Wednesday 14 June 2017



Part 1

 On Saturday the 3rd of June I watched the BBC Weekend News which started at 9:45 pm on BBC 1. The broadcast covered a variety of things from news on the upcoming election, the Manchester attack from last month, a terrorist attack in Afghanistan and football. They first talked about the election and the policies of both the Conservatives and the Labour party and how their campaigns were going. They then moved on to a section about the terrorist attack that happened a few days before in Afghanistan, they then spoke about the terrorist attack in Manchester and about the upcoming benefit concert. There was then a small part of information about the famous artists Raphael and the new exhibition of his work at the national gallery. They then moved on to the sports segment where another presented discussed recent football games, horse racing and tennis.
 The starting sequence contained small clips and information about some of the topics and events that would be discussed later on in the broadcast. I think that they do this to catch your attention and intrigue you with small bits of information, to make you watch on and see the whole broadcast.

Part 2

 The newsreader was Kate Silverton, 46, she was the main presenter for the first section of the broadcast. She first introduced the news and narrated some footage that was being used to introduce the broadcast, she then went on to explain all the other topics throughout. During this time Silverton spoke to Iain Watson, a political correspondent, during the part of the broadcast focusing on the election. She later introduced the sport section at the end of the broadcast which was presented by John Watson. He spoke about various recent sporting events including football, horse racing and tennis, before Silverton came back to end the broadcast.
 To be a news reader I think that you have to be very confident as a lot of people will be watching you both in the studio and on television, you also have to be able to speak very clearly so that everyone can understand what they are saying easily.

Part 3

 News ordering is a term used to describe the order that the different segments of news are shown in. The order they are shown in depends on the immediacy of a piece of news - whether it has happened recently - or the amplitude of it - whether it is a big event which effects large numbers of people. Most news broadcasts start with a more serious topic and end on a happier note.
 The term for the list of stories that will appear in the broadcast is simply called a story list. It is used to order the news segments by importance and decide which order to show them in.
 The story that is most likely to be shown first is the one that has had the most recent impact on a lot of people, for example, a large event like the election which effects nearly all of England.
 The other stories in the broadcast appeared in a very similar way, although they seemed to be a bit shorter and not quite as detailed.
 The ability to think and act quickly is important in the news as most of the time the broadcasts are live, so you need to know what to say and you can/t stumble. It's also important during interviews, as sometimes they can go slightly off track and the interviewer might have to alter their questions to fit in well.
 A slow news day is a day where not much has happened and there is not much to report on. Each segment is normally longer to stretch out time and the events shown are generally not very interesting or important.
 The final story in a news broadcast is called the 'Kicker' this is normally a more up-beat segment to end the news on a higher note.
 News values are guidelines used in the media to determine how much prominence a news story is given by a media outlet, and the attention it is given by the audience.

 Immediacy - How recently an event has happened. For example, a large devastating event happened later in the day, for it to then be in the news by midnight.
 Familiarity - How culturally close it is to Britain. For example, large important events going on in the U.K.
 Amplitude - The scale of the event and how many people it effects. For example, terrorist attacks that effect a whole city and people from multiple cities.
 Frequency - How often an event happens. For example, sport results from different games everyday, or news on elections that generally happen every four years.
 Unambiguity - How clear and definite it is.
 Predictability - If it was expected that it would happen. For example, sports results with two teams of drastically different skill levels with a clear winner easily predicted.
 Surprise - If it is a rare or unexpected event. For example, random terrorist attacks with no reasoning behind them.
 Continuity - If it has already been defined as news.
Elite nations/people - Whether it is about a large country or a famous celebrity. For example,
 Personalisation - Is it an event that could personally effect certain viewers depending on their views or beliefs.
 Negativity - If the news is positive or negative. For example, news about terrorist attacks are negative news and news about the economy improving is positive news.
 Balance - Ending with a happier story to balance out the bad. For example, showing the more serious news segments at the beginning of the broadcast and then the happier, more positive segments at the end to end on a happier note.

Part 4

Bias through selection and omission
 An editor can express bias by choosing whether or not to use a specific news story. In a story, some details can be ignored or other details can be included to give readers or viewers a different opinion about the events reported and some facts could be used out of context.
 An example of this would be news reports surround the 2017 election. News stations that are particularly bias for a certain party would only tell their viewers the positive points of the party they support and and the negative points of the parties they are against.
Bias through placement / order 
 Where a story is displayed in a newspaper influences what a person thinks about its importance. Stories on the front page of the newspaper are thought to be more important than stories buried in the back. Many television and radio newscasts run stories that draw ratings first and leave the less appealing for later.
 An example of this would be when there are terrorist attacks in England, news about them would be on the front page and take up most of the newspaper, however similar events in different countries, for example the terrorist attack in Afghanistan that happened at a similar time to the London terrorist attacks, would get a much smaller part in the news.
Bias through headlines
 Headlines are the most noticeable part of a news story because they are often printed in large and bold fonts. Headlines can be misleading though, as they sometimes convey excitement when the story is not exciting.
Bias through shot selection and camera angles
 Pictures can make a person look good or bad in the news. Which photos a news producer chooses to run can heavily influence the public's perception of a person or event. 
 An example of this would be a screenshot from a news broadcast of a speech by Donald Trump, where his wife Melania Trump is said to be looking miserable, this is slightly true however it is only one image from the whole broadcast and could be a one-off situation.
Bias through names and captions
 The media often uses labels and titles to describe people, places, or events. A person can be called an "ex-con" which may not be true but it will affect the viewers judgements of the person.
Bias through use of language 
 People can be influenced by the use of positive or negative words in the media. People can also be influenced by the tone that a newscaster uses when saying certain words or phrases.

Friday 19 May 2017

3MW Proposal



 For our documentary, our initial concept would be looking into whether people believe in paranormal phenomenon. We would like to present our piece in the form of an expository and observational documentary. The genre of our documentary would possibly be classed as reality or docudrama.
 Our primary target audience would be people who are interested in the paranormal roughly from ages 15 and up.  Our secondary target audience would be mostly older people or people who have no beliefs at all in the paranormal.

 The aim of our documentary would be to question the existence of various paranormal phenomena. We hope to intrigue our whole audience and make them believe more in the paranormal if they didn’t before.

 We will be filming at a few locations in Norwich including the Adam and Eve Public House, the Maid’s Head Hotel and Elm Hill, as these are popular paranormal sights according to our research. As we live closer to Norwich than our college, it is easier for us to film in these locations as we know more about it. 

 We are planning to film our documentary ourselves, however we will also need someone to voice over our documentary, if needed. We would like to be able to speak to some witnesses if possible, as well.

 Here are some questions that we were thinking about asking people:
-          Do you believe in the paranormal?
-          Have you had any paranormal experiences?
-          Do you believe it is possible to contact any paranormal beings?
-          Do you believe in out-of-body experiences?
-          Do you believe that children and animals are more likely to have a paranormal experience?

 We will need filming equipment, including a camera, tripod, a microphone and a dictaphone. We do not need any props or costumes and the equipment we need is already accessible to us.

 We are not currently sure of the budget for our documentary, however we do not think we will need to buy anything too expensive.

3MW Documentary Research