Construction

Construction for News broadcast by Hasan Ahmed

Construction of scripts from Hasan Ahmed

Title sequence draft 1:

This was the title sequence that me and rob first created. We conducted a presentation in class and played it to our fellow class mates and teachers. Whilst in the process of watching our title sequence, they pointed out all the positives and negatives of what we had created. The key advantage behind acquiring feedback from our fellow class mates was that they were in the same age bracket as our target audience. Once we received the feedback from our class mates It was our job to ensure that we amend what had been suggested and pointed out. Our class mates liked what we had created, however they felt the concept was too basic. They also didn’t agree with the colours which we had selected. Taking all of this into account, we made the necessary changes. Here is our feedback from our class mates.

From the feedback that I received from my peers I made a clear change to the concept of my target audience and the way that it runs. I then had the opportunity to present this title sequence to Miriam O Riley.

I was able to not only show Miriam my title sequence but I was also able to show her the concept of my whole news broadcast idea and the theories which I had specifically used for my different stories. Here is the presentation which I gave to Miriam.

From the clip below, you will be able to see how Miriam has picked out key positives and negatives from my tittle sequence.

This here is our final title sequence. We replaced several moving and still images as per request of Miriam as she explained how they did not assist us in targeting our audience. We changed the logo in our title sequence as well as she mentioned how the Bull only pertained to those who lived in Birmingham and excluded everyone else from around the West Midlands. Furthermore, we made sure that the shots were fast passed as we were conducting evening news which therefore meant the matters which were going to be discussed are more serious. 

Main news story board plan

Before going into the studio I created a story board based solely on mine and Rob’s hard and soft news story. It was imperative that I planned this out as this would prevent us from turning up on the day and being unaware of what shots to record and how to record them. As evident below, I started off by making a rough draft on the different shots that we would take in the different scenes. The in the second and final draft of the story board; I went into more detail and spoke about why I made the decisions that I did and how these were developed from existing codes and conventions. The main news story board clearly displays how we will start with Rob (the anchor) in the studio at a mid shot with a backdrop of the West Midlands behind him. This will ensure that we are able to relate to the selected target audience. Rob will merely outline the headlines of the evening and give the readers insight as to what is to come. While he is introducing the headlines; a non diegetic jingle of our news broadcast will be playing in the background. This jingle is then continued into the next shot as Rob concludes the headlines as the title sequence is then played. This repeated jingle portrays our continuity throughout our broadcast and adds to the brand identity that we are creating. Rob then talks about the hard news story and provides the audience with context as to what is going on. The shot is then cut to the field correspondent who is conducting a vox pop with a member of the public to gain their insight. The shot is then cut back to the studio where Rob then introduces an interview with DCI Grant to acquire advice from the experts. After the interview is finished; the shot is then cut back to Rob. The continuous shot cutting back to Rob allows us to create a relationship between the anchor and audience. Rob then introduces the soft news story about Lukas the child prodigy and the shot is then cut to the field correspondent interviewing him.

On the story board I have listed the different angles of shots that we will be taking on the day of filming and the editing that I will be conducting in Corel in order to appeal to my target audience. This will also ensure that my final production possesses a sense of professionalism.

This is our Weather script first draft was written in my book. We drafted out what we planned the anchor to say. As evident from the writing below the draft is cluttered and not professional. 

We then took it upon ourselves to type up the written draft into Microsoft word.

We then printed this out and handed it to our teacher who analysed and gave us corrections which we need to amend in order to ensure that we are meeting the needs of the target audience. Situated below is an image of the weather script which we completed and printed out with the teacher’s comments.

We then amended the corrections given to us by our teacher and typed up a new final draft of the script in word. We analysed our own work and spoke about why we made the decisions that we did and how this was going to enable us to target and meet the needs of the user.

We again printed out our script with all the amendments made and then handed it to the anchor who in this case was Patricia. The reason we selected Patricia to be our weather anchor was because it would create diversity within our news production as we didn’t just want to have a male anchor throughout. Also, when we looked at existing news broadcasts, 80% of times on the evening news, there was a female who presented the weather. This is one of the ways in which we have developed the existing codes and conventions of TV news. On the script I have highlighted and underlined certain sentences as this is where I would like Patricia to make hand movements. Later on in Corel I will import visual effects of weather animations to portray a sense of professionalism.        

This is the final script which we used in our final news production.

Weather Report Practice:

Now that I had our final news script. We thought it would be best if we record me going through the script. The purpose of doing this was to see how good it reads and whether it achieves its purpose. Gathered around me were my peers and students who were writing down feedback which they felt I could improve on and the things which I did well. Although it is already agreed that I am not going to be the weather anchor on the actual filming day, I can still use this opportunity to point out any errors which I wouldn’t have been able to do before without presenting it to other members. I took two takes as I have posted them both below.

This the first take where I made an error with my grammar when reading the script. I was then instructed to start again my teacher. This is important to note as usually if this was a live broadcast I would have had to memorised the script and perfected this and wouldn’t be able to make a mistake like this.

Here is my final practice for my weather report.

Feedback:

After presenting my weather report I was given feedback on the things that I did well and how I could possibly improve. One of the positive points noted was that I had range of good weather terms. It is imperative that my audience is able to recognise this as they will then be able to relate my broadcast to existing broadcasts which will portray a sense of professionalism. Furthermore, it was also noted how everything was presented chronologically which is a way in which I have developed the codes and conventions of existing TV news as the BBC news report everything day by day which is also what I have done. I have incorporated this concept into my weather in order to meet the needs of the target audience. The negative feedback which I received were all to do with my presentation skills and none of it was to do with the content of my actual weather script. This is good news for me as I will not actually be presenting the news so It will not affect me. However, I could take into advice these presentation skills when I’m conducting vox pops with the members of the public. 

Weather report Story Board:

This is my first draft of my weather news story board. This Is not completed and it is unclear what is going on.

This is a story board of our weather news report. For this component we are planning on starting off with Patricia standing in front of our logo to portray that sense of conformity and brand identity as it will be presented throughout all of our productions. The shot will then fade to a backdrop of the conventional weather screen of the different locations around West Midlands. The anchor will continue to present the news as I will later include effects of the weather icons in Corel. I will ensure to use clear icons to represent the weather and to also make sure they appear on the screen when the anchor talks about that specific weather. It’s important that I do this in order to present the weather clearly to my target audience. From my research it’s evident that my audience will be of mixed ethnicities some of whom will not be fluent in the English language so by including these weather icons I will be able to meet the needs of the target audience.

Existing weather report analysis:

This is my analysis of an existing news weather forecast. There are key features which I learnt from this, one of which being to always keep a direct mode of address with the camera. I applied this with my final weather broadcast as I ensured that Patricia was constantly making contact with the lens as well as reading the script. I also learnt that it is key to make hand movements with the effects on screen which would be later imported. I also applied this to my work when creating my weather forecast as you can see Patricia makes relevant hand gestures throughout when necessary. Consequently, the dress code was a factor to take note of as ‘Shafali’ (the anchor in the existing news broadcast) is wearing smart clothes and nothing that may be considered as too revealing. I further reinforced this concept within my news forecast as I ensured Patricia’s costume was not revealing; but rather sophisticated and smart. Finally, in the existing news analysis ‘Shafali’ uses colloquial dialect to communicate with the reader as this spites interest. I also applied this as in the final few sentences of the weather forecast Patricia says ‘all in all, it’s not a bad one to take an autumn stroll’. The conversational register here elicits engagement with the audience.

Constructing the weather forecast:                  

To film and capture our weather forecast we used a variety of props. Whilst looking at existing weather forecasts they all utilised a green screen. A green screen ultimately is a Chroma key and is a way in which you can change the background image to whatever you please. Usually, the colour blue is used when replacing backgrounds; however, we were only in possession of a green screen. Existing news broadcasts used a green screen in order to effectively present the weather which is why I applied this in my work by also using a green screen. This allowed me to later on in Corel edit and add moving effects which in turn would assist the viewer in understanding the weather better. Additionally, to remove the existing background, it has to be entirely different in terms of colour in accordance to the rest of the images in the scene. If any of the images are similar in colour; it could ruin the whole effect of changing backgrounds.

However, a negative aspect of utilising the green screen was that when Patricia (our weather anchor) was reading out her script and presenting the forecast, she had to use a lot of imagination as there was no image behind her except a blank green screen. She had to ensure that she made hand gestures in the appropriate places where I later went into Corel and inserted visual effects. Again, when looking at existing news forecasts, it came to my attention that they applied the rule of thirds. As I was developing the existing conventions of TV news I decided to also applied this to my weather forecast as we had Patricia positioned on the left hand side of the screen with a map of the west midlands on the right/centre.

This is the map which we used on our final news forecast. The reason why we chose this background map for our forecast was because when looking at existing news forecasts it was apparent that they used maps which were local to their audience in order to meet the needs of their users. We also applied this by using a map which allowed us to target our audience directly. The only issue that we faced was that we felt it didn’t match the colours that we had used throughout of our broadcast. So we therefore imported the image into Corel and then edited it and included our brand colour. This enabled us to portray brand identity and continuity.

This is our final news map with our incorporated colour of Gold.

As our weather script spoke on a variety of different weathers we ensured we had all the relevant symbols showing on the screen. This idea of adding the visual affect was acquired by our knowledge of existing television news forecasts. Hence why I have applied it in my work my making sure they coincide when Patricia makes her hand gestures to the different locations of the different temperatures.

We further analysed existing news forecasts and throughout them all they all used a bottom side strip which displayed the day and the degrees in Celsius. We then applied this to our news forecast and included a bottom strip which again followed the colours of our news forecast to reinforce the idea of brand identity and continuity. By including this bottom strip we were able to effectively target the audience and also make it clear to them the different weather of the different days.

Final news weather forecast goes here:

Soft news

This is my first draft for my soft news story as evident it is very short and there are a lot of grammatical errors. This is incomplete as we had rant out of ideas as to how we could further expand the ideas we had come up with.

This was my second draft of my script. On this script we have highly annotated and made a lot of altercations than in comparison to the first one. Additionally, for my soft news I applied Levi Strauss’ Binary Opposition theory. With this story I focused on an excelling student from Archbishopilsley, who has discovered a new prime number, and the impact this has had on the individual and the people around him. As previously Archbishop Ilsley was failing according to an Ofsted report and now thy are exceling.  It was important that I applied this to my script as this would then allow me to target and meet the needs of my specified audience.

This piece was initially never supposed to be a part of the script. However, after our teacher watched our broadcast, she mentioned how our final news story did not make a link to Levi Straus’s binary opposition theory which I had spoke about. Therefore, I created this script where I mentioned a direct link to how the old school is making way for a new start. By applying this theory to my work it creates a sense of continuity as the rest of my stories follow a narrative theory. I then went back out and recorded filler shots of the school as I was going to voice over these and read this script. When doing this I ensured that what I was saying linked in to what was going to follow from where I had cut the shot. As before the soft news story started with ‘Is this the future…’ however now it will be ending with ‘one of the highest achieving students in the country’. So I reinforced the concept of professionalism by making sure the both of these two linked as this has been done previously on existing news where they have cut and edited shots.

Here is one of the filler shots which I took after being told that my theory wasn’t clear.

This is a draft of my soft news story; story board. There has been no real effort put into this as this was jus an outline as to what I was going to do.

This is my final news story; story board. Here I drew out exactly how I wanted it to pan out. I started off with a mid shot of Rob in the studio as this is where he introduces the story. In the story board you are able to see Rob in the studio in his suit as I am continually portraying that sense of professionalism. There is also a backdrop of the West Midlands in all of the studio shots. By doing this I have represented the concept of continuity throughout my TV news production. Rob then signs off to me where you can see a mid-shot of Lukas behind a computer screen. In the notes box I have noted how there will diegetic sound of me speaking and talking about what he has achieved and what he looks to achieve. Furthermore, I have taken into consideration mise en scene and applied it here as the soft news story is maths related and the idea of him being in a class room behind a computer further reinforces this idea. The there will be a vox pop with Lukas from a side angle where I will attain his opinions and his views of how he feels he is doing in terms of being the next mathematician. Then I have written on the story board how I sign off the broadcast and the shot is crossfaded and cut back to Rob who is in the studio.

This is my final soft news story script. 

In early 2014 the school saw itself undergo major altercations after receiving an Ofsted rating of just 3. It was noted by Ofsted how the school required serious improvement.

But now, after years have passed, the old Archbishop Ilsley is making way for a new start.

The school now finds itself with one of the highest achieving pupils in the country. 

Is this the future of mathematical research? At 17, Lukas has discovered a new prime number. Hours of after school studying and dedication Lukas has managed to not only come up with not only a new prime number, but also a method in which prime numbers can be acquired. This has now been names as the Lukas Method.

Lukas has big plans for his summer as he hopes to be the first member of Archbishop Ilsley to enter the UKMT and win.

Vox pop with Lukas:

That’s all from me, back to Rob in the studio. 

This here is my first draft for my Hard news story. This first draft was conducted and done in written up in word. Through reading the script you will be able to realise how it is not organised and how there is elements which do not make sense. In this script it was noted how I was going to be speaking and making a statement about how there is a risk safety in the city centre. The purposed behind doing this was to gain a relationship with the audience as I will be using direct mode of address and this will be the first time that I am seen on the broadcast. Rob also introduces me on a first name basis to further enable me to create a relationship with the audience. However, this is changed in the next draft of the script. 

This Is our second and final draft to our main news story. This time; after we had typed up and made edits to the previous original draft; we decided to print it off. After making the edits we decided that we were no longer going to include myself in the news broadcast as there was no need for the audience to make a relationship with myself as one was already being created with Rob and by introducing me, this would confuse the audience. We instead replaced the space where I was going to be speaking with vox pops which I conduced of the local members of the public who had been affected from the attacks in Paris. Furthermore, before recording and using this script as the final version; major improvements were made by Rob as he felt it wasn’t coherent enough. As you can see he made adjustments to what was been said to suit how he would prefer to present the main news story. This concept of changing the text to suit the presenter was incorporated from our vist to the BBC in the Mail box where ‘Nick Owens’ informed us that sometimes if he feels the script needs slight editing he will seek permission and make the necessary changes. This is what Rob done here as well as he asked me first. There is still a sign off to me in this script as I wasn’t completely removed from the broadcast. 

This is my hard news storyboard. This is my first draft and as you can tell it is cluttered and also unclear in terms of what is going on. The images are not sketched out properly and there is no real plot to it all. 

This is my final story board for my hard news story. To start off, Rob will introduce the news. Then there will be a cut to where our title sequence will play. This will enable us to portray our brand identity through our logo. Rob is dressed in the conventional suit which Is what we learnt when looking at existing news broadcasts so we applied it in our TV news by making Rob wears a suit. This promoted that sense of formality and professionalism to the audience. This also portrayed that our news broadcast was a trustworthy place to gain information as we followed the existing codes and conventions. There is then a cut shot to DCI grant who is interviewed and questioned about the safety surround the West Midlands and what the police is doing in order to battle the safety risks. Although this scene is a long shot here, in our final production we felt that it would be better for us to use a mid shot to keep the focus situated on what was being said as it was imperative and affected all those who were watching and we didn’t want any distractions. On the story board, Rob signs off to me where I am on location and conduct vox pops with a member of the public who is in a van and with Gemma. I acquire both their insights on how they feel on the situation. This is again changed in our final production as we switch around the cuts between DCI grant and the vox pops as the vox pops come first. Finally, there is a sign off back to the studio where Rob continues to present the news.

The theory we used for our hard news story was Barthes’ enigma theory. Barthes said that the narrative is about asking questions that the audience will need the answers to, leaving them on a cliff hanger. Our hard news story consisted of a question regarding terror, and whether our safety within the West Midlands was at risk. The reason behind this question was solely to attract the attention of the audience. Our target audience is individuals aged 18+. As I will be broadcasting at a peak time, a variety of races and ethnicities will be watching the programme. The question will be presented, then as the broadcast comes to an end, the question will be left on a cliff hanger. The question will be indirectly answered through all the vox pops and interviews. However, there will be no direct answer regarding the question. I learnt this concept from my research and planning into the different theorists and their theories; I then applied this to our news broadcast as I knew it will leave the audience wanting to know the answer. This in turn will keep them hooked and they will tune in next time to find out the answer. This is how we have kept the attention of our target audience. Additionally, it can also be said that we utilised Todorov’s narrative theory as well. As Todorov stated; we have displayed all five stages within our news production. The first stage being the state of equilibrium which is where everything was normal; this was before the Paris attacks where there were no safety risks within the West Midlands. The second stage was a disruption due to a causation of an event; this was the effect of the Paris attacks which lead to the safety risks all around Europe including the West Midlands. The third stage is recognition which we also displayed by conducting vox pops with the members of the public and asking them how they felt and how it had affected them. The fourth step is looking to fix the damage done by the disruption; we also did this by acquiring expert advice from DCI Grant who told us the polices next line of action to ensure safety within the West Midlands. Finally, the last step is bringing everything back to the first step of everything before the disruption; we did this indirectly through all of the vox pops and the interviews with the members of the public and members of the police as it was made clear that even though things ain’t going to be the same; the public must continue with their daily lives. 

Ancillary Task 2

         

This was my first draft for my radio ad which we agreed that Rob would be speaking over. As you can see it was just a brief draft and it wasn’t clear as to what exactly was going to be said and in what tone it was going to be said.

This is my final draft for our Radio Ad. This draft also includes the script which Rob read off. As you can see we drafted that we would have our logo in the background as when we looked at existing radio ads this was a common convention. Therefore, we applied this to our ad in order to portray to our target audience a sense of professionalism. We used a jingle in the background throughout our radio ad to elicit continuity and brand identity throughout our news production. Using the voice recorder; Rob read out the script and made emphasis on his tone when speaking about the hard news story as it was a serious matter. This intensified the importance of what was being said to the audience. Furthermore, when speaking about the soft news story, Rob dropped the tone of his voice and adapted a friendly register in order to put across the story of Lukas discovering a new prime number effectively. We decided to intensify the tone of our voice as when analysing an existing radio ad; this was one of the key features which we highlighted that was done in order to meet the needs of the specified target audience. We therefore applied this in our work in order to also meet the needs of our target audience. We created our radio ad using Corel the video editing software. We imported the audio recording from the voice recorder and placed it over the image of our logo. We then stretched the logo to match the length of the voice recording. Then, we imported our jingle and inserted another audio layer and placed inside of the designated area. We decided to add an audio cross fade to the jingle so it fades in slowly giving Rob time to slowly introduce the news and explain the stories. The sound of the jingle was lowered considerably in order to allow the audience to hear what Rob was saying. 

This is our final radio Ad.

Filming day Evidence

In both of the images below you can see how we are in preparation of producing our news broadcast with everything set up around us. At the current moment when this image was taken we were preparing and sliding down the script on the laptop for Rob to read his script off. When we were analysing the existing codes and conventions of news broadcasts it was mentioned how there is high tech equipment used where the presenter is able to read a script by looking directly into the lens of the camera as the image is reflected. However, as we did not have enough money to buy this expensive equipment; we improvised and still applied this to our work by placing Patricia’s laptop with the script on; on top of a table and then elevated the laptop as high as we could so it would be placed just below the camera so the audience would assume that Rob is reading off by heart and looking directly into the lens. This would in turn portray a sense of professionalism to my target audience. Moreover, you can also view how there is a white backdrop around the studio with a television with the night shot of the West Midlands. This was all done intentionally as we considered the Mise en scene that would be portrayed across to the audience. The camera is situated right in the centre of this all so that we can capture a mid-shot of the studio and of Rob and the back drop of the TV and nothing else. We did this as when we looked at existing news broadcasts it was common for the production team to stay within a mid shot to keep the audience engaged and focused on what was being said as the story was of high importance. I further developed this convention and also applied this in my news broadcast as our first story is in relation to the Parris attacks and how it has affected the rest of Europe so by utilising a mid-shot it will fixate the attention on Rob and what he is saying and will limit the audience from getting distracted by the things surrounding him. When we went to the BBC studio where the news is filmed and captured, we were informed of all the lighting which was used in order to record a successful news broadcast as quality was key. We then were able to apply what we had learnt as the school provided us with 4 soft boxes which enabled us to create our own artificial low and high key source of lighting. This further enabled us to promote our news broadcast with a sense of professionalism. However, as we were evening news, we did not decide to utilise all four soft boxes as were attempting to recreate a serious mood to reflect the stories which we were presenting.

This is just one of the camera angles which we utilised when recording our news broadcast. We did not use this in our final piece as this was not common amongst the existing news broadcasts which I had looked at so I didn’t want to challenge these conventions. 

Editing:

Once we finished capturing all the still and moving images that we needed we uploaded all the files to the computer and then imported all the clips into Corel where we began our editing process. Rob and I worked together by incorporating ideas of existing news broadcasts into our own TV news in order create a sense of originality whilst also sticking to the conventional codes and conventions of TV news. When in the process of editing our news broadcast we made sure that we kept in mind that we had to meet the needs of the target audience as after all this was who we were producing it for. One of the simple ways in which we were able to target our selected audience through editing was by editing the various clips in our main title sequence to include the names of the different locations around the West Midlands. This linked back to Galtung’s and Ruge’s news values of proximity as what we were producing was local to our audience and would affect them; this kept the audience engaged and allowed them to relate to the stories being told.

These are screenshots from Corel where I speak about what we did and how we constructed our final news broadcast. 

To begin our news broadcast we started off by importing our logo which consisted of the main colours black and gold. This allowed us to demonstrate continuity throughout our news broadcast as this logo is pasted throughout the broadcast in the corner of production. When looking at existing news broadcasts such as the BBC news they also had an introduction like this where they showed there logo playing on top of their recognisable jingle to elicit a sense of familiarisation amongst the target audience. With knowledge of this; we also applied this to our news broadcast as we in the bottom clip bin inserted an audio file of our jingle which played when our news broadcast started. This would enable the audience to automatically associate that familiar jingle with our logo and vice versa.

 Next, we go onto Rob who introduces tonight's headlines. As he says this, a name super and ticker Is cross faded onto the screen which consists of the writing ‘tonight's headlines’ and his name at the bottom left of the ticker. By including Rob’s name this allows the audience to create a relationship with the presenter as he will be the one who presents the news throughout the broadcast; therefore by creating this relationship it strengthens the trustworthiness of the news to the viewer and advocates that we are presenting correct information which is reliable. Additionally, you will also be able to notice our logo in the top right corner of the screen. We did this in order to reinforce our brand identity to all of the viewers. Furthermore, the ticker which runs across the bottom of the page has a slight gap under the bottom of it and we ensured that we left a little gad underneath all of these tickers whenever we used them In order to elicit a sense of continuity within our news production.

Here we faded out the ticker as we wanted a slow and smooth removal off the screen in order to allow the readers to prepare for what Rob was going to say next.

After introducing the headlines for tonight, the shot is then cross faded to the news title sequence. Please see my analysis for my final title sequence to see why we made the decisions that we did.

Here I was experiencing a slight malfunction as even though I had moved the clip bin forward it did not show in the project screen as it was stuck on the title sequence. You will be able to notice from the clip bin how I have muted the original clips of us recording Lukas as the sound was not needed for these shots. Instead we placed a voice over of me speaking my part of the script where I introduce what he has achieved and what he is looking to do. I incorporated and applied this idea from existing news broadcast as it is common for the presenter on location to voice over filler shots as they educate and inform the audience about what is going on. We were able to demonstrate this effectively as we also included an orange shape with custom motion so that while I am speaking over the filler shots of Lukas; this orange block will slide down and will list key information. This will assist the reader and help them to understand a little more about what is going on.

Here you are able to see how in the 4 the clip bin I have inserted our news logo which I have stretched all the way across our whole news production as it is a way in which we were able to present brand identity. When looking at existing news broadcasts such as the BBC, they also included their logo in the top left of their production in order to reinforce their brand image; I applied and developed this convention so if anyone tuned in mid way through our news production, they would instantaneously be able to recognise it is WMN news from the logo situated in the top left of the screen.

Finally, the news production ends the way it began. This further reinforces the idea of how we have been able to demonstrate continuity to our audience throughout our news broadcast. In the bottom clip bin you will notice how the audio seems to play longer than the image which is something which we later realised and corrected as we can not have audio playing on a blank screen as this takes away that sense of professionalism which we are attempting to portray to our audience.

Week 10 analysis from Hasan Ahmed

Before going into the drama studio and filming our news broadcast I decided to sketch the type of set up that we should have. The first sketch design consisted of me and Rob both being situated at a desk/sofa set up. I soon realised that the type of news that I was presenting and whom to; that this could not work. The relaxed setting had to go so in my final design of the studio set up I included a desk which only Rob was located at. This was also another decision which was made as I was not going to be the anchor alongside Rob as I was going to instead be the field correspondent which we needed to have. Furthermore, in the first set design draft I included a white backdrop which was followed through to the final draft as well as deciding to have scripts on the desk. We decided to go with white as we did not want to over complicate things and white was a colour which would not distract the audience from the important news that was being broadcasted. I chose a simple plain desk due to my prior research of existing broadcasts as this was common amongst them all. I then applied this to our set. Consequently, In the final set design I included a backdrop TV shot of the West Midlands which I did not do in the first shot. The reason I did this was to meet the needs of my target audience as my target audience was individuals based all around the West Midlands so they would be familiar of the shot location. 

Application of the theoretical codes and conventions to my news broadcast.

We researched the different news values and theorists and how their theories could be used in our TV news production. Listed below is the different news theories and how I have applied them in my news broadcast.

Galtung’s and Ruge’s News Value

We decided to apply Galtung's and Ruge’s News Values theory for the initial production of our TV news programme. We applied their concept of proximity; this in turns means that we have specifically selected stories that are geographically close to our target audience which will more likely have a greater effect on them as this relates to our hard news story of the safety fears around the West Midlands. Furthermore, we also applied Threshold/Magnitude to the production of our news broad cast. Ultimately, this refers to the impact of the story; so the bigger it is, the higher the effect on the audience. This was utilised in our Hard News as the it relates and effects the safety of the general public within the West Midlands. Consequently, unambiguity was also applied to our soft news story as it was simple to the audience that the school had undergone major altercations in its teaching system and changed the way it teaches. This in turn resulted in the school possessing one of the highest achieving pupils in the country. This provides hope for the schools across the Midlands as the school was considered as failing a few years ago. Our hard news story applied the concept of recency as the Paris attacks only took place a few days before we reported this story. This allowed us to appeal and attract more viewers as they would be affected by what is happening. 

Hard News

The theory we used for our hard news story was Barthes’ enigma theory. Barthes said that the narrative is about asking questions that the audience will need the answers to, leaving them on a cliff hanger and seeking for more. Our hard news story consisted of a question regarding terror, and whether our safety within the West Midlands was at risk. The reason behind this question was solely to attract the attention of the audience. Our target audience is individuals aged 18+. As I will be broadcasting at a peak time, a variety of races and ethnicities will be watching the programme. The question will be presented, then as the broadcast comes to an end, the question will be left on a cliff hanger. The question will be indirectly answered through all the vox pops and interviews. However, there will be no direct answer regarding the question. I learnt this concept from my research and planning into the different theorists and their theories; I then applied this to our news broadcast as I knew it will leave the audience wanting to know the answer. This in turn will keep them hooked and they will tune in next time to find out the answer. This is how we have kept the attention of our target audience.

Soft News

Additionally, for our soft news we applied Levi Strauss’ Binary Opposition theory. With this story we focused on an excelling student from Archbishop Ilsley, who has discovered a new prime number, and the impact this has had on the individual and the people around him. As previously Archbishop Ilsley was failing according to an Ofsted report and now they are exceling. This reinforces this concept of old vs new.  This was clearly applied our news broadcast as we say ‘The old Archbishop Ilsley makes way for a new start’. 

Narrative Theory

Additionally, it can also be said that we utilised Todorov’s narrative theory as well. As Todorov stated; we have displayed all five stages within our news production. The first stage being the state of equilibrium which is where everything was normal; this was before the Paris attacks where there were no safety risks within the West Midlands. The second stage was a disruption due to a causation of an event; this was the effect of the Paris attacks which lead to the safety risks all around Europe including the West Midlands. The third stage is recognition which we also displayed by conducting vox pops with the members of the public and asking them how they felt and how it had affected them. The fourth step is looking to fix the damage done by the disruption; we also did this by acquiring expert advice from DCI Grant who told us the polices next line of action to ensure safety within the West Midlands. Finally, the last step is bringing everything back to the first step of everything before the disruption; we did this indirectly through all of the vox pops and the interviews with the members of the public and members of the police as it was made clear that even though things aren’t going to be the same; the public must continue with their daily lives.