Television Production

As a guide for this post, I used a Trent University guide to reflective writing. [1] The Process Ideas In this project, we were tasked with creating an online News brand, creating a channel, a promotional video, and 1 episode of the show, involving a 2 minute package and 2 minute live segment. We began the project with brainstorming our brand. I suggested on the first day of the project that we make local news for a young audience of 10-17, and we stuck with it. It was a unique idea and we knew that there would be locations that we could use, and by narrowing down the audience this immediately made the topics clearer. Initially, we wanted one physical news package that a presenter could get involved in, and 1 current-affairs style package that we could challenge ourselves to making interesting. I suggested the meme ban idea as I had heard of it vaguely through a biased  Reddit  post, and then explored the facts myself and wanted to look into it further. We consider...

The Green Screen. We shot the green screen segment on 17th Oct. We got all the shots that we needed and the shoot went smoothly. It was all simple to set up (which we hadn't done before). For the background we will be using graphics and stock images to make the package a more interesting topic.  What went well? Script I took the liberty of writing the package script and I'm happy with how it turned out. It was a difficult task, as I needed to write a complicated topic in a way that would be understandable to a young audience, and I knew that to achieve this I would need good graphics to illustrate what I was saying. I included this on the script not only to help in the post-production process but to remind us to keep it simple on the filming day, as it would make more sense later. We used the teleprompter and this really helped. We did make a few changes to the script on the way. Firstly, we changed the image of a cat to a picture of a dog, as Ebony was able to...

Newsround. Newsround is a BBC programme that airs on CBBC, where it brings news topics that interest the young audience of CBBC but also makes current affairs interesting and understandable. From the beginning [2.4] Newsround, 1973 Newsround began in 1972 as John Craven's Newsround, but then changed to Newsround just before his departure in 1989. [1] It initially was broadcast for just 2 days a week and the first season only lasted for 6 weeks, however, due to it's popularity, it returned, and by 1974 it was being broadcast 4 days a week. [2.1] By 1979, it was being broadcast all year round, where previously it would go off air in the Summer. Also in this year, Craven helped to launch the Blue Peter appeal to raise £100,000 to help Cambodia to recover from the Pol Pot regime. It reached this target within 24 hours, and the appeal went on to net £3 mil. [2.2]  In 1991, Krishnan Guru-Murthy began presenting. He left in 1994 to present on Newsnight, The National Lot...

The Studio. For the studio links, we're planning on filming with an actual set, and 2 presenters. We want the set to represent our brand, but not be too distracting. We're planning on using purple and teal as our brand colours (although the logo in the example is purple and yellow, which we initially were going to go for). After the shoot We did change from yellow to teal because we thought that yellow connoted to much younger children, and teal seemed to match the pale purple that we were going for; however when the logo was printed, it was printed in the purple and yellow, so we stuck with the original instead. We shot on 17th Oct. and managed to get everything we needed in the time that we were filming. We mostly used the script to know what to film next, however I feel it would have been easier to use a shot list, which we didn't have. What went well? Teleprompter After the practice in the green screen workshop , I was pretty happy with how to use ...

After Effects. For News, we are going to be required to use After Effects much more than we have in our previous projects. Ferg went through a workshop with us to help us understand how to process green screen and how to create 3D graphics (such as a spinning globe). Terminology There are different kinds of 'keys' used to create backgrounds or graphics for TV and film; Alpha key This removes shapes from a clip Luma key This removes light or dark from a clip Chroma key This removes colour from a clip Most notably used for green screen. I found this video by InfiniteSkills.com that really helped me to understand Alpha and Luma keys, as they are what I was not completely aware of how to use, whereas I knew of green screen and roughly knew how it worked. History We watched a video similar to this one about how green-screening came to be. When film was solely used, they would use pieces of glass with black squares painted onto them over the l...

The Skatepark. Our first shoot for the project was on 9th October. We went to the skate park to film an interview with the owner Kathy, and 2 people who attend the park, both called Jack. When we first arrived, we set up the equipment, checked that all the sound equipment was working properly, and took GVs and a buzz track of outside the park. We then took the equipment inside and started setting up for the first interview with Kathy. Alan arrived so I stood with Alan helping him practice what he was going to say and going through the cue cards with him while Ebony and Harvey set up the shot with the guidance of Esme. This was easy enough, as I stood in for Kathy during the practice so that we weren't wasting too much of her time, and this helped to check the lighting on the subjects. We ended up only needing one of the aperture lights, as the lighting in the room was pretty bright already. Once everyone was happy with the setup and Alan felt practiced enough, we brought Ka...

First Draft. This is the first copy of the script that I wrote. It has many similarities to the final pieces and a lot of it hasn't changed, but there have been a lot of improvements. The most noticable is the layout. For the first draft, I wrote it in a screenplay format as I didn't know how else it would be written. This makes it hard to understand what is happening when and who is saying what. It was also very difficult to distinguish what was voice over, or a piece to camera. The language also needed to change as it was a bit too heavy to begin with, such as starting out with 'A new law', which would immediately disengage the audience.  Studio Script. For the studio links script, it took a lot of editing to get it right. This is down to having a younger audience who we needed to cater to. We wanted to use language that was clearly understandable and also engaging, but we didn't want to 'dumb down' the script too much, at risk of d...

Unit One Skatepark. Unit One Skatepark in Rochester is the focus to our live segment of our show, so we went along to speak to the owner and do a recce of the location to get an idea of where to film. I took photos of parts of the building that I liked while the rest of the crew asked Kathy, the owner, some questions. It was great to be able to speak to Kathy and ask her about the skatepark as this gave Ebony a better idea of what to write into the script and Kathy also got to know us.  The skatepark had a lot of great spaces and plenty of potential for shooting both the live segments and the package segment. The sound may be a little tricky as the space is quite echo-y and the sound of the skateboards or scooters on the wood is quite loud, but there is a second, smaller room that Kathy said we would be able to shut off for a short while so that we could hold the live interview without interruption and the sound will be a bit quieter.  The lighting is a little h...

This is a summary of decisions we made in our group meeting. To Achieve:  Structure Presenters Destinations Pre-Production Shoot Timetable Branding Structure Rough Structure to the show: Coming Up Introduce package in studio Package Start with GVs and VO PTC with background and graphics GVs Vox Pops PTC wrap up Back into studio Introduce Live Live in front of Skatepark Package with GVs, Success Story? Live Interview Studio Wrap Up. Presenters We need: Studio Presenters x2 Effie Jay Package Presenter x1 Effie Live Presenter x1 Alan Destinations Destinations for the promo: Rochester Castle Maritime Monument Dockside Rochester Bridge Cone Statue Pre Production Who will do what: Scripts/ Shot list - Effie and Ebony Health & Safety - Harvey Call Sheet - Esme Consent Forms - Ebony Shoot Timetable Best days for filming are: Tuesdays for Skatepark Interview Wednesdays and Thursdays for Studio ...