Location Visit

9th November

Today, my media class had our Filming Day to Birmingham town centre. Here is how the trip was organised:

9.15-10am- We started off at Colmore Plaza which is a mid-rise office building, centered in the Colmore Business District area. Here we went to an office on the top floor which had a perfect view to the surrounding Birmingham town center, making it a fantastic location for taking images on the digital SLR camera that could then be used for our title sequences. Unfortunately, the weather was foggy, making our images rather unclear and not the best quality that they could have been. Nevertheless, this was a great opportunity to take some iconic views of the City.

After we had a taken a wide range of pictures,
my fellow media group and I filmed a planning meeting where we explained the reasons behind our images and our vision for the day. Below is the short discussion:

Below is a few of the images that I took while at Colmore Plaza:

By taking images at Colmore Plaza, it allowed be to gain high angle pictures of Birmingham City Centre, of  which I would of been unable to do otherwise if me and my class wouldn't of been able to agin access to the building. Unfortunalty, the images that I took, as you can see, are not the best that they could of been due to the fact of the fog which caused the images to look blurry and unclear.
This obstacle could of been prevented if we looked at a weather forecast before the location visit, and planned to go on a day that was predicted for better weather. For example, we could of viewed the BBC Weather App-

10-10.50am- Leaving the Colmore Plaza, we had 50 minutes to make our own way to the Mailbox. During this walk, we took advantage of being in the city center by taking more images of the ideal images which were featured in my storyboard, along with images of other landmarks, which I thought would potentially fit in well with my title sequence. Also on our walk, we filmed a number of Vox Pops with members of the public, asking them a question focused on the arrival of the German Market. This is because as a group we had decided that a potential news story could be based upon the German Market, a yearly event in Birmingham's Christmas calendar.

As well as recording vox pots, me and my group also took recording of various landmarks and significant aspects of Birmingham City Centre, which then could be included in each of our own title sequences.
Below are just are few of our recordings on the day:





You can see that one of the most popular effects for recordings that would possible feature in our title sequences in the time lapse effect. This creates a speeding up motion of everything that is recorded; this effect often used for established TV News programmes such as ITV News, of which I know to due my primary research prior the location theory.

In addition of videos of landmarks, me and my group also took images of these range of landmarks and significant areas of Birmingham. Below I have made a Slidesnack containing a sample of images that I have annotated, regarding what the images signify:






Below are some more images that I took while on the Location Visit.

10.50-12.30pm- We arrived at the BBC Birmingham located at the Mailbox. Here we had a tour of the studios in which we saw the set of the news room and various other areas of the building including the gallery and the radio station of BBC WM. While on this tour, we had plenty of opportunities to ask questions of the hosts who were very knowledgeable.  Learning from them was a real advantage and put us in a great position for our task. I asked numerous questions about timings and what should be included in a TV News programme.

 In these 2 images you can see the set of BBC Midlands Today. Notice the colour palette (red and white), which also features in the BBC News logo and also during the title sequence of the news programme.
Viewing the news studio was a great chance for me to see the layout of the studio, to see where the anchor and weather woman would be positioned and to also have a look at the lighting of the studio. All of the knowledge which I gained from this would allow for me to put it into practice for when I will be creating my TV news package, especially when my team and I will be filming in our news studio.
Furthermore, from viewing the news room, I discovered that the background was in fact green screens and not the studio.
I will now know for when I am setting up my news studio, that I can use a screen for the backdrop and get an image up for it.

During the tour, we also had chance to have a look around the rest of the BBC News Studios.

During this trip, I had to use a range of skills:

• Time management- The plan was to meet my fellow pupils and teachers on Colomore Row at 9am sharp, however due to the fog, there was disruption on the roads following a crash. Consequently, this meant that I was 15 minutes late. From this, I knew that I would have to be diligent throughout the day in order to catch up with the extra shots that I missed. I therefore decided to not have a lunch, so that I could get the few extra shots that I felt like I needed. In addition, I ensured that getting from one location to another, I was a few minutes early, so that I had time to get my equipment ready and be prepared. 

• Communication skills- I felt that I made a good use of my communication skills. This is because I contacted my fellow pupils, in order to for them to let my teachers know that I was running late. From this, I was told to meet them at the Colomore Plaza itself, rather than Colomore Row. This resulted in me not making everyone else late and allowing me to get straight into the task. Another way in which I showed good communication skills was at the BBC, where I asked the hosts of the tour numerous questions so that I could attain a deeper understanding of TV news which would be invaluable in my task of creating my own news programme, title sequence and radio advert. For example, I know now that the anchor in the news room should have a script. At BBC studios, they have an autocue; unfortunately we haven't got the funds to have access to this type of technology. Therefore, we will have to improvise by writing the script and holding it up behind the camera (using a flip chart) in order for the news anchor to be able to read clearly.  Much of the script will also need to be learnt as in the case of a weather reporter, who cuts the script down according to the amount of time they have to work with at the end of a news programme.

• Use of digital technologies- Working as a team, we came to the conclusion that for us to achieve high quality images for our TV news story, it would be beneficial to us to use an array of digital technologies to take them. We chose to use a Canon digital SLR camera to allow us to get the professional images that we required.  We also used a tripod to ensure that our images, particularly moving images were steady.  We also used iPhones; we recorded time lapses and some sound recording.   

• Taking the establishing shots- My class and I were very fortunate to gain access to the top floor of Colmore Plaza. Here we had the perfect view of Birmingham town centre, with many landmarks and buildings being in view. However the weather conditions being foggy meant that the establishing shots which we took on the SLR camera were not as we wanted them to be. The fog made our supposedly professional images, look unclear and made the buildings be less prominent. This is always the risk of planning a day outside and having to rely on unpredictable weather conditions.