Digital News Unit: Research - Ideas Lab

Yesterday we got into our groups and had an ideas lab to work out what our channel would be.

Our group comprises of myself, Mike, Sophie and Aimee.

Coming into the ideas lab me and Aimee had some ideas that we discussed at an earlier date:

We also had a story that piqued our interest:
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/shortfall-in-primary-school-places-24020/

We chose a target audience age range of 25-50 as this is the age group most likely to access a news channel online: older age groups are less likely due to the fast advancements in technology. We also opted for a local news broadcaster: reporting for the whole county of Kent as this allowed smaller stories to be heard since it being local filters some of the larger stories out.

During the ideas lab Mike brought up the story about the cliffs in Dover eroding away due to the harsh weather last year, we liked the idea as it fitted in with our target age (25-50) and was relevant, local news.
Helen approached us and talked about the ideas we had made: importantly she brought to our attention that we need to get our brand sorted first and foremost. The stories were good but without a focus our channel is the same as other Kent news broadcasters, so we needed a U.S.P.

Culture: we chose Kent culture as this genre would fit in with the 25-50 age group but also bring this side of news into the spotlight.
This covers arts, television, film, and entertainment as a whole. Shortly after I came up with the name 'Kentertainment' as a sort of bad pun and a working title until we needed a better name but instead it stuck.

With our focus point set we needed to brand the channel as our own so next we concocted the sting:

This would also act as our title card and the image that is behind the presenter on the green screen.

I feel we have an interesting brand set up as there isn't a news provider for Kent that provides a focus on entertainment and culture solely.

Fiction Adaptation Unit: Research - Dissecting the Question

With my essay question chosen it's time to dissect it and see exactly what it's asking me.

"In adapting a novel the adaptor inevitably infringes the integrity of the original text – discuss with reference to at least one text adapted for broadcast on television."

Key words to pull from this:

1. Inevitably - This states that it's a guarantee.
2. Infringes - Breaks, bypasses, disobeys.
3. Integrity - Quality, status.

Basically: the question is asking me to discuss whether the statement is true or not.
"The adaptor, without fail, spoils the quality of the original text."

The main word though is "adapting". I need to understand the definition of this word before I continue:

Adapt: Alter (a text) to make it suitable for filming, broadcasting, or the stage:

'the film was adapted from a Turgenev short story'

(Oxford Dictionary online, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/adapt)

The word 'adapt' comes from the Latin words 'ad' (to) and 'aptus' (to fit).

So adapting something is to make it fit; make it suitable.

It also mentions "at least" meaning I should prepare a couple of other main texts to write about that provide another side of the argument.


Major Texts

- The Walking Dead
- House of Cards
- Hannibal
- Elementary

Minor Texts

- Garfield and Friends.
- The Adventures of Tintin.
- Watchmen
- James Bond

I'm going to need to look at how these adaptations were received and what the originals' creator thought about it.

Fiction Adaptation Unit: Research - First Thoughts and Ideas

Today we were introduced to the Fiction Adaptation Unit and presented with both our essay questions and our practical brief.

The three essay questions to choose from:

1) Discuss the view that "with a successful adaptation, the original work is transformed into something new and different, although retaining many traces of what it was formerly" with reference to at least one text adapted for broadcast on television.

2) To what extent is it true that "Adaptations of classic texts enable contemporary audiences to re-visit the past; as such they can be situated within the broader context of postmodern appropriations of history" ? Examine with reference to at least one text adapted for broadcast on television.

3) In adapting a novel the adaptor inevitably infringes the integrity of the original text – discuss with reference to at least one text adapted for broadcast on television.

I'm drawn towards the third question due to it allowing me to discuss the accuracy and reception of a text based on its adaptation and it also allows me to write a two-sided argument.

Now I need a text to write about: at first several ides popped into my head:

- Watchmen (Adapted from a graphic novel)

- The Green Mile (Adapted from a book)

- Sin City (Adapted from a graphic novel)

- V For Vendetta (Adapted from a graphic novel)

The issue with these texts is that they're films; they weren't broadcast for TV. 

I could use them as secondary texts: for use purely to back up points and provide other examples but not use them as a focus point.

I don't watch a lot of TV but the shows I do watch aren't adaptations. I would like to write about a text that interests me as it would help make the whole process easier to accomplish. 

One show that springs to mind is The Walking Dead as I'm a big fan of the zombie genre. Only problem is I've never watched it but I do own two compilation books of the comics.

Other ideas:

- Asterix and Obelix

- The Adventures of TinTin 

- Garfield

- Of Mice and Men

I have read all of these texts and they've all spawned TV shows (OMAM spawned a TV movie). I could use these as exemplar texts to back up points and to help with a two-way argument.

I think I'm going to go ahead with The Walking Dead as that has an extensive back catalogue of comics and 5 seasons on TV to work with: it would be interesting to see how faithful the show is to the comics.

Fiction Adaptation Unit: Practical Element - Who is 'He'? Who is The Narrator?

The first word in the poem is "He". This person is the subject of the poem; the one on their death bed.

So who is 'He'?

This is the question I posed to myself: who is the poem about? So I wrote some ideas:

Initially I pictured the 'He' as a WW1 infantryman but by spending some time to think of other ideas I had: 

- A survivor of the war.

- A Schizophrenic who believes he's a soldier.

- The 4th idea is for the narrator (which I shall get to shortly).

With some more deliberation I've decided that the 'He' should be a modern soldier.

My reasons for this are:

1. It brings a relevant and contemporary feel to the poem due to Iraq war and war in Afghanistan.

2. I can picture a modern soldier in this poem.

3. The costume for the character will be easier to source (white vest, camo-trousers, boots).

The words themselves are timeless: you can't necessarily date the poem. It could make sense in another 100 years or 1000: it gives the same message: death. 

Going back to the Narrator: I considered the idea that they are an ancestor or relative of the soldier. Reliving the last moments of the fallen man and the final shot is of him looking at a photo of the 'He'.

Therefore the narrator will also be a modern civilian to fit in with the period it's set in.

Fiction Adaptation Unit: Practical Element - Ideas and Thoughts

Also during the Fiction Adaptation Unit Briefing; we were given our brief for the practical side:

"You are challenged to produce a new short film which is adapted from one of the selection of poems provided, written by the poets of the First World War. Each film will act as an episode in a series under the title "TBC""

It has to be 3-5 minutes in length and begin with the same series title that the group comes to a decision about.

Were then given the poems. 

I read the first poem: "Anthem for a Doomed Youth" by Wilfred Owen.

Anthem for a Doomed Youth – by Wilfred Owen

I couldn't quite get into this poem so I read the next one down: The Death Bed by Siegfried Sassoon.

The Death Bed by Siegfried Sassoon

This poem grabbed me: I began to envision this poor individual lying on a bed waiting for the inevitable and I began to get a sense of the world. At "...then the pain. Leapt like a prowling beast, and gripped and tore his groping dreams..." I pictured torment and could almost feel how this man, or boy, felt. I didn't think of an animal though instead I pictured people, hands, grabbing him and pulling him about as if they represented his fears. When I got to "But death replied: 'I choose him.'" I pictured death pointing straight at this person.

I read the other three poems afterwards: Cenotaph by Charlotte Mew; Recalling War by Robert Graves, and Summer in England by Alice Mevnnell.

Three War Poems

However, I felt that Recalling War and Summer in England were too long to adapt without running into time issues. They're both five stanza's long: meaning an maximum average of 1 minute per stanza. Add on the credits and time may be too tight. Plus I didn't have the same connection with these as I have for The Death Bed.

My idea right from the start was to have the poem narrated by the subject but when I thought about it more I decided there should be two protagonists: the narrator and the 'he' mentioned in the poem. The narrator being present and speaking the poem in the 'he's world: invisible to him.

With this set my next thought was to set it during the first World War but that presented problems: creating a period-accurate ward and WW1 infantry uniform. I needed the uniform as I was thinking of showing several quick flashes of the battle and the 'he' fighting or running across a field in war.

Below are the notes I made on the poem:

I began to look into the words more and started to think how I could represent these in the film. In TDB the word "ward" is used, at first I did think of an actual hospital ward but then thought: "anything could be the soldiers' ward. The point in which he fell in battle could be his ward." So with that in mind I thought of a more unconventional filming method. Instead of it being in the traditional story format (beginning, middle and end) I thought about something more unpredictable, more messy and crazy.

The best example I could think of is the BMW i8 advert that ran several months ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_5TwgtJLPU

The fast edits are what I am considering, as the narrator speaks we see short, swift pieces of other things related to what they are discussing.
The narrator will speak in almost a similar fashion to the actor in the advert, a sense of passion and emotion in their voice, a connection with the text and its subject.
The dark colour palette is also a vision I had when reading the poem.

I feel that this style will work because it brings a more intense feel to the poem, the fast cuts and dark tone will bring a deeper emotion to the piece but not making it saddening or disturbing.

So currently my decision is set at adapting The Death Bed.

Digital News Unit: Research - Varieties of News Content.

Today we were set homework:

"Start watching a variety of news content - what makes a good story? What mix of stories make the running order? What is Dominating the news?"

I started with the BBC News Website and took a screenshot of the homepage:

The lead story A.K.A the first article on the page is about U.S president Barack Obama praising the other Arab nations' support after an airstrike killed several Islamic State militants in Syria. What's interesting at first is that subject regarding America is at the top of the page of a British news website; but the story still has relevance to the UK as the Islamic State recently executed British aid worker David Haines (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2754934/ISIS-release-video-claiming-beheading-British-hostage-David-Haines.html).

This is followed by Ed Miliband talking about his "Pledge to save NHS" during his Labour Conference speech. This story, arguably, has a lot more relevance than the above article due to it being about a British political party's leader discussing his intentions to bring in more NHS nurses.

Underneath, below the subtitle "Other Top Stories", are some more articles but in smaller text and without an accompanying image. These stories are, arguably, more morbid than the 'bigger' ones and so are less easier to see. This indicates that what makes the big headlines are stories that aren't violent or bring unpleasant images to the viewers such as the Ebola virus or a mother and son being killed by a train.

Next I looked at the Sky news website:

What made the main headline on this site was, again, the U.S president making a statement about the airstrike in Syria. Unlike the BBC's website, this was the only 'biggest' story: the next three stories are smaller but still quite noticeable. Among them is the DJ David Lee Travis being found guilty of indecent assault. On the BBC's website this was in the rather small 'Other Top Stories' section: most likely because David Lee Travis was a DJ for the BBC and therefore has influenced it's position on his employers' website. Clearly there is some bias on where a story is placed on a website going by this story alone.

Below this are six more, smaller, articles: one of which being Ed Milibands' Labour Conference speech which was a top story on the BBC's website. The reason that the BBC might have placed this story so high up is because it is a public-funded service: and so bringing an article about a political party to the near-top of the page is in keeping with their 'public-service'. Sky News on the other hand is owned by media conglomerate BSkyB and is therefore funded by advertising meaning the public have no 'personal connection' to the broadcaster.

Further down the page is a "More Top Stories" section which includes the story of the mother and son being killed by a train but instead it mentions a "Murder-suicide Probe"; different to what the BBC stated in its headline.

Lastly was Channel 5's news website. I chose this due to it not really being regarded as an official news source since it's more know as an entertainment channel for its shows 'Big Brother' and reruns of 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'.

My comment on this broadcaster not being regarded as an official news source is reinforced when the four articles that can be seen are the only articles on its 'Main Page'. It's biggest story is the Ed Miliband speech, followed by the other three, smaller articles: the David Lee Travis verdict; the missing Alice Gross case and an article on spiders getting into households due to the weather. 

But it seems almost anything is eligible to make the news:

'Gimp Man' aims to spark debate.

It's most likely because the audience doesn't want to read or hear about doom and gloom all the time so by reporting on lighter subjects it brings a sense of entertainment. Sky news has a separate tab labelled 'Strange' just for the odder stories.

Some may find the Gimp Man headline humorous but upon further reading:

"So far he has raised £375 for charity"

In what was, at first, a 'jokey story' turns out to actually have an agenda in the form of the Gimp Man raising money for charity; the story has a purpose and is reporting on something that I believe falls under the 'worthwhile' category.


Overall it seems international and political stories are dominating the news as the terror threat seems to be ever-more merciless recently and the General Election is next year.
Going by the articles I've seen on these sites: almost anything makes a 'good story'. If it has a purpose then it's reportable.
Finally what makes the running order is the most 'popular' events. For example the Obama statement on the war against terror: very current and important subject, followed by the political news, due to a fast approaching election (May 7th 2015) and something I've not yet mentioned: the Queen's apparent joy at Scotland voting no to independence. These were all large events in comparison to the Gimp Man raising money and a DJ being found guilty as they only affected small parties of people.

What I've learnt about this task is that Broadcasters do tend to agree on the same thing: what makes a good story. And that is what affects the country most.

Digital News Unit: Research - BBC News Segment

We were shown a piece of BBC news broadcast. Below are my notes on several of the broadcasts' news pieces.

What was evident in this news article was that the most recent pieces of news and information was presented first: as it was more relevant, the gradually the older the story the farther back it was pushed. A good example is the story on the missing 14-year-old Alice Gross: she was last seen on August 28th which, at the time, was a relevant and recent story. Now almost an entire month later the news broadcasters have moved information on the story deeper into the show as time went on. 

Something else that was evident was the constant use of 'experts'. In the Tesco segment an expert was questioned briefly live in the studio; during the Ed Balls segment a different expert was, again, questioned briefly live in the studio and the same happened for yet another segment. What this tells me is that BBC likes to get opinions from credible sources to beef up the story and get a second voice on the subjects at hand. 

Graphics were used in almost every segment too; another method in which to present potentially 'boring' or 'uninteresting' statistics if simply spoken to us. By showing graphs and images and graphics on the screen or overlaying a moving image the audience can get a clearer understanding of the information being presented to them. 

Going back to the order of the stories: another reason they might order them in a particular order is due to its appeal: for an example let's use a murder case, the producers might move this deeper into the broadcast due to it's graphic nature, to not put the audience off straight away. However if it's a 6pm news broadcast then it would be better to spare the details for the 10pm broadcast where older audiences are more likely to be the only ones watching. Plus 6pm is usual regarded as dinner-time and content such as a murder case wouldn't be the most suitable viewing during dinner. 

Something that interested me was the news piece on Ed Ball's Labour Conference speech: at one particular moment the correspondent/presenter for that segment gave a brief piece of dialogue whilst on a moving tram. I have come to learn that this is referred to as a 'stunt': most likely premeditated. This is certainly something I would like to at least attempt for our project as I feel it's a unique and non-conventional way of presenting an otherwise 'motionless' story (A politician standing at a podium and talking).

Methods of presenting the story I would consider using/attempting:

- Have the presenter in motion (A walkie Talkie) or in a moving vehicle (such as the tram).

- Use graphics to present statistics or information that would clog up the dialogue if spoken in too much detail.

- Questioning an expert to get a second opinion/voice.