From the BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/7644254.stm
ITV West Country staff to be axed
ITV West Country's base at Langage in Plymouth will close
Staff at the ITV West Country news programme have been told about half of them will lose their jobs in a cost-cutting drive.
The job losses were announced after plans by ITV to cut its regional news programmes across the country were approved by media regulator Ofcom.
The main news programme will move to Bristol and the headquarters at Langage in Plymouth, where 90 work, will close.
The cuts, to take place in spring 2009, come as advertising revenues decrease.
Although there is pain, ultimately we will have a really strong news service that will better serve viewers in the South West
Jane McCloskey, ITV West and West Country controller
John Andrews, National Union of Journalists spokesman at ITV West Country, said: "It's hugely sad. We are seeing the end of broadcasting here in the South West."
As part of a restructuring plan, the broadcaster plans to cut its newsrooms around the UK from 17 to nine.
ITV West Country, which serves Devon and Cornwall, is being merged with ITV West which serves the Bristol area.
A separate, limited news bulletin for each area will still be maintained within the new super-region, served by satellite bases in Exeter, Barnstaple, Taunton and either Truro or Falmouth.
Jane McCloskey, ITV West and West Country controller, said the plan would create "one really strong news programme".
"Although there is pain, ultimately we will have a really strong news service that will better serve viewers in the South West."
A total of 430 jobs are expected to go across the broadcaster's regional news services.
In 2007 ITV News announced a cost-cutting programme aimed at saving £40m a year.
The plans do not affect ITV's News at Ten, which is produced by ITN and is funded separately.
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Personal Evaluation of Semester 2
So its the end of Semester 2, I have written release forms, AV scripts, news articles. Filmed documentaries, music videos and a drama. Edited films, news items and did sound design for a film. I have learnt camera and microphone techniques, overcame badly behaved computers and got stuck into new editing software... It has been a bit of a journey to say the least! Here is a brief evaluation of the semester.
Writing
Admin has never been my strong point, but I do understand how important the writing module is. From writing press releases to scripts, film treatments and briefs all of these different scenarios are used in the broadcasting industry on a daily basis, and is vital for anyone going in to the industry to be able to write these with confidence. Although I felt some of my work in this module could have been better, I feel that this module has helped me overcome some of my fears of writing and should lead me into year 2 with a little extra confidence which should help me improve.
Personal Project. (Fonthill Documentary)
This project has been my favorite in this semester. To pick a subject to research, film, edit it and to be pleased with the final result was very satisfying, especially as film making is completely new to me. Inevitably, I made mistakes the making of the Fonthill documentary, the sound was poor, lighting was bad and the camera work was all a bit wobbly, but this should all help me in my learning. My computer at college was a bit of a problem too as it seemed to struggle running the editing software. At first it was really frustrating, but I accept that these situations do occur in real life and just had to get on with it to the best of my abilities.
Group Project (Beach Body)
This was a good chance for me to get more experience in a film crew and production team situation and hopefully use my skills with the skills of the other people in my group to produce a good piece of work. I wasn't really interested in producing a drama originally, but this gave us all good experience in working with actors and gave us a bit more creative freedom. I was also given the opportunity to edit the film and design the sound, which I really enjoyed. The sound was a particular achievement for me, as the some of the audio in the footage was unusable due to the wind on location forcing me to reuse some of the ambience we had recorded on the shoot. It was also a great chance to use music to set the mood of the film, something that I have always wanted to experiment with.
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Editing - 'Body on the beach'.
Now that we had all our filming complete it was time to knuckle down to the editing. There was a lot to do and I was appointed main Editor!
As we loaded the rushes into Final Cut Pro, we logged as much as possible. We made sure we had a good idea of what takes we would use and which ones to scrap. We were immediately faced with a problem as we reviewed the footage. It appeared that the visuals and sound were out of sync by a couple of seconds. We tried to reload the footage but the same problem occurred. Unfortunately this meant we had to painstakingly re sync it all manually which took some time. Luckily none of the other footage had the problem.
I started to piece together the sequence which due to good logging and preparation was very straight forward. It was satisfying to see that the hard work on the filming day had paid off as we had plenty of shots to choose from. However, on some shots we made the mistake of not double checking them on the filming day. For example, the shot of the car driving past the woods seemed to be a perfect take on the day so we didn't redo it. As we went to edit the shot, we noticed Sam the Director was clearly visible! We had to use the scene so I used a zoom filter in Final Cut Pro to remove her.
The hardest part of the editing was the beach scenes. We were trying to put together a powerful film with a message, but the footage sometimes looked like it was a comedy! Also, as I mentioned on a previous blog entry, I really did struggle with the blowing winds on the beach. I overcame this by reusing some beach ambience we had recorded on the day. We needed to use some of the dialouge from the shoot as well, so I had to carefully mix the actors with the ambience and EQ out the wind as much as possible.
As the scene develops and we reveal the 'body' the family ignore, we flashed up some shocking images of war, famine and disaster. It was important as editor to choose the appropriate pictures and to display them at the most effective times.
As we loaded the rushes into Final Cut Pro, we logged as much as possible. We made sure we had a good idea of what takes we would use and which ones to scrap. We were immediately faced with a problem as we reviewed the footage. It appeared that the visuals and sound were out of sync by a couple of seconds. We tried to reload the footage but the same problem occurred. Unfortunately this meant we had to painstakingly re sync it all manually which took some time. Luckily none of the other footage had the problem.
I started to piece together the sequence which due to good logging and preparation was very straight forward. It was satisfying to see that the hard work on the filming day had paid off as we had plenty of shots to choose from. However, on some shots we made the mistake of not double checking them on the filming day. For example, the shot of the car driving past the woods seemed to be a perfect take on the day so we didn't redo it. As we went to edit the shot, we noticed Sam the Director was clearly visible! We had to use the scene so I used a zoom filter in Final Cut Pro to remove her.
The hardest part of the editing was the beach scenes. We were trying to put together a powerful film with a message, but the footage sometimes looked like it was a comedy! Also, as I mentioned on a previous blog entry, I really did struggle with the blowing winds on the beach. I overcame this by reusing some beach ambience we had recorded on the day. We needed to use some of the dialouge from the shoot as well, so I had to carefully mix the actors with the ambience and EQ out the wind as much as possible.
As the scene develops and we reveal the 'body' the family ignore, we flashed up some shocking images of war, famine and disaster. It was important as editor to choose the appropriate pictures and to display them at the most effective times.
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Filming "Body on the Beach".
It was the day of filming!
Director - Sam Simmonds.
Producer - Kate Prichard.
Camera - Adam Jones.
Sound - Tom Hopkins.
Main Actors:
Javier Ronceros.
Lilly Simmonds.
Josh Simmonds.
Filming Dates, Location information and call times:
Saturday 24TH May 2008 Location – Sandbay Beach, Weston-Super-Mare.
Call time for crew – 9am meet @ house (2 Landemann Circus, Weston-Super-Mare, BS23 2QE). Cast 9.30am @ Beach
Sunday 25TH May 2008 Location – House Call time for crew – 9am meet @ House. Cast 9.30am meet @ house.
We all met up on time and got the equipment ready. We used 2 Sony Cameras and a boom microphone and cables and thankfully, I remembered to bring my headphones. I checked the battery's were charged, and loaded the tapes into the cameras. Sam had a clapperboard ready.
The first problem soon happened. The actress to play the mother in the film couldn't make it!! We made a decision to cut the part from the film altogether and our family would now consist of Dad, Daughters and Son.
The first scene was set up. I checked the audio levels and Adam framed the shot. The footage was of Dad opening the front door, checking the weather and shouting to the children to get ready. This took what seemed like an eternity before Sam the director was happy with the shot - we did take the sequence from several different angles and had to retake a few times because Adam could not see my boom microphone in the shot which seemed to magically appear when reviewing the footage!!
The next scene was of the family loading the car and driving off to the beach. This took several hours of filming for only 2 minutes of footage. As the crew all drove to our next location, I took over on the camera and filmed some internal shots of the car whilst on our way. We stopped off half way to film the car as it drove by. We used a layby near some woods as our location for this shot that we found in our reece a few weeks previously.
The extras that we had cast were waiting for us as we got to the beach. But before we filmed the main scene Adam and I made sure we had enough general views (GV'S) we could use in the edit. It was a particularly windy day and although this would prove a problem for the sound, it gave us some really effective images of the beach.
It was time to film the main picnic scene! We chose our main 'Body' and the rest of the extras were laid out on the beach. We wanted to make sure the scene was as natural as possible so we asked the main characters to relax and have a normal picnic. Sam had made a basket full of sandwiches which they dug into (I didn't get any) and the children played with the ball, tried to fly the kite and pretended to do some surfing! We filmed this for about 30 minutes to make sure we had all the angles needed.
The end of the day was coming quickly, so we had to make sure we had lots of footage of the cast Setting up and packing up the picnic also walking to and from the location. Myself and Adam also tried to get as many other GV and establisher shots as possible.
It was a real eye opener for me personally. Being someone with a background in audio, music and radio broadcasting, I was amazed at the amount of time and work went into a film that would only last 5 minutes due to the amount of attention to detail that is required.
As sound man on the day, I thought I did a good job to certain extent but the amount of wind on the beach was a real problem that we would have to sort out in the edit. It was lucky in hindsight that we didn't have much dialogue else the sound would have been useless!
Director - Sam Simmonds.
Producer - Kate Prichard.
Camera - Adam Jones.
Sound - Tom Hopkins.
Main Actors:
Javier Ronceros.
Lilly Simmonds.
Josh Simmonds.
Filming Dates, Location information and call times:
Saturday 24TH May 2008 Location – Sandbay Beach, Weston-Super-Mare.
Call time for crew – 9am meet @ house (2 Landemann Circus, Weston-Super-Mare, BS23 2QE). Cast 9.30am @ Beach
Sunday 25TH May 2008 Location – House Call time for crew – 9am meet @ House. Cast 9.30am meet @ house.
We all met up on time and got the equipment ready. We used 2 Sony Cameras and a boom microphone and cables and thankfully, I remembered to bring my headphones. I checked the battery's were charged, and loaded the tapes into the cameras. Sam had a clapperboard ready.
The first problem soon happened. The actress to play the mother in the film couldn't make it!! We made a decision to cut the part from the film altogether and our family would now consist of Dad, Daughters and Son.
The first scene was set up. I checked the audio levels and Adam framed the shot. The footage was of Dad opening the front door, checking the weather and shouting to the children to get ready. This took what seemed like an eternity before Sam the director was happy with the shot - we did take the sequence from several different angles and had to retake a few times because Adam could not see my boom microphone in the shot which seemed to magically appear when reviewing the footage!!
The next scene was of the family loading the car and driving off to the beach. This took several hours of filming for only 2 minutes of footage. As the crew all drove to our next location, I took over on the camera and filmed some internal shots of the car whilst on our way. We stopped off half way to film the car as it drove by. We used a layby near some woods as our location for this shot that we found in our reece a few weeks previously.
The extras that we had cast were waiting for us as we got to the beach. But before we filmed the main scene Adam and I made sure we had enough general views (GV'S) we could use in the edit. It was a particularly windy day and although this would prove a problem for the sound, it gave us some really effective images of the beach.
It was time to film the main picnic scene! We chose our main 'Body' and the rest of the extras were laid out on the beach. We wanted to make sure the scene was as natural as possible so we asked the main characters to relax and have a normal picnic. Sam had made a basket full of sandwiches which they dug into (I didn't get any) and the children played with the ball, tried to fly the kite and pretended to do some surfing! We filmed this for about 30 minutes to make sure we had all the angles needed.
The end of the day was coming quickly, so we had to make sure we had lots of footage of the cast Setting up and packing up the picnic also walking to and from the location. Myself and Adam also tried to get as many other GV and establisher shots as possible.
It was a real eye opener for me personally. Being someone with a background in audio, music and radio broadcasting, I was amazed at the amount of time and work went into a film that would only last 5 minutes due to the amount of attention to detail that is required.
As sound man on the day, I thought I did a good job to certain extent but the amount of wind on the beach was a real problem that we would have to sort out in the edit. It was lucky in hindsight that we didn't have much dialogue else the sound would have been useless!
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Planning our Group Project
For our group project we were asked to produce a 5-8 minute long film of our choice. I was put into a group with Adam, Sam and Kate. First we had to decide what our film was going to be about. I wanted to find a good subject for a documentary as I enjoyed making my Fonthill film.
Sam had an idea for a drama. A family have a picnic on a beach, they play beach games, have fun and eat sandwiches. All the time they fail to notice a dead body close to where they are sat. As they enjoy themselves we will cut in shocking war and famine images from around the world to remind our viewers (and the family) of the terrible things that are happening and what are we doing about it? Nothing. She wanted to portray general ignorance in normal people by filming this.
At first I was unsure if this would work as we were not going to have any kind of dialogue and a pretty limited storyline, but I did eventually warm to the idea because I felt although we were giving ourselves a very tough project, if we could pull it off It could be a really accomplished film. I felt if we could display the metaphor well the lack of storyline would not be as much of a problem.
We now had to choose our roles in the film. Sam was to be director, Kate producer, Adam would be in charge of photography and I would assist Adam and be in charge of Sound and Editing.
With our film idea discussed, we started thinking about locations for the shoot. We did a recce at sandbay beach near Weston-Super-Mare and it was perfect. Below are some pictures taken from the recce.
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
BBC Maida Vale
Along with some music students we took a day trip to BBC Maida vale, the BBC recording studios. We arrived at 1pm and were introduced to our guide. The first place we visited was a radio drama studio and watched the actors, engineers and producers work on a new Radio 4 play, 'The world as it is now'. It was really interesting to see how the team worked together. I was particulry interested in the sound recording engineer who showed us the recording software he used and the many sound effects at his disposal. A bit later the director was asking for suggestions for names of 'bad boy' footballers to include in the script, I suggested Paul Gascoinge as a joke but it got in!! I will have to claim my royalties and make sure I get my writing credit.
Next we visited the famous John Peel studio - I have listened to hundreds of bands that have recorded here so I was quite interested to see the studio. The Zutons were in session for the Zane Lowe radio programme when we were there and we got to watch them as they polished off the recording they had done earlier. I was suprised to see they only recorded on 24 track Digital tape. Because of the huge turnover of bands that recorded there, it was important to have only the basic facilities so bands didn't ask for lots of overdubs saving lots of time!
We briefly saw Mark Lamarr record his Radio 2 show. He had a band in from the US and we watched from the control room as he interviewed them. The last place we visited was the BBC archiving room. The workers were busy loading old reel to reel tapes of BBC programmes and backing them up on to computers.
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
Fonthill Mini documentary now online!
My personal film project for the course is now on youtube. It is a mini documentary on an Exeter rifle club whos future is uncertain due to lack of support from the local council.
Friday, 18 April 2008
Getting to grips with Final Cut pro
Our second semester focuses around Television programme making. My television experience and knowledge is limited so I was keen to get stuck in and learn as much as possible. One of the aspects of this part of the course I was looking forward to most was learning how to use the editing software Final Cut Pro. As I have good experience with audio editing software and am competent with computers so I was quite confident going into this.
Our first assignment was to create a montage of scenes we filmed on the beach for a music video for one of Sam's songs. Getting used to the basic editing tools and functions took a while and it took me 2 attempts before I submitted my work. My first selection of shots were fairly poor as I included some wobbly camera work and scenes with bad lighting and the whole piece just ended up looking like a bunch of random sequences. I rethought the assignment and tried to think like a television editor would think if he/she had to edit the piece. For example if Sam moved her head to look at something in the shot, I would cut to a dog chasing a ball and I tried not to 'cross the line'. I tried to cut on motion as much as possible. It was also good fun to use some effects that final cut pro had to offer. There was a traffic sequence that I speeded up to 500% which worked really well. I also sped up a scene of Sam walking down Weston High Street. We set the shot up and got her to walk down the street very slowly. When I sped the shot up it looked as though Sam was walking normaly but all the other pedestrians were buzzing around her. I will upload the finished piece to youtube soon.
Our second edit assignment was to put together a news item. We had some prerecorded footage of an ice mountain being built for a promotional day at a local car showroom - if a member of the public correctly guessed how long the mountain took to melt they would win a prize! The item was focused around a local radio DJ who was promoting the event live on the radio and I used his commentry to tell the story with pictures of the ice mountain being built.
Our first assignment was to create a montage of scenes we filmed on the beach for a music video for one of Sam's songs. Getting used to the basic editing tools and functions took a while and it took me 2 attempts before I submitted my work. My first selection of shots were fairly poor as I included some wobbly camera work and scenes with bad lighting and the whole piece just ended up looking like a bunch of random sequences. I rethought the assignment and tried to think like a television editor would think if he/she had to edit the piece. For example if Sam moved her head to look at something in the shot, I would cut to a dog chasing a ball and I tried not to 'cross the line'. I tried to cut on motion as much as possible. It was also good fun to use some effects that final cut pro had to offer. There was a traffic sequence that I speeded up to 500% which worked really well. I also sped up a scene of Sam walking down Weston High Street. We set the shot up and got her to walk down the street very slowly. When I sped the shot up it looked as though Sam was walking normaly but all the other pedestrians were buzzing around her. I will upload the finished piece to youtube soon.
Our second edit assignment was to put together a news item. We had some prerecorded footage of an ice mountain being built for a promotional day at a local car showroom - if a member of the public correctly guessed how long the mountain took to melt they would win a prize! The item was focused around a local radio DJ who was promoting the event live on the radio and I used his commentry to tell the story with pictures of the ice mountain being built.
News Item
A news item taken from the press release issued 15th April 08 on the BBC website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/04_april/15/tours.shtml
Below I have posted 2 drafts, the second and final draft at the top.
BBC open the doors to Broadcasting House.
References:
BBC. 2008. Press release, “Take a tour of the BBC's iconic home of broadcasting”. [online] Available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/04_april/15/tours.shtml [accessed 18/04/08].
BBC. 2008. “Key facts. Broadcasting House, London”. [online] Available from www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/keyfacts/stories/broadcasting_house.shtml [accessed 07/05/08].
Draft 1.
BBC open the doors to Broadcasting House.
The public to will be able to view Broadcasting House, Upper Regent Street in London, in a series of tours arranged for the summer, the BBC announced on Tuesday. The building, built in 1932, was the first purpose-built broadcast centre in Britain and has been home to such iconic shows as The Goons and The News Quiz, the Council Chamber, where BBC Governors and Board meetings used to take place, and the new digital radio studios, where BBC Radio 3 and 4 are recorded.
In addition to the tour, visitors will be offered the chance to take part in a fully-interactive Radio Drama Experience.
The whole experience will take up to one and a half hours and the first tour takes place on May 11th. Tickets are available by calling the booking line on 0870 603 03 04.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/04_april/15/tours.shtml
Below I have posted 2 drafts, the second and final draft at the top.
BBC open the doors to Broadcasting House.
Ever wondered how your favourite TV programs are made? Would you like to stroll down the hallowed corridors of the BBC? Well now you can.
The public will be able to view Broadcasting House, Upper Regent Street in London, in a series of tours arranged for the summer, the BBC announced on Tuesday.
The building, designed by Lieutenant Colonel G. Val Myer and built in 1932, was the first purpose-built broadcast centre in Britain and has been home to such iconic shows as The Goons and The News Quiz.
“Visitors will be able to see the Council Chamber, where BBC Governors and Board meetings used to take place and the new digital radio studios, where BBC Radio 3 and 4 are recorded.” Enthused John Pippins the tour guide.
The public will be able to view Broadcasting House, Upper Regent Street in London, in a series of tours arranged for the summer, the BBC announced on Tuesday.
The building, designed by Lieutenant Colonel G. Val Myer and built in 1932, was the first purpose-built broadcast centre in Britain and has been home to such iconic shows as The Goons and The News Quiz.
“Visitors will be able to see the Council Chamber, where BBC Governors and Board meetings used to take place and the new digital radio studios, where BBC Radio 3 and 4 are recorded.” Enthused John Pippins the tour guide.
"In addition to the tour, visitors will be offered the chance to take part in a fully-interactive Radio Drama Experience.”
The whole experience will take up to one and a half hours and the first tour takes place on May 11th. Tickets are available by calling the booking line on 0870 603 03 04.
“Book as soon as possible” said Pippins, “Tickets are going fast!”
“Book as soon as possible” said Pippins, “Tickets are going fast!”
References:
BBC. 2008. Press release, “Take a tour of the BBC's iconic home of broadcasting”. [online] Available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/04_april/15/tours.shtml [accessed 18/04/08].
BBC. 2008. “Key facts. Broadcasting House, London”. [online] Available from www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/keyfacts/stories/broadcasting_house.shtml [accessed 07/05/08].
Draft 1.
BBC open the doors to Broadcasting House.
The public to will be able to view Broadcasting House, Upper Regent Street in London, in a series of tours arranged for the summer, the BBC announced on Tuesday. The building, built in 1932, was the first purpose-built broadcast centre in Britain and has been home to such iconic shows as The Goons and The News Quiz, the Council Chamber, where BBC Governors and Board meetings used to take place, and the new digital radio studios, where BBC Radio 3 and 4 are recorded.
In addition to the tour, visitors will be offered the chance to take part in a fully-interactive Radio Drama Experience.
The whole experience will take up to one and a half hours and the first tour takes place on May 11th. Tickets are available by calling the booking line on 0870 603 03 04.
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
Saline
From left to right: Adam, Me, Aleicia, Sam, Keeley.
Our return to studies in semester two started very interestingly as we were invited to the set of the film 'Saline' that was being filmed in and around Weston. The film was being made by a company called Percival pictures and the producer was Sophie Venner.
The crew quickly made use of us and we were asked to work as runners and after a long wait for something to do (they were waiting for a camera to be delivered from Bristol) we soon found ourselves doing odd jobs for the crew. I was asked to go back to the Hotel with a list of lighting equipment for the producer and we were also asked to lug equipment around as they prepared the set for filming.
One thing I noticed was the crew were very friendly and open to questions and had no problems offering advice. Unfortunately I did have to travel back home to Exeter and didn't have much time to network, but would be happy to take up any future opportunities in the future.
Relevant Links
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
Evaluating my progress with Kim
Kim and I today discussed my work so far this semester. She gave me some feedback on how she felt I was doing and how to improve my work.
On my portfolio CD I submitted the following pieces of work.
A Vox Pop asking what people would like to see more of on television.
We agreed although the answers I chose to use in the Vox Pop were good, my choice on what order the answers were played was not so good. A lot of the longer responses were at the beginning of the Vox Pop with lots of shorter and quite repetitive answers were played at the end.
Interview with Television Director, Tom Cholmondeley.
We recorded a 20 minute interview with T.V. Director Tom Cholmondeley and were asked to edit it down to a 2 minute piece. Kim liked the question I selected for my edit which was a story about the pressures of working as a director. He used a great example of working with Mikhail Gorbachev for a documentary on communism and it sounded like he had a terrifying experience! There was problems with the volume levels of the audio at times which I could have addressed but apart from that she liked the final edit.
Interview With Kim Brooke, Freelance Director.
I have mentioned this task earlier in my blog and you can download the final edit by clicking the link in the entry. Kim seemed really pleased with this edit, the full interview was 30 minutes long and I managed to put across the main points she talks about in 2 minutes. Kim said she would use he edit as an example to other students!
Power Point Presentation
We were asked to choose a subject within the broadcasting industry and to make a power point presentation about our choice. I chose to do a presentation on Ofcom. In the powerpoint I selected key elements of the Ofcom broadcasting code to discuss. Kim thought the initial set up of the presentation was good but felt as she went through the slides on the powerpoint it got a little repetitive. She also mentioned the pictures I used to illustrate some of the key points were a little too big and told me I should have focused more on explaining in more detail some of the key roles of Ofcom.
Overall we agreed that my work had been good so far, although I can now refocus after some creative criticism and look to improve some of the points made to me by Kim.
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