How Social Media can Enhance my Profile as a Media Producer : FOR ASSESSMENT

Social media can be utilised effectively in order for a media producer to increase their audience by huge amounts. Many companies today use social media very successfully to advertise and for customer feedback/services, by having groups on facebook or a twitter account those customers can follow. A lot of companies have departments completely dedicated to social media with people monitoring sites like twitter all day looking for complaints from customers so they can offer help and advice on a personal level. By helping the customers on a one to one level it puts a friendly face on the business and gives them a good name.

As a media producer social media can also be used as a means of gaining an audience that could never be reached before. By sharing media that I have produced on facebook available for my friends to see and share, I can allow a lot more people view my media than before social media existed. When there wasn’t websites such as facebook to share a film you’ve made you would have to publish your film into another form and send it round to get funded or into cinemas, on TV, etc. Another simple way that media producers can use sites like facebook to increase the width of the reach of their audience is to create a group allowing users to become “fans” of you or your production company, this way once they have become fans they can be easily kept up to date with new projects and help with distributing new media.

Many media producers would not have been famous without the social media of today with sites such as YouTube, facebook and twitter. Many of the stars of today are simply internet stars and would never have been discovered without the internet. It provides an important platform for media producers all over the world to distribute really easy and quickly.

Website Rationale

When designing the website I thought that the simpler the layout the neater the overall look of website will be. I have used a white background and clear writing to emphasise the clear and concise layout, there are no fancy designs around the outside or distracting, unnecessary animations. I chose to do this in this way because I felt that any overcomplicated design would only distract from the work it was meant to showcase. I have only used the colour red to make the colour scheme of the whole website red white and black, this keeps the simple theme consistent throughout making sure everything looked professional. At first I had all of the audio and visual work on one page but I felt that this made the page look cluttered and messy ruining the neat look of the website so I decided to separate them out into two pages giving them more space and giving an overall neater look. The pictures on the home page are of me and the university; I felt this gave the website the identity that I wanted it to as it was about my work at university. On the last page I have included the blogs that are related to the module as a whole, this backs up the work that is being shown on the other pages, showing planning, development and evaluation of my TV studio work.

The Effect of Web TV on Traditional Television : FOR ASSESSMENT

More and more the internet versions of traditional media have taken over the, from newspapers, books, radio, buying music, etc, the internet has dominated the market. This is no different for TV which recently has been watched more as a catch up service than a live broadcast, this is mostly due to the busy lives of the working public and the freedom that watching a programme in your own time gives you. This means less people will sit down to watch a TV programme at its scheduled time as almost every terrestrial channel has its own catch up service giving the consuming audience much more choice as to when they watch the programmes they want to usually for at least a week after it has aired.

Although this is not the only way that traditional TV is being killed by the internet. On websites such as YouTube a new phenomenon called web TV is taking over. This is when a show is released, usually weekly onto YouTube, these are usually done by only 1 or 2 people, common themes include rating viral videos from that week, commenting on the weeks news and sketch shows.   Many people such as Phillip De Franco started out on their own simply making a show every week about the news and have now developed into a 3 channel company employing a number of people. He has done this without any help from sponsors (at first), simply a camera, knowledge of recent news and a controversial opinion of it. He successfully combined serious news telling and humour to appeal to wide audience; he has now gained over 1.5 million subscribers and 581 million views since his first video in September 2006 on his original alone. This example shows the power of web TV and the speed at which it can amass a loyal fan base compared to television which took years to gain such a market.

However despite the obvious power that web TV potentially has ultimately it will never take over television, whether watched traditionally or on catch up services. This is because as entertaining as web TV can be, it is aimed at a younger market. Overall there is a much older demographic, in this country at least, who this type of media simply does not appeal to. They prefer the traditional sitting in front of a television to watch a programme rather than having to sit at a computer. Even the younger to middle aged market can still admire and respect the production and money put into television programmes that is simply not seen in web TV programmes. It will definitely be quite a few years before web TV programmes overtake traditional television which the consuming public still watch and love.

TV Studio Evaluation : FOR ASSESSMENT

We have finally finished our TV studio project and done our final broadcast and I would like to say it went off without a hitch but unfortunately it didn’t, especially on my part. As we were setting up the studio in preparation for our broadcast I put the finished tape with all the VTs into the VT machine only for it to not show up on the vision mixers screen at all. It turned out that I had used the wrong format when making the project, instead of PAL I had used another format that cannot be read by the machine. This meant I had to make a new tape and have it ready for a run through in the hour we had the studio, when trying to make a new tape premiere pro caused me many problems by not loading up properly a few times. All of this meant that we actually had only one run through with the VTs running.

Apart from this major slip-up the rest of the show went smoothly with good acting, direction, etc. This left us with a take that was good enough to hand in and useable as a final show. I feel that most of the major problems that we encountered during the practices were overcome; the cameramen seemed to know their shots and didn’t move their cameras when in fixed shots. The timings were accurate and everyone was ready for each feature that was coming up next, our guests were confident in their roles and knew where they were meant to be and when.

After viewing the other group’s shows I have noticed some flaws in our show that could have been improved. The opening graphics on certain groups were done a lot more professionally that gave the overall show a much more genuine feel, our opening sequence is simply clips from our practices with some music over the top which gave the opening an amateur look. One aspect of our broadcast which some of the others didn’t have was steady camera angles that were planned; although not perfect they definitely looked more professional than others.

Here is the final piece

TV Studio Progress : FOR ASSESSMENT

We are getting towards the end of our time in the TV studio and our assessment is now next week. We have only recently started doing a proper run through of our final script in the studio to see how all of the elements come together. To go along with our title risky business the theme of our show is child safety, especially outside. We ended up picking this theme after getting our list of themes down to extreme sports and kids TV.

The main problems we have encountered at this stage are the camera angles and timings, because we haven’t agreed on final camera angles or order of shots the cameramen are just trying their hardest to get the shots the director asks for as quick as possible meaning that the show is not running as smoothly as it could be.

As VT producer my job is to obtain and run the VTs during the show. At the moment I have the VTs we are going to use in the show downloaded, each VT is to do with a different aspect of safety for children. The first is about general safety outside, the second crossing the road safely and the third on dangers of talking to strangers. When looking for VTs I made sure that they were aimed at children so they were done in language suitable and understandable for young children aged 6-10. They use bright colours, songs and simple language to get the message across effectively, characters, usually animals are used a lot as they are seen as a friendly trusting face unlike a person that can be associated with many different things.

This VT is explaining the general dangers of being outside including strangers and who to trust.

This was a popular government advert about crossing the road that became very famous due to its catchy lyrics and lovable characters.

This is an old American PSA about the dangers of talking to strangers and the ways in which they might try and get you to go with them.

VT Producer

We have now all been given our roles within the TV studio and I have been given the role of VT producer. To be honest I was hoping for the role of floor manager but I was out-voted in the role by others in my group leaving me with the role of VT producer, a VT is a video transmission and are the pre-recorded videos made before a live TV broadcast to be shown during the show perhaps to introduce a guest or show the presenters doing something outside of the studio. My role entails obtaining the VTs our show needs and making them ready for use in the show. Although not my first choice I am happy with the role I have got as it is still something I am interested in and will take the position head on.

To be successful within the role I will need to find the three VTs, obtain the permission to use it and cue them in at the correct times during the broadcast. I have found that the easiest way to do this is to create one clip containing all three VTs with 10 second countdown timers before each to tell the director, PA and floor manager when to cue the presenters. This will make the actual broadcast of the programme work smoothly as I will simply need to press play on the tape at the beginning of the show and let the tape run through; as long as the PA keeps everything to the set timings of the programme there isn’t much that can go wrong.

TV Studio

For this module we are working in the TV studio to create a live 10 minute show to broadcast. In our practice sessions we have been trying out the different roles in the studio including cameraman, director, floor manager, presenter, etc to see what we are most comfortable with. So far the role I have found most interesting is floor manager, this role entails conveying messages from the director to those on the studio floor and telling the presenters/cameramen their instructions. I liked the responsibility of the role as it requires someone confident and vocal to keep order on the studio floor and convey the director’s instructions.

Another role I have enjoyed is the vision mixer role; this is the role that has the responsibility of switching between the cameras during the transmission of the programme. They also bring in any graphics or VTs on cue, they are instructed by the director as to which camera to cue and cut to. I enjoyed this role as I felt like I was having a direct effect on the programme and that my role was significant to the overall success of the project.

I think the main reasons why I liked these two roles the most was because they are active roles that involve a lot of action during the programme and therefore will never get boring or uninteresting throughout the project. I think being in a role of control is a large element in the different roles appeal to me, however I would still not like a role with as much responsibility as the director or producer as I’m not sure I could deal with the level of responsibility that the roles entail.

TV Studio Programmes

The One Show

The one show is a daytime chat show on BBC 1; it is on Monday to Friday almost every week of the year. The show receives an average of 5 million viewers daily. It has a very open format that allows a huge variety of themes and stories to be included; this means that the content is pretty much limitless in its subject. It has had a variety of presenters during its 4 years broadcasting; this has included Adrian Chiles, Myleene Klass and Jason Manford. The show originally was broadcast as a 4 week trial run but returned after 10 months with a few changes, such as the location, and has been broadcast almost every week since.

One of the main reasons for the success of the programme is its open format that allows literally anything to be a feature on the show. This means that the guests and VTs that have been on the programme have ranged from new books/films to environmental and political issues, when it comes to the guests on the show they have had little known authors and actors to the prime minister of Britain.

The Graham Norton Show

The Graham Norton show is an evening chat show that is shown on BBC 1 on Fridays. The show is an adult orientated chat show where Graham Norton interviews various celebrities, usually to promote a new film/TV show/ album. He usually begins by interviewing the guests one by one in an adult manner usually using sexual innuendos frequently and mocking the guests in a humorous manner. Audience participation is key in the show and is one of the main reasons behind the success of the show, at the end of each show he asks members of the audience to sit in a chair and tell a funny story, if he gets bored by their story he pulls a lever and they are flipped backwards by the chair.   As well as guests to interview a musical guest is usually on the show, who performs at the end of the show.

Comparison

The shows are two very different styles of TV show, one is a daytime chat show the other is an evening chat show. Although essentially the same format of guests and interview with VTs from outside the studio they have very contrasting target audiences, The One Show is directed at almost everyone but focusing on middle aged to the elderly whereas The Graham Norton Show has a younger demographic ranging from teenagers to the middle aged. This is mostly due to the style of interview used in the shows; The One Show has a very relaxed style of interview as the guests are usually interviewed for a small portion of the show and then asked their opinions on the various topics that come up within the show. Graham Norton’s approach to interviewing is a lot more forward, usually making fun of the guests, but not in a directly rude way. This has however resulted in some guests pulling out of the show such as Hillary Swank.

The actual set out of the studios are quite different due to the use of a live audience in the Graham Norton show whereas the One Show studio is simply a couple of sofas and a table in a studio overlooking the city of London.  This gives the show a more homely feel due to its daytime broadcasting time. Graham Norton’s show has a much larger set with more “going on” in the background with bright colours and lights with bright colours and lights, there are three sections to the studio, an interview section, a music stage and a small introduction stage. This helps split up the various parts of the show.

The Editing Process

When it came to editing the final piece I couldn’t wait as this was the part of film production was most interested in. I haven’t done a huge amount of editing but I had done enough to be able to get on with the process quickly and effectively without any problems. I used Adobe Premiere Pro to edit as I am comfortable with the program, know my way around it and it provides all the necessary tools to make a professional edit. The first problem I encountered was the footage we had taken, looking back over it I noticed that we had repeated the same shots many times meaning overall I didn’t have that many shots to work with. Secondly the sound a few problems, despite our best efforts the dodgy XLR cables caused some crackling and there was some background noise only picked up by the boom microphone that we could not hear when filming. I overcame the problem of the crackling by using audio effects such as the DeCrackler or DeClicker effect, if this doesn’t work then I found the specific point in the audio where the click appears and cutting it out, if this caused a noticeable gap in the audio then I would simply replace it with background noise from another clip.

Some of the clips looked too bright for the effect I wanted to achieve so I darkened all of the clips to give the feel of tension and mystery I was trying to accomplish. I think this gave the whole film a lot more depth and ambience. Originally I wasn’t going to put any music over the top as the silence gave it an eerie feel especially in the last clip; however I decided to try it with some music just in the last scene to build tension towards the climax of the piece. The music gave the scene a lot more suspense and lets the audience know that the climax of the film is coming; this gives the audience a much more ‘edge of the seat’ feel making them expect a big event.

Overall I am happy with my edit and have received positive feedback from my target audience. The music at the end greatly enhances the piece and I am glad that I chose to replace the silence with it. One problem I still have is that it is quite short and a lot of the original script is left out but with the footage I had to work with I didn’t have a choice.

 

Filming the Script

The filming process showed us quite a few things about preparation and planning. Our filming was done almost without a plan and more of a ‘pick it up and go’ attitude, this meant that our time was not spent as effectively as it could have been and not all the shots that we wanted could be shot. We were met with many time constraints due to actors other commitments that caused a lot of rushed shots and gaps in filming during the two days. In the end it felt like we just wanted to get it over and done with to move on to the editing process as quick as possible. Another problem was that one of the members of our group had to play one of the characters in the piece after we were unable to find a female actor; this meant she missed out on some of the hands on camerawork

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Despite this there were some good points about the filming procedure such as, some of the shots we achieved I feel used focus and depth very effectively and will definitely  give the final piece a good, professional atmosphere. We filmed a shot of the door of the house from the inside with slight overexposure; this gave the shot a creepy and tense feel, the kind of atmosphere that whole film will hopefully achieve.

When it came to sound we had a few technical problems due to dodgy XLR cables that cause some clicking and crackling. We overcame this by making sure the cable was kept in a stationary position and didn’t move so much during recording and this seemed to reduce the problem. There were not too many problems in the way of background noise as almost all the shots were filmed inside without anyone else around.

If we were to do this shoot again we would definitely have been more prepared and perhaps had a shooting order and although we booked out the equipment days in advance we still encountered problems to do with booking clashes that we would not have encountered if we had booked a week or 2 in advance. These booking clashes meant that our second day of filming was very rushed as we constantly thinking of time while filming.

I think overall, despite the fact we very underprepared and could have done with a lot more planning before beginning filming. I am happy with the shots we achieved and cannot wait to move on to the editing stage.