Digital News: Group Meeting (Development + Progress)

This afternoon we had a group meeting to discuss our planning and time management for the next two weeks. We have just arranged our shoot for the live piece next Tuesday but are just waiting for some confirmation from the leader of the Kent Shed in Gravesend. For the other part of the package we will be filming on Thursday at the Demelza House in Sittingbourne and have arranged that with the people we will be interviewing. In terms of progress with the unit so far I think we have communicated well, using a group message to talk as a group when we are not at Uni. We have tried to give everyone small jobs to do such as writing questions for the interviews and sharing out the boring bits such as filling out risk assessments and writing call sheets for the shoots. I think areas we could improve on would be to organise ourselves a little sooner in the next couple of weeks and really get started on the website so that we can get it to a professional standard and get all of the written work out of the way to focus on our edits before the deadline. One thing we flagged up in the meeting was that we all started with specific roles at the beginning but have decided to go with a more random approach when it comes to distribution of the work. This however, has worked in our favour and has meant that we haven't been restricted to certain things and have all contributed in each aspect such as writing the scripts.
We have also spoken about time management specifically, we aim to spread each task that needs to be done more evenly so that we can get the work done a little more gradually. Plans with filming and editing have all come around at once which has meant that we have been pushed for time with equipment. We agreed we should have spoken to contacts a little sooner so that there wouldn't be such a rush with filming and editing at the end and the process would have felt a little more gradual.

Digital News: Initial Graphic Designs

As a group, we had a discussion about the design for our online news channel. We decided that we wanted the channel to focus around health as a theme, covering a wide range from physical to mental health of people of all ages. We thought this would allow us to branch out our ideas and potential material for the channel rather than restricting it to a certain age group or condition. Originally, we thought to base it around donations and where the money is going but felt like this would make it too focussed around     money and not enough on what the money is actually doing. As health was our theme, we came to an agreement that we wanted the website to have quite a clinical, clean appearance and decided on white as a background colour. White also looks very professional and smart, something that we felt would work well as the channel will be discussing some serious subjects about real people and their personal stories and health problems. Therefore, a bright, colourful scheme would come across as quite playful and informal, rather unsuitable for our channel. In terms of name, we brainstormed many possible names, writing down several words such as 'health', 'channel', 'network', 'happy' etc. Combining a few of the words allowed us to get a feel for how the words would work together.

For a title, we wanted something catchy that would roll off the tongue and be easy to remember. I suggested the name 'Health Heroes' which was relatively short. I felt like using alliteration would make it recognisable and easy to say. The idea of heroes relates to all of the people we will feature doing good things and raising money for the health organisations, as without their input, charities wouldn't be able to continue. In keeping with the clinical and clean appearance for the title graphics, we decided that pastel colours would look best with the white background. They give the titles a subtle appearance which isn't too over bearing. We came to a decision for light pink and light blue, as they contrast each other but do not look too harsh. When thinking about how we would design the text, we wanted to incorporate a logo that would go with our theme and be recognisable and not too complex. A common symbol used for health related brands is a heart monitor. It looks simple yet effective and

having a line for the logo gave us something to put the lettering on. Niki has had experience with graphics and created the title graphics and brought in these sample images for the next discussion to get some feedback. We all felt like they were exactly what we pictured, with the colour scheme working well.  However, we will experiment with a range of fonts as a group so that each member can have some input into the final design.

Green-Screen Workshop/After Effects

Today and on Tuesday we have been taking part in a green screen workshop and after effects. Green screens are used in all kinds of TV programs and films and are evident in studio introductions for News channels. In order to introduce the stories for the episode, a presenter is often used in a studio to talk a little about these before the packages are played. It is not completely essential for the brief that we use a green screen but that is something that would make it look professional to achieve a studio look. We looked at two different methods for the green screen on Tuesday. One was the traditional method with a green curtain that completely fills the background, the other was a more modern method with a green light that is seated around the camera lens and send out a green light onto a silver pop-up screen. This manages to achieve the same look as the green material, allowing you to get the classic green screen background. This was a completely new experience for me and was really interesting to see how the two methods worked. The process of setting up the modern method was a lot less time consuming and simple which takes away from the long set up process. Today, we had an after effects workshop with Ferg to learn about how to turn the green screen into a background of your choice. Rather than using our own footage we were given some pre-recorded footage of a presenter sitting at a desk that had already been green-screened. He showed us how to use Adobe After Effects to add a new background. You have to first eliminate some of the tones to make the person in the foreground one defining shape. This helps it to compliment a new background when you edit. I found this workshop quite challenging as editing is an area I struggle with. However, I found it interesting to learn a new technique and Ferg explained each step in depth so we could use it in our own projects.

Digital News: Tesco - Bags of Help Scheme

In addition to the coverage we want to get at Demelza to find out about their sensory garden, we also want to include an element within the package which will tell the audience about the 'Bags of Help' scheme that Tesco have been running. This scheme works like the 'Community Matters' scheme by Waitrose which entails helping charities and raising funds by introducing the idea of tokens. Tesco have adapted this into their own scheme which involves choosing three shortlisted charities to support - guaranteeing them a minimum of £8,000 and a maximum of £12,000. The three charities are given a glass compartment which is labelled with the charity name. When customers receive a token after shopping at the store, they are encouraged to place it into one of the three compartments. The charity that gets the most token will win the top funds of £12,000 and the other two - £10,000 and £8,000. This is a great scheme as it raises a huge amount of money for all of the charities and promotes them to the public to encourage further donations. Demelza are one of the three shortlisted charities with the intention of using the funding to restore and completely renovate the garden area at the Sittingbourne hospice to create a sensory garden which will have lots of interactive features as well as being wheelchair accessible. By talking to a member of staff at the Tesco store in Sittingbourne, which we found out are hosting the token scheme, this will give us some background information to work with for our news piece. One of the managers, Daniel, has already said that they would be interested in filming a short interview with us to tell us more about the scheme itself and how it will benefit the charities involved. 

Here are the questions we have written for the interview: 

1. Tescos seem to be doing a lot of charity work at the moment, could you tell us more about what it is you are doing and where the money has come from? 

2. Can you tell us more about the Tesco 'Bags of Help' scheme?

3. How do you decide which charities get shortlisted?

4. Once they have been shortlisted, who decides which charity will win? 

5. What will the three shortlisted charities do with the money if they win?

6. Being a Sittingbourne branch, is this scheme specifically aimed at local charities and communities?

7. What are the benefits for Tesco?

8. Have you yourself been involved in the scheme? 

Digital News: Research - BBC

The British Broadcasting Co-opoeration (BBC) is a a British public service broadcaster. The headquarters are at the Broadcasting House in Central London. Unlike other broadcasters, it is completely funded by an annual television license fee which is charged to all households in the UK. Being the most recognised company for TV News, I thought I should do some background research into them. They are a very formal News channel, usually documenting very hard news from all around the world and not just from the UK. They show a few broadcasts throughout the day, with the most watched being the 6pm broadcast. Their set up is very formal with a desk and chair for the presenter to sit at. The surroundings are very spacious and empty with a few screens in the background. The screens show clips regarding what the presenter is talking about and will occasionally include text. In the background you can see some of the offices with people working in them to give the studio some depth.
I watched an episode of BBC News at 6pm to get a feel for their approach and style. The first thing that is very evident from the titles to the presenters is the formality. Everything has been carefully branded with the colour scheme being incredibly bold - the red in particular looks very serious. This is a colour used in the studio as well which gives it a real BBC stamp throughout. The content itself is very serious, they are usually reporting very serious news pieces regarding war and religion, which needs to be treated with professionalism to avoid complaints and offence. For our channel we want it to have the same feel as we are talking about some serious health issues and causes, therefore we will be addressing them in the same way.

Digital News: Our Chosen Idea (Demelza) + 25 Word Pitch

We were given a week to all research into our initial ideas before re-convening as a group for a meeting to talk about our development and choose one to pursue as a final idea. We all started with a particular story which would be the package piece for the channel. After thinking about the practicality of each idea, we decided to go with Laura's original idea. Laura told us that the charity Demelza have a hospice in Sittingbourne for children and often run events and fundraising days to raise money and awareness for the cause. Therefore, this should give us a good story to focus on for the package piece. Laura researched into her idea and found out that Demelza were chosen by the 'Bags of Help' scheme set up by Tesco. This scheme will raise a minimum of £8,000 for the charity, with the chance of winning the maximum £12,000. Like previous schemes set up by Waitrose, the competition works with tokens so shoppers will choose a charity to give their token to before they leave the store and decide the winner. Demelza have chosen to use the money to build a new sensory garden in Sittingbourne and replenish what was there before. This will make it look more visually exciting, as well as make it wheel chair accessible so all of the children at the hospice can enjoy it. The sensory garden itself will contain two bridges, a pond, plenty of attractive plants and decorations to create a Chinese water garden. However, the more funding this project gets, the more extravagant the final garden will be which will hopefully greatly benefit those there at the hospice. The Tesco store in Sittingbourne are carrying out the scheme which is where we plan to film one section of the package to give some background on how the money is being raised. We would also then want to visit the site in the Demelza hospice itself and interview a member of staff involved in the project to gain some information about it.


25 Word Pitch for Idea: This news channel aims to report the latest updates on how health related charities are being affected by donations,volunteering and local projects.

https://www.demelza.org.uk/about-us/news/latest-news/details/2016/09/12/tesco-shoppers-urged-to-vote-for-sensory-garden-project

Digital News: Research - Demelza

The Demelza charity was founded in 1994, named after Demelza   Phillips who died of a brain tumour at just 24. The company was inspired by the Acorn's Children's Hospice in Birmingham which was passed onto Demelza's parents who had the first idea for the children's hospice in the South East of England. Working with a few founding supporters, Jennifer and Derek Phillips set up the charity and began campaigning in several areas where the charity is now well established, attracting an increasing number of supporters. Development in 2004 when Demelza merged with James House, a charity founded by Robin and Mary Gooch, following the death of their 11 year old son James. This allowed the company to grow and expand as well as provide therapies and end-of-life care in the security and comfort of a child's own home.  Today, Demelza are a hugely recognised charity with branches all over the South East with extensive support. I have researched them by looking at the website for the charity and locating different areas. They have a 'support us' tab which is gives you plenty of options for getting involved including fundraising, charity events and donating. By giving people plenty of ways to get involved themselves allows people to give their time and effort rather than just their money by taking part in an event or project. This is one of the reasons why the company are so well documented as a lot of businesses get involved in charity events to raise money and awareness for them. You can also apply to work for them or become a volunteer if people are interested in getting involved in even more direct ways.