
Speaking of the crew I thought the Ufilms team was fantastic, everyone pulled their weight and helped star in and film various videos. People under took a number of roles and did everything they were asked never complaining about a role. Lots of people had never presented before too (like myslef) and they did well to show confidence on camera. Everyone managed to get their videos out on time even if some where a couple of hours late people went to great lengths in order to get their videos up as to not let the team down. Peoples dedication was admirable. We worked long and hard days in order to film and edit as much content as possible and it payed off as we produced lots of good quality videos. I'd say that out YouTube channel was good and I really like the header and logo that were created for it by Ben and Matty. Our branding was good too as we managed to create an intro graphic for the start of the videos and we all also ended our videos with the same way using the Ufilms Oscars logo, If we could do this again I would say that the biggest thing our videos lacked was graphics. Sometimes there were breaks or pauses in the video that were hard to edit around and the use of a transitional graphic or indent would have provided a shortcut during editing and made our content seem more professional.
I think that people enjoyed the Ufilms Oscars Rundown, we tried to push our content as much as possible on Facebook and Instagram even live streaming some behind the scenes stuff from a shoot. Our reach on Facebook was quite good and the videos tended to get a lot of support and positive feedback, infact we didn't get any negative feedback on social media.
So to conclude the Rundown was a success, we were only limited by our equipment and studio. I think if we were to recreate this in the future we could create an even higher quality product. We achieved our goal and produced a video a day (sometimes more) about the 89th annual academy awards!
Friday, 10 March 2017
Unit 37 Presentation Techniques (Task 2)
TASK 2 PART 1:
As our production company Ufilms we came up with the idea of creating a series of videos all themed around the Oscars. We decided that for two weeks we would create one video a day about the Oscars, we would make a weeks worth of videos before the Oscars and a weeks worth of videos after the Oscars. We did this so that we could present all the build up to the Oscars during the week before and then present all of our reactions during the week after.
We decided we would output our videos on our YouTube channel called Ufilms, all of the videos we created fall under the branding and structure of Ufilms. These means that all of our videos had to be formatted in a similar way. For example we decided that we would create graphics for all of our videos, this included an animated intro and presenter name plates. These graphics where made by Matty and myself respectively.
We came up with a schedule in order to structure our output of videos, we decided that at least one video would be uploaded to the Ufilms YouTube channel each day and that each presenter had to create two videos. Some presenters presented in a pair and others presenter on their own, each video was indented to be informative and entertaining. I decided that I would present my first video with Ben, the video would be on the topic of music and we would discuss all the nominees who were up for both the 'best original score' award and 'best original song' award. My second video would feature just myself and my reactions to the winners of the awards and also my reviews on the musical performances at the academy awards.
We knew that we had to make our videos appeal to our target audience and with our target audience being a similar age and demographic to ourselves we were confident we could do this. Our videos had to be entertaining and informative so that people had a reason to watch them and as presenters we had to be confident and charismatic in order to convey ourselves as knowledgeable sources of information. Research would be key in order to come across like we knew what we were talking about.
Week 1 (Commencing 20th February)
Week 2 (Commencing 27th February)
As well as thinking about what we would be saying I also thought about how the video would look, I created a camera plan with a simple three camera set up. A master shot of me and Ben, a close up camera on myself and another close up camera on Ben. I considered set design too but we were limited in terms of how different we could make the set look to other peoples due to the size of the backdrop we were filming in front of. Sometimes it was difficult to position the camera in a manor that hid the studio behind the backdrop we were using for the set but we managed. Our set was set up so that me and Ben where sat on separate sofas angled toward each other like a talk show, we both had designated cameras to look into when delivering certain lines. As well as this I wrote our intro skit around our prop, we had a guitar as our prop to signify that we would be talking about something music related.
Research and notes
In order to talk about the nominees for best song and best score, we need to know who they are and what films they featured in, as well as the difference between the two categories.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG NOMINEES
Oscar nominees from: http://oscar.go.com/news/nominations/oscar-nominations-2017-view-the-complete-list-of-nominees
On the official website for the academy awards there is a section where you can watch all of the musical performances from the night. This was incredibly helpful as it meant that for my second video about the performances I could watch the full clips and take notes, helping me develop a script of things to talk about during the video. http://oscar.go.com/music-moments
As our production company Ufilms we came up with the idea of creating a series of videos all themed around the Oscars. We decided that for two weeks we would create one video a day about the Oscars, we would make a weeks worth of videos before the Oscars and a weeks worth of videos after the Oscars. We did this so that we could present all the build up to the Oscars during the week before and then present all of our reactions during the week after.
We decided we would output our videos on our YouTube channel called Ufilms, all of the videos we created fall under the branding and structure of Ufilms. These means that all of our videos had to be formatted in a similar way. For example we decided that we would create graphics for all of our videos, this included an animated intro and presenter name plates. These graphics where made by Matty and myself respectively.
We came up with a schedule in order to structure our output of videos, we decided that at least one video would be uploaded to the Ufilms YouTube channel each day and that each presenter had to create two videos. Some presenters presented in a pair and others presenter on their own, each video was indented to be informative and entertaining. I decided that I would present my first video with Ben, the video would be on the topic of music and we would discuss all the nominees who were up for both the 'best original score' award and 'best original song' award. My second video would feature just myself and my reactions to the winners of the awards and also my reviews on the musical performances at the academy awards.
We knew that we had to make our videos appeal to our target audience and with our target audience being a similar age and demographic to ourselves we were confident we could do this. Our videos had to be entertaining and informative so that people had a reason to watch them and as presenters we had to be confident and charismatic in order to convey ourselves as knowledgeable sources of information. Research would be key in order to come across like we knew what we were talking about.
 |
| Initial Video Ideas |
 |
| Shooting Schedule |
Our video upload schedule went as follows:
Week 1 (Commencing 20th February)
Monday: History of the Oscars
Tuesday: Fashion of the Oscars
Wednesday: Iconic Moments of the Oscars
Thursday: Music of the Oscars
Friday: The nominating process
Saturday: Oscars Predictions
Week 2 (Commencing 27th February)
Monday: Oscars Reactions
Tuesday: The Red carpet
Wednesday: The Music Reaction Show
Thursday: Politics at this years Oscars + After party show
Friday: Facts of the 2017 Oscars
Sunday: Oscars Rundown Conclusion
TASK 2 PART 2:
We will be producing two videos each, one on the week leading up to the Oscars and one on the week prior to Oscars. On the week leading up our videos will focus on the nominees, our predictions and the history of the Oscars whereas the videos we make after the ceremony will focus on the winners and our reactions. Working with Ben Siddle I chose to create my two videos about the music of the Oscars, covering everything from who will be performing on the night to movie soundtracks.
The first video was about the nominees for the music related awards at the Oscars, the video was made so that we could discuss the music from some of the Oscar nominated films and give our opinions on who we thought would win the music related Oscars. Myself and Ben would be the presenters, I had decided that I wanted to structure the video into 4 parts; an introduction, a section about best song, a section about best score and finally a conclusion/outro. Each of the 4 parts would be split up by graphics, this meant that we could record the video in 4 sections making it easier to film. For the first video I conduced my own research and sent Ben research too so I knew he had something to talk about, as well as this I also wrote a script. The concept of the show was that it was a talk show where we both discussed our opinions but I was worried we would run out of things to talk about so I developed a script which covered all the points I wanted to make. The script also included a short skit for the introduction and an outro.
As well as thinking about what we would be saying I also thought about how the video would look, I created a camera plan with a simple three camera set up. A master shot of me and Ben, a close up camera on myself and another close up camera on Ben. I considered set design too but we were limited in terms of how different we could make the set look to other peoples due to the size of the backdrop we were filming in front of. Sometimes it was difficult to position the camera in a manor that hid the studio behind the backdrop we were using for the set but we managed. Our set was set up so that me and Ben where sat on separate sofas angled toward each other like a talk show, we both had designated cameras to look into when delivering certain lines. As well as this I wrote our intro skit around our prop, we had a guitar as our prop to signify that we would be talking about something music related.
Research and notes
BEST ORIGINAL SONG NOMINEES
AUDITION from La La Land; Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin PaulHOW FAR I'LL GO from Moana; Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda CAN'T STOP THE FEELING from Trolls; Music and Lyric by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster CITY OF STARS from La La Land; Music by Justin Hurwitz; Lyric by Benj Pasek and Justin PaulTHE EMPTY CHAIR from Jim: The James Foley Story; Music and Lyric by J. Ralph and Sting
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE NOMINEES
JACKIE Mica Levi
LA LA LAND Justin Hurwitz
LION Dustin O'Halloran and Hauschka
MOONLIGHT Nicholas Britell
PASSENGERS Thomas Newman
Oscar nominees from: http://oscar.go.com/news/nominations/oscar-nominations-2017-view-the-complete-list-of-nominees
On the official website for the academy awards there is a section where you can watch all of the musical performances from the night. This was incredibly helpful as it meant that for my second video about the performances I could watch the full clips and take notes, helping me develop a script of things to talk about during the video. http://oscar.go.com/music-moments
Wednesday, 25 January 2017
Unit 23: Multi Camera Analysis (Task 1)
I have chosen to look at BBC One's studio based football analysis show Match of the Day (MOTD) as part of our multi camera techniques unit.
The show is set in a small studio featuring three presenters (1 hosts and 2 guests) sat around a table talking about football. As it is a relatively small set you would think that there wouldn't be many cameras required to produce the show however I think that there are at least 4 cameras being used to film the show. Multiple cameras are used to speed up filming or if the programme is filmed live used so that the viewer seamlessly transitions between different angles without seeing any camera movement. On live shows the director tells the camera operators what shot to get or who to be focused on and the vision mixer cuts to the desired camera so the programme is edited live.
Another fixed camera now and this time it is the camera that is focused on the Host, Gary Linker. This camera doesn't move and is mainly used when Gary is talking directly to the audience.
The show is set in a small studio featuring three presenters (1 hosts and 2 guests) sat around a table talking about football. As it is a relatively small set you would think that there wouldn't be many cameras required to produce the show however I think that there are at least 4 cameras being used to film the show. Multiple cameras are used to speed up filming or if the programme is filmed live used so that the viewer seamlessly transitions between different angles without seeing any camera movement. On live shows the director tells the camera operators what shot to get or who to be focused on and the vision mixer cuts to the desired camera so the programme is edited live.
Match of the day opens with a shot sweeping in from the left. The shot captures the whole set and all guests and is done using a crane. This shot is also sometimes cut back to in-between close ups of the various presenters.
The next camera I noticed was the camera that is fixed on the guests. This camera is used to get a shot of both the guests and also used to get a close up of the guests individually. I believe that these two shots are done by the same camera as it never cuts from the shot of the 2 guests to a close up of just 1 guest. So that the viewer doesn't see any camera movement a cutaway to one of the crane shots is used between going from both guests to 1 guest.
Another fixed camera now and this time it is the camera that is focused on the Host, Gary Linker. This camera doesn't move and is mainly used when Gary is talking directly to the audience.
Finally the last camera is another crane shot, this shot often sweeps across the set whilst the guests are talking. It is used as a cutaway to get from close ups between the various guests. It is also used whilst Gary is talking to the audience however he doesn't look directly into this camera as it moves. He looks at the camera that is fixed on him.
This show uses multi camera techniques in order to speed up filming and increase viewer interest. The fact that there is multiple cameras means that the show can flow and no cameras have to be repositioned saving time during filming. It increases viewer interest as the fact that there are constant camera angle changes and cuts keeps the viewer engaged in the programme as it is constantly moving.
Thursday, 12 January 2017
Fish out of Water
I have finally finished editing my documentary and I am very happy with how it has turned out. In terms of both production and post production this has definitely been one of the most challenging things I have made so far but it is definitely one of the most rewarding. I think that I have managed to portray a story and even convey some emotion towards the end of the piece via the use of music and editing. Initially when I had the idea I was worried that the final piece would be boring however due to the pace and the way I have told the story I think that the documentary is actually very interesting and conveys a compelling narrative about a young boy, isolated from his family and friends, trying to get by on his own. During the edit I couldn't decide whether or not my documentary needed a voice over or not, so I wrote one anyway and by the end of the edit I discovered that it flowed perfectly with out one. The piece is just over 6 minutes long and whilst I've left a lot of footage out I feel like it is just the right length due to the pace of the peace. I tried to end on an emotional part of the story in order to pull the heart strings of the audience as I feel like this will help the piece be more memorable. To conclude I am very happy with how this piece of work has turned out 'Fish out of Water' Is a documentary I am proud to call my own.
Saturday, 7 January 2017
Taylor Nikola Henderson -Filmmaker-
I want to thank Jess Bramfitt for letting me use her Mac to edit my amazing showreel showing off my amazing talents as a director, camera operator, boom operator and most importantly editor! I don't know what I'd do without her! Even though going from Windows to Mac wasn't easy and we suffered numerous problems at the start and trying to export we accomplished it!!
I should also remember to log out of my gmail account and not click the 'keep me signed in'
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