Digital News: Project Evaluation

My first thought when we were given the brief for this unit was that it would be a huge challenge. The project duration was six weeks which is the shortest period we have had for a project so far. The reason for this was because News is current and in the real world is put together very quickly. We were in groups of four for the project which was a reasonable sized team. We assigned roles for everyone once we had decided to go with Laura's initial idea, I was given the roles of Director for the live piece and Sound Operator. However, when it came to the shoot days we all switched to give everyone an opportunity to have their input. For example, I was on the camera for the studio shoot. I would say in reflection, this unit was the toughest yet. The pre-production stage started off very well with all of us pitching in our ideas. We came up with the branding of the channel and website as a team, deciding to go for clean, professional branding as our channel was regarding health. Therefore, we wanted to come across as serious when talking about the stories. We chose a white background with dark pink and blue text for both the graphics on the episode and on the website. We felt like using these colours against a white background didn't make it look too corporate but still retained the serious feel.
When it came to communicating with our contributors, Laura organised the interviews with Demelza, informing them on who we are and what the purpose of the channel is. They were very keen to be part of it which made filming very simple. I was in charge of the live piece and communicated with Groundwork and Ian - our interviewee. Again, Groundwork were very informative about the Kent Sheds scheme and keen to take part. In terms of the shoot days, we assigned roles again but everyone had the chance to pitch it on the day. Team work became an issue at times, especially on the Demelza shoot day which caused complications with the final footage. I would say that we should have had a few more meetings about team work on shoot days to ensure they all went smoothly as this was something we could've definitely improved on.
Time management would be another improvement for this project as well. The time constraints made it difficult to organise all of our shoot days as we had to find contributors who would be available within the next few weeks. It did feel a little pressured and we did two major shoot days in one week but  this worked out ok for editing. The editing process was relatively straight forward as we just needed to break down the interviews into transcripts, selecting the best sections. There were a few constraints in regards to the contributors talking a little too fast but we tried our best to resolve this and choose the best way to edit it. We also had a few sound problems whilst filming outside which was something we couldn't edit out of the final footage. However, we were able to learn from it and eliminate this in future. I am pleased with the final film and website and think that despite some of the issues we had, we managed to resolve them and make the most out of the footage we shot. I think that the factual programming units have been the most challenging but I have learnt the most from them.

Digital News: Studio Shoot (Take 2)

After looking at the footage for the studio shoot, we realised that the sound quality wasn't very good. We only used the zoom, as we felt confident that the sound quality would be good, having had good experiences with it on previous shoots. However, there was a rattly sound in the background which meant that the audio was unusable. In reflection, we shouldn't have just relied on the zoom and should have backed it up with a clip mic. Re-doing the shoot today has allowed us to get a little more experience with the lighting equipment and we were quite surprised as to how quickly we were able to set it up, with the knowledge from yesterdays shoot. The lighting was relatively simple, however, we did have some guidance and help from Ferg when playing around with some of the settings on the camera in order to get the professional studio look we were after. The filming itself was very successful. We spent a lot of time with the sound, adjusting the levels to make sure it wasn't peaking and that it was clear. Overall, the quality of sound was much better and I feel like we have learned from the previous shoot with only the zoom for sound.

Digital News: Studio Script (Presenter)

Today we finalised the script for the studio section of our news channel. We had already written a draft one and showed this to Helen before filming with Laura. She told us to be a bit more informative so that the companies such as Groundwork and Demelza were announced and explained. She told us to think about it as if we are audience members who don't know anything about it yet, therefore we needed to introduce everything and everyone before the interviews. We tried to make it sound descriptive but not overly in detail as we want the detail to be in the film piece. I think that it made the introductions sound more professional and interesting for the audience as well as giving them some background information before we cut to the interviews.

Digital News: Studio Shoot (Lighting)

This afternoon we filmed the studio element for our piece. We have chosen to have Laura as our presenter as this was the most practical decision. We also felt that working with Josh as our reporter proved to be a good decision as he knew what to do and felt confident being in front of the camera. Laura also said that she felt confident talking and it was easy for her to familiarise herself with the script as she was involved in the writing of it. Lighting was a huge element in this shoot. In order to compliment the white background on our website, we decided to use a white background for the studio introductions as well. We spoke to Ferg about the best option for this and he said that using an already white background and lighting this would give a very professional studio appearance without looking too flat. We thought that if we set up a green screen and then made it white using After Effects, it could look very fake and harsh against Laura. We set up the lights - using the new LED lights but felt that this was not strong enough to light both the background and Laura. With the help of Ferg we set up one of the other lights which we used to light the background with a blue tint to reduce the natural yellow tones of the light. This lit the back drop and then we could focus both of the LED lights on Laura. This made such a difference and eliminated a lot of the shadows on the face without looking too exposed.

For our sound, we used a zoom that was being held just under Laura to get the best possible quality. We decided to use the zoom because it had given us the most consistent sound throughout the project, having had some technical issues with the clip mic on the Demelza shoot day. We also used the Tele prompter to write our script onto so that Laura wouldn't have to try and learn it all. This also provided a good eyel-line so that it looked as if Laura was talking to the studio. I think that it was a successful shoot and we managed to get good coverage. However, I would say that I would like to learn more about the lighting equipment for future shoots as it can be so complex.

Digital News: Final Logo Design and Updated Website

After a rough cut viewing with Helen today, she had a look at our website design and graphics for the
films. She liked them but said that they had quite a corporate feel and looked a little bit dated. We wanted the website and the logo to look quite professional but didn't want to seem like a news channel that was out of date. After a group discussion, we decided to play around with the logo design and font rather than the colour scheme. We had thought in depth about the colour scheme and decided that it was still appropriate for our theme. In order to modernise the font and logo, Niki looked at other fonts using Fireworks to edit it. We decided to choose a font that was a little less formal and more simplified in order to give it a modern edge. We also took away one of the lines in the logo to simplify it even more, as well as changing the font to blue to incorporate both of our colours. The heart monitor line itself is slightly more rounded rather than having the harsh edges that it did before which makes it look more playful and less corporate. We have also updated the website following Helen's advice. She said that the side bars, which we had decorated with a repeated pattern made it look like a website for children, taking away from the professional and clean finish that we wanted to achieve. We agreed as a group that this would need to go in order to keep the website formal and sensible. I think that adaptions are a huge improvement from the original designs and look more modern, yet still retaining a clean and professional appearance. I will be adding all of the updated elements to the website so that each page will match with the new design.

Digital News: Editing

Laura wanted to be the editor for this project as this is something she really enjoys doing. Therefore, she has taken the lead role in this process. However, we have been editing primarily in the studios so we can all edit as a group and come to some collaborative decisions. We have been editing the introductions for the people we interviewed so that they are concise enough to include. In terms of the interviews themselves, technically the sound has been clear and easy to work with, particularly the interview with Alex. The use of self contained answers has made it quite easy to cut as each answer is seperate, allowing us to move sections of it around if need be. We originally intended to make the Tesco scheme section a separate package but after looking more into the brief, we needed to combine this with the Demelza section to make one package. We had a rough cut viewing with Helen today so she could see what stage we were at and to give us some constructive advice for improvements. She told us to cut down all of the interviews to fit in into one 2 1/2 minute package piece. She also said to limit the use of some of the GV's as a member of the crew filmed them hand held making them shaky and obvious in the edit. She liked the live piece but suggested we frame it a little better, making there less head room at the top, as well as adding a few more GV's to make it a little more dynamic. In reflection, we could've got a few more shots for our opening sequences to ensure that we cover every area from head to toe. I think that with a few tweaks here once we've cut each section down and added in the studio footage, it will come together as an episode.

Digital News: The Reporter and Presenter - Josh Jones and Laura Draper

We had a discussion as a group about finding a good reporter for the live piece for this unit. We originally considered a friend of Ellen's who works as a journalist and does some reporting as part of his job. However, his busy schedule meant that he was unable to find a gap in his work to film with us. We wanted to work with someone who would be confident and comfortable talking to others. The reporter would also have to be quite professional and be able to follow a script and learn questions. I suggested in the meeting that we ask Josh to be our reporter as he is very comfortable working in front of the camera. He is also very familiar with us and the project and would know what we wanted to achieve for the live piece and how his job role would contribute to the piece. We arranged a day to work on the live piece that would suit Josh and us so we didn't distract him from his own project. I would say in reflection, it was a very good choice. In terms of the presenter for the studio introductions, we also discussed as a group the best possible option. We did think about hiring from outside UCA but for practical reasons we decided to work with someone on the course. As the shoot with Josh as reporter worked successfully with him knowing exactly what he needed to do, we felt like working with another member on the course could also work in our favour. We have decided that Laura from our group will be the presenter. She in well briefed in what to say as her and I wrote the script for the studio section together, it also meant that we wouldn't have to ask a member of another group and distract them from their own work. Deciding to choose a team member also meant that we could take our time with filming to make sure it was how we want it.