Nisserin Bessioua - UCA Television Production

What worked ? Group work: As a group, I think that we have worked really well together.I have really enjoyed working with Josh, Ida and Becca and I would happily work with them again.  There was always good communication and everyone was always able to give their opinions. We started of early with having lots of group meetings and keeping everyone involved. We gave each other tasks so that we all had something to do towards the project and we stuck to our roles.  I think there was a good atmosphere between everyone in the group and I felt comfortable sharing my opinions. When watching the footage and sharing ideas, I felt like I could say if i didn't like something or if I wasn't too sure if it worked and this was good because it meant that as a group, we looked at how we could maybe to it differently. If someone had an idea, we would always do a test and see if it was possible and how well it worked. Especially in terms of editing, Josh would always try to achiev...

Behind the Scenes Posts In order to promote our digital news channel, we decided to use social media. This worked as our age range is students and younger audiences who are most likely to hear about us on social media sites. We created a Facebook account that I manage, Twitter which is updated by Ida and a Youtube Channel, controlled by Josh. The Facebook page is where we first uploaded our viral videos and was the only pace people could watch it as we didn't want the views to be split. This way we could see exactly how many people had watched them both and we could share the videos with a mass amount of people.  The posts since then have been short ones advertising our website and trying to get people to go over and see what things we've been posting. We also did a series of "Get to know us" posts where Josh had made small posters that include and image and short description of each of us which have been posted over the past few weeks, each one linki...

ROUGH CUT FEEDBACK Main Video: Our production is quite fast paced and where we had to include an interview in the package, it slowed it down quite a lot.  For this, it was suggested to us that we should try and add in some more effects to make it more silly and fit in with our brand more.  There were sum points in our video where the music was slightly too loud with meant whoever was talking was competing with the music. To fix this, we just went through the video and listened carefully and then told Josh where he needed to turn down the music more so the person could be heard.  In our script we managed to fit in lot of information and we were told that because it goes so fast, it's quite hard to take in all the information. Although is wasn't an issue and just added to the silliness of our video.  Promo Video: We were told that our promo fit in well with our brand and clearly portrays to our audience what Student Yak is a...

In our intro we reference lots of different viral videos to give some history and show how many different ones there are. Charlie bit my finger, David went to the dentist PPAP  Keyboard Cat Damn Daniel  Harlem Shake  Shia Lebouf "About a week ago" To introduce Katie Joslin, we created an X Factor style intro. We used a similar style of graphics to show our audiences things about her youtube channel such as how and views and subscribers she has. Josh and I also recorded the voice over to go with this which is in the same style as the Peter Dixon, who does the actual X Factor voiceovers. Katie Joslin - Introduction During Katie's Interview we included lots of little pop ups of different memes and references to random things that match with words that Katie says. for example, she said the word "saw" so we included the eyeball emoji, she also says the word "hobby" so we included an image of The Hobbit. These only last for a few s...

Josh has been the main editor of our production and has done a great job. There were multiple times where he would edit a section and then as a group we would sit and watch it, making suggestions of things we wanted changing and ideas for different effects and shots to use.  We would often discuss things that we wanted to see and then Josh would go away and try to create what we'd described. Sometimes these ideas worked and sometime they didn't. Overall I feel like we've all had an equal say through the editing process about what we want and we've been really good with communicating so everyone has been able to be really open about whether they like or don't like something.  A section that I completed was the colour correction of our shots. In our live production, we used two different types of camera, one sony and one Canon which meant that there was a colour difference in the shots. one was much warmer and the other was very blue. As a group we sat an...

Last week, Josh and I decided to record the voice overs for our production. We went into the sound recording room and tried to set up the equipment, unfortunately it wasn't working so we ended up recording our sound on an Zoom H4N and connected that to the Rode Mic. We started by recording the voice over for our interview introduction which we wanted in the style of the X Factor intros. Josh read through the script and we recorded it multiple times in different ways so that we had options when it came to editing. We also wanted to record our Meme Of the Week voice over which we recorded the same as the intro where we recorded different versions in different styles. For our promo trailer, we went through the script and recorded each bit separately so that it was easily in the editing stage.  Overall the sound came out really well and we were happy with with the final sound.  Images // zoom_zh4nsp_h4nsp_handy_recorder_1116977.jpg

In our after effects workshop, we experimented with creating 3D texts in Cinema 4D and how to add animation to a text in after effects. After Effects: In after effects we started by creating a title, which we then went onto having move on screen and the off again, adding in a "wiggle" so that it moves from side to side as it comes in and adding a fade as it  goes of screen again. Although Josh had already created all the graphics for our production, I was a good opportunity to get to now how to do it myself so that in future projects I could create my own moving graphics.  Cinema 4D: In Cinema 4D, we started the same by having a title on screen, which the then added different effects to, making it 3D and adding on rounded edges. We then put it lights to light up the text, moving them around making sure that they lit up all the text. To make the animation, we then added in a camera and had to set starting an finishing points so that when the animation ...

Location:  On shoot day, it started to heavily rain so we had to change location from the car park to a room inside.  This worked just as well if not better because we had less things to think about like having a long enough microphone cable and outside noises like wind. Although the room was slightly smaller than we would have liked, this was okay  Equipment: We had set up a static camera to film a wide show of the whole live so that we definitely had the whole thing on camera. This also helped our presenter because he knew where to look when presenting his PTC.  We also had a handheld camera, moving around the room to capture the action, getting lose ups of the contestants, audience members and of the bottles being flipped.  Props: Because our presenter was holding a microphone, we wanted to somehow have a branded microphone like they no in real news. We tried to make our own out of cardboard but that didn't go too well  so w...

Interview: Set Up: The day before we planned to film our interview, we put together our set, moving sofas and tables into one of the lecture rooms so that it looked like a casual space and wasn't too formal. We used our own personalised props like mugs and cue cards with the interviewers questions on to keep our brand running through all our shots.  We also set up our lights before they day as well because from previous experience, we know that they take time to set up. We got two other students to be stand ins and sit in the positions where our interviewee and interviewer would be sitting so that we could get the lighting right and make sure there were no harsh shadows. This meant that the cameras were in the basic positions and that after we set up our cameras on the day, they could be easily adjusted so that it looked good on camera.  Cameras: We had two cameras filming the interview at the same time, one on the tracking dolly filming a wide...

On the day of filming our main green screen section, we started by collected our equipment and splitting up the jobs so that we could get everything set up quickly because were also filming our live on the same day so we didn't have time to waste. Ida and set up the green screen while Becca and Josh set up the lights. When that was done, I set up the camera and we all helped to get the auto cue working while Ida was making sure the clip mic was working properly and we had good sound. To make things easier for our presenter, we split our script up into sections where we had planned that the shot would cut so that the presenter only had to say short sections rather than go through the entire thing because it was quite long.  We had lots of different props in our green screen so we had to make sure that all these were filmed right and consider side of the screen Josh picked up the props for continuity.  We had scripted two shots where the the ...

Idea: The idea for our trailer is to create a 1960's style advert, acting as if our news brand was a physical product. We didn't want to create a promo trailer that was too serious because that's not what Student Yak is like but we still wanted to make sure it gave a good idea of what our brand is about.  Script: As a group we first wrote the script because we already had an idea of what we wanted to say. In the process of writing, we got our presenter, Josh, to act out the lines as we went along to make sure that they worked and flowed naturally. Beside our dialogue we also wrote down a basic idea of what we wanted the presenter to do and what would be seen on screen.  Filming: We filming majority of our trailer in front of the green screen as we want to add in our own background.  our idea was to have the trailer playing and the camera slowly moves backwards to reveal the trailer situated within an old fashioned tv screen so that it l...

Script Development: Our script has gone through manages changes throughout our production process. We firstly changed our script to include little phrases and words that our presenter would say so that it all sounded really natural when recorded. This helped the flow of the script and made it feel very conversational.  We went through and changed the intro to include a little bit more history about our chosen topic and to give the audience more information so that if they didn't know anything about the topic, they could still watch our video and enjoy it.  After our basic script was written, as a group we went through and added in jokes and funny phrases. Story Changes: The main question in our news package was about what audiences prefer more in viral videos, content or a high production value. As we produced our two videos and uploaded them, we saw that only one of our videos was doing well online and we all agreed to only include one o...

In our green screen workshop, we were able to get some good hands-on experience with setting up the green screen and setting up the autocue. In my group, we decided to go practice setting up the autocue because we wanted to use it for our actual green screen section of our production. Going through all the different parts of the set up was really useful and learning about how the tripod has to be balanced because the autocue is quite heavy was useful to know.  We also had the option to set up the lights against the green screen looking at it through the camera to make sure that we got really good balanced light so that editing the green screen away wouldn't be too difficult. With the lights we had to be careful because our presenter wears glasses and we didn't want too much refection in them so positioning the lights higher worked well to reduce this reflection.  All the practice we got from this workshop was very useful because it meant that when we filmed o...

For our live package, we originally planned to ask some students what they thought of the viral videos we had created and film their reactions. After a discussion about how interesting this would actually be, we decided to rethink our idea.  After talking to Helen, she had the idea of doing a challenge and in keeping with our viral video theme we chose to do the Bottle Flip Challenge. We wanted to have two students take part in the actual challenge and then have more as audiences members split in half to support each member taking part.  This idea made our live much more exciting than our first idea and was different to the rest of our production, meaning we were weren't repeating anything we had previously done. I also gave us the opportunity to test out different filming techniques as most of what we had already planned to film was in front of the green screen on a still camera.  Images //  https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_B2_yfMdxPQ/mqdefault.jpg ...

When choosing our locations, it made sense for us to film at the studios because we are trying to give of the impression that we own our own "Student Yak Studios". For our live package, we had to make sure our risk assessment was completed in lots of detail because we wanted to film outside in the car park and we would have the most contributors for that section so there'd have been lots of people to try and control.  We did a location recce of the car park we wanted to make sure it would be suitable for what we wanted to achieve.  We chose a flat section of ground to put the table down that would be part of the live and we made sure that there would be enough space around for our audience members. We also tried to make sure that we weren't near too many cars or under any trees just in case of things falling down and injuring anyone.  We also made a note that before we filed, it was very important that we went round and made sure the ground was clear of any...

Creating a call sheet and schedule was helpful not only fur us but to give to our contributors as well so that everyone taking part knew where to be and what time. We stuck to  our schedule and didn't have to re-arrange any of our shoot days. Our location of the live did however change due to it heavily raining but this was easily fixed as we'd booked a room in the base room prior to the day in case we were able to film outside. 

Josh has been working on the set design for the studio section of our production. This will be the background that we replace the green screen with. He came up with some initial ideas after we had all agreed on colour schemes and some of things we wanted to include. We then had a group meeting where we looked at his designs and made some suggestions and things we wanted to change.  First Design As a group we decided to more the show title more to the left because we realised it would be covered up by the presenter as they are going to be in the middle of the screen.  It was decided to more some of the props to the outer edges of the set so they surrounded the presenter, and weren't hidden in the middle leaving lots of empty space.  We also wanted to have a clear image of out logo somewhere in the background because our aim has been for people to recognise our show and branding by just the logo. We decided this should go in the centre of the TV on the ri...

After our filming day we went through the shots we'd filmed and as a group chose the best ones we wanted to use and which parts in the interview we though we should include. This made it easier for josh when editing because it meant that he already knew what shots to use.  When editing through the interview, went through each of the questions we asked her and listened to her answers. We wrote down what she said and then chose the best sections and the things that most related to our topic. In our package, we only had space for 1 minute of interview to se had to be careful that we didn't try and put too much in and make our package too long.  During this, we wrote down the questions Josh asked so that we could go back and record the close ups of Josh and noddys. The reason we had to do this was because not all of the questions we asked were the scripted ones as some of the answers she gave allowed for josh to create his own questions to f...

A week before filming our actual live production, we set up a rehearsal with our co-presenter George so that we could plan out where we wanted him to walk and move around, where the contestants would be and generally how the whole thing would work out. With this, we worked out our timings for the challenge and decided on different hand signals for George so that he knew how long he had left and when he needed to start saying his outdo. This also gave me and Ida a chance to work out where our cameras would be placed and what kind of shots the handheld camera should aim to get, like audience reactions and close ups of the bottles. Live Rehearsal We spent 10 minutes before we filmed our live going through a rehearsal with George and the contestant. This gave George a change to run through his lines one more time and for the contestants to understand what would be happening. While they were going through the rehearsal, Becca as the directer was telling them where to stand and ...

When discussing the website as a group, we all agreed on a colour scheme of purple and orange. We wanted the colours to stand out but also be quite fun and interesting. Josh showed us a design that he had come up with and we all gave him our opinions. The design of the website hasn't changed much from the beginning because we all really liked what Josh had done with it.  We decided that for the "About Us" section on the website we wanted to include pictures of us and include small descriptions of who we are and what role we play within the production team.  We also used this as a opportunity to test the lighting as we used the studios new LED lighting kit. This was good to get to grips with changing the settings and working out how bright they'd be. After taking the pictures, Becca edited them and then Josh uploaded them to the website along with our descriptions. We also wanted to include these short descriptions of ourselves because we...

We wanted to have a second contributor for our production and we wanted to have another student take part. We decided in order to find that person we went through the first years summer projects to see if any of them were suitable. We came to find George who has a really good presenting style and fitted the the age range we wanted. He is quite energetic and we knew that he would fit in with our brand and be able to keep with the pace of our show. He was confident in front o the camera so we decided that he would be good at presenting our live package.  We have scripted the main things we want George to say, like a short explanation of what we'll be doing and the outdo but otherwise, during the live we want him to have free reign of what he says and to just say what he feels comfortable. We think this will make it seem quite conversational with the participants and it means he can add in a few of his own jokes too.  We have planned a rehearsal with George s...

Although our news package is only based on one type of news story, we wanted to have different categories on our website where we could include different types of news. I am in charge of writing the articles for TV/Film Yak and Super Serious Yak.  TV/Film Yak:   For this article, I am going to write about The Great British Bake Off and how the show's format has been sold to Channel 4. This has popular news for a few weeks now but the show will still be broadcast at the time of the article being uploaded so it will still be relevant.  The article will update the audience on the  whole story and also direct them to places where they can find out more information.  Super Serious Yak: This is the section where we include really important news that we want students to take seriously. Our first post is going to be about the current spread of a type of meningitis that student can easily contract and encourage then to go and get the vaccination....