Media Events Research

Media Events

A media event is an occasion which can be either spontaneous (such as breaking news events) or planned (to ensure maximum exposure) that attracts the attention and interest of the mass media. This could be through local/national TV, radio, newspapers or online equivalents. It is normally something that has a specific audience and appeal though some events end up with nationwide attention.
Whatever the subject or nature of the ‘event’ is will define it’s importance and appeal to the media, and though planned events may not get as much attention as an unplanned breaking story, there are many components that can make a successful media event to raise awareness for a cause/subject.

Examples of planned media events can include:

• Book/album launch or signing
• Unveiling of a new product (e.g. Apple iPad/new cars/video game)
• Opening of a new building (or similar) by a ‘celebrity’

Apple always create a lot of stir and anticipation with their media events which are for the unveiling of new products. For example their recent presentation for the iPad 2. There is always a lot of build up and secrecy surrounding the events and are much discussed by those interested, this can also involve rumours being started about what the content of the media event will be.

On March 2nd 2011 in San Francisco (California), Apple unveiled the plan for the iPad 2, they have held many events of this type where they preview an update of a product or sometimes the unveiling of an entirely new product. In this instance there was also hype around the attendance of CEO Steve Jobs, this was a surprise to many who did not expect him to attend the event!

It’s intended audience are existing Apple customers, technology users (who may wish to convert to Apple), rival companies and all people who like to keep up to date with the latest technology.

The aim of the event is to showcase Apple’s work, as they are such a popular brand people are always expecting more and they always seem to make a big deal of showing us what they have been up to! The aim primarily is of course to sell, to convince people that they need to update their existing iPad or for those who don’t already own one to show them how much they would benefit from purchasing one.

It achieves it’s aims through visual presentations, it is a simple no fuss formula of presentation and simply delivers the points it wants to make as well as displaying the product itself.

What the event wants the audience to take away is the privilege that they are the first to know the latest technology developments and also the interest in buying the product!


Tips for a successful media event:

• Stick to your schedule (if you have news crews/photographers/reporters coming- they won‘t wait!)
• Host the event early in the week to avoid any publicity being washed out by the weekend
• Make sure any publicity is released a few days before
• Have in depth knowledge of your subject/cause and be prepared to answer questions
• Make sure you have enough resources and equipment, don’t want anyone to get left out!
• Check visuals and/or technology are working! (and double check them again!)
• Keep back ups of all digital or paper based information

Organising a Media Event

Sorry for the lack of recent blogging but I will catch you up to speed on things as soon as I can!

In our 5001 sessions we have moved on from the Behind The Scenes project onto Organising a Media Event.
These are the guidelines for our event:

• Suitable for 1st Year Media BTEC students
• Approx 20 16-17 year olds
• Friday 8th April 9.30-14.00
• £200 budget
• We have at least two rooms/spaces

So what is a media event?
We came up with a few things to do with the meaning/requirements of a media event:

• an occassion/celebration/event that will attract media or publicity
• workshop
• having a personality/celeb
• make an announcement, advertise/PR

When we broke off into groups we then came up with some ideas for what we could include in our media event. Without being bias I liked our groups one the best as I think it covers most of the above points including what would be the most fun which is getting in a 'local celeb'.

Our idea was to construct a newsroom atmosphere and get the students to create a short news programme, this would allow people keen to write to write a script, the performers could be the presenters and those interested in the technology side could see how the cameras, sound and editing works. The great bit of it would be to try and get one of the presenters of BBC Points West/HTV local news to come down and co-present it with them. Not only would this make it more interesting for the kids but also would give a chance for the presenter to give a talk about how they got their job etc so it would also be informative/educational to them.

Voice Over Tips

The Voice

An Overview

Without some form of commentary (be it in form of narration of captions) it's hard for viewers to connect with the film. With documentaries it is better to use a voice over as it does not detract from the image on the screen, if people are trying to read captions they will miss what is being said/shown on the rest of the screen.

However, there needs to be space for sound from the film and time for people to absorb what may have been said interviews etc so don't put too much into the voice over. Keep it simple and fresh obeying these 3 rules: simple words, simple sentences, simple grammar.

A voice over should compliment the picture and fit with the images on screen.

When should I write/think about the V/O?

You should be thinking about the voice over the whole way through and if you can go to filming with a draft of the voice over to get all images needed.

It should have a lot of consideration during the edit, so here communication between with the editor is essential. This is essential for shaping sequences and allowing the correct amount of time so voice over doesn't to be rushed.

It is of course important to bear in mind the whole way through about how the voice will fit in the general soundscape and as mentioned before the pictures and original sounds 'need to breathe'

The most important think to consider when choosing a voice is to remember if the voice doesn't fit it will kill the film. The person doesn't necessarily have to have a rich, glossy sounding voice, it's all about the delivery and making the script come to life. It is important that the words on the paper get across the ideas on the screen.

A good voice will be one that sounds interested and like they know the subject matter of the film. The best voice overs are from people who act normally and don't feel self conscious.

The Script

Analyse what you have written to avoid repetitiveness, there is also not much need for lots of adjectives. Make sure you aren't stating the obvious of what is on screen, the audience will feel patronised! For the opening of a film/section make sure you open with a fact or something that will grab and hook your audience into watching the rest of the film.

The layout of the script is also something to bear in mind, of course each reader will have their own preferences but generally speaking make sure your sentences aren't too long and everything is spaced well. Big font is also useful to most. Some people can read better off coloured backgrounds but this is of course different for everyone.

The Recording

There are many techniques to recording a good voice over, they are these:

• Pop shield: not always essential but will prevent explosive and popping sounds coming through in the recording.
• Project the voice!
• Sit up, relax and imagine you are talking to one viewer (your "personal listener")
• Make it more like talking than reading
• Smile!

Distribution: The Facts

For our Friday morning sessions we have been looking at all aspects of television/film making and so it is essential that we look at what happens after a programme has been made, not just all the stages before this. This is the process known as distribution.

One definition of the word distribution is "the process of moving a product from its manufacturing source to its customers", so in the context of the media it is getting the finished film/television piece out there to its audience. To do this there are several different routes you can take.

An independent film maker has the choice of going down the profit or non-profit routes.
Non-profit can include:

• The Internet (Own website with showreel, YouTube, Vimeo etc)
• Film festivals (Sheffield, Brief Encounters etc)
• Put up for Award/Specialist Award 

To make a profit you can look at doing the following:

• Sell to a channel via editing commissioner
• Sell to a distribution company

There are dozens and dozens of distribution companies in the UK (though of course their work can cover worldwide), however, the top players in the UK are:

• BBC Worldwide: Top Gear, Life, Planet Earth (£240 million profit 2009-2010)
• Fremantle Media: Merlin, American Idol, Hole in The Wall (£152 million profit 09-10)
• ITV Studios GE: Hells Kitchen, The Prisoner (£131 million 09-10)
• Outright (run by Shed): Supernanny, Waterloo Road, Who do you think you are? (£11 million 09-10)

It is important to remember there the sale of programmes worldwide covers both English speaking and non-English speaking countries. The arrangement of subtitles to sell to non-English speaking countries is known as packaging and is one of the other things distribution companies do. On top of this they also develop ideas and have their favourite producers e.g. Simon Cowell, and also try and establish successful 1st series of programmes.

As we can tell from the massive turnover of just the top 4 companies in the UK it is not surprising that through direct sales only, the revenue in distribution is around £525 million. There is plenty more to be made though in selling formats worldwide.
A format  is the structure of a programme, the most successful worldwide formats include:

• Strictly/Dancing with Stars (sold to 27 countries)
• Britains Got Talent/Americas Got Talent
•  Millionaire
• Big Brother
• The Office
• Footballers Wives

It is important to remember is is not just non-fiction formats that are marketable worldwide, it is also dramas!

Behind The Scenes: The Filming

Yesterday was our day spent in the office with Media Clash (our behind the scens project), it was a very long day but we certainly got a lot out of it! Present were Brad, Ant and myself, Claire also came along in the afternoon/evening.
The day started arriving at their office near the Circus at around 10am, we were greeted by Greg and due to his schedule of the day we set up our interview with him straight away


Gregs Interview: We had him sit on the sofa chair next to his desk in the office as we did not want it too formal. We had him looking camera left at Brad who was asking the questions. As the office was open plan there was a lot of background noise from the office, I like that we had this going on as background noise and hopefully there is nothing too defined that will affect the edit. The interview took around half an hour as Greg is a good speaker, we asked him the questions we had scripted but he also provided us with a lot more to work with.

Department Interviews: Our next step was to get to know the staff in the office, to do this we spoke to all the department heads. This gave us more of an insight into the different areas (particularly, and most importantly, the magazines). We asked them 3 set questions in in a vox pop style: what is your name and what is your job? What is your daily role? What makes Media Clash different? This last question gave us some really good stuff to work with.

Cut Aways: The whole time we were there, with our second camera, we made sure to capture lots of cut aways from people typing/on the phone to deadline boards, stacks of magazines and lots of logos. We ended up with about 10mins worth of cut aways from the office.

We then took our lunch break and met up with Claire, upon returning the one thing we wanted to get done was to get our interview with Jane (the co-founder of the company). This was where our problems started, she was too busy/camera shy and did not want to be interviewed. We couldn't work out if it was just today she didnt want to do (as they were preparing for a party in the evening) or if she didn't want to be in it at all! Luckily Greg managed to persuade her to give us 5mins so we managed to get some with her but may come back another day to get some more.

The Client Party: We were fortunate enough to be invited to the client party for all the magazines advertisers. After another afternoon break we arrived at The Royal Crescent Hotel around 5.30pm to get half an hour of set up before people started to arrive. To create a time lapse we left the camera rolling for about 15mins while everyone came in in dribs and drabs. Our aim of the evening was to get interviews with the clients (there were aroung 250 people at the party) and find out why they choose Media Clash. We managed to get 6 interviews by the end of the night but it also worked out very well for us making contacts and being offered more projects by people including Farpoint Apple!

All in all a very productive day, but we will have to set up another time to go back and talk to Jane again properly about the process of making a magazine!

Media Clash

 

Today as development of the behind the scenes project we had a meeting with Bath based company Media Clash. We spoke with CEO Greg Ingham, he was very keen for us to do the project and the ideas were flowing from both us and him about potential lines of interest in the documentary!

Media Clash were established in 2006 by husband and wife Greg and Jane Ingham (previosuly worked at Future Publishing) and are responsible for several publications in the region including BathLife, CardiffLife, CliftonLife and ExeterLiving. Along side this they also do a lot of digital work supporting clients in marketing etc including a lot of work with Creative Bath and various financial groups.

As it is coming up to Christmas they have a lot of deadlines so there would be plenty to film and Greg was even nice enough to invite us to a client party at the Royal Crescent and also to their Xmas Staff party which was incredibly nice of him!
His approachability and friendly nature makes us keen to persue this as our behind the scenes project, however my only reservation is that it is a magazine based in a rather plain looking office is that we may struggle to make it visually vibrant.
We are waiting to hear from E3 as to what they have going on between now and Christmas as if they are doing a shoot or something, on the whole it will make for a more visually interesting project as we can also use examples of their previous work. Fingers crossed we hear within the next 48hours so we can finally get going on something as I am just itching to get this project done!

Commissioning

So, it's reading week...and I've actually done some reading! Have been looking at Broadcast magazine to do some research about programmes recently commissioned to present in Friday mornings session.

From my research mainly in the magazine but some online I have found the following programmes that have been commissioned within the last couple of months:

Title: Popatron
Channel: BBC2
Company: Zeppotron (Endemol)
Commissioning Editor: Commissioned via BBC Switch (soon to be scrapped)
What is it?: A 6x30min sitcom series featuring latest bands and celebs in a 'Larry Sanders' style where production staff and presenters are played by comedy actors.
Who is the audience?: Aimed at teens/young adults

Title: London Zoo (working title)
Channel: ITV
Company: Wild Pictures
Commissioning Editor: Ordered by ITV Controller of Popular Factual Jo Clinton Davies and also Alison Sharman
What is it?: A 3x60min series investigating all areas of the worlds oldest zoo, to feature exotic animals and some of the 800 staff. Viewers will get a definitive look at a national institute. Aims to explore the quirks or animal-staff/staff-staff relationships.
Who is the audience?: Early teens interested in animals/people who have been to or are considering going to London Zoo

Title: Living With Elizabeth Hurley
Channel: Sky Living
Company: HCA Entertainment
Commissioning Editor: Sophie Wurzer-Williams
What is it?: A 1x60min programme looking at the likfe of Elizabeth Hurley, will be a "sneak peak at Elizabeth Hurley how you have NEVER seen her before", will involve her running her 400 acre Gloucestershire farm.
Who is the audience?: Fans of Elizabeth Hurley, mainly "housewife" women interested in gossip/lifestyle programmes


Personally, I think that the London Zoo programme will probably be the most successful of the 3 as it has the most interest and will be likely to pull the most viewers. It would be both factual and entertaining and probably educational too. Though programmes like it have been made before they have always proved popular so there is no reason why this one shouldn't be the same!

Behind The Scenes Progress

Time is ticking by and it's getting to be crunch time for sealing a 'Behind the Scenes' project. So far we havent been having the best of luck, that combined with time just seeming to slip away it's getting tough!

Our initial and group favourite idea was to approach Aardman Animations as it would be both visually interesting as well as an exciting story. Brad had researched the idea most and could see from their podcasts that the creaters themselves wanted to be better known, this would have been our approach. After attempts to contact them it turns out their work is so confidential that they dont even offer studio tours, so our chances there were blown.

The next potential idea was bought to the table by Claire, which is to to do a behind the scenes on the man who provides stunt horses for films (most recently Warhorse), she has made contact but as far as I am aware there is no conrete response for them. Though again this would be a visually appealing idea with plenty of past work to be spoken about (including his work on Gladiator), it would require a lot of travelling and I think ideally most of us would prefer to do something a little bit closer to Bath.

Ant had the idea of doing a behind the scenes of Little Theatre Bath in conjunction with the Bath Film Festival and even spoke to the manager in person and he seemed really keen. After sending him an email (as requested) he then realised it would be difficult with health and safety and just wouldnt be possible.


My idea originally was to look at local news, on how a story comes from an even to script and then to screen. Later on during a discussion with Lesley, she suggested looking at the local input to Children in Need (much of the same Points West team that do the local news). After a phone call that was them directed to an email address lead to no response.


So where do we go from here?


Our current lead is with Venue Magazine based in Bristol, Ant has a contact with someone there so that is something we really hope we can get. After having the conversation with Ant about this potential idea I thought if it doesn't go anywhere we could look into a similar thing closer to home in Future Publishing.

BBC Films and Film Four

BBC Films is the feature film-making arm of the BBC. From its first production in 1994 up until 2007, it was run and funded privately whilst still under full control of BBC but it has now been integrated into the BBC Fiction department. They produce approximately 8 films per year.
The most recent productions from them on the big screen were Made In Dagenham and Tamara Drew. A list of their previous releases can be found here.
Many of their productions get co-produced with bigger companies which means a lot of them get far bigger exposure, for example Revolutionary Road (co-production with Dreamworks) and Edge of Darkness (co-production with Warner and Icon).



Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel 4. The company has been responsible for backing a large number of films made in the United Kingdom. The company's first production was Walter, directed by Stephen Frears, which was released in 1982. The company was originally called Channel 4 Films but was re-branded in 2002 in conjunction with the launch of the digital TV channel Film4.

A list of their productions along with short clips can be found here.

UK Television Production Companies

TalkBack Thames

Talkback Thames  is one of the UK's largest production companies who in the last year have created over 500 hours of television for a range of channels. They were founded in February 2003 and are owned by Fremantle Media (a division of RTL Media). The current CEO (as of 28th October 2010) is Sara Geater who replaces Lorraine Heggessey.

Productions Include: The Apprentice (BBC1), Family Fortunes (ITV), Green Wing (C4), Never Mind the Buzzcocks (BBC2).




Endemol
EndemolUK  is the UK branch of Endemol (which covers 26 countries) that were founded in 1994 and annually produce over 2000 hours of output. They encorporate a number of production companies including Remarkable Television, Initial and Zeppotron. They have offices in London and Bristol and employ up to 1000 people at any one time.
Productions include: Big Brother (C4), Charlie Brookers Newswipe (BBC2&BBC4), Deal or No Deal (C4), Secret Diary of a Call Girl (ITV2), Total Wipeout (BBC1).



Hat Trick Productions
Hat Trick productions were founded in 1986 by Rory McGrath, Jimmy Mulville and Denise O'Donohue. In the history of British Broadcasting (with the exception of the BBC) their entertainment and comedy programming has won the most awards.
Productions include: Fonejacker&Facejacker (C4), Outnumbered (BBC), Bodies (BBC), Whose Line Is It Anyway






 

Behind The Scenes Video Research

Just as a bit of research linking to our Friday morning 5001 session I have decided to take a look at and compare a couple of 'behing the scenes' videos that I have come across on Youtube and another website.




This first video is for a music video. I like how the director explains the concept behind the video (particularly useful when it comes to an obscure character like Lady Gaga!) which you would not learn from just watching the video alone. The story is the main focus of the video and you also learn things about it such as the location where it was filmed which again is something you cannot learn from watching the music video by itself. There is very little focus on the stars, just a brief bit of talk from Beyonce at the end.

ROBIN HOOD: Behind-the-Scenes Featurette. Watch more top selected videos about: Mark Strong, Cate Blanchett

This seconds video (found on Metacafe) focuses on the stars of the film telling us about the story. All the footage is from the movie itself and there is little extra to be learnt about locations etc. It gives very little about the story away which makes you want to go watch the film so it seems like this film was made assuming it would be used before/upon the films release as use as advertisement.

South West Screen

South West Screen is a company based within the South West of England whose main role is the fund, support and campaign for the creative industries in the region. They in turn are funded from larger partners UK Film Council (which has been going for 10 years), Skillset and South West of England Regional Development Agency.

They are linked with film festivals such as Encounters in Bristol andin the last year have achieved the following things:

• helped 4,639 companies directly
• registered £66 million in inward investment through filming in the region
• created / safeguarded 482 jobs
• registered 1,912 filming days
• leveraged £7,152,852 in total funds
• made awards worth £685,558 and direct investments of £789,245
• kept 3,300 people informed of the latest relevant news and opportunities through our e-bulletin
• reached 75,000 people through our website

So, in reality if it werent for organisations like these nationwide a lot of the smaller companies/individuals wouldn't get the opportunity to out let their creativity.