What Is A Documentary?

'Is TV News A Window Of The World?' Report

Is TV News a Window of the World

Red Dot Questions: Ben's Interview

RED DOT Questions

Final Cut Of Three Minute Wonder: The Red Dot

Production Diary: Three Minute Wonder

22nd Apr 2013...

Today the whole class were put into their groups for the Three Minute Wonder. I was happy to be placed with Ben and Jack as they are two people that I work very well with, especially with media work.

Things Are Going Well...

29th Apr 2013...

Last week our group decided that we are going to do our three minute wonder on Vlogging and how it impacts a certain individual (Ben). Today are group started up our Premier Pro project so that we could import all of our media footage from Ben's YouTube Meet Up in Norwich. We also add our 'RED DOT' title screen so that it is transparent with any footage that is placed behind it. Hopefully by Wednesday we will start filming footage from Ben's house and will hopefully finish filming in that one day.

Project Is On The Way...

30th Apr 2013...
Today Jack was able to add more to the sheet that was given to us by Ellie, which states what we had to do in paperwork for our Three Minute Wonder. Whilst Jack was doing that I continued with my News Essay. Hopefully we are going to be filming tomorrow.

Filming Is Going To Be Good, Canon 650D...

1st May 2013...
Today our group went out filming round Ben's house for our Three Minute Wonder. I believe it went very well as we were able to get all of the footage we needed. The only problem that occur today, was that we didn't have enough memory on the MAC's to transfer the footage over from the Canon.

We Will Try Again Tomorrow...

2nd May 2013...
Today we once again tried to transfer the video footage from the Canon to the MAC. We failed again. However, it is being sorted but in the mean time we have came up with the idea to convert the footage with Media Encoder, Adobe, so that the footage is compressed in size. The footage quality is reduced but not by much that it is noticeable. We also created a 'banner' for the documentary where interviewee's names will be presented at the bottom of the screen. However it is a rough cut so far.

Hopefully We Will Start Editing Tomorrow...

3rd May 2013...
Today were we still unsuccessful in transferring the footage from the Canon to the MAC. It took all lesson to convert and still was not enough space on the MAC. Do hope this doesn't affect editing.

Third Time Lucky!...

7th May 2013...
Today Sean was able to solve the problem of importing our footage over to the MAC. We started our project and were able to cut all of our clips down into sub clips. These sub clips will then be cut down and edited to fit other features of the Documentary.

Thank God For That!...

8th May 2013...
Today we ran into another problem with the MAC. When editing we decided to save the project just in case the file corrupted. However we were too late. So now we have to decide a solution or an alternative to edit all of the footage so that we can reach the deadline for the Three Minute Wonder.

Another Problem!....

9th May 2013...
Yes! Today we finally got all of the problems sorted and we were able to get a lot of editing done and are now back on track. We just need to get some more footage which will not conflict with anything else in our schedule. I think the editing went very well, we were all able to put all of our ideas across and hopefully by the end of it we will have a final Three Minute Wonder that we are all satisfied with.

Thank God!...

10th May 2013...
Today we couldn't really edit anymore until we collected the footage of Ben's mum. However today we were able to create the banners of peoples names that will appear in bottom left of the screen, once finished. Once that was done we decided that I should do the starting sequence and already we have a good design to template from.

All Is Looking Up...

13th May 2013...
Today we focused on getting the title sequence started which was pretty difficult as coming up for an idea that fit the background soundtrack was hard. However we did get it complete as Jack was able to help design the idea. Some of the music used in the starting sequence is copyright but we will credit the person who created the music in the final credits. Hopefully by tomorrow we will finish our first rough cut.

After Effects Is Confusing Sometimes?...

14th May 2013...
Today we were able to get a final rough cut of our Three Minute Wonder on Vlogging. We showed the cut to Ellie and Sean and they both had different ideas for improvements. Some advice was taken and some was not. The credits are only left and by tomorrow, we should have our finished edit.

Getting Really Close...

15th May 2013...
Today we were able to finish our final edit and was able to upload it to YouTube. The final things we had to edit before exporting, was the credits. We experimented with a few things and conclude a ending sequence. I am proud of this piece of work as some aspects of the Three Minute Wonder feels more like my own.

Final Filming Piece Of The Year Complete!...

Production Schedule: Three Minute Wonder

Production Schedule: Three Minute Wonder

Risk Assessment: Three Minute Wonder

Risk Assessment: Three Minute Wonder

Initial Idea: THE RED DOT

Initial Planning - Three Minute Wonder

Synopsis

Our group is going to make a 'Performative Documentary' on a day in the life of a YouTube vlogger. We will set out to find a known vlogging and will organize an interview with him/her, asking questions of what it is like being a vlogger and why he/she sets out to expose their life to the world. Our group will take footage of the vlogger producing a video and the audio track from the interview will play over the footage to connote that the vlogger is speaking what he/she thinks, whilst making their vlog. Being a Performative Documentary, it will consist of a series of cutaways to give the documentary a sense of feel. Some issues may arise from this documentary:

• Legal Issues: YouTube logo may be used.
• Technical Issues: Rushing Graphics and Editing will occur.

The primary target audience for this documentary is people who use YouTube and essentially, Vloggers. The secondary target audience could be media individuals. With the development in technology, most people can access professional equipment and software for a small budget.

Individual Idea For Three Minute Wonder

'Are the types of stereotypes influenced by the music they listen to?' 

This idea involves different types of teenage groups and if the way they dress, they act, and what they do, are influenced by the music they listen to. For example do Goths only listen to Metal Rock?, or do Chavs only listen to Rap?

In would use a series of interviews from different groups of people, and try to diversify groups the best I can. I will look into the history of stereotypes and the history of technology. I will do this to understand when the stereotype business came around, and evaluate how different types of group access their music. This will conclude if stereotypes are influenced by the music they listen to.  

Examples Of Three Minute Wonders

Example One

This 3 Minute Wonder is about a young man called Robert Garza, who has been in prison for 5 years after series of murders. It shows him talking to a interviewer off camera, telling him about the his life on death row and how if affects others. He also talks about the 'Last Supper', which is the last meal a convict eats after he is sentenced to death. It's very powerful in a sense that it the opinion of the death penalty comes from one individual and from what we see, he looks like a normal person until we are told what he did, at the end of the video. It is very clever as this video only uses 7 shots, and are used very effectively.

Example Two

This 3 Minute Wonder is about a women from the Philippines who works as a night cleaner at a train station. This video gives the audience an insight in this individual's life and gives some personal stories. She explains how she would love to get on a train and feel what it is like to be wealthy. This video and what this women says, makes the audience feel sympathetic for her and is supported by slow music and close ups of the individual.   

News Values And Sources (BBC News At Six Feb 2010)

Part One


Part Two



Part Three

Stories From Start To End

In this blog post I will be explaining the different types of News Values that are used in each story and will be identifying its source. The values and sources can differ from each story and have a clever way of getting the most out each event.

Part One

In Part One of the news programme, they have used a lot of 'Compositions' where the pattern of national, international  and national, is used. However this isn't true all the way through the programme. There is also signs of Negative, Positive, Negative, within the programme.

As you can see from Part One, they have used a story about a car bomb going off in Northern Ireland. This story is national due to it happening in the UK, and has evidence of 'Frequency' (story happened the night before the programme), 'Meaningfulness' (could affect local people in Northern Ireland), 'Personalisation' (locals tell their story and more information is given by another reporter), and there are also evidence of 'Negativity' (car bomb is not positive, people nearly killed). There is also signs of 'Visuality', where footage of the scene is shown on the programme (car on fire after bomb). Signs of 'Continuity' can be seen in this story as similar occurrences have been seen in the past. I think they have chosen this story to start off the programme because it has a lot of News Values in it and it is also eye catching and draws the audience in as it is a local story and is quite negative. Negative stories and mostly the ones that catch people's eye. I believe that the source for these stories were the Police (the news reader speaks about the police and an interview by the police is given), Members of the Public (interviews from locals are given), Blogs and Social Media (footage from other video sources are shown), and the Government (Downing Street is mentioned).

The next story seems to be more of a positive story and is national, as it is set in the UK. This story contains values of 'Meaningfulness' (is relevant to local people in England). The story is fairly straight forward as it uses figures like "19 successful groups". This is called 'Unambiguity'. This story also has evidence of 'Personalisation' as information is given by people involved in the story. Parts of international information is given which gives evidence of some 'Composition'. I think this story was added next to the Northern Ireland bomb attack because the school story was a positive story and again, it was local and can affect local people within the area of England and the UK. I think that the sources for this story are the Government (Government set up this school event), Blogs and Social Media (story has been going on for sometime and has been talked about for a while), and Members of the Public (interviews by local people are given).

The last two stories of Pat One, are more serious but are not as dramatic as the car bomb in Northern Ireland. These last two stories reveal some news values. In the armed robbery story there are signs of 'Continuity' (the man accused of armed robbery was a past story and is now being developed), and the story of about terrorist film has values of 'Unexpectedness' (footage of people dressed as terrorist filming in public can be seen as unusual). In both stories there are signs of 'Visuality' as footage of the stories are shown. Also these stories seem to have some 'Composition' to them, as the previous story was positive and is now moving over to serious. I believe these stories were added to fill in time for the show, as hardly any further information was given. I think that the sources for the armed robbery story are courts (information about the armed robber going to court is very detailed), and Police (armed robber was caught and police must have given a statement). I believe that the sources for the terrorist film are Blogs and Social Media (footage of the film is shown by another video source), and Courts (as the film was shown to crown court and a statement was given).

Part Two

The next story that is presented in Part Two of the BBC News programme, is another serious story and is about a murder of a man in Luton. This story has the news values of 'Threshold' (story is big as it involves a man being torture over 10 years and then murdered), 'Unambiguity' (straight forward figures are given), 'Continuity' (the body was found last may 2009), 'Personalisation' (more information is given by another reporter and a personal statement was given), 'Negativity' (bad news of a death and torture), and 'Visuality' (footage of the house where the man was murdered was shown). This story seems to go in a lot of detail and again is local in the UK. I think it was added because it can relate to a lot of local people in Luton. I believe that the sources for this story are Courts (news reader states the "jury has been hearing.."), Police (prosecution was given), and Other News Media (an early event occurred and was probably reported by other News Programmes).

The next story about Cheryl Cole is a bit more positive in contrast to the previous story given. It shows values of 'Frequency' (quote used "This Morning", shows the story is frequently new), 'Meaningfulness' (can target the entertainment audience), 'Continuity' (similar stories of Cheryl have been in the news), 'Elite Person' (Cheryl is well know across the world), 'Personalisation' (story is explained more by an Entertainment Corespondent), and 'Visuality' (footage of Cheryl in the airport). I think this was added because, as said before, it targets the entertainment audience. I believe that the sources for this story are Prominent People ("Cheryl Cole states..."), Airports (footage of her leaving the airport is shown), Blogs and Social Media (story has been going on for a while and has been profiled everywhere), and information is given by a Entertainment Corespondent.

Before the programme goes onto the next story, it summaries some stories already told and what will be coming up later in the show. Some stories like the Car Bomb in Northern Ireland and the Cheryl Cole split from Ashley, is said to be developed further through the programme.

After the summary, the next story given is about Toyota failing to deal with their safety issues on their vehicles, which has lead to some serious consequences like death. This story is serious in sense that it has caused death. It holds news values of 'Unambiguity' (gives figures of how many cars were recalled), 'Continuity' (accidents linked to the safety issues are shown), 'Personalisation' (statements are given by locals and more information is given by another reporter), 'Negativity' (people have died), 'Visuality' (footage of crashes of Toyota vehicles are shown), and 'Meaningfulness' (relates to everyone who owns a Toyota vehicle). I think that because of the high population of Toyota owners, it is the main reason for this story being in this news programme. Also signs of 'Composition' can be seen as the previous stories are somewhat national only, whereas this one is national and international. I believe that the sources for this story are Companies ("Toyota has admitted.."), Diary Events ("in congress today.."), and Members of the Public (interviews from locals are given).

The next story is about a young girl murdering an old women. This story is only about 10 seconds long and does not explain  a lot in detail. I think this is because there have been so many negative stories and by explaining another one would put-off some of the audience. However the short story has some values. These are 'Unexpectedness' (teenager kills over cigarette), and 'Unambiguity' (figures are given by the news reader). This story and the next two are part of a 'Composition' of short stories. I think that the sources for this story are Police (girl was arrested and a statement was probably given), and the Court (information about how long the young girl will spend in jail is given by the court).

The next story given is a lot less negative but still serious. It is again another short story and has news values of 'Frequency' (not a big story, so must be recent). I believe that the source of this story is Companies (BBC investigation was carried out).

The next story is again short and is has a news value of 'Frequency' (not a big story, so must be recent), and 'Meaningfulness' (relates to the football audience). I think that the only source of this story is Companies (owner of football club gave a comment about the administration of the club).

The last story of Part Two goes through the end of Part Two and continues in Part Three. The story talks about UK banks lending more money and links it to the British economy. It holds news values of 'Unambiguity' (figures of what the banks are giving out is shown), 'Meaningfulness' (can target an audience that is into politics or who relate to the story), 'Personalisation' (more information and personal opinion is given by another individual), 'Frequency' (recent story which has grew in England), and 'Visuality' (footage of from CGI to real footage is shown). I think this story was added because it is local, as it is in the UK, and targets a wide audience (people who use banks and people who are into politics). I believe that the sources of this story are Government ("liberal democrats say..."), information from a Corespondent is given, Prominent People (information by one member of the Liberal Democrats is given), and Companies (banks say how much they will lend).

Part Three

The next story in Part three is about 3 plane spotters from India, who might face imprisonment. It contains News Values of 'Meaningfulness' (can relate to other plane spotters), 'Continuity' (other cases of plane spotting have occurred in the past and is shown), 'Personalisation' (a comment is given by a plane spotter), and 'Visuality' (footage of plane spotting cases have been shown). Some facts were given as well but don't fit into the News Values. I think this story was added because it can relate to a lot of people around the world who plane spot. Also it seems to be an international problem, which links to the value of 'Meaningfulness'. I believe that the sources for this story are Police (men admitted to the police, which must of then leaked to other reporters), Airport (men were staying in the Deli Airport in India), Members of the Public (information is given by relates of the people arrested and by other plane spotters), and Courts (court has told the two people to stay in India).

The next story is about sculptures, that were created by Henry Moore, that have been seen in public all around the UK, but some are not where they are meant to be. It contains News Values of 'Meaningfulness' (can relate to people who like Henry Moore and art), 'Continuity' (thefts about Henry Moore's work were shown), 'Elite Person' (Henry Moore was a well known artist), 'Personalisation' (comments from fans of Henry Moore are given), and 'Visuality' (archive footage and footage of Henry Moore's work is shown). I believe this story was added as it was a bit up lifting from the last story and has a lot of News Values and would appeal to a big target audience (Henry Moore fans). I think that the sources of this story are Members of the Public (comments by locals are given), Council (piece of art removed because of safety fears), Police (theft and vandalism have been reported, footage was also shown), and Blogs and Other Social Media (Henry Moore's art is well known, so research on the internet was probably carried out).

The final story of this BBC news programme is about a dog from Afghanistan receiving a military honor for sniffing out IED's. This story is short and contains News Values of 'Frequency' (event will happen the next day, after this BBC programme), 'Meaningfulness' (appeals to people attending the Ceremony for the military honor), 'Unexpectedness' (dog receiving a medal is not seen in everyday life), and 'Visuality' (footage of the dog is shown to the audience). I think this story was added because it was positive, and was a good way to end the programme. After the dog story, the weather and a quick summary on previous stories are shown. I believe that the sources for this story are the Army (dog is linked to the army, so information was probably gathered by them), and Diary Events (Ceremony for the medal is announced).

So to conclude there are a lot of news values in each story. I think in most of the stories through this BBC News Programme there have seen some evidence of 'Compositions'. This is because some stories go from negative to positive to negative, or either go international to national to international. This was done to give the audience a wide variety of news from all around the world. Also there are different types of sources in each story but in at least every story there is a reporter gathering information along side with other sources.

News Programme Example (BBC 21st Century)

Connotations Of The Title Sequence

As you can see from looking at the start of this video of the BBC World News, the title sequence involves a lot of features that connote different things. One feature could be the montage of news stories. Now this part of the sequence ties well with other features of the starting sequence. For example the timer in the right hand corner, is linked to the montage of stories. It connotes that these stories (that are also from different parts of the world) may be shown in that particular news programme. 

Also the timer is linked to the music. The music has a 'heartbeat' like sound to it which gives the starting sequence a build-up feel, which can entice or excite the audience. Also with the footage of stories attached to the music, it also draws in the audience to the TV screen.

Another feature is the rush of red 'graphics' that fly from different parts of the world and different landmarks and end up at the BBC Radio Center. This connotes that news stories are collected from all around the world and are sent like the 'speed of light' to the BBC Radio Center, to be presented to the audience. Another feature that links with this is that some of the countries that the graphics run through, are at different times of the day. This connotes that the News is being shown to different parts of the world at different time zones.

Another feature that occurs in this starting sequence is the fact the audience can see behind the camera. For example in the montage of stories, the audience sees the story being filmed. This shows some authenticity in the programme as nothing is shown to be tampered with. This shows that the programme isn't impartial.

Phallic Symbols are also shown in the starting sequence. This is done to show dominance of the programme. In the past it was shown to promote dominance of men but this has changed over the past few years. This picture on the left is an example of a Phallic Symbol.

The last thing I could possibly talk about in this starting sequence is the end of the sequence. As you can see from the picture on the right, there is some CGI of a transparent globe and some rushing graphics. The audience also sees the BBC NEWS logo to show what the programme is. This part of the sequence connotes that the world news is like looking through a window as all can be seen and that the stories haven't changed in any way.

Connotations Of The News Reader

This part of the blog will be on the News Reader its self, focusing on how they act, how they talk, what they say etc. Other elements of the News Reader will also be discussed in this part of the post. At the start of the programme, after the starting sequence, the news reader gives a short summary of what will be in the news and then introduces herself and the programme.

She uses a form of Standard English (which is dialect), and also uses received pronunciation. This is done so that one, the person talking can be heard clearly, and two, that the reader does not connote much of their region. This is seen as being 'Neutral'. She also uses no facial expressions when she is presenting a story. This shows that the reader is not showing any kind of personal opinion or comment.

Another feature that can be noticed in this news programme, is the fact she is already sitting in her chair after the summary of stories have ended. This connotes that she is ready to give the stories straight away to the audience, which shows urgency. Also if they are sitting on a big desk, like this women is, it shows a form importance.

Also another important thing to point out is the fact that this is a female news reader. This is because male news readers are normally shown to be wise and are normally quite old. Whereas women show more of a physical attraction. Also the way they dress could tie with the gender. As you can see from the picture, the women is dressed very formally to connote that she is serious and that she wants to give the audience serious news.

Towards the end of the programme the women seems to crack a small smile, which connotes a friendly farewell to the programme. She does this by announcing her name again, and announcing what programme the audience is watching. This adds to the formal character of the news reader, as she is essentially talking to the audience (just like a normal, formal conversation). The programme then ends with the same rushing graphics and the same 'heart beating' music.

Mise-En-Scene

When talking about the Mise-En-Scene, it can vary from different news programmes, as some can be serious, and some can be less formal and a bit more friendly. However, in this case, this BBC news programme, seems to be closer the formal theme. This is shown by the laptop on the clear, lit up, white desk. This connotes she may have formal work on that laptop. The screen behind with simple text also adds to the formal theme.