Presentation Techniques

News presenters:

As a news presenter, your main job would be to inform people. This would mean you have use the correct pronunciation and terminology for the subject in question, as you are where people are gaining their information, the BBC even have their own pronunciation department! You can't use slang, or any derogatory terms due to the nature of what you're presenting. One of the key things that makes a news presenter, is their ability to sound authorative over people, but not talking down or belittling them. Another key element is personal presentation. The audience BBC News 24 for instance, wouldn't take someone dressed dressed in a t shirt & jeans seriously, but the people who watch things like the entertainment news on MTV wouldn't want to listen to someone in a suit and tie. It all has to relate to your target audience.

Continuity announcers:

Continuity Announcers are the underdogs of the TV industry, they're always heard but not seen! They're the key people at keeping their target audience related as they're there to keep the audience interested between programs. This means they must be able to understand, and relate to their target audience in order to hold the viewers. For instance, a continuity announcer on E4 would take a very different approach, due to the target audiences in question, the cheeky humour wouldn't go down so well with the BBC viewers who wish to be informed. Another good example of a continuity announcer would be the voice of big brother. 

Broadcast Journalists:

Broadcast Journalists, more commonly known as correspondents are the people who represent articles and topics. They must at least appear knowledgeable about the subject they're talking about, meaning they must use the same terminology and pronunciation rules that news presenters are under, often though the correspondents are specializing in their particular subjects. They must also be careful with the facts they use, everything must be meticulously researched to ensure they're taken seriously, also the way they're dressed must reinforce the image, so for instance if you had a political correspondent dressed in bermuda shorts, flip flops and a short sleeved shirt, nobody would take them seriously, or a war correspondent dressed in a suit and tie, as nobody would expect that sort of attire in a warzone. But there are cases where they haven't read the book, or watched the film in question, and its been brought up.

Magazine Programme Presenter:

Magazine programmes are the sort of things like The One Show. The presenters would appear fairly knowledgeable across a rather wide range of subjects, due to the varied guests they have and the nature of the content. They may know nothing about the subject, but have had loads of background researchers checking things out for them. The presenters appear to be in control of the situation, this is an element that takes years of practice. The approach they take is very similar to that of a paper magazine. A must for the presenters, is good interview technique, due to the nature of the show.

Lifestyle Shows:

Lifestyle shows are things like cooking shows, and home improvements. Often, especially on shows such as travel shows, you'll be flown out to the destination, where you'll go to your hotel, wake up the following morning, present your piece, then be flown out the same day. These style of shows have a very particular target audience, as to a certain degree, they are pretty specialist shows. The presenters must appear to have a fair bit of in depth knowledge about what they're talking about, especially on things such as cooking shows.

Documentary Presenters:

When people think of things like documentaries, often the first thing that will spring to your mind is wildlife, and the first person you think of when it comes to wildlife is David Attenborough, and he's a very good example of a documentary presenter. They aren't always in the shot, but at the same time they aren't always out. Often they're in the shot to introduce a new topic, or to link to something different, but if they're talking about a subject in detail, the shot will be a close up on that subject with a voice over in the background to explain the subject.

DJ or VJ

Djs and Vjs are the presenters on music channels, and radio stations. Radio presenters will often have whats called ‘A Personality Voice’ This is where they’re known mainly for their voice, the listeners may not even know what they look like! The target audience for most DJ/VJ related things is teenage, and young people. This means that they must be able to communicate to the audience in a way that’s relatable, and sound like one of them using the current slang, and buzzwords, for instance in this day and age, something like YOLO or Swag. They don’t necessarily have to know or like the music they’re presenting, but they must be able to communicate and understand the target audience.

Chat show hosts:

Chat show hosts are the kings of being able to keep their cool, or at least look they are! Even if the interviewee starts getting difficult, they’re able to keep their cool. Quentin Tarantinos interview on channel 4 is a prime example of this, Tarantino loses it a little bit at the interviewer, but he managed to keep his cool. They must be able to ask questions that will either entertain, or inform the audience, or both! They must be able to relax the guest, this helps them get the answers they’d like, and to get the answers that would interest the audience.  In the beginning of chat shows, the main stars on the show would be the interviewees. But with show’s like Oprah, or the Jay Leno, or in the UK, the Graham Norton show, the host has become the main star.

Game show hosts:

Game show hosts are always among the seemingly more confident people on TV. This is because they always at least, appear to be in control. This is a skill that takes years of practice. They must be lively, and able to keep the show moving along to keep the viewers interest. They can think on their feet, for instance if someone loses a prize and starts to get nasty, they can cut to an ad break, or come up with something else to deal with it. They also have the ability to relax the contestants. Often what makes a good game show host is somebody with years of experience, Noel Edmonds is a prime example of this!

Acoustic Environments In Relation To Audio Recording.

Live Rooms: 

A live room in relation to recording environments is two things. The first way to describe it, is the room where the musician, band, or talent goes in to record, as opposed to the control room. The other term for it is slightly more interesting, Its a room thats acoustics are very interesting.  A live room is a room thats ‘alive’. This means that the sound after the sound has come from the source, it bounces off surfaces in the room, an effect most commonly known as ‘reverb’ or reverberation. To get a good sounding recording, you don’t want a completely dead dry sound, as it’ll sound like its been recorded in a vacuum. You want a mix between a dead and a live room. You don’t want something layed down in an extremely live room, as then you have a lot of reverb to play with. 

  

(http://www.keplar.net/articles/build-a-project-studio-you-can-be-proud-of/dead-rooms-and-live-rooms/)  

  

  

Dead Rooms:  

A dead room is a room with very little slapback/reverb. The most dead rooms are known as 'Anechoic Chambers'. They aren't often used in audio recording purposes, except for scientific measurements as they sound very unnatural. Its fairly easy to make your own dead room, for instance a tent with duvets, or blankets thrown over it to absorb the sound. Most studios don't use Anechoic Chambers. They aren't used very often in recording due to the unnatural sound, and the fact that you don't get the same musicality you do, in a slightly live room you'll be able to hear more definition between the notes, in a dead room it would sound very muted. However, if you're recording something spoken word, such as an audio book, a dead room is the perfect location to record, as the mutes between the sounds means you can hear the words, and the spaces between each word very clearly. 

  

(http://www.keplar.net/articles/build-a-project-studio-you-can-be-proud-of/dead-rooms-and-live-rooms/) 

  

Outdoor Recordings: 

Outdoor recording has its fair share of fun and games. There are many things that can get in the way, or ruin a recording, Wind Noise, Background Noise, too much reverb. The main way used to combat these problems is a wind filter. these range from acoustically clear foam, to large dead cats. The dead cats are often used for broadcast recordings in outdoor environments due to their ability to filter out most background and wind noise, and filter the speech through. 

  

Simulated Acoustics: 

Due to the rise in use of digital mixing desks, simulated acoustics and effects have risen a lot in popularity. There's a wide range of simulated acoustics, these include things like compressors and gates. Other effects include things such as Pitch shifting, Delay, Modulation, and flangers. These aren't all just built into desks, when analogue desks were more popular, you would have to carry around a rack of 'outboard'. This was all of your effects processors, Graphic EQs, and other associated things. Most recording studios still use large racks of outboards, as its tough to completely replicate the classic sounds of things like Avalon valve compressors into a plugin for Logic or Pro Tools. Plugins are another way of simulated acoustics, reproductions of sounds, such as equalizers, coded into software plugins so you can use them on your recording. Simulated acoustics aren't all about effects, other examples of simulated acoustics include things such as surround sound, where the sound is translated into 5 or 7 signals, and creates the effect of the sound being all around you.  

The Perfect Recording Environment: 

The perfect recording environment for music would be a room that’s not entirely dead, with some slight reverb to create musicality, and so you can pick up the different tonal range within the voice, with a pop shield over the microphone to help prevent sibilance and popping, so the recording sounds smooth, also with an acoustic filter behind the microphone to prevent too much reverb, so you would gain the musicality, but also get the definition between each word. A perfect recording environment for spoken word would be a dead room, as the flatness of the sound gives you the definition across each word spoken. 

  

 

Types Of Contracts, and Job Roles.

·      Contracts:

Full time;

A full time contract would be where somebody works for a minimum number of hours, they get benefits that part time workers wouldn’t get, such as Annual leave and sick leave.

Part time;

Part time workers work fewer hours than full time workers, usually less than 35 hours a week.

Freelance;

Freelance work is where you’re not tied in a contract to a specific company, you’re called in under your own name to work for them, this is common in the media industry as you can get more money, and better work.

Shift work;

Shift work is often used to provide employees 24 hours around the clock, a shift is a set period of time, and they will rotate so you don’t always work days or nights.

Permanent;

Permanent work would be a fixed time employment contract, that’s renewed every 2-3 years.

Temporary;

A temporary contract wouldn’t be fixed term, it would most likely be on a monthly contract, often when the permanent employee is off on Maternity leave or long time sick leave.

Multi skilled;

Multi skilled workers have good skills in more than one area, meaning that they have more employment opportunities open to them.

Voluntary;

Voluntary work is work that isn’t always paid, often working for a charity. But its not always working in a charity shop, it could be something like manning lifeboats.

Casual;

Casual work is where work is given to you just casually, often through people you know, and you’re paid cash in hand at the end of the day.

Hourly paid;

Hourly paid would be a job that you gained an hourly rate for, so if you worked 3 hours, and £5 an hour, you’d get £15.

Piecework;

Piece work is where you’re paid per piece of work you do, for instance each unit of a product you manufacture, and you’re on a set price for each piece of work carried out.

·      Job Roles:

Creative,

A creative job role, would be something such as a graphic designer, where the work you create isn’t just paperwork, there’s a large design, or creation element to it too; it could even be something like an artistic director, or working in the costume department.

Technical,

A technical job role could be anything from working in the IT department to being a sound or lighting tech. Its working with technology, but understanding every piece of the technology you work on, not just using a computer for word processing or internet browsing.

Editorial,

An editorial position is often quite high up, or at the top of a company, as it’s a large amount of responsibility, as it is working with other peoples work, and editing it to fit to either a brief, or to make it appropriate for its target audience.

Marketing,

A job role in marketing would involve good people skills, as you are the people who market the company, get the name out there, and deal with public relations. You’re responsible for how the company comes across in the public eye.

Managerial,

A managerial position is one where you manage the people around you, making sure they all hit their deadlines, and targets.

Administrative,

Administrative job roles are things like receptionists, setting up appointments, processing various documents, and being things like personal assistants.

Legal,

Legal job roles are things like lawyers, making sure the everything the company does is legal, and dealing with any legal or ethical issues the company may run into.

Financial,

Financial Job roles include making sure the companies finances are all in order, making sure all the numbers add up for an auditor, and making sure the company doesn’t go bankrupt, or run into any funding issues.

Well, its been a while!

Today, i've been out filming a south-west metal band called Griever, for a music video of their new song 'My Captain, My King' It was my first ever experience of working on a professional film set, and i loved every minute of it. It was a very small crew, so i filled a number of roles, including runner, photographer, and even a tiny bit of camera work! It was a relatively early start being on location at 10am, but filming was over by half 5. The location was in the basement of an old house, which fitted the style of music very well. We did 4 takes on two full band scenes, then 3 takes, and a take at 50fps on all band members.

Editing Progress

After revisiting the editing history assignment, it really made me wonder how difficult it must have been for the BBC and other television networks in the 60s and 70s to produce content, because if you think that nowadays all you need is a mid spec laptop, some editing software, and a little camera and you can make a mockumentary, or any form of short series very easily, a prime example of this is the BBC Camera crew caught in the snow near Taunton at the beginning of the year, they were stranded in the middle of the countryside overnight, so instead of sitting there like ducks in a can, they made a news feature on how bad it actually was! But that also makes you think of the many technological advances that have been brought on! the use of new updated Outside Broadcast vans with satellite uplinks, and lightweight cameras that film in HD, thinking back to even the early 2000s, that was almost non-existent! Its really opened filming up to the masses, and made it a lot easier!

Job interviews are a tense time for anyone, this hopefully will help you when it comes to that crucial point in time.

Lets start with the simple task of what to wear, the general dress code.

Males:

• Solid colored shirt, preferably white
• Smart tie
• Dark suit
• No jewelry, just a watch
• Neat, tidy hairstyle, ideally short and well kept
• Neatly trimmed nails
• Carry a briefcase or similar
• Don’t go overboard on aftershave or deodorant!
• Cover any tattoos or body markings

Females:

• Solid colour suit, not too short or clingy
• Blouse to go with the suit
• Smart shoes, ideally flats, or a small heel
• Very little jewelry
• Very little perfume & make-up
• Tan or light hosiery
• Well manicured nails
• Carry a briefcase or similar

(http://jobsearch.about.com/od/interviewsnetworking/a/dressforsuccess.htm)

Speech wise, try to sound confident, if you’re scared try not to show it in your voice, keep a strong solid tone. At the same time don’t go the complete other way, and be incredibly cocky. try and stay modest in both your tone of voice, and the things you say.

Talk properly, don’t use slang, or any terms that may be seen as derogatory to someone. Having good interpersonal skills is a must, if you’re quite an introvert, then try and combat that and seem quite outward, and confident. Don’t forget that your body language says just as much, if not more about you than what you actually say! 

To learn more, watch this TED talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc

Structure And Ownership

Research into the following topics from a media prospective.

Find some sources that help explain these topics at least three sources for each.

Structure and ownership;

If you're going to set up a business thats not just yourself self employed, there's a few business structures you can use. Such as a limited company or a partnership. The business structure is essentially how the business is run. A major advantage of a limited company is that you can sell shares if you need to make some money, also the owners of the company, and the company are legally separate.

http://www.santanderbreakthrough.co.uk/advice/strategy/ownership-structures

Private ownership;

Privately owned companies, in relation to the media, are companies that are owned by individuals or shareholders, such as Channel 4 and the related channels.. Rupert Murdoch is a good example of a controlling interest in a company. Public ownership would be something like the BBC, where the company is funded by the state or taxpayer. 

http://www.sociology.org.uk/Media_ownership1.pdf

http://revisionworld.co.uk/a2-level-level-revision/sociology/mass-media-0/ownership-and-control-media

http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/me/meb/meb03/meb03a/onePage

Public service media;

Public service media is essentially media such as advert, but uses digital platforms and media such as the internet, its target audience is generally Youth. 

Radiolab, shown in the picture below, define themselves as this ' Radiolab is a show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience. ' Its an example of public service media, as they're reaching out to young people to assist.

http://www.unesco.org.uk/public_service_media

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1525&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

multinationals;

Multinationals are corporations that have bases in more than one country, such as McDonalds, or Sony.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_corporation

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/multinationalcorporation.asp

http://www2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ355/choi/mnc.htm

Independents;

An independent company is a company that owns all its assets, and is not owned by another company. 

http://www.qfinance.com/dictionary/independent-company

http://www.investorwords.com/10013/independent_company.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_business

Conglomerates;

A conglomerate is a company that owns other companies, that do completely different things to the parent company.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conglomerate_(company)

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/conglomerate.asp

Voluntary;
Voluntary companies are companies run by unpaid individuals, either because they have an interest in that area, or they feel they wish to put something back into the world. Most voluntary organisations are charities, who gain their income through fundraising events and private donations.

cross-media;
 Cross media has 4 main elements,  Pushed, Extras, Bridges, and Experiences (transmedia). Pushed is essentially where the same content, or minor variations thereupon are pushed in different forms, into different platforms.
Extras: Extras is essentially extra content thats made alongside the main element, but delivered in different ways to the main production, for instance the main production being a feature film, and an extra would be an app, or flash game to go with it.
Bridges: This is where the production drives users to go across various media platforms to continue with the activity. For instance, leaving a tv advert, and leaving it on a cliffhanger, then inviting the viewers to go to a web address, or showing a QR code to link them on to what happens after.
 Experiences: This is essentially a mix of the other 3 parts, the content is distributed in a producer 'hands off' non linear way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossmedia

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Crossmedia

http://www.publicitas.ch/en/media/allmedia/definition-crossmedia/

diversification;
The idea of diversification is buying stocks in many different companies, each as a failsafe sort of idea. The idea behind it being that if you have many forms of income, if one goes down you always have a safety net to fall back into.Also different investments could in the future, yield higher profits.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/diversification.asp

vertical and horizontal integration;

Vertical Integration: vertical integration is a system of management control. Its easiest to explain it in form of a supply chain, for instance all the companies involved in supply chains could all have seperate owners, but an example of vertical integration would be having all the companies united under one owner.

Horizontal integration: Horizontal integration is where a company is being taken over by another company, in the same business, and at the same stage.

www.slideshare.net/spingwoodmedia/vertical-and-horizontal-integration-explained

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share of ownership;

A share of ownership is where the the company isn’t owned by one specific person, Its split into a selection of shares that are put onto the stock market, so the public can own shares, normally the founder of the company will own the most shares, giving them the controlling interest. Having a share of ownership in a company will bring you in some money each month, it could vary from month to month depending on how well the companies doing on the stock market.

mergers and takeovers;

Mergers and takeovers happen when two companies join into one. A merger is when two companies join into one voluntarily. They would do this for multiple reasons, such as gaining better profits and more business. There are two types of merger, vertical and horizontal. A vertical merger would be two companies from different lines of business, horizontal is where two companies from the same line of work join together. A takeover is when a company is forced to join with another company.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CEAQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bized.co.uk%2Fsites%2Fbized%2Ffiles%2Fdocs%2Fmergers.ppt&ei=Sx-aUcuNL8SX1AW344CgAg&usg=AFQjCNGOPblti_8Oz7BDY76ZcqvfeS3w0g&sig2=Y7BrW4RAFyxxHYVJnpYTFQ&bvm=bv.46751780,d.d2k

cross-media regulation;

Cross media regulation is put in place by Ofcom, to stop one individual owning all of the news/broadcast outlets in a specific area to prevent biased news and programming. 

sources of income;

Sources of income are needed to put money into the media industry. They come from a range of different things, a main contributor the income is advertising. These can pay per click, or per showing, or listen! Another one would be merchandising, like Apple providing a certain amount of computers for a television studio, as long as they use all Apple computers in their shows. You have to be very careful with merchandising and product placement.

product diversity;

Product diversity, is media companies diversifying and specializing their output so they fit their required audience. If they find a niche market where there are no companies specifically producing that type of media to a particularly high standard, they can work their way in and possibly tap into a very good revenue stream.

profitability of product range;

This is all about how much money you’re making off the products you put out there, whether it be web broadcasting, TV shows, or radio shows. This is partly where ratings come in, if the ratings for a particular product in your range are very low, then you would cut that product, as its not profitable, and could well make you a loss. But on the other end of that scale, if you have a product with very good ratings, you’ll spend the money to produce more of that, to create a greater profit.

organisational objectives;

These are the overall objectives for a business, that have been set out by the management then been sent down to the workers. Most of the time they focus on the long range goals of the company and its philosophy. This can provide guidance for employees that want to go higher in the business.

licenses;

Licenses are to give permission to do certain things within a company. A good example of this would be having a PRS Licence to play music in a public place legally without infringing on copyright laws. They’re needed to prevent your company from lawsuits, and legal issues.

franchises;

A franchise is a license given to a business [the franchisee] to give them the franchisors business plan, and trademarks to provide products or services under the name of the franchisor. The franchisee often pays the start up, and an annual license fee. One example of a franchise is McDonalds.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/franchise.asp

competitors;

A competitor is someone who runs a business in the same area as you, who provides you with competition for your product/service. They could be national, or international. 

customers;

The customers are the people who buy the product/service you purvey. Everyone is a customer to some form of service.

national and global competition and trends;

The national and global competition are the competitors to you, that provide a similar product or service to the one/s you offer. The trends are what dictate the services/products used.