The Television News Magazine Day

The Television News Day, required the team to produce a news magazine, in which included all our individual television packages. The news magazine was presented 'live' and included the latest news and weather.

Roles Appointed were:

Editor: Amber Phillips

Producer: Kat Alder

Presenter:Sophia Stuart-Clark

Tricaster: Claire Edwards

Production System: Nancy Duckels

Roles allocated appropriately, ensured that we performed well as a team. We were well organised and good production skills, ensured that we had time for a run-through before going 'live'.

The editor's responsibility was to ensure that all the scripts were written and typed correctly, that the running order had been decided appropriately and that the general operation of the team was a success.

The producer must ensure that everyone is in the studio promptly, that all material has been sent to the tricaster, that all the scripts are in the studio and that the studio is set up suitably for broadcasting.

The news stories of the day were:

• Poole Council to receive extra support for social care services
  
• Missing Angler off the Dorset and Hampshire Coast


• Man left seriously injured after car crash in Boscombe
  

Reporting for 'I-News', meant that the news stories had to be of local interest. Headlines were produced for the top stories of the day and each news story was supported with a picture.The weather was pre-recorded in the studio and edited, with symbols to highlight the weather conditions.

Role as Presenter

The role of presenter is a position, in which requires a journalist to have confidence, a good personality, a high level of communication skills and the ability to make decisions quickly.

Presenter was a role, in which I particularly wanted to undertake, but it carries a number of responsibilities, that are often overlooked. All eyes are on you, if you make a mistake and it is the presenters responsibility to make sure that they simply carry on if they do make a mistake. A presenter must be prepared to deal with the unexpected. If the auto-cue suddenly breaks or is too fast, then the presenter must make sure that they have a script on the desk, to pick up from.

On the News Magazine Day, the auto-cue did not introduce the weather and travel news and therefore I had to improvise. There was also a misprint on the auto-cue, in which I did read incorrectly. However, I continued presenting regardless. In this situation, it is better to carry on and often, the mistake goes unnoticed.

Presenting the news was extremely rewarding and I feel that it has aided my development as a journalist.

Creating a Documentary

Producing a documentary was a welcomed challenge, in which allowed our team of journalists to be creative and experiment with a different style of television production.

A documentary requires a journalist to think outside of the box and to find something that the public are not educated about, but in which, they would find interesting.

Having acquired a contact, Amber suggested that we do the documentary on burlesque dancing. This was a favourable choice throughout the team, as it was certainly something unusual and has been misunderstood throughout the years.

As a team, we aimed to highlight that burlesque is not simply about stripping and in fact, should be seen as an art form. Dita Von Teese, being the icon of burlesque, shows herself that it can be somewhat sophisticated. With this is mind, an obvious title came apparent to the team; 'Burlesque Undressed'. A clever play on words, it suggests that there is something to be discovered.

Annie Young is a contact of Amber's. Annie is otherwise known as 'F-Annie Whiskers', she is a burlesque dancer, teaches burlesque and makes burlesque costumes. Annie let us into her world of burlesque and introduced us to Rubyz Cabaret Club, in Bournemouth.

Filming on a number of days, we attended Annie's Burlesque sale and Rubyz christmas pantomime production of 'M-Alice in Wonderland'. As a result of these visit's, we discovered exactly what burlesque is. We interviewed a number of burlesque dancers, including Miss Lottie Bon Bon (Charlotte Blake) and Dame Kitty, the owner of Rubyz.

These burlesque dancers, proved that burlesque is not sleazy, in fact, it does not even have to include stripping, the art is to tease. Burlesque can be anything and so can the dancer. From teacher to mother, burlesque is often just a fun hobby.

Filming and editing the documentary

Filming and editing the documentary, we aimed to take the viewer on a journey.

Interested in the documentary style that Dawn Porter uses, we wanted to build up a personal relationship with Annie and the burlesque dancer's. The viewer is invited to experience the life of a burlesque dancer.

With this in mind, whilst filming we ensured that only one individual in the team went on the journey. In order to portray the relationship that was built between Amber and the burlesque dancer's, we ensured that we kept her in shot throughout filming and made her very much a part of the documentary.

When editing the documentary, again we aimed to create the sense of a journey. Starting the documentary with the typical view of burlesque dancing, the viewer is educated throughout in the hope that they will conclude with a positive outlook of burlesque. And if not, to at least respect it.

Challenges

Filming in Rubyz Cabaret Club posed many challenges.

Rubyz had rather dim lighting and therefore, whilst filming we had to ensure that the camera was set to suit the environment as much as possible. When filming interviews, we tried to position the interviewees where there was the most light. Despite, our efforts, the images were still rather dark and often we had to use the colour corrector in the editing suite to enhance the images.

When filming the pantomime, the large number of people that attended, meant that often our filming was restricted, due to people walking in front of the camera. As a result, we simply had to position the camera in a suitable place for both the guests and ourselves, although this was not a complete resolve.

Editing the documentary, also posed its challenges, as there were many technical effects that we wanted to add, in which we were unfamiliar with. The title sequence, in which we had a silhouette stripping and slowly revealing the title 'Burlesque Undressed', was the first hurdle as we were uncertain as to how to create a silhouette and get the title to appear gradually.

In order to overcome the challenges of editing, we worked as a team, using each individuals specific skills to produce the documentary in which we desired.

The stepping stones of learning

Close to completing our documentary, the file was deleted. The documentary was not backed-up and therefore the work was irretrievable.

Having realised how easy it is for work to be lost, we as a team learned that backing-up work onto an external hard drive or on any other device is absolutely essential. A journalist should back-up their work as often as possible, and it is a lesson that we have most definitely learned and will address in the future.

Bringing news to the young

Making news accessible to young people, requires the ability to think outside of the box. Focusing on how to bring news to the youth of today, is a challenge, but something that is of great importance.

The future depends on the decisions that we make and therefore, it is essential that we invite young people to watch the news, so that they are able to make the correct decisions.

In order to connect with young people, we as journalists need to create a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, unlike the formal nature of BBC news programmes. We need to create an environment that young people want to be a part of and not feel intimidated by.

News can be informative, but it must also have an element of fun and have the ability to be understood by anyone. A youth show should have an easy, punchy name, which immediately draws in the audience.

As a team, we welcomed the opportunity to produce a youth show, in which has the ability to educate young people. We attempted to put ourselves in a younger persons position and ask ourselves what we would want to watch and how we would like news to be presented to us. In doing so, we hoped that we would produce a desirable youth show.

The Youth Show

'Face 5'

'Face 5' was the decided title of the youth show, as there were five of us in our team and a news show invites you to face facts, face the music and so on.

In order to create a relaxed environment, the presenters sat in deck chairs with colourful throws over them and cushions.

The opening title sequence of the show was fun and lively, with the two presenters playing around and introducing the theme of news by reading newspapers and using video cameras. Thus, immediately putting news into a new light, making it accessible for any young person.

The youth show, as well as having news, had a weird news section, to add an element of fun, but remaining educational.

The Fashion Fix and Music sections would appeal to a young audience and placed after the news, the audience are forced to watch the news before receiving the entertainment.

Presenting the news in a relaxed style, laughing, joking and wearing casual clothes, signals to young people that this is accessible and invites them to watch.

As a team, we worked hard to produce a youth show that was effective and would have an appeal to the youth of today. There was a small timing issue, in sending last minute items to the tricaster, which meant that we did not have a few pictures to accompany the weird news. However, this is something to improve upon in the future, ensuring that all material is sent to the tricaster in good time.