News Report

Good News Report

Our good news report video contained many conventions to highlight our understanding. At (0:06) we start the video with an animated introduction that has the world moving at the bottom of the screen, and our broadcasting name 'ABF news' fly in to the centre of the frame. This paired with some conventional news style music to start the report. This is a more simple introduction but does connote how we would cover news from around the world. The next convention that we used strongly was our graphics, at (0:21) the graphic denotes Franki's name and a description saying, 'news correspondent.' Our graphics run throughout our news report, and from and audience perspective they allow an introduction of the segment or person thats in shot. At (0:48) franki introduces an interview in the form of a vox pop, here the other character (Ismail) acts as a dad who has been forced to leave his home with his children. The vox pop allows the audience's voice to be heard by everyone and especially in this instance this vox pop creates more of an emotional story which grabs the audience more. The last convention that can be seen during this video was the sign off at the end, at (1:23) here Franki has finished his report by signing off saying his name and location. For the audience this sign off means that its the end of the segment and news story.

bad news report

We further created a second video to highlight a 'bad' news report, throughout the report it is easy to spot many conventions that are missing or down very badly. At (1:50) we instantly hear the wrong type of music, the song 'Ultimate' by Denzel Curry is not something that connotes a professional, respected news broadcaster. The next convention that was done poorly was the costume and mode of address at (1:58) we see the anchor, myself, wearing a dark blue hoodie. Furthermore, the mode of address thats used is not standard english and contains too much slang. Which for the audience, they wouldn't take the news report seriously and the broadcaster would loose credibility. During the report by Franki someone in the background disrupts the report because he wants to get on TV (2:23.) Whilst in many field reports and links to studio, there are members of the public in the background this one got out of hand and does not highlight a news broadcasters ethos or put them in a good light for the audience. Lastly a convention that was not even added in to the news report was the lack of preparation by our field reporter and the very fact that there are no graphics at (2:02.) Franki doesn't realise that he is on air and live, which for the audience it connotes to them that this news report and broadcaster is not constructed well.

Conventions of a News Package

 

Field reports

One convention of a news report would be the field report, where by a news package is created surrounding a certain topic. We can see some of the elements involved in a field report at (20:00) which denotes the correspondent talking about Gordan Brown playing a role in the vote and how he describes the Prime ministers words. Here the choice of presenter is an older white male, in the past he would have been seen as a more reliable person to report politics. Whilst, in the more modern times the audience would like to have moved away from that idea in actual fact there is still this presence that an older white male has surrounding politics. Another element that we see in this report would be at (20:05) here we can take notice of the costume the reporter is wearing, which is a blue suit. A suit again adds to this theme of reliability and clarity for the audience, it makes them feel comforted by the formality and ultimately respect his report.  

Links to studio 

Links to the studio can bee seen through this Sky Sports news report, as there is a live correspondent outside the studio. At (0:08) we see the correspondent talk about what Wenger and Ozil have said about the transfer, whilst it has all been confirmed and Geraint Thomas is reporting facts, he still has a feed of information coming through about what the manager and player has said. In terms of the camera language, throughout the whole report there is just a single mid-shot, but at (1:22) we see the camera become more unsteady and thus know its being handheld. This illustrates the simplicity and demand for the live news, as they don't have time to film a whole package but rather they need to be the first to report the news, to beat their competitors.

Mode of address

The mode of address is a key convention in a news report, at (22:50) we can gauge the accent and tone of voice that the correspondent has for this specific subject. Here the reporter is talking about the fighting in the South Sudan and how one tribe is killing the other. Her accent is a typical British, London, more upper class accent. Much like the Field report, the accent connotes a sense of security and reliability for the audience. In addition to the accent at (22:59) we can hear here tone of voice, whilst this needs to be a more neutral unbiased tone, she still uses a rule of three to describe whats been happening. This effect adds a more serious, and bitter tone to bring the audience in to reality. The accent and tone of voice coupled together delivers a serious yet formal mode of address which is needed to make the audience feel they are being fed accurate information.

Interviewing Experts and Witnesses 

This BBC news report uses witnesses in the form of vox pops, which can be seen at (11:53) here the daughter of one of the victims that was badly treated talks about how she wants a public inquiry to be opened up against the care home. Vox pops allow the opinions from an audience point of view to be heard, they are designed to say the public's emotions and thus leave the audience feeling like this broadcaster voices their opinions and cares about the public. This convention is further used at (12:50) where we see an interview being conducted with an expert, Lynne Phair an independent consultant nurse, she explains how the care home had been given clear advice on how to fix their problems and they still were, 'incapable' of doing that. By having an expert involved in the event it allows the audience to take comfort in the fact that people were trying to help, and stop those affected. The news report gains credibility by having an expert as the audience perhaps feel more reassured.

Report Structure

Some elements of a typical news report happen within the structure and can clearly be seen through this BBC report, which discusses how some schools have been run and the campaign to turn the students into Muslim extremists. At (6:33) we see visuals of the school and its surroundings, with a voice over from the correspondent saying her name, location and the broadcasters name. This is an example of a conventional sign off, that would typically happen at the end of every news report. A sign off allows that particular report to have a more definitive end point, it acts as a full stop and allows the programme and audience to move on. The varying shots try to connote the whole story being summed up, and it gives the audience a lasting image of the whole story. Another element of a report structure would be the location at which the report was filmed at. Here (6:04) we can see the reporter, doing a piece to camera, outside of the school in Birmingham. For the audience, it gives them a sense of space, they have a visual to pair with the information and understand where the action is happening in relation to their own location.

Actuality footage

Actuality footage is information and a live visual of the event that has happened, typically from a member of the public that has captured the event on a phone. We can see some actuality footage at (14:04) where the plane is on fire, due to a Taliban attack at Pakistan's busiest airport. Actuality footage is used in this instance to really shock the audience, as the event happened the night before this report. It is not as much about using the footage to be the first to report it but rather it adds a shocking, drama to the story. if the footage is from just a normal person on their phone, then it engages the audience more, it makes the story more relateable, and can empathise more.