George Parkin
Date of production: Friday 19th September 2014 - Mike Hambi
Date of write up: Friday 25th September 2014
Production: SCCB NEWS
Does the product fulfill the criteria set?
I feel that our end product did succeed in fulfilling the criteria set, at the end of the session a relatively professional and well orchestrated news show was produced and performed to camera with minimal preparation and rehearsal time. The criteria set forth that a new show was to be produced and that was met but more importantly a whole series of different were completed and jobs performed in order to reach the stage where the product could be successfully recorded. I will go onto discuss the various tasks we completed during the different stages of the production process in the following section.
Production Process:
Assess and comment on the different stages of the production process:
When beginning the production process the first job we had to deal with was understanding the stories we would be presenting, a table discussion involving the whole group commenced and the diverse stories that ranged from entertainment to the environment were read aloud for the entire to hear and comment upon.
Next we broke up into smaller groups and selected a running order. This was important as it gave us an opportunity to converse as a group, we were given a sheet and slowly noted down what was to become our running order we numbered each item that we would present to camera: 11 news items totally 13 when including the opening credits/introduction and sign off. Further preparation included recording how long each item would take to present. Understanding the duration of each item was essential as it allowed us to gain a idea of how long our broadcast would take and allowed to adjust the speed of our reading depending on the time scale, because stories varied dramatically in length pacing became key to creating a successful product.
Another key task that had to be performed was assigning job roles, I was assigned to reading the news in front of the camera something I am quite comfortable doing and I felt suited me well. My ability to read clearly and at speed with ease enabled me to perform my role within the group successfully. It is important to emphasis that I did not read alone but rather as part of a duo which I think worked well during the recording of the show. Next, we had to familiarize ourselves with the equipment I was not particularly involved with this as I was in front of the camera as opposed to behind it. But nevertheless the various other members of the team had to break up and take on individual roles, one person operated the camera making sure the shot was properly framed and the leveling was correct. This person also acted in something of a dual role taking on much of the responsibility of floor manager; counting down the seconds until broadcast and using a series of arm gestures to aid myself and my partner in front of the camera when it came to time to hand over a story, transition away or rap up. In addition to the jobs in the studio there were also a series of tasks to be performed in the editing room including a mock up of the title sequence, sound checks and most importantly monitoring what the cameras was capturing at any given time. During the production there were a total of three cameras operating, one on each newsreader and one further camera that was static that provided a two-shot. It was the job of the team in the editing suite to switch between the different cameras and the shots they were recording depending on who was speaking. For example, we would each reader our stories into the camera that was directly facing us, depending on who was speaking the camera on either the right or left would have to be focused on in order to capture the delivery and speech accurately, attention also needed to be paid to the static camera as that became the focal shot when both of us were speaking such as during the beginning of the segment and when we signed off.
How did the production process affect the end result?
I think ultimately the production process was a fruitful one. One particular area that I felt went well was the read through. As a group we moved out of the green room to a quite area in the stairwell and began practicing. Although only two of us were reading this became group activity as one person used their phone to record the duration of each segment and story while the other two members of the group stood in front of us and ensured we were making eye contact when reading, this was important as unlike professional newsreaders and journalists we were not reading of a teleprompter but rather pieces of paper that were lying flat on the desk, it was important to look up into the camera and make eye contact with the would-be viewers at home. In conclusion, I think this aspect in particularly was especially productive and aided the process of creating a respectable end product massively, I am in no doubt that the end product was improved substantially due to this practice method.
How did you work together as a team?
I felt we worked together successfully as a team and everybody had an important role to play in the production, I think as I have already mentioned the key to creating a successful dynamic was the fact that job roles were always being assigned to the individual and that individual in turn had a role to play and mandate they were obligated to fulfill. Everybody contributed which was important as one weak link would have undermined the overall quality of the product. All in all I think our team work enabled us to fulfill the criteria and product a finished product.
How would you change or adapt the work practices of your team to enable more efficient production?
Naturally there is always room for improvement this was only our second attempt at producing a product in front of the camera. There is a number of things that could be done to enable a more efficient production but most of them simply come with greater experience and understanding of the brief. In addition to that getting to know one another better in the future is key to efficiency especially when working with somebody in front of the camera, taking note of body language and subtle gestures enables a co-anchor or co-star to recognize when one individual is done speaking and this enables a smooth transition with speaking over one another or lengthy awkward silences. The transition from story to another is something I felt we fell down on and could be improved, I will discuss this in greater detail later on. Efficiency also comes from understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the crew working behind the scenes, recognizing one persons strength as an editor is just as important as paying attention to someones disinterest in or dislike of sound mixing for instance.
Improvement Notes:
I think on the whole we as a group worked well together, however that does not mean there is not room for improvement, one aspect I felt needed improvement were the instances when one of us had finished reading a story and needed to hand it over so whoever was currently not speaking could begin presenting their piece to camera, I felt one a couple of occasions this transition was not as smooth as it could of been. Bearing in mind however there was a total of eleven stories to present and they were split and read in a alternate fashion split ups are to be expected, however if I had to pin point one aspect that needed work it would be this. In addition to that becoming thoroughly versed in what you are about to read to camera, only minimal preparation time was available meaning I wasn't as familiar with the stories as I could of been, as always practice makes perfect. Nevertheless I persevered and this didn't become a major issue, afterall professional anchors regularly split up, mispronounce words and are unfamiliar with those they are interviewing meaning the minor stutters found in our news show are relatively insignificant by comparison.
On a more personal note I felt my experience is creating our news show could of been improved if I had been able to observe the more technical aspects taking place behind the camera in greater detail, this is something I would like to explore in future.
I think on the whole we as a group worked well together, however that does not mean there is not room for improvement, one aspect I felt needed improvement were the instances when one of us had finished reading a story and needed to hand it over so whoever was currently not speaking could begin presenting their piece to camera, I felt one a couple of occasions this transition was not as smooth as it could of been. Bearing in mind however there was a total of eleven stories to present and they were split and read in a alternate fashion split ups are to be expected, however if I had to pin point one aspect that needed work it would be this. In addition to that becoming thoroughly versed in what you are about to read to camera, only minimal preparation time was available meaning I wasn't as familiar with the stories as I could of been, as always practice makes perfect. Nevertheless I persevered and this didn't become a major issue, afterall professional anchors regularly split up, mispronounce words and are unfamiliar with those they are interviewing meaning the minor stutters found in our news show are relatively insignificant by comparison.
On a more personal note I felt my experience is creating our news show could of been improved if I had been able to observe the more technical aspects taking place behind the camera in greater detail, this is something I would like to explore in future.
Workflow Comment:
A workflow consists of an orchestrated and repeatable pattern of activity enabled by systematic organisation of resources into processes that in the case of media organisations (be they large corporate structures or small alternate institutions) manage information. In the case of the media and more specifically news broadcasts the aim of a systematic workflow is to enable said organisation; large or small, local or transnational to collect information that has taken place and process them into a digestible understandable news segment this can be achieved through a simple method or a more complex mechanism depending on the amount of information and scale of the organisation and broadcast. Workflows may be viewed as one of the fundamental building blocks of an organisations structure. It is to be combined with other parts of a corporate or cooperatives structure these may include information technology, teams, projects and hierarchies.
In relation to our workflow it was remarkable similar to that of any major media outlet, we began the day with a table read, discussed the stories, became familiar with them and decided what was relevant and what wasn't. We edited the stories, cut out unnecessary information, condensed them and fine tuned them. Eventually we settled on a whole host of stories that were now appropriate to read aloud, all this was achieved as part of a group sat round a table democratically discussing the issues of the day and deciding on "all the news that's fit to print," so to speak. Then we broke up into smaller groups where the workflow continued, a running order was decided, jobs assigned and tasks dived out. We also added a last minute story on Scottish Independence and this could of potentially disrupted our workflow but because we had been modeled on successful news outlets we were about to adjust to the changing circumstances we ease, it was essential we were able to do this as the media landscape is ever-changing and it is important to improvise and adapt. I felt we behaved in a fashion similar to that of real news outlets as every network from BBC to CNN to Al Jazeera has to deal with breaking news this may come in the form of a memo right before going on air that might only contain the key facts and the anchor may have to construct a speech in an off-the-cuff manner, bringing the key facts on the page into coherent prose live on air. In other instances breaking news may be received via a tablet or fed into the anchors eye live on air forcing them to abandon one story or cut short an interview because very significant has happened or a scheduled event is beginning earlier than expected such as a press conference, parliamentary debate or a United Nations assembly. Fortunately we did not have to deal with anything of this magnitude, nevertheless our story on Scottish Independence was made available after we have finalized our running order meaning last minute changes had to be made, these last minute alterations were important learning curve for us as a team as they made us aware of the stresses and strains that can come from producing a news broadcast. Even if we only gained a glimpse of what broadcasting is really like we were at least able to understand what some of the stresses, strains and difficulties are when it comes to producing live 24-hour international news coverage.
A workflow consists of an orchestrated and repeatable pattern of activity enabled by systematic organisation of resources into processes that in the case of media organisations (be they large corporate structures or small alternate institutions) manage information. In the case of the media and more specifically news broadcasts the aim of a systematic workflow is to enable said organisation; large or small, local or transnational to collect information that has taken place and process them into a digestible understandable news segment this can be achieved through a simple method or a more complex mechanism depending on the amount of information and scale of the organisation and broadcast. Workflows may be viewed as one of the fundamental building blocks of an organisations structure. It is to be combined with other parts of a corporate or cooperatives structure these may include information technology, teams, projects and hierarchies.
In relation to our workflow it was remarkable similar to that of any major media outlet, we began the day with a table read, discussed the stories, became familiar with them and decided what was relevant and what wasn't. We edited the stories, cut out unnecessary information, condensed them and fine tuned them. Eventually we settled on a whole host of stories that were now appropriate to read aloud, all this was achieved as part of a group sat round a table democratically discussing the issues of the day and deciding on "all the news that's fit to print," so to speak. Then we broke up into smaller groups where the workflow continued, a running order was decided, jobs assigned and tasks dived out. We also added a last minute story on Scottish Independence and this could of potentially disrupted our workflow but because we had been modeled on successful news outlets we were about to adjust to the changing circumstances we ease, it was essential we were able to do this as the media landscape is ever-changing and it is important to improvise and adapt. I felt we behaved in a fashion similar to that of real news outlets as every network from BBC to CNN to Al Jazeera has to deal with breaking news this may come in the form of a memo right before going on air that might only contain the key facts and the anchor may have to construct a speech in an off-the-cuff manner, bringing the key facts on the page into coherent prose live on air. In other instances breaking news may be received via a tablet or fed into the anchors eye live on air forcing them to abandon one story or cut short an interview because very significant has happened or a scheduled event is beginning earlier than expected such as a press conference, parliamentary debate or a United Nations assembly. Fortunately we did not have to deal with anything of this magnitude, nevertheless our story on Scottish Independence was made available after we have finalized our running order meaning last minute changes had to be made, these last minute alterations were important learning curve for us as a team as they made us aware of the stresses and strains that can come from producing a news broadcast. Even if we only gained a glimpse of what broadcasting is really like we were at least able to understand what some of the stresses, strains and difficulties are when it comes to producing live 24-hour international news coverage.
No comments:
Post a Comment