GW: FAKE REGIONAL TV NEWS ELEMENT

My initial aim is to create a regional TV News piece for the installation. There are many reasons for this the first of which being that even though people are suspicious of it they do tend to trust the news. This will be great for sewing the seeds of my fictional story by dressing it up in a media texts that people trust as the truth. TV News is also excellent as it can do a lot of story telling or exposition in a short amount of time. So it will act as a great shorthand for giving the audience the skinny on the story. I aim for the piece to be no longer that 4 minutes overall.

I have in the past worked a tiny bit for TV news and also taught the subject to degree level students so I do understand the codes and conventions. However here is an excellent Charlie Brooker deconstruction of language of the news as a refresher for me to make sure I capture the authenticity.



The clip above pushes news to the extreme but it does focus on the key elements that and the codes and conventions and stylistics of the news genre that I need to be aware of are. I may use vox-pops sound bites but I do not think they will be needed

• Initial PTC from the news reporter.
• Hand gestures and key words emphasised in punctuated sentences.
• GV's tenuously linked to the news reports topic over a voice over by the reporter.
• Very short interviews with "experts" or those close to the story.
• Lower thirds to say who is commenting on-screen.
• On screen graphics highlighting any key facts, figures or statistics.
• A final summary and an often whimsical and wry send off from the reporter.

I will need to develop the idea for my news package but using these repertoire of elements I will consider what content needs to be communicated and then to deliver it in the news package. Currently I am playing with the following elements and format.

• PTC by a news reporter. saying Ben Wright may have re-appeared and his importance in the global warming history and fight.
• Continues into a VO with images of Ben Wright and Joseph Griffiths, photos footage and their disappearance.
• IV with a professor of climatology saying how advanced their work was and how they accurately predicted the global warming issue we are struggling to deal with today.
• Possibly graphics showing how their research and predictions was very accurate.
• IV with someone who knew them personally and was involved in the global warmning movement. personal touch perhaps a female who was very close to them. Be good to see him back, always had a crazy sense of humour angle.
• IV with son who he never knew he had. Reason for Ben coming back from the dead.
• VO mention of the re-appearnce in the form of a blogger claiming to be him. Shots of the blog and someone looking at it online.
• PTC outro by news reporter doing a summary and stating their importance and the severity of heeding their warning.