CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES: (Lecture) Critical Journalism

Today's lecture was focused more on news and for the people doing the news essay question but as the current topic is news, it benefited all of us. 

- The audience have fragmented i.e. seek out info and entertainment for a variety of sources other than TV

- The audience itself is becoming a new source of content e.g. you tubers, bloggers and bloggers

- Interactivity and self scheduling has given an active involvement to a previously relativity passive audience 

Social media

- Inter-connectivity - info speed/flow

the rise of ‘post truth’

- Are we really getting a good deal from any of them - who can we really trust to inform us?

- The idea of post truth is that we no longer rely on actual facts and info, but rather are used to being deb a diet of opinion and personal beliefs i.e. rhetoric

- Does the rise of citizen journalism really do anything to place us closer to the facts?

Facebook “spreading” fake news

Is anything really trustworthy?

- Has the rise in trivia and self scheduling resulted in a world in which we are potentially in touch with more info than ever, but in fact actually find out less and less because we only choose to find out re-affirm what we already believe?

‘I Shot 2013’ - ITV, 2014

- This was a documentary about the most extraordinary events throughout the year of 2013. We witness people bringing out their phones and cameras to record the events. Is this right? Instead of helping the injured, people are delving straight to their phones. 

How ethical is it to witness, record and then distribute content when you are not a professional?

- Filming disasters may help find the culprit but also people may need medical attention and people are sat there on their phones filming it instead of helping

- Boston marathon - wrong person got identified as culprit from unprofessional people with mobile footage/ended up killing himself - but police/investigators managed to get evidence and get the right person from mobile footage

DIGITAL NEWS: Transcribing the Interview

Katie transcribed her interview with John from Broadditch farm for us. This will make editing easier for us in the post-production process knowing when to cut with the timecode and dialogue. Below is the transcribed interview:

115_0142_01.MP4

00:19 - Thanks Alex, I’m here at Broadditch Farm where they’ve just opened their annual Hauntfest.

00:24 - I’m here with John who is one of the owners of Broadditch Farm

00:27 - John, what exactly is Broadditch Hauntfest?

00:29 - So, hauntfest is our Halloween attractions that we open each year, we’ve got 5 haunts and attractions that we put on for the public, all themed differently,

00:38 - We’ve actually been running since 2001, so we’ve yeah in our 16th year.

00:44 - Yeah, sounds good, and is there anything special happening to any of the attractions this year?

00:49 - Each year we try to change them all, so they’re all going to have modifications, different scares, different interactions for the public to enjoy, umm if it was left the same obviously people wouldn’t want to keep coming back, so we have to up our game in accordance, yeah. 

01:03 - And do you have a personal favourite?

01:05 - I actually have two favourites if I’m allowed, first one being the spooky castle which was one of the first haunts we ever started with, the other for this season anyway would certainly be Thirteen The Freaks as it’s very interactive, really full on. 

01:22 - Okay, sounds spooky, umm right now I’ve just got a little quiz for you, all you have to do is answer whether you think it’s a myth or a fact.

01:29 - Okay, so the first one is Halloween is the Devil’s Holiday?

01:34 - No that’s a myth, it’s got to be a myth.

01:38 - Yep, it’s a myth, it’s actually derived from celtic and druid ritual which is separate from christianity so has got nothing to do with the devil. 

01:44 - Umm, Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926, myth or fact?

01:50 - Oh, probably a myth, going with myth again

01:53 - It’s a fact! There’s an official Houdini seance conducted every year.

01:58 - Well I didn’t know that

01:59 - You should watch out for poisoned sweets whilst trick or treating, myth or fact?

02:04 - I’ll go for fact this time

02:06 - It’s actually a myth, although there were a couple of cases but they were poisoned by their parents. 

02:11 - Right, so that’s all, you did very well.

02:13 - Thank you

02:14 - You can get your tickets now for Broadditch Hauntfest at BroadwitchHauntfest.co.uk, back to Alex in the studio.

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE: (Lecture) Briefing

Skills taking forward:
- Time management
- Research and development of creative content
- Online journal research
- Focus on chosen specialism

News skills:
- Report writing/analysis
- Self directed schedule
- Freelance work - client liaison
- Development of new industry relevant skills
- Intensive/elongated work placement - professional transferable skills

CV guide:
1. Think about your skills
Look for jobs where you can do things you're great at

2. Look for companies you'd like to work with
what companies are doing the kind of things you're interested in - check out small, local companies

3. Do your homework
Check - do they offer the kind of opportunity you want, who's the best person to get in touch with, look at website or give them a call

4. Show an interest
Email potential employers

5. Follow it through

What you have to offer:
- The skills developed over the pas year on the course
- The experience you have either from previous employment or from your own interests and hobbies

Identify:
- Skills you wish to gain
- Skills you want to expand/improve upon

Stand out from competition:
- Personal details
Name and contact details

- Career profile
Brief statement of no longer than 3-4 lines summarising particular strengths

- Education/qualifications
Starting with more recent, not necessary to list all GCSES

- Employment/work experience
Only the most relevant jobs or work experience should be included in this section

- Artistic achievements/awards

- Relevant skills
Such as creative skills, time management, IT, online research, any software etc. 1-2 pages - no more than 2

Covering Letters:
- Address to the person who will be dealing with your application

What should I include:
- Research company first

www.bbc.co.uk/academy/production/job-hunting/the-essentials

Things you should do for interviews
- Take CV with you
- Enter confidently
- Answer and ask questions
- Answer with examples

Things you shouldn't do
- Sit down until the interviewer says
- Don't criticise your past employers
- Don't interrupt
- Draw attention to your weaknesses

I was certain that I was going to pick the professional practice unit from the moment I had heard about it. This is because I haven't had any proper experience in the film/TV industry yet and I would love to know what goes on at a real set/studio/production house. The only problem is that I work part time two evenings a week and committing to a 2 week placement in London may be difficult with trying to get back to Margate for work. I also wouldn't be able to get 2 weeks off work. I have a weeks placement with Suite TV already planned but I am off that week at work so there is no problem and I can give 100% to the placement.

This then lead me to consider the commission idea, so I could work around my job and create my own working hours. From the start I knew I didn't want to do a commission because I didn't want someone to tell me what they wanted and then I fail to deliver that. However, there is the commission at the Guildhall Museum in Rochester about their 100 objects show that interested me and the commission at the Maidstone Studios which also caught my eye.

I am currently considering which one would suit me before the deadline on 24th October.

DIGITAL NEWS: Shoot Day 2

Today was our second and final shoot day. The locations were in Gravesend at Alex's house and Alex's sisters house. We had to pop out for ingredients for the fry-up so we started filming later than we expected. We started by setting up at Alex's sisters house for the bar scene and brought our actor, Aidan, along to be the person who gets 'drunk' and has to try our hangover cure myths. Due to ethical reasons Aidan didn't actually get drunk for us, but pretended.

We started with Jason presenting our hangover cure idea and the science behind hangovers. We used a lot of scientific words so we thought it will be best to put writing on the screen when we edit this scene. We wanted to create a visual metaphor when we were explaining about the science behind the hangover and what they do to the body so we used shot glasses and different coloured M&Ms for the different chemical processes, and a margarita glass with more M&Ms for the body, and Jason poured in what goes into the body while he was explaining it. We all thought this looked really good and explained it clearly, I definitely wouldn't have understood all the different things that happen to the body if we didn't use the props.

Once we had mastered the visual metaphor we went onto getting a sequence of Aidan at the bar drinking beer and then water, as one of our hangover cures is that if you drink a glass of water after every alcoholic drink, then you're not supposed to get a hangover, because you're keeping hydrated throughout the night. Alex, Katie and myself all took turns on being on the camera for these scenes.

While the others were finishing off that sequence, I started designing the wall for our studio presentation with the posters Katie and myself made. Instead of using a green screen we thought it would be best to create our own background. Alex thought having a backdrop of different posters about myths/aliens/conspiracy/fact or false etc. would look good and he could be a conspiracy theorist who has made the posters to what he's thinking/planning and then ends up tearing the posters down. We also thought it would give a good depth to the shot instead of the green screen.

We completed the studio scene and did the trailer here too. Alex simply improvised for around 5 minutes and in the end tore down the posters behind him and went a little crazy. In post-production we will take clips from this part for our trailer.












This then ended our time at Alex's sisters house and we went to Alex's house for the rest of the hangover cure scenes. Unfortunately, I had to leave for work so the others finished off the rest. From what I heard back they had a really good filming session. They used Aidan and put some hangover cures to the test. Aidan had to eat a fry up for us, have a lemon rubbed on his armpit and drink a lot of water. We couldn't have done this without Aidan, his character was perfect for our programme and some of his reactions are priceless.

This shoot day went really well. We were impressed that we got finished within two days which gave us more time to start and refine the edit. The whole visual metaphor idea went really well. It does make it easier to understand with the scientific words and will work well with our young audience. We got all the shots we wanted by following the shooting script and shot list. We used Katie's soft box lights which helped give the shots a better look. On the camera it was slightly yellow from the beige walls even after correcting the white balance, so the lights helped whiten the background. They also used the lights in the shots at Alex's house with Aidan's interviews and results.

However, we could have managed our time better and brought the ingredients before the filming day. This was something that didn't occur to any of us that we would spent ages shopping for the bits. When we thought we had finished the studio scene, we played it back and couldn't hear anything. This was because the microphone wasn't plugged in properly, when it was for the previous shots. We aren't sure how this happened but we have learnt from it and will make sure we check everything is plugged in more often during a shoot.

FICTION ADAPTATION: (Lecture) Briefing & Haiku Challenge

Today we had a briefing with Mike Rymer about the fiction adaptation unit. We have the choice between this one or the professional practice unit. From the start of the second year I have said I would do the professional practice unit because I want to get a lot of experience under my belt but it was good to have a glimpse of what the fiction unit would be like. 

Haiku

- A form of poetry that traditionally follows a pattern of 5-7-5 syllables
- Originating in Japan between the 9th and 12th centuries, there were 4 master haiku poets
- Known as ‘the Great Four’, they would wonder the countryside, perfecting their craft with years of observation and experience. 

Haiku challenge
We had to pick from different haiku's and collect together stock footage to create a short adaptation. I chose the following haiku:

First autumn morning 
the mirror I stare into 
shows my father's face. - Murakami Kijo (1865 – 1938)

Note the imagery the writer use?
- Autumn, leaves, orange, brown
- Reflection, man sees man in mirror
- Father figure

What are they trying to communicate?
- There could be a deeper meaning to the 'father' part

How might this be achieved visually?
- Focus on the same two people throughout the piece, showing the audience that there is a strong connection between the two characters - not sure what connection but it is strong - gets the audience thinking about who they could be

Does it need to be literal? 
- It can be, I think it is an easy piece to put literal videos to e.g. using autumn shots and a father figure 

I went down the literal side to this haiku and started searching for autumn clips. All the clips I found were such beautiful shots, I struggled to pick just a couple. Next, I looked for a clip with a mirror in it, maybe with someone looking in it - maybe the father? Whatever I could find with a mirror in it would be great. However, I struggled to find a clip with those specifications so I went down the route of reflections and managed to find some clever shots of reflections. 

I thought my short film went well, it didn't really make much sense because I made it so literal, the clips looked slightly random and not like they should be in the same film, but it depends how you look at it and what it makes you think of. 

Final video:



Mike's feedback:
- More depth into it than first thought
- More into the father - is he a smoker? ill? dead? son has never seen him?
- "the mirror I stare into" interesting that the clip is someone looking into a computer screen

Is it a successful adaptation if it needs text? Is it then a visual poem, as we should be able to tell the adaptation just through the moving images. 

Today's lecture and task have changed my view slightly on the fiction adaptation unit. Before today I was positive that I wanted to do the professional practice unit but hearing from Mike and actually enjoying the task, has left me undecided. I have had a look at the sonnets that we will have to base our project on and there are a couple that have given me ideas, but I still don't think I will do a good enough a job to get a good grade at the end. 

I am currently still thinking about the pros and cons of both the fiction adaptation unit and the professional practice unit. 

DIGITAL NEWS: Shoot day 1

Today was the first shoot day for our news project. It was at Broadditch Farm in Gravesend for their annual HauntFest. Initially, I was nervous to meet John, our volunteer, and to produce a professional interview. We started by getting introduced to the staff at Broadditch and what each of them do. Then we gave John a brief run through of our visit, we tried not to give too much away for the interview and quiz questions.

Spooky Castle (above)

John then showed us around and we were able to go into four out of their five attractions. They weren't as scary as they would be at night as there are usually actors but thankfully they weren't there this morning. There were four haunted house style attractions and one maze, but each of the haunted houses had a different theme. The first one we went in was the Spooky Castle, which was a 1940s old house theme, the next one we went in called Thirteen Freaks had a freak show theme and the third and final house we went in was called The Edge and it was vampire themed.

Thirteen Freaks (above, left)

They were all amazing attractions and were very scary even without the actors. We weren't expecting to actually go in the attractions so were very privileged to have had the opportunity.

MassAcre (above)

MassAcre (above)

MassAcre (above, left) Sub Focus (above, right)

The Edge (above, left) Thirteen The Freaks (above, right)

We were setting up for the interview with John when we realised that the sun was quite bright and the best backdrop for the interview either had the sun behind the camera, meaning it was in Katie and John's eyes or the sun was in front of the camera, causing Katie and John to look very dark. In the end we had the sun next to them with one of the painted container units and some hay stacks for the backdrop. We also applied an ND filter on the camera which brought the exposure down to the correct level as when we turned the camera on it was very over exposed. 

We were close to the Thirteen The Freaks attraction which was making a lot of noise which you could hear on the microphone but it was only slightly. A bit of background noise will help the interview, to give it a bit of atmosphere from the attractions. 

We rehearsed a couple of times with John so we could work out timings. Alex was on the camera and I had the timer and script so I could signal to Katie when she had to be on the last interview question at 1'00'' and onto the quiz and then again at 1'40'' when she had to start wrapping it up. The take we filmed lasted exactly 2'00'' which we were very impressed with. We only had to do that one take which was great because in 'live' TV there would only be the one take. John was a brilliant interviewee and he gave us a lot of information in such a small period of time. 

We originally wanted to film at the opening night, especially in the evening to get the scary atmosphere, but they were due to have a large number of people attending and us with our equipment wouldn't have been safe. We were also unable to film on another evening because of time constraints. This led us to have to film during the day, the weather was lovely which was good but we would have preferred filming it at night. I think we still did well and produced a good result.  

At the end of the interview and after we filmed our GVs we asked if John could sign a consent form. This is so we can put our final video up on YouTube, UCA website or social media with the consent from the people who are involved. Luckily, John had no problem being filmed and was happy to sign the consent form for us. 

Consent form

Our first shoot day went really well from the very beginning. All the staff were lovely, just left us to it and didn't mind us wondering around filming. The timings went really well, for example, we weren't in the middle of a question/answer when we had to wrap it up. We got an even amount of interview questions to quiz questions/answers in the 2 minute time slot also. We had more access to the farm than what we thought we would, this allowed us to get as many GVs as we wanted. We could also walk through the haunted houses without being rushed as there were no members of the public about and got really good shots because of this. I definitely think we've been able to present Broadwitch HauntFest at its best. 

I think it would have been good to shoot when it was open to the public as we could get the real atmosphere but we could also have been restricted with the light, so there are cons to doing it at night as well as during the day. Additionally, if we did it at night when it was open, we wouldn't have been able to get all the access inside for as long as we did. We had to light up some bits with our phones to see the detail of inside the houses on the EX - we wouldn't have been able to stop and do this if we were surrounded by the public. Alex and myself couldn't get the focus to work at the beginning of the interview and had Katie and John standing around waiting for us. This wasted a bit of time and it was difficult to see with the sun shining on us. In the future we will make sure we have the focus working and maybe film/test the settings inside or in the shade so we could see the screen properly. 

DIGITAL NEWS: Location Recces & Risk Assessments

Once we had chose our locations for our news production we had to look at them and the risks and hazards that may be involved if we filmed there. The locations we have chosen are all in Gravesend; Broadditch Farm, Alex's house and Alex's sisters house.

Broadditch Farm
The first thing that jumped out at us about the farm was that there is a car park and cars are able to drive round through the farm to another car park close to where we would want to film. This means that there will be a risk of us getting in the way of the cars, however Katie knows the farm quite well and explained that we wouldn't be filming on the actual car park and we should be able to film in the farm where the haunted houses are. The houses are on land next to the car park where cars cannot get through so we would be fine.

Another risk we had to look at was the weather. We would mainly be using the camera and sound equipment outside unless the houses are open and maybe we can film inside somewhere, so ideally we need good weather. This is something we cannot control but we will find somewhere inside to film incase it rains. We also know that if it is windy then we can use the rode wind cover on the microphone to muffle the wind slightly.

Again, if it is bad weather we will make sure all wires are off the ground as the cables shouldn't get wet as they may not function properly. Another reason to have them off the ground is so no-one can trip over them. We know to mind the cables in our usual workshops or shoots but our interviewee may not think to look out for them so this will protect him also. We could also map out our movements and make sure the wires are far away from where we want to walk if we aren't available to hold the wires.

I completed the risk assessment for Broadditch Farm, the risks are not high and can easily be prevented by controlling them as we outlined in the risk assessment.

Risk assessment for Broadditch Farm

Alex's house
We will have slightly more protection being in someones house because we will not need to worry about cars or the weather, but we have Alex's family and pets to think about. We will keep the wires in a visible place and tell them that there will be cables around in the rooms we are filming in.

We will also keep Alex's pets out of the room we are filming in because they may play/interfere with the cables which will stop us from filming if we are constantly moving them.

We are planning on cooking a fry up for a section of the package, therefore, we will make sure the frying pan isn't unattended at any time as this is a fire risk.

Alex's sisters house
At Alex's sisters house we will be using her bar at the end of her garden. It's in a small building so we are sheltered, therefore, we wouldn't have to worry about the weather again. However, we will be working with alcohol (beer) and water so we will make sure the equipment is well away from the liquids.

Once again we will be aware of the wires and will keep them out of the way for Aidan so he doesn't trip on them.

Alex completed the risk assessments for his and his sisters house because he knows them best.

We have now identified the hazards involved in all our locations and controlled them so we are now ready to get the risk assessment signed off and start filming.