Television Assessment Evaluation
For my television assessment package, I decided to cover one of the biggest news stories of the year so far, the Royal Wedding. The sheer scale of the event meant that there were many ways in which I could tackle the story and report on it. I decided that I would report on the main events of the wedding day, as this is what the majority of audience would want to know about. I made the decision to tackle the project alone; however there were certain elements to the production which required help from a colleague. My colleague presented the studio link, as well as being cameraman to record my pieces to camera. I decided that, as presenting is my strength, I would present the pieces to camera.
In terms of production values, I am satisfied with the setting for my filmed pieces. Starting with the studio link, I used a green screen to provide a television studio setting. However, this took several attempts, as the first take was done without a tripod. This became apparent when applying the chroma key, placing an image behind the presenter, and subsequently finding the presenter hovering across the screen, due to a shaky camera. This was resolved by re-filming with a tripod. The settings for my pieces to camera were a little less imaginative, using an area of greenery to portray a London London to film the action in one of the major locations for the wedding, either outside of Westminster Abbey or Buckingham Palace
A lot of my footage was archive footage from external sources. In terms of using the footage in relation to the voiceovers, I am much happier with the positioning of the pictures in this package. For example, when the voiceover says, “the first kiss”, we see footage of the first kiss. However, in earlier packages, I haven’t done this as successfully. An example of this is during my Lady Gaga – Queen of Twitter package, where I say “enclosed in a giant egg”. We then see the giant egg later in the package, when it would have looked better positioned in time with that part of the voiceover. On reflection, I have noticed that a lot of my clips follow on rather ‘hard’ from the previous clip. It is good for the package to be tight, but I think that there needed to be a little more breathing space at certain points within the production. Also, the last event I cover from the Royal Wedding is Prince William and Kate Middleton appearing in a vintage car. This piece doesn’t seem to flow with the rest of the package. Perhaps this content shouldn’t have been included. However, I believe that it could have worked, had the voiceover been worded differently, bringing the package to a close.
A key feature within the package is that of an interview. In order to bring an authoritative source and a sense of actuality to the piece, I selected someone who attended the wedding for interview. Unfortunately, the only interview I could arrange was a telephone interview. However, my interviewee, who was chief executive of the Child Bereavement Charity - which Prince William is patron of, gave me some really good material and great quotes. On reflection, I would have liked the interview filmed. Also, I attempted to contact more high profile guests from the wedding including Tara Palmer Tomkinson and Ben Fogle. I received replies stating that Tomkinson was too busy and that Fogle felt that he had said everything he had to say about the wedding. On the other hand, I received a positive response from Welsh rugby player, Gareth Thomas, but this response came too late in the production line. However, I am happy with how the interview section sounds, and it allowed me to do more work with titling.
Despite having elements which can inevitably be improved, I am happy with the package as a whole and look forward to developing my skills and techniques next semester.
