Response to the Brief
Research on various News Package shows
After receiving the brief; to create a ‘back-timed’ news
show, my first thoughts were to start research with the largest news broadcaster
in the world, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation).
The BBC produce around 120hours of radio and television news
output everyday [1], all of which are meticulously researched and planned in
advanced in order to uphold the BBC’s renowned quality service. Their
professional coverage is recognised internationally and subsequently makes a
good start to my research. The BBC has to maintain impartiality in all of its
broadcasts due to the nature of funding
News packages, like all types of broadcast, vary massively
in content, length and style. Different approaches are used to interest and
attract viewers from all different walks of life. We build on forms and
conventions already laid out by established media to create our own unique
packages. Many viewers depend on these forms and conventions to signify the
possible audience for the piece, often letting the viewer know if a particular
programme/package would be of interest to them. The aim is always to attract as
much attention and interest to your story. The success of a package can be
determined by the impact that it makes on a personal and individual level, as
well as the impact it makes on the wider audience.
The most watched news transmissions are those on terrestrial
televisions so, on the basis that the majority of the country is very familiar
with these formats, I decided to look at forms and conventions that BBC and how
other large broadcasters present their news packages. After using an archive
website to back-watch many of the BBC broadcasts, I chose this broadcast from
23rd February to analyse:
The BBC use common themes throughout their shows and
broadcasts to help the audience identify with the programme. It is beneficial
to keep certain aspects of a show constant to create unique identity and
familiarisation with the wide audience. The BBC has constantly continued to
create and adapt their brand identity since its creation. Looking at their
opening title sequence for the 6’oclock news over the past 10 years, there have
been few changes to the content of the opening titles but a lack of change in
the style. Most of the themes are common throughout and the aim of the opening
titles unchanged. This is an example of the how the BBC attempts to keep their
brand consistent throughout the decades.
The opening title sequence/ident is followed by a cut to a
mid-shot of the lead anchor. In this section of the broadcast, the aim of the
programme is to present and summarise the day’s top stories. In this instance
the summary with the lead anchor lasts 40seconds. In this certain back-timed
programme, they summarise 4 stories in this space of time. The top stories are
varied. In order to attract the maximum number of viewers to the show, the
producers make conscious decisions on what they deem to be “top stories”. This
decision is based on many different factors. Audiences are usually divided into
categories based on characteristics. It is common for the primary differential
of audiences to revolve around age; this is the easiest way of analysing an
audience because it is categorical and based on fact. Age is definite variable
that can be measured and quantified. It is useful to divide audiences up into
these categories to understand a viewing population and figures. Other factors
that can be used to divide audiences are gender, race, ethnicity, religion and
location. These are the common audience groups because they can be quantified
and verified in a survey. In relation to demography, it would be difficult to
divide audiences up into categories that cannot have a figure attached to them.
In this instance the producer of the days show has decided to open with stories
that have broad interest that could potentially attract the entire nation. The
topics are international terrorism, education, crime and art. These are
subjects that can have potential interest amongst many demographics and do not
leave parts of the country feeling alienated and excluded. If the producer
decided to use 4 top stories revolving around changes to pension and
healthcare, the audience would clearly be earmarked as 60+, resulting in lost
interest of over 60% of the UK’s population [3]. This would decrease viewing
figures and result in an unsuccessful show. Conscious decisions must be made by
the producer and the BBC in order to attract the maximum number of viewers. Often,
many of the audience can “switch off” if the content of the story bears no
personal relevance to them. This is why it is crucial to choose the right top
stories as viewing figures can decrease if the stories don’t attract the wider
audiences.
A teleprompter is used during this section of the broadcast
to engage with the audience. It is important for the presenter to address the
camera whilst speaking and failure to do so can result in an indirect
broadcast. The teleprompter uses a two-way screen to relay the script directly in
front of the camera. It is important for the presenter to appear to be
“clocking” the audience in order to maintain eye contact between the viewer and
presenter and creates a direct connection/relationship between the studio and
sofas all around the country. It is commonly believed that a presenter that
reads from a paper-prompter can appear disconnected with the audience and may
leave the viewer feeling distanced and disconnected from the broadcaster.
As the anchor reads the top stories, images from the VT are
used to give further understanding to the story. In the BBC, the shots used
here are always relevant to the story. The shots are used to help visualise,
narrate and tell the story whilst the audio mix keeps the presenters speech
dominant. This combination of audio and visual storytelling floods the eyes and
ears, two important human senses that can help create a better picture for the
viewer, keeping them more engaged. Multiple points of information are crucial
in conveying a story.
After the national top stories are shown and introduced, the
show continues with the top sport story at (01:02). Here the camera cuts from
the leading anchor to the sports anchor in a separate part of the studio. The
sport anchor is framed entirely differently from the lead anchor. This is most
likely to give variation to the programme; if every shot on the programme was a
close-up, the viewers could consider the show to be stale and uninteresting.
Today’s media
coverage of sport follows similar structure amongst all news related media. It
is extremely common for the placement of sport and sport-style articles to be
presented at the latter stages of the show. Despite in-depth research I was
unable to discover the origins of sport in news and cannot provide a valid
reason to leaving sports-related stories till the end of the programme.
Speculation might provide a possible answer by arguing that it is the least
important part of the news. Whatever reason you may produce to argue why sport
is last, it is undeniable that the placement of sports at the end of a programme
has become so integrated in today’s media that showing it anytime other than at
the end would be confusing and un-generic. This applies to all varieties of
media; personally I would feel confused if the first 20 pages in a national
newspaper were devoted to sport – showing just how easy it is to become
accustomed to certain forms and conventions of television and news. It would be
interesting to see a popular news programme challenge the current conventions
of sport programming and introduce their programmes with current sport stories.
Challenging conventions can give your company and identity as it conveying
difference and attempting to stand out from the crowd.
After 13 seconds of sport related news, the mix fades into
the BBC ident. This decision is made to continually drill their brand into the
head of the audience using the logos in the ident. It is called an ‘Ident’
because it helps the audience to identify and familiarise themselves with the
programme and the forms and conventions they lay out. During this entire
opening introduction to the news there is an audio track running throughout.
This audio track is loosely based on a human heartbeat. This audio is used to
engage the audience with the programme remind the viewer that the news is
current/up to date and continually promotes the identity of the programme by
using a common theme amongst the many broadcasts each day.
The BBC uses an 11second ident before returning to the
studio. On return the audience is shown the lead anchor standing in front of
the studio set. The camera starts at a wide low-angle shot and uses an
automatic camera crane working with a mechanised system to create the shot. The
camera crane starts at a low-angle wide shot and moves to an eye-line mid shot.
This camera motion, in which the camera moves closer and higher to the anchor,
is used to engage the audience with the anchor. This movement encourages the
audience to pay more attention and suggests that what the presenter is saying
is important. The anchor is placed to the left of the shot, her eyes matched to
the higher 3rd of the shot and a presenting screen is to the right
of the shot. This framing and set-up is used to show the presenter talking
whilst using studio graphics to give a visual impression of the current story.
At this point the “BBC ticker” is faded onto the bottom of the screen. This
ticker is used to update the audience about live stories, show the time and
reinforces the brand identity by using the BBC logo and colours.
As the top story is introduced, the mixer cuts to a live OB
of the journalist behind the story as his name is said verbally (01:56). This
is another example of how the audio and visual are used together to create a
“pacing and leading” type scenario for the viewer. Graphics are used in the top
left of the screen to indicate that this section of the broadcast is live.
After an introduction to the story, the show leads the audience into a VT that
was planned, shot and edited earlier in the day. In total, this story takes up
3min 45 seconds of the programme. In this time, the anchor introduces the
piece, a live OB further introduces the piece, a VT deconstructs and analyses
the story, and the mixer returns to the live broadcast is finally signed off
and sent back to the studio to move onto the next story. The VT follows classic
BBC conventions, intercutting vox-pops with GV’s and interviews of the scene
and surrounding area. The entirety of the VT uses audio, whether it is from an
interview, a vox pop or the journalist voiceover.
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[1]UNSPECIFIED AUTHOR. (2012). BBC NEWS. Available:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_News. Last accessed 1st June 2012.
[2]BBC NEWS. (2010). News at 6. Available:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvr-zUdbX9w. Last accessed 1st June 2012.
[3]John Simonds. (2005). Maturing Workforce. Available:
http://johnsimonds.com/2005/10/19/more-on-maturing-workforce-of-the-population-over-60/.
Last accessed 1st June 2012.
Comment on the Content and Style (VT)
In relation to the content and build of my VT, my aims were
simple. My approach was similar to the way in which journalists approach controversial
news stories. I combined documentary style film making with broadcast news
package making to create an in-depth look at the current job market. Using free
flowing, open, in-depth interview I was able to capture the emotions of my
interviewees whilst steering conversation towards the topic I hoped to cover. I
use the introductory voice-over as an opportunity to set the scene before my
interviews. I talk about what challenges today’s youth face, the changing job
market and discuss a possible explanation for the difficulties. This
introduction compliments the interviews by providing background for audience
members that are potentially unaware of the situation.
I use the first 42seconds of my package to allow the
audience an insight into the conditions these students are facing. Showcasing
their halls of residence, I cover all angles of living in hall-style accommodation.
From bedrooms and kitchens to washing machines and condom dispensers the
audience are given a general view of “life in halls”. I feel that the
introductory section to my VT is successful in presupposing the audience for
the interviews. As the introduction and voiceover come to an end at 42seconds, I
used a clever technique in post to guide the audience. As I am introducing my
first interviewee, Jessica Walton, I use a shot which slowly zooms into the door
handle of her bedroom. This is a clever technique which uses the humans natural
need for chronology by presupposing that we (the audience) are about to enter
Jessica’s bedroom. I used a fade to black transition in this shot to signify
the end of the voiceover and beginning of the interview. This lets the audience
know that the emphasis is changing and can encourage focus and potentially
engage the audience member more.
During the first interview stage of my VT, I introduce both
students working in “socially acceptable” jobs, Jessica and Max respectively.
In post production I decided to use both their introduction sections in
proceeding shots. I did this to give the audience members a chance to
familiarise themselves with the room, the interviewees and the mis-en-scene.
This opportunity allows the audience to “prick up their ears” and the
introductions encourage attention. Cross cutting between these interviews
allowed me to splice the sound bites up and arrange them in a way that conforms
to my story and structure. In relation to my subject matter, both of the
subjects are talking of the injustices they face in their designated places of
work, bar and retail work respectively. This part of my VT allows the audience
to gain perspective on the inequalities of their work, in this instance, legal
means of earning. This section of the VT is informative and provides a
comparison for the latter stages of the package.
Whereas I introduce the “socially accepted” interviewees
together, I decided to stagger the introduction of my “socially rejected” means
of work in an attempt to build the story and introduce new elements slowly. At
2.22, Michael and Kyle are first introduced to the audience. This break in
interview style journalism allows the audience to adjust and settle to the new shooting
location. A few GV’s are running as the voiceover talks about their means of
making money. The voiceover highlights the fact that their “method for funding
university involves breaking the law”. At this point, my aims were to highlight
their illegality whilst also breaking down the stereotypes of drug dealers by
introducing them without prejudice. As they introduce themselves and their
occupational status to camera, I decided to intercut general views of their
home environment, paying particular attention to the un-kept element of their
flat.
With regard to camera focus during Michael and Kyle’s
interview, I consciously decided to shoot slightly out of focus in low lighting
conditions. This decision was jointly made by myself and recommended by my
tutors in order to conceal the identity of the subjects on camera.
Pre-interview, I asked both subjects how they felt about this and neither had
preference due to the nature of the package and the fact that this was a
project; rather than real news broadcast.
In this section of the VT I crosscut between their interview
and Jess’s interview. I decided to do this to give the audience another example
of contrast, allowing them to see the difficulties faced by workers on both
side of the legal spectrum. At this point I feel that the content of the
interviews becomes slightly more serious in an attempt to drive my point forward.
At 3.01, I cut to a sound bite of Sacha’s interview. She
says “It said on the news, a couple of months ago that it’s at the highest rate
of girls stripping and selling themselves to pay for university fees”. I
decided to introduce Sacha’s section of the VT slightly differently to the
other interviewees. In this instance I introduce her and her current job status
using unconventional methods. Her subject and subject matter is made obvious
before she introduces herself. I used this sound bite because I found it to be
particularly “hard hitting” and will make the audience pay attention as the
scene is changed, the subject is changed and the content has changed.
After this sound bite, I introduce Sacha auto-biographically
– rather than using a voiceover like I did with Michael and Kyle. Directly
after her introduction, I contrast her job title and “socially rejected” means
of paying university fees with the other common illegal activity, drug dealing.
This gives an opportunity for the audience to reflect on both sides of the coin
– having seen how Jess and Max feel about their work. Sacha is in focus, well
framed and lying on her bed; some would suggest that this gives connotations of
vulnerability which would help contribute to my subject matter and point. After
some intercutting between interviews, I move the package on towards the final
reflections of the interviews. Jess sums her job up, saying “I hate my job, I
don’t feel I get paid enough” as the VT cuts to Sacha’s final part of the
interview in which she sums up her feeling about stripping and how it effects
her morality and social circumstances. I decided to make her final analysis the
longest shot on the entire VT. I felt that this section of the interview helped
to re-iterate my finding, provided a good generalisation for girls in her
position and hopefully gives the audience an opportunity to listen and absorb
as much information. I think it is important for the final shot to be the
longest in the VT, it is where most attention is paid and feedback on this lets
me know that what I have produced is effective and professional.
