The Brief
Our News Report assignment from college had us split into groups of three and a group of two due to the odd number in our class. In our groups we had to present 3 news reports at 2 minutes long containing real news of local events. Two had to cover a news aspect while one had to be more of a new feature covering an event happening locally. I was put into a team with Sam Long and Lewis Jefferies.
Pre-Production
Our first objective was to start thinking about what we could report. Where I lived locally, I chose to cover an issue relating to housing estates being built on flood plains as a plan to do so was going ahead at some meadows near where I live. After doing some research online Lewis found his story which would be covering a pancake day race going on at the town center with participants from local businesses taking part. Sam had a contact in the Viking Reenactment Society and he knew they had a practice session coming up. With our ideas in place mine and Lewis's ideas would be the actual news style reports, where Sam's would be a the feature piece. We each decided to do the research for our own pieces, and then work on each others.
With my local knowledge about the campaign to "Save the Meadows" I started my research at both the Facebook page and looked at the local paper The Salisbury Journal for information on the cause.
Salisbury Journal Link
Facebook Page Link
It was pretty clear the majority were against this new residential build, with the only ones supporting the idea being the ones who would profit from the development. I also knew from growing up near the meadows how a development there would result in something being reported year after year in Britain and that is flooding. The meadows are flood plains for the local environment and flood as soon as the Avon River reaches a certain height. With this information I knew the angle my news report would take and that would be a persuasive perspective asking "how long until local councils listen to local residents?" As it was clear Wiltshire and Salisbury City Councils were not listening to the knowledge of the locals of the area.
With my local knowledge about the campaign to "Save the Meadows" I started my research at both the Facebook page and looked at the local paper The Salisbury Journal for information on the cause.
Salisbury Journal Link
Facebook Page Link
It was pretty clear the majority were against this new residential build, with the only ones supporting the idea being the ones who would profit from the development. I also knew from growing up near the meadows how a development there would result in something being reported year after year in Britain and that is flooding. The meadows are flood plains for the local environment and flood as soon as the Avon River reaches a certain height. With this information I knew the angle my news report would take and that would be a persuasive perspective asking "how long until local councils listen to local residents?" As it was clear Wiltshire and Salisbury City Councils were not listening to the knowledge of the locals of the area.
I decided a location in Churchill Gardens that looks out onto the meadows would be a good location to do a PTC (piece to camera) and I would simply use snippets of interviews revealing the views of locals to the area. With it all decided on and set to go, all that was left was a risk assessment and to get filming.
location_risk_assessment_sheet_news.docx | |
File Size: | 340 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Productions
Save the Meadows
Filming the into and outro went very well, I managed to get my PTC done quite professionally. We used two locations about 100 meters apart to give the impression of location change without the need to move to far. I also wrote what I was going to say for both just prior to us going on location.
Filming the interviews went better than I could have hoped for. People in the area were all to happy to invite me into their houses and film their views on the matter for me. It showed the entire issue could easily be made into a documentary. One lady even offered me a cup of tea while we filmed. To make it clear I was a student filming for an assignment I wore my student union hoodie and also had my student ID on display, which I showed them when they answered their doors.
Pancake Race
Filming the Pancake Race went very well. I assisted with setting up the equipment and then approached participants of the race for interviews. I also asked a few spectators if they would be kind enough to give us their views on the race and how they eat their pancakes.
Viking Reenactment
Sam decided to film all of his without even asking myself or Lewis to assist him. As a result his reports lacks a PTC, and could have had more options for him during filming, with three pairs of eyes on location to look for potential footage.
Filming the into and outro went very well, I managed to get my PTC done quite professionally. We used two locations about 100 meters apart to give the impression of location change without the need to move to far. I also wrote what I was going to say for both just prior to us going on location.
Filming the interviews went better than I could have hoped for. People in the area were all to happy to invite me into their houses and film their views on the matter for me. It showed the entire issue could easily be made into a documentary. One lady even offered me a cup of tea while we filmed. To make it clear I was a student filming for an assignment I wore my student union hoodie and also had my student ID on display, which I showed them when they answered their doors.
Pancake Race
Filming the Pancake Race went very well. I assisted with setting up the equipment and then approached participants of the race for interviews. I also asked a few spectators if they would be kind enough to give us their views on the race and how they eat their pancakes.
Viking Reenactment
Sam decided to film all of his without even asking myself or Lewis to assist him. As a result his reports lacks a PTC, and could have had more options for him during filming, with three pairs of eyes on location to look for potential footage.
Post-Production
During editing the shots together it was decided by myself, Lewis and Sam to use the same transition effect on each of our reports to give them a sense of continuity. Editing the pieces together was pretty easy, the trickiest part was to find the soundbites from each interview I wanted to use.
Final Production
Save the Meadows.
Pancake Race.
Viking Reenactment.
Evaluation
All-in-all I am extremely happy with the piece. It clearly acts as a persuasive piece of video journalism. The shot all are well framed and in focus. Sound is clear with every word be easily made out. One interview is shot with a window in the left which is creating a "blueish" light which runs throughout, another also contains a small dog who does have a chance of stealing the attention of the viewer during the interview. Considering I am also not very confident in front of the camera I feel I did a pretty good job during my time on film.