WIZmedia Wizzi: Baby Elephant Package

THE STORY OF MR SHUFFLES

TV Package evaluation

The focus of this evaluation is on a soft news story rather than a hard one. Claudia, Heather and myself produced the package and the version you are about to see I edited alone using Final Cut. We found the story on the Sky News website and then went to Reuters to find corresponding footage

As a group we wrote the studio link and recorded it in the studio. I directed it and with Alan’s help recorded it with a green screen so that I could try using Chroma keyer (in post production) to create my ‘UCA today’ logo that begins the package and is the backdrop to the studio link.

To create the logo I began with the university’s UCA logo and a clock that I found on Google images. I edited the two together, along with the added words, using a transparent background so that it would show up as black in the video.To use it as the studio background I adjusted the colour spectrum of the green screen so that all the green was blacked out in chroma keyer.Unfortunately, there is still a slight green glow around Claudia and Heather. When trying to remedy this, parts of them began to disappear, so I had to leave parts of the green in view.

I think better lighting when shooting in the studio would minimize the colour spectrum of the green screen and make it easier to black out areas required for use with chroma keyer. Next time I will pay more attention to the lighting will spend more time learning how to use this tool.

The titles at the beginning of the package introduce it alongside a jingle I found onwww.i-freeware-download.com.This site had many downloadable tunes but I chose ‘DragonAwakes’ as I thought the eastern style sound would fit with this light story.

Heather did the piece to camera as the group thought her voice suited this story. After filming Heather’s piece to camera I slowed the footage down in Final Cut as she spoke very quickley. I kept the pitch of her voice the same and I have noticed since doing this that a very slight echo can be heard from the voice. I also edited one of the members of the public's voices so that it sounded more natural. The gentlemen that said 'Boon Thang' sounded unnatural as he was very conscious that he was being recorded and said it so clearly and slowely that it did not fit with the other Vox pops. I simply sped his voice up allowing the pitch to change and therefore flow better.

One problem I found when editing was a lack of footage. We got roughly 2 and a half minutes footage off Reuters when trying to produce a minute and a half to 2-minute package which I have learned is scarcely enough. It was difficult for us to get our own footage for this story so I have created more zoom shots and increased the duration of some stills to elongate what we had.

We did film our Vox pops but did so in a rushed way. The framing could have been better and the position of the microphone looked unprofessional so I cut out the video, replacing it with more shots I edited from the Reuters footage. Next time I will ask those we record Vox pops from to bear with me whilst I set everything up properly. The problem was that they seemed keen to get it over with quickly so we felt pressured.

It would have been good to have a sound bite that went with the footage of elephant manager Gary Miller but the sound quality from Reuters was not good enough to use.

I wrote the voiceover and recorded it in the radio studio. I had to be careful not to mention the baby elephant’s current name ‘Mr Shuffles’ as Heather introduced this in her piece to camera. I used information that Claudia and myself found on the story from the Sky News website.

The seven Thai names thought up by workers at the Zoo had different meanings but rather than giving out these meanings I created titles that would appear after announcing the names to create a more visually interesting piece. I created these on Photoshop using ‘Matura MT Script Capitals’ as the font as this style seemed in keeping with the Thai names. I used red to stand out the best against the footage however on refelction they could have been slowed down to increase reading time.

I began the project using Premiere Pro but was having problems getting the software to work. The sound and video kept falling out of sync and refusing to playing so I started using Final Cut. Since finding Final Cut easier, I will probably stick to using this programme. I found exporting the video the way I wanted it less confusing.

A sign off from Heather would have ended the piece better than the rather abrupt ending you see. On the whole, I think we produced a good package and I am pleased with the amount I have learned for this assessment. I look forward to using my practised skills to produce higher quality work next time and in the future.