News Essay

NEWS - This section should contain a case-study of a studio-based news programme and needs to contain primary and secondary research on the following subjects

Codes and Conventions of studio-based news programmes

The average news show normally works in this order;

Intro / Music
Summary of the main news
Order of stories
Summary of news
Weather and news sports

BBC News has a lot of VT inserts which include; Interviews, Voice-overs and graphics to give the show more of a variety and is filmed in many different locations, so the viewer can see / learn more about the story.

News programme are normally live presentations and can change as the programme develops. It will have a running order which has been decided by the news editor but as the programme is broadcast he can change this if necessary which means the programme can be as up to date as possible. Unlike a pre made or current affairs programme.

Intro / Music
The Intro and music to most news programmes are normally short, fast and exciting. The music has a up beat theme which can be edited to fit different timelines. The music is often used underneath the opening news headlines. A lot of news intros features a graphic of the world (e.g. BBC 9 o'clock News) which shows that the news is from many places. Sometimes they use shots of different world events ether current or historical. Some news intro feature classic simples of the country the news programme is based in (e.g. The news at 10 on ITV)

(BBC News Worlds) (ITV News at 10)

Summary of the main news
This is a quick part of the programme to inform the viewer what the stories they will be covering in the news programme. It's a way to try and keep the viewers interest in the rest of the programme it can came in the from of effected news headlines with often a qwerty story at the end.

Order of stories
This will follow the order of the headlines but could be changed if any breaking news develops during the programme. Theses are often 2 / 5 minute stories which start with the studio presenter introducing the story and then cut to a reporter at where ever the news event has / is taking place. During each news story information to help the viewer understand the story in displayed around the news item. This could simply be the name of the person talking or the place the news event is happening. however detailed graphics and animation can all so be used to illustrate the story. Maps to show where in the world it is happening or chance to show growth or lost etc. A good example of detailed graphics are used during an election to show the political landscape as it changes. On many occasions experts / witness are interviewed to give a more detailed versions of the news event. These take place either in the studio or out on location.

(John Snow Swingomiter graphic)

Summary of news
This takes place at the end of the news programme and has to main purposes' one to recap encase the viewer missed something and 2 to allow a late viewer to catch up with what they've missed.

Weather and news sports
The weather and sport elements of a news programme are normally presented by a different person. A sports correspondent will effectively present the sports news in a similar format to the main news programme i.e. headlines name sport stories summary. The weather again uses a different presenter in a separate part of the studio. normally standing in front of green screen on which the viewer see a map and weather symbols interacting the weather is like. Depending on time they will predict the weather for the next 24 hours or longer if time permits.

The programmes audience, political bias and contract with the viewer

The audiences can be persuaded to see things in a particular way, the news anchors can be bias and lead the program or interview in a direction he or she wants and push their views. This is called "one-sided" and is demonstrated well in the documentary "Out Foxed".
In Outfoxed they show how a Fox News presenter interviews 3 different conservative politicians and only one democrat. This give the story a bias as you get three against one making it hard to be objective. Plus they can and do use images to emphasise to point they want to got over.
They can also use experts from one side of a story and not have a balanced approach. Some news programmes and or channels can be very bias.. sometimes being lead by the person that owns the news channel. As in FOX which is owned by Rupert Murdock a man that has very strong ideas and he used his TV stations and newspapers to get his views across ..!

Issues of representation

The cast of ITV's Daybreak

Most of the news programmes seem to have a broad selection of presenters in the UK.

However some seem to try much harder to get a mix than others. On ITV in the morning we have a programme called Daybreak. Its main presenters are Welsh ( Aled Jones ) and Scottish ( Lorraine Kelly ) with an Asian news reader and an English weather girl. So although there is not an Afro Caribbean it is a real mixture.

The BBC's news programme on at the same time again has a selection of people from around the UK but not and mixed as ITV.

On all news programmes the presenters are more formally dressed to give a professional image / serious. Their guests can be more relaxed and informal as they dress in away that represents them be it a pop star or a member of the general public. A politician will normally be dressed formally again to give the idea that they are serious and important.

Why multi-camera setups are used and how the studio might be set up?

Multi camera is a method for shooting films using many different cameras. The cameras are set up in different places in order to gain a variety of shots, therefore cutting down the time taken to shoot.

Multi-cameras are often set up the way they are because it's a live show. So the vision mixer can cut back and fourth from one camera to the next. This can be done live to add extra life / dimension to a broadcast. A good example of this is the TV program "This Morning" when they interview guests they have a multi camera set up to get different angels of the hosts at the guest. So one camera will be focused on the hosts and one on the Guest or another in close up. The vision mixer can then cut back and fourth each camera. The vision mixer is normally given commands by the shows director.

There are many advantages of using the multi camera set up in a movie, such as it saves a lot of time in the post production stage of the production, as the scenes don’t need to be re-shot again in a different angle, therefore time is saved on preparing the equipment such as lighting, another advantage would be there will be less issues with continuity, the characters wont look different.

The first shot is a Mid Shot of the host with the guest in the background because the guest are talking about the guest so the audience can see who they are talking about. The next shot is a mid shot focused on the guest to show the audience who the host will be interviewing. The guest looking miserable as per normal. The camera in panning slowly focused on the guest so the shot isn't a still boring shot. Then the next shot is the same as the first shot to give the feel of a conversation happening between the hosts and the guest. Then cuts back to the camera with the mid shot of the guest with the camera still panning focused on the guest. showing the guests reactions talking to the hosts. The last shot cuts back to a mid shot of the host looking at the camera with the guest still in the background as the hosts read of the autocue.

"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NVz24FW0hc"

Above is a link of this morning interviewing a guest using the multi camera set up.

The photo above is the floor plan for SCN Network (My News Show). I made this diagram using the Google sketch up software. You can see I have 3 camera's that can all work independently to produce a different shot of the sofa area / guests / hosts. It allows one camera to be actually broadcasting / recording while the others get ready / set up for their next shot. Each camera will have its own number or name so that the director can tell the camera man what he wants him to do in advance of being used.

So the director could say camera2 close up camera1 pull back ready for long shot etc.