Is News a Window on the World?

The opening sequence to news does suggest that we are going to be seeing everything the way it is and the news creators will not change a thing. They also suggest that they will be covering news from everywhere in the world.

Also the law states that it has to be real and there are regulations to ensure that news, in whatever form, is supposedly reported with "due accuracy" and presented with "due impartiality". For example OFCOM has a whole section in its regulations about this very topic: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/section-five-due-impartiality-accuracy

But can the news ever really be like this? in this post I am going to try and show that it is impossible for any media representation to simply show reality to us in this way.

Firstly if everything was shown the news would last forever. There are news values that they have to consider when broadcasting a story I am only going to mention some of these. This was created by Galtung and Ruge an there first value was frequency which means that if it is a short term event it will be more likely to get put on the news. These sort of events, such as murder, are preferred over a long term event such as global warming.

Unexpectedness is another way that the news story will make it onto the broadcast. It is the the surprise and rarity of an event that will help it get recognized. For this to be considered it also has to meaningful. The event that comes to mind when I think of this is the Boston bomb attack as it was unexpected and it really hit hard.

Negativity is a good thing in the news because bad news is good news. The worse the event is the more attention it is going to gather because it will make people notice what is happening in the world and it may cause panic and worry throughout the world.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/actress-sharon-tate-found-murdered

The gate-keeping process is quite a big thing that the people putting the news together have to go through to make sure that people are getting the most important news that the audience could be seeing. The list of things that they have to look at is as followed; news values, news source, routines of news gathering, construction of news story (narrative) and economics. If all of these are a match it will get onto the news. The fact that it has to go through this process just so that people can find out about what is going on in the world just goes to show that everything we see isn't as untouched as they claim it to be. They also claim that they will show us absolutely everything that happens in the world but they won't because it has to go through this process. What see here proves to me that the news is not a window on the world at all.

Even though they claim that the news is completely real, when filming it they use the continuity system which is more commonly used in fiction. This takes away from the fact that we are meant to believe that everything that they are showing us actually happened. They often tell us the news in a story like format which makes it harder to believe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU2wsmjgqtQ

I do not think that the news is a window on the world as it has to go through all of these different processes. The fact that it does this turns it from a window into a slit that hardly anything can get through as it has to meet every criteria. The most important thing to the news is competition and getting the news broadcasted first. The news can be biased as it show the viewer what they want us to see. They are willing to make people look worse just to make someone else look better. for example they do this with Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May.

Connotations of News Starting Sequence

TV news starting sequences have things in them that all of them have.

Firstly we often see rushing graphics or rushing camera movements. These connote the urgency in which they want to tell us the news that they have to cover. The fact that they are rushing shows that they would like us to know what is happening in the world as quickly as possible.

We also see transparent objects and eyes. This connotes that they are not going to hide anything from us and none of the news that we get shown has been changed in anyway shape or form.

Thirdly we see the world from space. This tells us that they are going to be sharing news from all over the Earth. So that we know what is happening in all places at all times.

Then we see the Landmarks from different cities. This lets us know that they are going to be sharing news from every place possible including cities in different countries.

They also show us clocks a lot. This is another thing to let us know how urgently they want to get us the news so that we are not missing out on anything.

Another thing that they show us is technology and satellites. This connotes the fact that they are using all types of technology to get us the news as fast as possible.

We also hear fast paced and beat driven music usually plaid by brass instruments. This also connotes urgency and also authority as the music is very loud and it grabs our attention.

There are usually male voice-overs. This again shows authority as we normally think about power when we hear an older male talk.

Finally we see metallic blues and strong reds. This shows the colours of the world of offices.

We usually have male news presenters as we normally are more likely to listen to what they have to say as we live in a sexist world and people may take them more seriously. The males are usually older and the females are younger. The newsreaders have to speak with received pronunciation so that they sound more serious. They also do not change the look on their face so that they do not give us their opinion.

Research Dossier

Dungeons & Dragons

Primary research is when you conduct the research yourself. We created a questionnaire to find out if people knew what D&D was and if they understood the rules. We also wanted to know what kind of people others thought played the game.

Secondary research is when you look at research that has been conducted by other people, this is what I found out about Dungeons and Dragons. Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast (now a subsidiary of Hasbro) since 1997. It was derived from miniature wargames with a variation of the Chainmail game serving as the initial rule system.D&D's publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry.

The early success of Dungeons & Dragons led to a proliferation of similar game systems. Despite this competition, D&D remains the market leader in the role-playing game industry. In 1977, the game was split into two branches: the relatively rules-light game system of Dungeons & Dragons and the more structured, rules-heavy game system of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as AD&D or ADnD). AD&D 2nd Edition was published in 1989. In 2000, the original line of the game was discontinued and the AD&D version was renamed Dungeons & Dragons with the release of its 3rd edition with a new system. These rules formed the basis of the d20 System which is available under the Open Game License (OGL) for use by other publishers. Dungeons & Dragons version 3.5 was released in June 2003, with a (non-OGL) 4th edition in June 2008. A 5th edition was released during the second half of 2014.

An immediate predecessor of Dungeons & Dragons was a set of medieval miniature rules written by Jeff Perren. These were expanded by Gary Gygax, whose additions included a fantasy supplement, before the game was published as Chainmail. When Dave Wesely entered the Army in 1970, his friend and fellow Napoleonics wargamer Dave Arneson began a medieval variation of Wesely's Braunstein games, where players control individuals instead of armies. Arneson used Chainmail to resolve combat. As play progressed, Arneson added such innovations as character classes, experience points, level advancement, armor class, and others.^[60] Having partnered previously with Gygax on Don't Give Up the Ship!, Arneson introduced Gygax to his Blackmoor game and the two then collaborated on developing "The Fantasy Game", the role-playing game (RPG) that became Dungeons & Dragons, with the final writing and preparation of the text being done by Gygax. The name was chosen by Gygax's two-year-old daughter Cindy — upon being presented with a number of choices of possible names, she exclaimed, "Oh Daddy, I like Dungeons and Dragons best!"

(09/03/2017) wikipedia

MARILYN MANSON

Growing up in Ohio, Brian Warner was a pretty geeky kid, not only playing roleplaying games, but also painting miniatures. He talked about playing D&D growing up in his book, The Long Road Out of Hell.

manson’s song, “15“, includes the lyrics, “This time I won’t hesitate to kill to protect what I believe in.” Sounds a lot like a paladin who has taken the Oath of Vengeance, and it wouldn’t surprise us if Manson was a spellcaster as well as a fierce fighter.

JAMES FRANCO

It doesn’t surprise us that James Franco is a D&D player, having not only played himself but also acting as a neophyte gamer in a 2000 episode of Freaks and Geeks:

While James makes a pretty convincing Dwarf fighter in the above montage, after watching Pineapple Express and 127 Hours, we can’t help but think of the actor as a Druid who has specialized into the Circle of the Land. Maybe the spell Goodberry would have allowed his character from 127 Hours to hold out almost indefinitely.

(09/03/2017) http://geekandsundry.com/5-celebrities-youd-never-guess-played-dd/

Quantitative data is research that can be sorted numerically. A normal example of this would be CD sales. We didn't really do any of this as we did not find it necessary to do so. It would not affect our documentary if we did it or not. Qualitative data is the opposite of quantitative. This is all of the research that can not be sorted numerically. An example of this would be film reviews. Again we didn't really need to do this so we didn't.

Data gathering agencies such as BARB collect data, for example they collect television viewership. Another website that keeps track of these things is "IMDB" which also shows you the ratings for the box office.

Audience and Market research is when you look into demographics. This is age, class, and male or female. This can be a factor in which someone enjoys a product. Things can be targeted at certain genders being a target audience. We went through this in our survey.

Production research is when you look into location and finance. All we had to do for this was figure out where the interviews were going to take place.

We didn't really have to do to much in preparation for this documentary as it was mostly conducted inside of college. The only thing that we had to do was a location recce and talent releases.

Before filming on a public road you must contact the local police and the Highways Department of the local authority. Both will need to make sure that your plans are safe and pose no threat to road users. If you plan to stage stunts, a stunt co-ordinator should be involved in any planning discussions.

http://www.britishfilmcommission.org.uk/crew-facilities/locations/filming-in-public-spaces/#sthash.wG5EQ82G.dpuf

you need to ensure that everything that you broadcast on a documentary is true and that it is educational.









Survey Feedback

Documentary "mini task"

A documentary is a factual media production that explores a certain subject and they go into depths about what goes on in that subject. Sometimes documentaries represent the subject in such a way that they make people question if it is fact or fiction. The what that I would define a documentary would be a film that goes into depth about the activities that took place at a certain time.

Expository
An expository documentary is when during the entire thing there is a voice over talking to the viewer. These documentaries are made to persuade the viewer and they propose a very strong argument. A good example of an expository documentary would be "Frozen Planet" by David Attenborough. This programme is an expository documentary because you don't really see David Attenborough in the actual episode itself but he is giving a voice over the entire time to give you facts.

Observational
An observational documentary (AKA fly on the wall) is when they don't acknowledge the fact that a documentary is happening and you just observe what is happening. An example of this would be "Metallica's Some Kind of Monster." This documentary is about the struggle that the band went through when making there album "St. Anger." This is a bit of a weird documentary because they do acknowledge that the cameras are there but the band act completely normal around them. They filmed them for a couple of years and they just went through all of the struggles that they had. For example when the lead singer, James Hetfield, went to rehab for his alcohol problems. In the documentary they hire a therapist so that they can all get their feelings across to each other while the cameras are rolling so that we can watch and see how much trouble they had and how much they went through just to please the fans.

Interactive
An interactive documentary is when the filmmaker's presence is known and they actually follow the crew around and asks questions and there is an interaction between the interviewee and the presenter. Arguments can also take place during these types of documentary as people all have different views. A good example of this would be Louis Theroux when he did a documentary on Scientology called "My Scientology Movie" which had him going around asking what it is like being involved with Scientology.

Reflective

A reflective documentary is where the filmmaker attempts to expose the conventions of documentary to the audience. They consists of shots that will build up and then have a deeper meaning behind them. An example of this would be "Powaqqatsi" which is a sequence of shots that have a very deep meaning.

Performative

A performative documentary usually uses re-enactments and are usually exaggerated to make everything look a lot more dramatic. A lot of people believe that these documentaries are not truthful. Some people also believe that they are just the exaggerated truth which is what I believe they are except for when they change what happens in the end. An example of a performative documentary would be "Paranormal Witness" which is when they have people talking about their paranormal experiences and they also have people re-enacting what happened.   

I feel like the documentary filmmaker should give the audience factual information and only factual information. Fair enough that performative is exaggerated but it also tells you the truth. If they are not doing this can it really be called a documentary? When a documentary doesn't give you factual information it is basically just a mockumentary and the viewers do not understand if what they are hearing and seeing is the truth.