Danny Hewitt's Television Production Blog

We needed to get a reporter for our live piece, and we all decided we wanted a male who had a bit of character. After agreeing on that, I knew the perfect person for this role and contacted him via social media. His name is Jamie Terry and he studied Performing Arts at university.

I pitched the idea to Jamie, and he loved the sound of it! This is his area of field so he is very excited about the prospect of working with us on this project. I believe he fits the role perfectly as he is very engaging and will add natural comedy through his humour.

I am going to brief him on the subject as well as his lines so he feels 100% comfortable when we shoot live. I have every faith in him and believe he will deliver on the day, which is what we need if we want a successful shoot (especially as it's live)

We decided to make Jamie wear smart but slightly casual clothes so he brings professionalism but with a less serious approach. We want the viewers to feel comfortable as well as entertained therefore these dress codes will help achieve that

Before the green screen test, I decided to research 'Three point lighting' as we will be using that for our project. I wanted to enhance my knowledge and understanding of the set up before we shoot so I could get it right first time, as well as finding out any key tips.

Key Light

This is the MAIN light. It is usually the strongest and
has the most influence on the look of the scene.
It is placed to one side of the camera/subject so that
this side is well lit and the other side has some shadow.

Fill Light

This is the secondary light and is placed on the
opposite side of the key light. It is used to fill
the shadows created by the key. The fill will
usually be softer and less bright than the key.
To acheive this, you could move the light further
away or use some spun. You might also want to
set the fill light to more of a flood than the key.

Back Light

The back light is placed behind the subject and
lights it from the rear. Rather than providing
direct lighting (like the key and fill), its purpose
is to provide DEFINITION and subtle highlights
around the subject's outlines. This helps separate
the subject from the background and provide a
three-dimensional look.

After much deliberation, we came up with a number of taglines that we believe would help get our message across in terms of our channels brand. These are the nominees:

• Sports. News. Now

• All Sports, No Balls

• Just Sport, No Balls

As part of our development and practice - we got given a task to create a news package for tourists. We got into our groups and we decided to do Rochester as that was the best place for all of us to access.

We started off with a brainstorm, with everyone coming up with different ideas and different places to film. We then made a rough script to follow once we finalised what places we were going to film. Rochester is very historic so we all straight away mentioned the castle and cathedral. Not only are these famous landmarks, but they are also great features to have on film and sums up Rochester nicely.

We took up our usual roles, with Helen writing the script and gaining access to different locations, Chris was editor and chief cameraman, and I was the director while also starring/presenting in this project. I find it useful to be on camera sometimes, as it helps you realise what actors/presenters have to deal with, as well as find/work out what helps them and what they need from the production crew.

We met up at Chris' flat (which is luckily in Rochester) and began prepping. We then headed off to the different locations filming cutaways as well as pieces to camera. Helen and I then filmed the castle and cathedral as they were vital for our piece. Chris then worked his magic with the editing, and it turned out great! We were all happy with the end result, and learnt different things with making a package for a news piece.

The main thing I learnt was the role of the reporter. Movement on camera is key, and the delivery needs to be clear. We will have to get an engaging reporter for our digital news project

• How important the feet are while using a green screen - making sure the floor is green too
• Making sure everything is the same shade of green for accuracy and consistency
• Where to put the lights - making sure they cover all angles by setting them up with different heights and angles
• The time it takes to set everything up, therefore thinking of that in advance for when we shoot our projects

Our team decided to meet up on a day we weren't at University, and discuss every part of our news project. We all sat down, with our notepads/laptops, and brought each other up to speed with our progress and ideas. As my role as the Director I believed this to be key to not only our success, but also the team morale. Sticking together and being on the same page/wavelength is vital, and we have always had great communication within our team.

The brainstorming session went great as we progressed with our ideas for many aspects of our news piece. By the end, we had ideas for the strapline, created the logo and set out how we wanted the studio to look

Overall a useful meeting with our project and ideas progressing nicely

We have found a Roller Derby league called "Kent Roller Girls" who are the first and currently only league located in Kent. Everything is run by members of the league, and they are financed solely by members and donations.

It was established in 2010, which shows just how new the sport is! The whole sport originally started in America where it's now played in nearly every state. Kent Roller Girls wanted to bring this exhilarating sport to England, which is why they created the league 4 years ago. Since then, it has grown into a popular hobby, and is widely renowned as the fastest growing female competitive sport in the UK

Here is a video of the Kent Roller Girls in action:

We have found a local pole fitness class in Medway which would be great for our news piece! It's called "Pole Persona Dance and Fitness". Helen knows someone who goes there regularly, therefore gaining us access.

It's situated on Medway City Estate in Strood and offers classes as well as private lessons in their own studio. This would be perfect to film in, and we've heard the studio is very keen/opinionated on showing people that it's a sport, which is exactly what we wanted

Here is a link to their website:

http://www.polepersona.co.uk

After many discussions, we came up with the idea of filming a live piece of a female sport which is growing each year and becoming very popular - it's called Roller Derby

Roller Derby is defined as: "a type of speed-skating competition on roller skates"

This exciting sport features teams of 14 each, having 5 players on at a time, skating round a track. Each team designates a scoring player, these are called the "jammers", with the other 4 players acting as "blockers". The aim of the game is for the jammers to lap the opposing team, scoring points every time they do so. And of course the blockers jobs are to avoid that happening using their bodies to get in the way of the Jammers.

It's a contact sport which means injuries do happen, however they are all well protected with helmets, mouth guards and pads. All of this makes it very exciting for people to watch, as well as people to participate in - here is an example video:

Once we decided to create a sports channel, I felt inclined to research some existing ones. The main sports one, which features on television with its own channel is Sky Sports News:

Helen came up with a great idea which was to film pole fitness and show the audience that it's a genuine sport which is great for fitness and strength. Many people associate pole dancing with "sluts" and clubs, however we want to show the audience that it's better than that and girls do it for fun as a hobby

After extensive research, I have found out that pole fitness is defined as:

"A combination of acrobatics and gymnastics on a pole"

This definition in itself shows that it's considered a sport as gymnastics is a worldwide sport which features in big events like the Olympic Games. Pole fitness is growing in popularity each year, and now it's been known that they want it to feature in the Olympic Games along with gymnastics.

I have been watching videos on pole fitness, and this one caught my eye as it shows you the basic steps, as well as showing the audience it's not just for being "sexy"