I looked at Fox news and BBC to understand codes and conventions of a news show. News shows will have a VT insert. A VT insert will generally have a reporter on the scene talking about the subject. There will also be other footage about the subject with a voiceover on top of the footage. A VT insert might have an interview. An interview is when someone asks the person questions about a certain subject. The interviewee will normally be involved in the subject in some way. In the studio there will be one or two anchor(s) to give that days headlines and handover to VT inserts. In the studio everything is live. There will normally be an into which will have a jingle and graphics over the top. There will also be graphics showing who people are and how they are involved. Another use of graphics is to show statistic/information. They start by having their jingle play over a graphic with the name of the show. Then there is a establishing shot of the set with the presenters. Then it turns into a medium shot of the presenters. Once they've talked about a story a VT is played. After the VT it goes back to the presenter. It then continues doing this until the last story and ends. Once it ends it goes back to the establishing shot of the presenters and will do the jingle and show a different graphic. News show also use multi camera unlike documentary or short film. Most news shows are live like the BBC, fox and Channel 4.
The News' audience, political bias and contract with the viewer. The audience is being persuaded to watch things by the way the show has been edited and what has been said by the presenter and the member of public being interviewed. In FOX news they are very bias and one-sided, in one of the shows they had got 3 conservative politicians and only democrat. This meant they could win in an argument as it would be three against one. They reason they do this is to make them look stronger and know what they are talking about. The images shown on the news show may only be good images or bad images, depending on the story. In BBC news they interview members of the public, this means it isn't bias as everyone has their own opinion on everything. In FOX news they don't really go out to the public and ask questions and getting different answers each time, instead they get politicians, or people who are high up and have their own opinions on the story. This can be bias as they aren't using anyone else's opinion or taking others opinions into account. IN FOX and BBC news they both have VT inserts and have voice-overs. This is different on both channels as FOX or BBC may talk about the story in brief or full detail, but speak about the good side of the story brushing the
As the News covers such a wide range of worldwide affairs, lots of different kinds of people are represented. Whether this is age, race, gender or religion, the news as a supposedly unbiased and impartial source of information should represent all of these without using bias against or for a particular group of people. However the news doesn't always manage to do this and can use stereotypes, both good and bad. As shown in Outfoxed, Fox News use representation to suit their own propaganda. Being very pro-Republican, they often carefully select who they have on their show to represent each side in political debate with Liberals. They will make sure the Republican speaker is good looking, dressed smartly, very confident and loud etc. Meanwhile they will pick Democrats who are the complete opposite of this. They will choose people who are perhaps quite shy, not very physically imposing and not good looking to make the Republicans seem better. This of course is not a fair representation of either Republicans or Democrats but as it suits the propaganda Fox wants to put across, they actively seek to create these miss-matches.
Multi-camera setups are used in a studio to capture the studio from different angles, this doesn't add much intimacy to the feel of the presenter, where as in their VT's they use one camera to make it more intimate. In the studio at FOX and BBC News they both use multi-camera setups in the studio as it isn't as important in the studio than the VT. Multi-camera setups are used to catch every angle of the studio, there are usually three cameras on the set, there is a camera in the middle focusing on the presenters or main person, then either side of the camera is a camera on a much wider angle. These two cameras catch much wider angles of the presenters and studio. The best thing about a multi-camera setup is that you don't have to start and stop the action to capture different angles, it can flow much smoothly and not take as long to film. The downsides of multi-camera setups is that the lighting can be good for one camera and then the other cameras it wont be as good. Another problem with multi-camera setups is that hiding a microphone or equipment on the scene from one camera can show up on another camera.
The codes and conventions are the same as the News, except the codes and conventions for documentary are a lot different. In all documentaries there are voiceovers. The voiceover will encourage the audience to think they have a special knowledge or that they should pay attention to others opinions. Like in the news but not in as much detail and length but there is real footage of events. Most people believe Documentary is non-fiction, however, all the events presented are to be seen as real by the audience. In all the Documentaries lighting is only used in dark rooms or interviews, all the diegetic sound we hear is coming from the footage of the clip, not by the added in audio for effect. Archival, or stock footage, is from a library or archive and inserted into a documentary to show historical events or to add detail without the need for additional filming. In documentaries, there isn't a lot of editing, but when there is it isn't of an amazing standard, it can be really basic or over exaggerated. When the editing is over the top it can ruin the intensity of the documentary, this is because if the documentary is sad or touching it can lose this feel when there is loads of graphics or over the top editing. Documentaries are structured by having voice-overs of VT's, interviews, VT inserts, music, all this build intensity for the viewer. In documentaries the lighting is at least 95% natural, the only time it isn't is when there are interview rooms setup. The sound as well is usually all natural, this is to add intensity. In documentaries, the interviews with the so called 'experts' are used to authenticate the views expressed in the documentary. Sometimes they will disagree with the message of the documentary, although the film maker will usually disapprove with them in some way. What makes Documentaries different from the News and Fiction-films is that documentaries are set out different. Documentaries have more VT inserts, voiceovers, interviews and more intensity than the News and Fiction films.
The documentaries audience, political bias and contract with the viewer. In documentaries, the viewer can have different opinions than someone else, for example the mother of Lynx and Lamb, she was a racist. Whereas others may disagree with her beliefs and her way of life, but others may believe that she is correct and knows what she's talking about. In 'Bowling for Columbine' Michael Moore's voiceover at the beginning with the montage images are to show how violent America is or the montage of images of those soldiers and terrorists America has trained. This isn't a good way to show America, but yet again there's a bank in America and when you sign up for an account they give you a free rifle! This shows why America is so bad, they trained terrorists and now are fighting with them. Terrorists have ruined this world and America are to blame.
Documentaries will always feature representations from a wide range of different people. This can cover race, gender, age and beliefs etc. Documentary film-makers have full control over how different groups of society look and come across in their films. For example Michael Moore makes gun owners look like idiots and thoughtless. He highlights a story where a gun owner put his rifle on his dog and somehow the dog managed to shoot him, showing that the owner was an idiot and didn't think about the consequences of his actions. He also features an interview with James Nichols, the brother of Terry Nichols who was convicted for the famous Oklahoma City bombings. In this interview Nichols gives off the impression that he is a deeply disturbed and crazed individual and said to Moore that he keeps a 44. Magnum Revolver under his pillow. When asked to prove this he takes Moore into a separate room, away from the camera's and shows him the revolver before holding it to his own head as a 'joke'. This shows that Michael Moore is putting across a very negative image of gun-owners. During his investigation he also looks at the reasons behind the increased number of American citizens purchasing guns and the state of fear in America. During this section he shows a montage of news clips where black men have been accused of murdering someone. Although this obviously isn't Moore saying that the state of fear is down to black men killing people, he is showing how the news portraying them as potentially dangerous has driven up fear in Americans, particularly white Americans and highlights this as a possible reason why gun ownership has increased. In Louis and the Nazis he shocks the audience by showing Prussian Blue, a Nazi-Folk duo which consists of twin little girls. Although they look like what you'd expect from little girls, innocent and sweet, the documentary shows that in fact they sing incredibly racist Nazi songs. This is shocking to the audience because this is not how little girls are usually represented.
Why single camera setups are used. These are used to add intimacy to interviews. There are many plus sides of a single camera setup, there used to add intimacy to interviews, it saves a lot of time for the crew to setup. This is a good thing as they can then get their shots and lighting in the correct position and know how they are going to set out the interview. In 'Louis met the Nazis' the interviews with the skinheads, Tom Metzger, his daughter and wife and the family that Louis met in their garage. These interviews are very serious, especially the one in the garage when Louis is asked if he is Jewish, he doesn't answer, leaving the house owner stressed and wanting him out the house. The interview between them two was very awkward after the house owner didn't know if he was Jewish or not, because he wouldn't allow a Jew in or on his property. In 'Bowling for Columbine' the interviews in that were either very touching or ones that made you annoyed. They interview victims of the Columbine High School Shooting, who have bullet wounds in their body and are still going about their everyday life. The interview with them you feel sorry for them, you understand what they have to live with and how scary the day was when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 13 and injured 24.
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