Wednesday, 21 September 2016

Wednesday, 7 September 2016

Norfolk Production Companies

JMS Group
The JMS Group, originally called John Mountford Studios, was founded in September of 1983 by John Mountford in Norfolk. Since then the company has grown and now has a team of 14 workers and specialise in advertisement. They have worked with companies such as Anglian Water, Sky and Disney on Ice.

One advert they made was for Disney Frozen Dresses designed by Rubies. The advert features two girls in fancy dress that are designed like the two main characters from the popular Disney animation Frozen (Anna and Elsa). 

The Nature and Purpose of Research

Types/Methods of Research

Primary Research/Self-Generated Research
Primary research is research that is gathered first hand usually through interviews, questionnaires e.c.t that are related to the subject area. When I was gathering primary research for my documentary I put together a questionnaire and sent it out and then bought the feedback together to create my research.
Secondary Research
Secondary research is research that is gathered for other sources such as books, newspapers, internet forums e.t.c. that are related to the subject area. When I was collecting secondary research for my documentary I used newspapers and projects with the same aim. For the research related to my TV advert I used websites, like the official magnum page. Another way I produced secondary research was through watching pieces that were either about the same thing or had similar filming and editing techniques.
Quantitative Research
Quantitative research is information that is gathered from film/television program ratings, CD and DVD ratings, e.t.c. This type of research is more about numbers and calculations that are made after the release of a media product.
Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is information that is gathered from reviews, discussions (e.g. forums), e.t.c. This type of research is more about ideas and opinions. When I was doing research for my documentary I looked at tourist reviews and blogs about living in Gorleston.
Data Gathering Agencies
BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) is a database that puts all ratings for media products in one place. The IMDB (The Internet Movie Database) is a website that collects information, including reviews, cast & crew lists, e.t.c. and puts them together to make a profile for films, television programs and video games. Other research agencies include TNS Global, Green Book, Live Minds and many more. 

Purpose of Research

Audience and Market Research
When doing research into the audience and market for my TV advert I watched Magnum adverts, read reviews about the product and searched through their website. From doing this I was able to decide what their demographic and psychographic was. I decided what audience I wanted to aim the advert at and did further research into the best ways to target that specific audience.
Production Research
Throughout all of the projects I conducted research into budgeting (how much things would cost and how to make them affordable). Another thing I did throughout was location recces. A location recce is done before filming starts, it involves going to locations and checking how suitable it is to film in. These recces also help create a risk assessment allowing us to prepare for any incidents that make occur. 

Friday, 1 July 2016

3MW Feedback

Some excellent work in this unit and a well-though through and well produced documentary.

You have comprehensively explained issues relating to factual television programmes with elucidated examples and consistently using subject terminology correctly.

You have comprehensively explained codes and conventions of factual programmes with elucidated examples and consistently using subject terminology correctly.

You were able to plan and research a factual programme for television to a quality that reflects near-professional standards, showing creativity and flair and working independently to professional expectations.

You have produced a factual programme for television to a technical quality that reflects near-professional standards, showing creativity and flair and working independently to professional expectations.

An excellent springboard for next years work.

Finished 3MW Documentary

An Introduction to the News

Part 1

I watched the BBC Look East Evening News that was broadcast on the 30th of June 2016 at 6.30pm.
The stories that were covered are listed below in chronological order:
East Anglian Devolution
·         Recruitment Prices of Teachers
·         The Sentence Dealt to Kevin Toye for the Manslaughter of his son
·         Bernard Matthews changing hands
·         Gala Dinner
·         Battle of the Somme Remembrance Services
·         Brexit Effects on Local Tourism

·         British Art Show Coming to Norwich

The opening sequence included a quick overview of the main story lines and iconic scenes from the local area (East Anglia) including the pier and farming. I think that an overview was used in the opening sequence so that the audience’s interest is engaged from the very start and could be held throughout the episode and the iconic scenes were used to reinforce that the segment was about the local area and news that affects the people that live there.

Part 2

The main two newsreaders were Susie Flower-Watt (picture on the left), female aged 47, and David Whiteley (picture below on the right), male aged 39. Other news readers included Andrew Sinclair (male, political correspondent), Alex Dunlop (male), Richard Bond (male, business correspondent), Gareth George (male), Shaun Peel (male), Mike Liggins (male), and Alex Dolan (female, weather reporter). 

The role of a newsreader is to present a storyline to the public informatively so that everyone in the audience is able to understand. Some stories may allow them to give an opinion, however usually the only opinions that are mentioned throughout the story are from the people that are interviewed.
Every news reader must have effective communication skills, be enthusiastic about everything they have to present where they disagree with the story or not, and have strong verbal skills in whatever language they are presenting in.

Part 3

The term “ordering” when used in the news means the order in which each story appears in the news bulletin and the list of stories compiled together is called a “running order”. The lead story is always the story which is shown first, it is selected as the lead by how important the story is to the audience. Other stories are shorter than the lead and are presented in order of interest, the stories closer to the end of the broadcast are usually of similar themes and can often be grouped together in a “news round-up”. 

It is important to think and act quickly in the news as things happen in real time, so if something happens that is more important, the running order must change straight away to fit around the new more important headline. A slow news day is a day when nothing that can be considered high priority or important so trivial stories are presented to fill the gaps.
The last story is usually a “lighter story” and is called the “and finally”. It usually ends the news on a more positive, cheery note. The term “news values” means the importance the story has and how much attention it gathered from the audience. Galting and Ruge is a list of news values that nearly every story can be categorised as.

Looking back at the news bulletin I watched the first story about the East Anglian Devolution can be categorised as both immediacy and negativity as it was the lead story in the round up and it included the fact that there was a loss of funding. The second story about the recruitment prices of teachers would fit under personalisation as it affects most people and their education. I think the story about Kevin Toye’s sentence for killing his son would come under familiarity but only because he was in fact from Norfolk so the devastation of the young boy’s death feels more close to home. The story about Bernard Matthew’s changing hands may fit under continuity as during the story it was mentioned that the company hadn’t been doing as well since the outbreak of the bird flu a few years ago. The story about the Gala Dinner will definitely be associated with elite nations/people as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were involved. Amplitude would be the category that the story about the Battle of the Somme remembrance services over a million men died during the battle and people nationwide are taking part in remembering their horrific deaths.  I think that the Brexit effecting local tourism would come under unambiguity as some people in the report were saying that it was going to have a positive effect and others were saying it was going to have a negative effect. And finally, the balance story will most definitely be the story about the British Art Show that was presented at the end.

Part 4

Bias through selection and omission means whether or not a particular story is shown and if it is how it is angled to give the audience a specific view. For example, if the news reported a story about one of the MPs that are now running for Prime Minister and they show them pushing past the camera saying “no comment” this could portray them as an aggressive person and give the audience a negative view on them, this could affect their campaign. However, if they just show a clip of them walking with a smile on their face giving the camera a wave then the audience would see them as a friendly person giving them a positive view on them.

The running order can also be affected by bias, the stories that are broadcast at the start are more important than the stories closer to the end. The running order in the Look East Broadcast that I watched had the East Anglian Devolution as the lead story making it the most important, this is usually based on the editor’s opinion and will affect the audience’s opinion.

The headline of the news story (this is usually used in the opening sequence of the broadcast) sums up the story and reflects what it is about or the feeling people have about the topic. This is a form of bias as the person who wrote the story would have chosen how to portray the piece. On the BBC website there is a story called “where did it all go wrong for Johnson?” this sums up the story, portrays it to be negative and also sticks the question into the audience’s head so that they will be curious enough to watch it.

The photos and camera angles can form bias on a story and can have a strong influence on the feel/opinion made. For example, recently a train broke down in the Eurotunnel and the photo used reminds the audience of a horror/thriller film scene; it shows a line of people walking through the tunnels with only the lights on the side of the tunnel to guide them through.



The news normally always introduces whoever is shown on screen using their name and a small description (usually a few words), whoever writes this description can affect how the audience makes their opinion of them through bias about the person. For example, in a news article about Judi Dench’s tattoo she is called “Dame Judi Dench”, if the audience doesn’t know anything about her they’ll know she has some significant importance as she was awarded the title of “Dame” by the Queen.



Another bias can take hold through the word choice used throughout the story, either giving the topic a positive or negative connotation. For example, a news story on the BBC website about how the EU Referendum might affect science wrote “a leading scientist has said UK science will suffer unless any post-
Brexit agreement allows the free movement of people” the words “leading scientist” gives the scientist a sense of importance and that he/she knows what they’re talking about so the audience feels as though they have to listen to what they are saying about the situation. The words “suffer” and “unless” creates a negative connotation and could ignite fear in the audience.



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