MEST4 Linked production: Research and planning

Confirm your production brief. You write this yourself but it's absolutely crucial this is clear, appropriate and achievable. You should have done this already - the original blogpost was here - but it may have changed as a result of your preliminary exercise.
My criticlal investigation topic is: "To what extent did the media coverage of the EU referendum affect the engagement of young people in politics?"

My linked production brief will be to create a Newsnight-esque report on the political engagement of young people in London and across the UK. 

Research: detailed notes on at least THREE texts similar to what you are creating. What are the key conventions? What can you learn/borrow from the examples you have looked at?

Key Conventions

• One, two shots/cuts of interviewer and interviewee
• Tighter and closer shots of people when they are answering the questions
• At times the interviewer is not at all shown asking the questions
• Voice over narration, asking questions and providing details
• Host looking out in the distance in front of a visually appealing background
• Skylines, time lapses and establishing shots
• Camera follows host as he delivers lines and walks away
• Lower thirds
• B roll footage of people doing things with voice over, such as young people talking etc
• Vox pops?
• Statistics, data, research, reports. These are either challenged or reinforced. "50% of young people are lazy. Is this true? Let's find out etc"
• Background music
• Filler shots of interviewer and interviewee talking with voices drowned out with narration over it - SEE: Have we fallen out of love with experts? Ian Katz reports - BBC Newsnight
• Interviewer has notes, pen and paper - SEE ABOVE NEWSNIGHT
• 
  

Project schedule: when will you shoot and edit this production? Make this a week-by-week schedule leading up to Easter. Key dates: we break up for Easter on Friday 31 March and the final deadline is Wednesday 19 April.

• Week 1 (27th Feb - 5th March) 
• Organise the Shotlists, Storyboard, Script and overall structure of the documentary
• Email people that can be interviewed
• List of questions that can be asked in the interview
• Week 2 (6th March - 12th March)
• Film B roll
• Establishing shots
• Hyper and time lapse of Ealing/London/Tower Hamlets
• Week 3 (13th March - 19th March)
• Ealing Interviews
• Week 4 (20th March - 26th March)
• Tower Hamlets Interviews
• Week 5 (27th March - 2nd April)
• Post-production
• Week 6 (3rd April - 9th April)
• Editing, leave space for any improvements
• Leave space purposely for BYC residential filming
• Week 7 (10th April - 16th April)
• Edit and drop in BYC filming
• Week 8 (17th April - 19th April)
• Finalise the post production

Script - see the BBC Writers' Room for advice/script formatting. If you're making a music video, you'll want to write a treatment instead. This is an example treatment that I provide for GCSE Media students studying this topic. For print productions, this means writing all the text for the cover, contents and feature articles. Write this in Microsoft Word so you can proofread and spellcheck the work before moving it into Photoshop.

Sketching and drafting - for video-based productions this means a storyboard - sheets available in DF07 or you can print out your own AQA storyboard sheet. For print productions, this means detailed sketches of all your pages.

Shot list - use Microsoft Word or a template like this to help you. Remember, you need a shot list whether you are filming or carrying out a print photoshoot - professional quality original images are essential if you want to reach the top level.

Mise-en-scene: casting/model details, costume and make-up, props, lighting, location scouting for video productions etc. Use photographs to document and plan your mise-en-scene - using your phone is acceptable for this.

Casting/Moswl

• Presenter/Host: Me
• Interviewees: Tejas Dattani, Pervin Kaur, Gemma Benton, Julian Bell, Steve Pound, Deng Yan San, Tower Hamlets Youth Council, Ealing Youth Council, British Youth Council

Costume/Make up

• Smart wear for host - Suit, tie, professional business attire
• Casual to smart for interviewees

Equipment

• Two cameras, with two collar mics
• Tripods, wheeled?
• Possibly in need of lighting to properly compose scenes

Locations

• Tower Hamlets, Mile End mural if possible that was used in BBC documentary (http://www.filmoffice.co.uk/umbraco/imageGen.ashx?image=/media/192514/Tower-Hamlets-Mile-End-Park-Legal-Grafitti-Wall-Film-Location-2.jpg&class=locationImageBig)
• Tower Hamlets Council
• Ealing Youth Council
• B Roll - Ealing, Tower Hamlets, Central London - Possible time lapse with skylines

MEST4 Preliminary exercise: evaluation

Why did you choose this particular recreation and how does it link to your main production?

I chose this particular recreation because Charlie Brooker's news wipe segment on how to report the news aims to satire typical conventions in BBC news reports. This meant that Brooker had to carefully think about and closely analyse said conventions which he then was able to mold into his own humorous narrative. This also meant for a recreational task it would've accurate as it would help me understand the different conventions needed to make a traditional news report which is what my linked production will be.

What difficulties did you face in producing this recreation?

One of the difficulties I faced was location. I had to really scout every location and improvise with other locations as I could not locate some of the shots that were used. Furthermore, there was also some issues with time management.

What are the strengths of the production?

In terms of strenghs, I am very proud of the way each cut and shot is as close to identical as it could be compared to the original. This is due to the fact that in the editing process, I was able to download the original clip, and placed on top of my work area and edited my work in time with the original in terms of cuts and shots used.

What aspects would you look to improve?

One of the main aspect that I would like to improve is the use of camera lenses and equipment. This is due to the fact that the lenses I ended up using made the overall production look too cinematic which is not right for something like a news report. Furthermore, I also need to look at making my audio sync better as at some parts it was out of sync and also look into noise cancelation.

What lessons will you take from this process that will help you with your main production?

The main lesson that I will take away from this process is that planning during both pre-production and post-production is very important and can be extremely helpful. Planning each and every single shot becomes incredibly useful as it helps create a structure before hand.

Now that you are ready to start your actual linked production, explain clearly what you will be creating and how confident you are in delivering this.

For my actual linked production I will be doing a BBC News Night report. This will include various footage of youth councils and also interviews of young people, youth workers as well as local consistuency councillors. I am very confident in doing this as I have some experience with production in journalism and I also have good links with prominent figures to interview.

Preliminary

MEST4: Linked Production planning

Linked Production brief

Your Critical Investigation topic: 

To what extent did the media coverage of the EU referendum affect the engagement of young people in politics?

Your Linked Production brief: 
A Newsnight-esque report on the political engagement of young people in London and across the UK. 

Length/size of production (e.g. 3 minutes, 5 pages etc.): 
A 4-5 minute short news report. 

Give an example of an existing media text this is similar to what you plan to produce: 
Homeless and hungry: How benefit sanctions hit the poorest - BBC Newsnight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2psCDqh7IXk 

Any other works of Nick Blakemore which are mostly similar.

Give an example of an institution that would produce or distribute your planned production:
BBC Two/Four 

How would your production reach its audience?
The production could reach its audience through the spread of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Vimeo. It can also reach its audience through my connections with Ealing Council and also British Youth Council. It can also reach the audience through BBC Two/Four channels which could present the news report.

Who do you plan to work with on this project?
I plan to work on my own.

MEST4: Recreation task

Preliminary exercise: Recreation task

Name of the text you plan to recreate:

Charlie Brooker's How to Report the News - Newswipe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHun58mz3vI

Scene/section you will recreate:

00:10 - 00:50

From the beginning scene to the scene where he talks about the shots of overweight people

Location you will use for your recreation:

St Paul's Cathedral, Millennium Bridge, Central London especially Oxford Street.

Actors you will require for your recreation:

Myself as the news anchor of the report, aka Charlie Brooker

Props/costumes you will require for your recreation:

Suit and tie, with a long overcoat professional clothing. A collar mic set to the collar to represent a news anchor.

Equipment you plan to use:

Camera, tripod, 50mm lens and also another lens I have for longer shots of Canary Wharf and St Paul's Cathedral. Possibly monopod?

Any other relevant information:

Would need to do some voice over work in post production with a lot of the shots. Also need to do some editing work with text over video such as the lower thirds and also the facts showing up over the shots.

TRANSCRIPT

It starts here, with a lacklustre establishing shot of a significant location.

Next a walky-talking preamble from the auteur, pacing steadily towards the lens, punctuating every other sentence with a hand gesture, and ignoring all the pricks milling around him like he's gliding through the fucking Matrix, before coming to a halt and posing a question: What comes next?

Often something like this—a filler shot designed to give your eyes something to look at while my voice babbles on about facts. Sometimes it'll slow down to a halt, turn monochrome, and some of those facts will appear one by one on the screen.

This is followed by the obligatory shots of overweight people with their faces subtly framed out, after which the report is padded out with a selection of lazy and pointless vox pops.

Um, usually get some inane chatter from people.

Critical investigation Task #5

Introduction (200 words)

• Introduce the general overall perspective, lay out primary, secondary texts and historical texts
• General focus on the negative way that young people were presented during the coverage of the EU referendum
• If not negative there was little to no representation of young people in the media at all
• British Youth Council work with the EU referendum
• Vast difference in the way that the Leave and Remain parties were viewed in the media
•  Remain, was younger
•  Leave, was older
• Specifically talk about what "media coverage"; newspaper/TV/digital media?

2016; annus horribilis. Depression has been at an all-time high. Bowie, Prince, Muhammad Ali; the deaths of these prominent figures left the world in mourning. Yet some, to this day argue, that nothing was worse than the death of democracy on the 23rd of June, 2016. For on this day, the United Kingdom, once an empire of the past, chose to listen to the blatant lies of dirty politicians and the fear mongering of smear campaigns. After the dust had settled, it became clear that the huge driving force of the Remain campaign was the 73% of 18-24 year old. Yet how was the youthful population represented during the campaign? This essay will be focusing on the way that young people were presented as part of the coverage for the EU referendum and exploring the media's influence on political engagement. 

Critical investigation tutorial 02/12/16

Introduction – lay out argument, define primary text(s) and any secondary/historical texts. What does ‘media coverage’ mean? Present your angle/hypothesis. 200 words. 

Section 1 – Historical context / past media coverage of political events. 1975 and 1992 – that should work well. Consider 1997 too (especially since there is a lot out there in terms of New Labour and media coverage, spin etc.) 300 words.

Section 2 – Statistical analysis of voter behaviour and media influence. Academic research and set out the conditions which the referendum then took place in. 250 words.

Section 3 – During the campaign. Textual analysis of primary texts. Deconstruct newspaper front pages etc. 400 words.

Section 4 – Post-referendum. Did anything change? Focus on youth. 400 words.

Section 5 - Effects theory and research. What impact does the media have on audiences in political campaigns? Are young people part of this or excluded? Bias etc. There must be loads of both academic texts AND Guardian/MM articles that explore this issue. This is a crucial section to demonstrate academic strength of essay. 500 words.

Section 6 - Future of this debate. Are young people getting more power/influence as a result of new technology? Are newspapers / influence of media on the decline? Fake news. Facebook. How might future election campaigns be fought? Trump etc. 400 words.

Conclusion – sum up your argument, snappy ending please! 150 words.


Next steps… update/finish your plan based on this tutorial. You don’t need to stick to the above by any means but hopefully it has at least clarified your thinking and provided a potential structure that will be easy to follow.

I need to have a quick read of your opening paragraph when it’s written but otherwise you are good to go.

This essay has great potential – the key is making sure there is a strong media focus throughout. The sections on effects theory/research and new technology should be particularly good.

Publish this tutorial to your blog with your next steps as usual.


Next steps

• Improve on essay plan with modifications
• Focus more on academic research
• Catch up on notes and quotes
• Media Magazine and academic articles from google Scholar