Digital News Production (Reporter/Presenter Interview 2 (Harry Boyd))

   Our second interview was with Harry Boyd. Harry's audition was good because of his clear crisp pronunciation of the words and comes across very approachable and friendly, which will come across well towards the audience. But he did make mistakes with some of the script and the tone of his voice would only be suitable for the hard hitting serious news stories. Even with this in consideration, we were still very impressed with his audition and we currently have him in mind for reporting the Nightingale news piece. As I said previously, Harry does have a strong tone that will set the mood for the news story and this is why we are planning to have him report this news piece. As I have mentioned in my previous interview blog, we will have to wait until all the interviews have taken place to see who we will chose for our production.

Digital News Production (Reporter/Presenter Interview 1 (Samantha Scott))

   Our first interview of the day was with Samantha Scott. We were very impressed with her audition because of her pronunciation and dialect, we believe that it was up to the standard that is expected from a news reporter. After this interview we initially are planning to give Samantha the main presenter role as she can adjust the way she pronounces words well to suit the type of story she is reporting. We cannot say for sure if we will give her the role but we will have to wait until we are finished with the other auditions.

After Effects Workshop

   We have had a workshop on how to use the Adobe program After Effects. After Effects is an editing software which can correct errors in shots such as stabilising the image, correct lighting more precisely and also lets you edit green screen footage. In this workshop, we have learned how to create  graphics for our productions and also how to edit footage filmed in front of a green screen. I can also create graphics which would be very useful creating title and credit sequences, as well as graphics that I can create so my production for the news production can look more professional with logos, headlines etc. What I have learnt today has helped me with my editing skills by improving them, and also I can now use green screen either for my news production unit or my fiction adaption unit, as well as all my future film projects.

Digital News Production (Workshop 3)

   This workshop took place on the same day as the second workshop but it was about a different subject. In this segment of our day we got an introduction to how to set up a green screen and how to film with it. Important factors of using a green screen that we learnt was firstly positioning and secondly lighting. The film subject has to positioned correctly to the background you intend to place them within, If the film subject is in the wrong position it will look un natural and will not come out well. Another important factor to consider with positioning is that if they are positioned too close to the green screen, the green can reflect onto the subjects skin which would make parts of them disappear when you get rid of the green background in editing. Another important factor with green screen is the lighting. You have to set up the lighting correctly so the subject can blend in well with the background you are imposing onto the image. For example, if the subject is being imposed onto a sunny beach, the lighting has to show it and match the lighting provided in the image. My group is planning on if we are going to use green screen in our production, but if we do it will be used in the studio shots so we can create or use a news desk background, which will make our production appear more professional.

Digital News Production (Workshop 2 - Part 2)

   For the second part of this workshop I took part in the presenting/interviewer role. This gave me an insight to what was expected of the presenter/interviewer and how we should direct and communicate with the presenter/interviewer we hire for our production. I did find out some problems with the way the group I was in produced the interview. Firstly the communication was very poor, the director was not clear at all with what I had to do and also sometimes they came across very rude. Because the vision mixer and director was far away from me they could not hear me very well, and because of this this built up stress between both me and the director. I aim to combat this when my group produces our studio piece by when the presenter has the clip mic on, I will ensure the director or vision mixer has their headphones on so they can easily communicate while the director or vision mixer is at the editing area. Also, when our production takes place we will go over what is going to happen a fair amount of time before the filming, this way it will give the presenter time to practise and understand what is needed from them. As well as this, letting the presenter practise for a fair amount of time will make it more likely to get a better performance out of them, as well as possibly filming in a quicker time which will let us either finish early to get more time with editing or more time to take more shots them presenting.

Digital News Production (Workshop 2 - Part 1)

   For the first part of our second workshop for the Digital News Production Unit, we learned how to set up a live interview and how to vision mix it. We learned the types of ways we could light up the interview, where to position the cameras, the interviewee and interviewers, and we also learned about Vision mixing; which is when you edit a live television production. My role in this workshop for the group I was in was lighting and also presenting. With the lighting I found out there was two conventionally used ways we could set it up that would be up to an industry standard. The first method was the Three-Point Lighting technique where there are three cameras used, one as a backlight, one used as a fill light and the third as a key light. And the second method was Bank Lighting where there are ten lights surrounding the interviewer and interviewee forming a rectangular structure. We found that using the Three Point Lighting Technique would be better as it equally lights up the subject with quicker time setting it up. My group feels that we will adopt this method when we plan our studio filming.

Digitial News Production (Workshop 1)

   In our first workshop for the news production unit we learned how to set up a news piece from the studio. We learned how to set up the camera and its positioning, as well as lighting and how the presenters should be shown. I feel that this workshop has helped me and my group gain an initial basic understanding of what we are supposed to produce for this unit. We now know how to create the studio set up section of our news production. The way we were shown today is a conventional way to set up the studio, but with modern day news productions there is more movement and different positioning of the presenters. But as we do not have the facilities or funds to create this we will most likely create a stationary shot.

Digital News Production (Planning 9)

   We have had quite a few responses to our advert on call casting pro for presenters for our news production. We are currently taking in the responses we are getting and organising days that we are going to conduct interviews with them. Today we have two interviews with potential presenters, and we also have two more interviews on the 20th October. I am glad that we have obtained these interviews in a quick time as it gives us more time and more dates to possibly film on. I will write blogs for each of the interviewees and talk about the positives and negatives of their interview and talk about if they are suitable for the roles we have advertised for.

Digital News Production (Planning 8)

   We have put up an advert on call casting pro to try and get people in to present our show. Our group feels that using actual presenters will create a more professional production rather then having us doing the presenting roles.  I am a bit nervous about this because I have never worked with actors (or in this case presenters) before. I do have concerns about this such as will I be able to manage them well as they may know more than I do, or they may not show me any respect because I am just a student. But I do feel that if I act in a professional manner with them, working with them should be no problems.

Bellow Is the advert we put up and what we put into it.

''We are in university and are creating a news production, and are in need for 3 actors to play the roles of either a presenter or reporter. The first role is a presenter who will present a short news show and introduce each story. The 2 reporters are going to report on 1 specific story each and interview people. We need actors with confidence and around the ages of 24 to 40. We are looking for both male and female actors. AUDITIONS will be taking place on the 14th,17th and 20th of OCTOBER 2014, at the Maidstone Television Studios, Vinters Park, New Cut Road, ME14 5NZ. Times: 12:00PM-18:00. You will need to be available to film on these dates: 21st to 24th of October and if needed we'll contact again for further filming.
WE WILL PAY YOUR TRAVEL EXPENSES AND FOOD FOR THE DAY OF FILMING.
Contact either Vic on vittie1@hotmail.co.uk or
Ruby on ruby_rogers@icloud.com

We look forward to hearing from you,
Thanks
Vittorio Falcucci and Ruby Rogers''