161MC: Lecture 3 Recap

From Script to Screen:

 

Most magazine programmes follow this simple ‘5 Act structure’:

1. INTRO: – It is important for the intro to grab the audience’s attention
2. LINKS & MENUS: – Tease the audience to get them to continue watching. Tell viewers what to expect.
3. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION: – Integrity – Don’t make things up and present the truth on-screen/check facts, Respect – audience and guests, Tone – although it is pre-watershed you can get away with a lot with the right tone.
4. STUDIO ITEMS – CHAT/ DEMOS/ PERF/ VTs: – Offer good quality content, vary timings and lengths of shots, research is important.
5. THE FINALE: – End on a high – performance or demonstration

What is a ‘running order’?

The outline plan of the production. A list of times and the title of each segment that the whole crew works from to stay in the loop.

The director and producer are given a copy of the script and as such, control the timings to corroborate with the running order, and control the shots that are used on all of the cameras.

 

 

161MC: Lecture 2 Recap

Deconstructing magazine programmes:

The look of a set is important and sets from X-Factor, Top Gear and This Morning all have their own iconic image. As such, it is imperative that the look compliments the nature of the show.

Pros and Cons of sets

 

“It’s absolutely scientific. We know everything there is to know about the audience who are available to view between 7pm and 7.30pm and we have very scientifically targeted them. So each programme and each programme segment is targeted at the people we know are available to view with the kind of tone, subject matter and general style of programming we know they want and appreciate at that time.”

Tessa Finch, Executive Producer

 

This is important as we need to be sure that the material and script we produce for the show is going to be relevant to our target audience (pre-watershed) and that the tone is right and consistent.

As such, the content has to be appropriate and conveyed in the right tone and mood through the presenters. This is evident in The One Show and This Morning. Both have different approaches, but it works for the show’s mood.

 

161MC: Lecture 1 Recap

Introduction to the magazine show format:

What is a magazine show?

A magazine programme is a television show that is made up of combination of topical and entertaining items that fit it’s specific target audience. These shows are often recorded as live but can also contain VTs or pre-recorded material.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/theoneshow/backstage/video_extras.shtml

Taken from The One Show, this shows behind the scenes footage of getting ready for the show to begin. During the video, the presenters show the studio surroundings, what is common studio etiquette, common layout, how the show usually runs and the crew involved. This is a good video as it is inspiration and insight into what our TV studio piece could be set out like and the common conventions of the magazine show format.

 

What our NET TV piece should include:

3 or 4 user-generated clips
A studio based interview (with contributors from outside MP course)
A demonstration item or a performance (music, dance or comedy)
An audience Participation item (can be pre-recorded)
A title sequence and programme graphics.

161MC: – Website Research

As part of the course requirement of creating a website on Wix for our 10 minute live television piece, I decided to gain some inspiration before I begin working on it. As our television show is meant to be a magazine show, those were the websites I looked at. I had never really seen a magazine show website before and so didn’t really know what were the common features or what I could draw from and implement into my own site.

I first looked at This Morning’s website:

The main thing that is most noticeable on this homepage is the image – text ratio. The main page constitutes about 80% image and 20% text which grabs the browser’s attention and captures their interest, rather than make them pour through a wave of text.

At the top of the page, it has a clearly defined header including the name of the show, the tagline, the awards the show has won, when the programme is aired and its sponsor. For our Magic NET TV show we do not have a tagline but I think this would be quite a nice touch to add and would make the website a little more personal than the rest of the group’s sites.

The page also has a good colour scheme which complements the page well. These are the same patterns and colours that are used in the show’s opening credits and thus lends continuity to the website. Our show has a red and black colour scheme and so this is something I will incorporate into my own website for Magic NET TV. As well as this regular colour range, the text used is the same throughout and so keeps the website grounded without any outlandish font changes.

This Morning also has a well set out and clear tab bar at the top which highlights all of the sections and many pages that the website boasts. There are a large range of pages which therefore appeals to the greater number of followers who can easily choose between the issue or topic they most desire. Although the minimum of pages we have to create for the website is 3, I will try my hardest to create as many pages as I can, provided I can make each one unique and interesting.

The website also provides a scrolling tab of the top 4 articles on the home page. This allows the browser to see what is going on and the most popular items for them to view. This also continues underneath; providing, like the top tab bar, a wide range of recent topics for the browser to choose accordingly. This is something I shall try to implement into my website and, although I will have to keep it grounded to the topic of Fantasy and Magic, I will try to keep it broad.

One thing I do like, and something that is used in the other two websites I looked at, (see below) is the running order for the next show. This is a great way to keep the audience informed as to what to expect and look out for in the future show. On television they also have very short reminders as to what is coming up in the show the day after. This is just a neat feature I would like to implement into my website, even though we are only making the one singular show.

Something that is a great feature is the level of interactivity. This Morning offers a range of games (something I lack the ability to create for my website despite being a good feature) and a large Facebook and Twitter following. We have already created our Facebook and Twitter pages for Magic NET TV, so this is a part of the site that I think will be most important for the site as it essentially the crux of our transmedia movement.

Next I chose to look at The One Show’s website. Without running the risk of repeating myself, I will merely point out any different features I found or any that are profoundly similar in all of these websites.

The One Show website offers a helpful feature of allowing browsers to catch up on missed episodes via iPlayer which again adds to this sense of interactivity and the new move for television programmes to make a jump to online. It also enables browsers to send in their stories which is a similar aspect to what we are trying to do to get viewers to send in their own magic tricks.

In comparison to This Morning, the website has a clear banner with a good colour scheme (similar to the colour scheme I would like to use in my own site) with the times the show airs. It also still has the item of letting browsers know what is coming up in the following day’s show to keep people in the loop.

Lastly, I looked at was Channel 4’s Rude Tube. As our show adopts the same style as Rude Tube in terms of it being a video countdown show, I thought it might be appropriate to look at a similar site.

Similar to the two previous sites, the webpage is clearly laid out, with an easily defined title at the top. This time however it is done through a single image rather than a banner at the top. I quite like this layout, although I think it is important to have a banner and a clear title and tagline (if any).

Like This Morning, Rude Tube has a great range of pages, but as opposed to a variety of interests over a large range of topics, Rude Tube merely divides its series and videos into different sections. Rude Tube’s focus is to just count down Internet videos and its categories are distributed as such.

In terms of interactivity, there are online games for the browser to play as well as competitions and bonus content. The show is also available to watch on 4od as well as offering even more ways to get in touch and communicate with the show. Apart from the usual Facebook and Twitter threads, there is also a Youtube option and a way to sign up and login in to communicate through the Channel 4 and E4 thread. Being an online and viral based show in terms of its content, it is important to have the greatest variety of communicative and social networking sites available to the show’s website.

161MC: – Magic NET TV Facebook and Twitter pages

To coincide with our Magic NET TV television piece, we decided to create both a Facebook and Twitter page. The reasoning behind this was to think about transmedia and the multi-platform approach that so many recent magazine television shows do now. By having extra content available to the casual viewer, it adds another layer and element that the show alone does not. It enables the viewer to take a more active and creative role, that can eventually become a viral phenomenon. Even after the show has concluded, it allows the show to continue through another medium and therefore never really end. Our take on this was for the casual browser to send in videos of themselves performing simple magic tricks that might be featured on the show.

Below are the Facebook and Twitter pages:

http://www.facebook.com/MagicNetTV

https://twitter.com/#!/MagicNetTV

 

161MC: Magic NET TV – Opening & Closing Credits / Contents

David Bird has produced the opening & closing credits videos that will be played as VTs during our piece, as well as the contents screen.

Title sequence:
http://vimeo.com/39581762

 

I really like this title sequence as I feel it draws upon our chosen colour scheme very effectively and the choice of music creates a very magical and mysterious atmosphere. My only criticism would be that it doesn’t really have any signifiers that it is a magic show in its credits, outside of the music.

 

Contents:
http://vimeo.com/39620496

The contents page is very simple and shows the viewing audience what is coming up in the show effectively. I would perhaps add a few more things going on on the screen to make it a bit more exciting.

 

Closing Credits:
http://vimeo.com/39705661

I really like the idea of showing each of the crew’s individual picture next to their role in the studio and I think it works really well. My only point of criticism would be that it is perhaps too different in style to the previous videos and doesn’t exactly follow the magic vibe.

 

 

 

 

161MC: – Magic NET TV Script Draft

Our idea for our adaptation of ‘Fantasy’ is to go down the magic route; more specifically ‘Modern Magic’. The show will take the style of a RudeTube countdown show, revealing a Top 3 countdown of the best magic tricks on the internet. The first draft of the script has been developed by the Co-Presenter,James McCaughley and is linked below:

Click to access magic-net-tv-script-1st-draft.pdf

The script will go through a lot more subsequent drafts before we arrive at the final one. Upon writing this, I know that the times have been re-worked as, when read in practise runs, did not fit the allocated times.

My only problem with this script is that is disregards the brief ‘s title of ‘Fantasy’. If a brief introduction could be added such as:

“The topic of Fantasy has always been shrouded in mystery in magic. But what about magic in a modern world? Does the magic element of Fantasy still have any bearing in modern society? Today we find out as we count down the Top 3 magic tricks on the internet, voted by you”.

Something as simple as this would show that we have acknowledged the brief and chose to develop it and interpret it in the way of Modern Magic. I think a lot more attention needs to be brought to this and the subject of ‘Fantasy’ needs to be refered to a lot more.

161MC: – Experience with ‘Camera 2’

Camera 2 was the job I asked for as part of our TV Studio piece. Camera 2 serves as the main establishing shot of the set and presenters which is usually used as the back up take should any of the other cameras go awry. As such, Camera 2 doesn’t really do much moving or offer any shots as Camera 1 or 3 do.

My initial hope was to use any one of the three cameras but a lot of people seemed to gravitate towards Camera 1 and 3 (as Camera 2 doesn’t do much). As such, no one seemed to go to Camera 2 at all in all of the TV Studio practises, and so Camera 2 was the piece I had the most time to work with and experience.

That being said, in all of the times we have been in the studio, I have thoroughly enjoyed working on Camera 2. There is a great atmosphere with all the other people involved on the studio floor and everyone seems happy and well-suited to the jobs that they have opted for. This makes the time in the studio that more enjoyable when you are with a crew that you can have a laugh with but also at the time that is needed to be focussed and professional in terms of the recorded piece.

Because we wanted to utilise as much of the studio space as possible, and chose to allocate a separate performance area to the side of the set, there is some camera movement involved with Camera 2 towards the end of the show. During a VT, all 3 cameras move and Camera 2 zooms in to get a close up shot of the magic trick being performed. I was grateful for this choice as it allows me to offer shots and take more of an active role in the TV piece. At this stage, it is very difficult to focus on the trick being performed as there is no set trick for each time we film and as such, the performers hands tend to move a lot making it very difficult to focus. However, when we come to film the final piece, there will be a table and a set trick which will make it easier for me to know where exactly to position the camera.

Overall, it has been good getting to grips with a different kind of camera and being in a completely different live filming environment and the new way that being in a TV Studio works.

161MC: – Magic NET TV Set Design and Further Ideas

Following further discussions, we have decided that the colour scheme for our Magic NET TV piece should be red and black as we felt this would lend itself well to the theme and look aesthetically effective when it comes to filming. This colour scheme would also link with things such as card tricks, and the colour on the cards. Creative lighting can brought to our TV piece and I feel we can generate some mysterious atmosphere when it comes to filming.

While talking about idea for set design, we realised that a lot of things will need to be brought, such as red flooring, black material backdrop and various props. We were fortunate to find a black leather chair and sofa in the University main entrance, so we will use these for the interview segments. We wanted to utilise as much of the studio space as we possibly could and so we allocated a performance area in which we would pan to towards the end of the show. As such we will need some kind of table for the final magic trick to be performed on. For the background, we decided we wanted to use boards that would be place in a fanned-out fashion which will then be painted or decorated to look like playing cards. These will serve as a visual signifier to the audience who, if were watching the show, would need to know what kind of show it was or what type of things will be involved, rather than just having a black material background.

 

Since the initial running order, we have made alterations to the timings and re-distributed them accordingly as some segments went on for far too long, such as the credits being 30 seconds long. After watching more magazine shows, they tend to have very fast credits in order to dwell on other segments for longer. The running order has been changed a lot since then, but to my knowledge has now been finalised after having more practise in the TV studio.