Ninth Blog 05/05/10

With my proposal handed in I can now focus on finishing my pitch idea. From planning other presentations, I have given myself time to focus on what I'll be saying and how long each of these sections of powerpoint will take me to speak about. I have also planned on the approach I will take to pitch my idea. As the piece focuses around a serious topic, I will take a very formal approach to the pitch, addressing the panel in a very formal way. Once the presentation piece is finished I will spend the few days leading up to the presentation planning the timings and overall approach. I will also spend the time adjusting any sections I believe to be weak overall in the pitch. From having a "practice" run of the pitch in front of the class, I feel more comfortable in talking in front of crowds, and have developed further in the overall body language and approach I have towards an audience. This overall has given me more confidence when talking to a group, and will hopefully give the panel the confident approach towards me as an inidividual. My showreel has also taken form in a large way. With music videos and music based pieces being my strongest point, I will focus the piece around this and make a music based showreel. I plan to complete these by the end of the TV Studio live week (14th May) to allow for any changes to be made when needed.

Eighth Blog 22/04/10

With another project approaching quickly, I have spent the last two weeks planning my time much more effectively. From completing research and planning, I have now finished my proposal and developed my idea to a point in which I feel comfortable preparing my pitch. My documentary will be a total of 90 minutes, and has now been seperated into a variety of sections, each of which covers an area of feminism from a variety of sources. I have also made a large amount of decisions focusing on the style of the programme and the presenter I will use. As discussed in class, the best approach to my presenter would be to use a new face within television. I have also made a definitive target audience and prepared fully the content of the piece. As this is now finished, I will use any spare time over the next few weeks planning for my pitch, including how I will get the facts across for my piece. In terms of my showreel I have looked at what I think would be best to sell myself as a media practitioner. Over the next few weeks, I will work on collaborating all the pieces needed for this, and getting them into a sufficient time line reading to prepare a final piece.

Seventh Blog 06/04/10

After looking in more detail at preparing a video piece, I have reached the conlusion that it will be too difficult to prepare this piece as effectively as I would like to, making it virtually useless in the context of my pitch. From this I have decided that I will use facts and figures to back up my overall ideas. Since my last review of research, I have found yet another article focusing on the ways women are treated in the workplace and have also found more information regarding the history of feminism. This will all be included within my research portfolio. My overall idea has again developed. After discussions with the class I have decided that my pitch will work at it's best if the piece is extended. The documentary idea plans to cover a large amount of information, and this can only be done effectively if the piece is extended to a piece of 90 minutes. Due to other commitments, I haven't taken on any showreel work throughout this week.

Sixth Blog- 26/03/10

With the next 2 weeks being Easter, I have made a plan to finish my proposal over these weeks. I now have the bulk of my research ready to convert to my extended proposal, so the next few weeks will be spent finishing and perfecting my proposal and presentation. With only a minimum amount of work being applied to the actual presentation, I will be spending as much time planning and preparing my pitch. For my pitch I am going to use visuals to my advantage. Over the Easter holidays, I am going to look into more detail at preparing a video piece to show to the commissioning panel. Over the last week I have spent more time planning and editing my show-reel than I have preparing for my presentation. The main reason for this being that I have neglected the show-reel over the last few weeks in favour of other units. Overall my show-reel has become a piece showcasing my editing skills, styles and techniques. Through Easter, I am going to look at pieces that I have taken a more physical role in, such as directing and filming, to include in my final show-reel.

Fifth Blog 17/03/10

Throughout this week I have continued researching for my extended proposal. After researching in more detail the audience for my programme idea, I have managed to find a style that fits this best. From this I have also decided that I will no longer be using Channel 4 as an option for my programme, and will now focus on More 4. More 4 style documentaries use a much more academic approach, allowing for the higher educated audience to take an interest. By using this channel as my main platform I can now develop further my main style. In terms of content, through more reading I found an article in Elle magazine. The article focused on feminism and the developments within the workplace concerning females. This included a variety of facts and figures which can be used to back up my extended proposal, and also due to content, has inspired me to continue looking into the risks that females face when trying to get ahead in a male dominated industry. Over the next week, leading to the Easter holidays, I would like to continue this research further, but would also like to become more investigative in terms of how I am finding my information. This will include me taking an active role as a female looking for work. I will contact employers, and work on getting an interview with somebody from an industry which is male dominated. If I can get this piece as a visual product, this will then be used in my final presentation in terms of content.
In terms of show-reel development, I have continued to look at past pieces of work, and see the strengths that, if included, these would bring to the product. Over the next week or so, I would like to compile these pieces, and find a set plan for the pieces I have.

Fourth Blog 11/03/2010

Throughout this week, I have looked in more detail at the Channel 4/More 4 style of documentary. In this research I have looked at the style in which these programmes take on, and how this passes information to the viewer. From this I found a variety of different results, varying on the audience to which the content is aimed. This research has given me a better idea as to how I would like my programme to look overall. This was then applied to the draft of my proposal. At the moment I am finding it difficult to come up with a catchy name for my documentary. From research I have found that this type of investigative documentary is very popular, and that the titles that are used on platforms like Channel 4, are usually long winded, yet get the point across. For next week I would like to be closer to a set proposal, and for this I need to research more into the style and hopefully find a title for my programme.

Third Blog-26/02/2010

Since changing my initial idea, I have found that finding information on this subject matter has been a much easier task than in a way creating new information and opinions to be broadcast.
My new idea will be a factual based programme, planned to run for 60 minutes, on a network such as More4. The subject matter of this will be females in the workplace. The programme will be both investigative and informative. The investigative aspect will come from a female presenter taking out the task of finding and applying for a job that is in a male dominated industry. We will then follow her as she takes on the interviews and see how she gets treated throughout this period of time. The informative aspect will be in the form of interviews with experts. These will be of a variety of ages and from a number of different social and professional backgrounds. These experts will either be employers or employees that have an opinion on the subject matter, and in some cases will have first hand experience in a discriminative situation.
The research I found from this in terms of a target audience made me create an audience "model" and a specific type of person who this programme will appeal to. The style will appeal to both males and females, but due to subject matter will be aimed at a female audience. The age range from this will be of an older audience, targetting ages between university graduates (21-24) up to the older generations who may have faced these issues in previous employment(50-70). With this being a wide range, my next task will be to look at any existing programmes that may appeal to this age and see how they apply specific codes and conventions and create a propsal.

Second Blog-19/02/2010

Throughout reading week, we were given the task to research our target audience for our television programme ideas. My first idea was to make a "games review" show. This would be of a similar style to other game review shows, but from research I found out that many of these focused on a similar audience age. I looked into current reviews that were based on other formats (such as the Xbox Live platform)and how popular these were with the audience. As many of my gaming friends are of a similar age, this proved to be fairly biased research. This said, the research taken from this proved that the audience preferred a much more academic approach to reviews. From this I decided that the best way to sell a new gaming review show would be to focus on this new, older audience.
After this research, I looked more into how easy this programme would be to make and how long I could carry an interest in it. This made me realise that I only have a very small passion for something of this style, therefore making it difficult for me to continue coming up with creative aspects to make this show appealing. This then made me look at what genre of programme I would be able to hold an interest in. From this I created a new idea for a factual programme that I feel that I can hold an interest in and continue to make new and interesting content for this.

First Blog- 15/02/2010

When given a task to create a proposal and pitch for a Product to broadcast, there are many things that have to be considered. Many of these are research based, and provide a foundation for a further product. The first thing I began to research was gaps within the current market. Trying to fill this gap could prove risky, as the public generally want the same old programmes that have been fed to them for years. The majority of the market is currently filled with Real-Life shows, and Reality TV, but this seems to be what the general public are currently demanding. From this, I need to find a market for my proposed TV Show idea. For the next week, I will take out research to find an audience for my idea. From this I can then start work on my proposal.

For my showreel, I have started by looking through existing pieces of work that I would like to include in my showreel. I have also started working on styles that I would like my showreel to take on. Over the next week I would like to have a small portfolio of work ready to begin editing into a final showreel piece.