Filming the lighting of the menorah.

In celebration of Hanukkah, we went to film the lighting of the Menorah at London's Trafalgar Square on the 20th of December. We did some research before we went out filming to find out the place and the exact time the menorah will be lit to ensure we will not miss it. Having arrived a couple of hours before the lighting, we were able to film some of the live entertainment performed and speeches by the mayor of London, Borris Johnson, Vice president of the Jewish leadership council, Lord Janner. Although the event was not as grand as the Diwali festival that took place in October, there was a huge amount of people who came to celebrate the lighting of the menorah that evening.

#KH

Giant Lego Christmas Tree

After watching a BBC news report we find out that a Giant Christmas tree made out of lego has been constructed and placed in St. Pancras station. This very interesting because it has never been done in london before, and if now a cultural attraction for tourists. We are hoping to make our way now there to film a couple of seconds and take some photo's to show off this beautiful construction, of what some may call the modern christmas tree?

#AK

Second Filming Session

We are currently arranging to meet up in central london, oxford street on Monday the 19th of December. This will be to film our title sequence. We are going to be walking around central london looking for cultural landmarks such as the london eye and Big Ben. We are going to film and use these cultural buildings/landmarks in our opening sequence.

#AK

Tabs for Blogger

Hello,

In order for the audience to view our blog easily, I have decided to make tabs for our news blog so that it prepares us when making our news website, in which we need to make tabs for it to look professional.

Making the tabs also means that it is more convenient for a person to browse around the site or blog, therefore moving around only takes a click of a button. I split the tabs into different sections, for example: cultural videos, twitter link, a biography etc. The tabs are clearly labelled so that the audience can choose what they like to view in the different sections. There will be more tabs added soon!

Keep Following!

#ZT

Filming at Winter Wonderland

On the Sunday we also made a trip to winter wonderland (Hyde Park). At Hyde Park we filmed all the main attractions like the 'fun fair' rides in action, the food stalls and people having the time of their lives. When filming the rides we filmed from a range using establishing shots to help set the atmosphere of the fairground. We also used many panning shots to try and show the whole fairground in one smooth motion.
On the whole our trip to Hyde Park was very usual to us for we gained key footage but it was also an enjoyable day out.

#AK, NB, ZT, KH

Filming at Oxford Street

Seeing that the Christmas lights have been put up around Oxford Street, we decided that it would fit perfectly in our news package, therefore we went to film there. The reason filming there is because our theme is culture and we wanted to revolve around festivals and celebrations close to this time of Year.

We had many types of shots of the lights and also got footage of many cars and people walking, so we can add that 'fast pace' effect as we open or close our news sequence. We went there early, so that the low key lighting wouldn't affect our footage. Although it became dark quickly, the camera managed to pick up the lighting well and the footage was still clear.

We aim next week to finish filming our opening title sequence at the London Eye and Big Ben. We have done the music and the logos, which leaves us with one less thing to worry about.

#ZT #AK #NB #KH

Filming at Selfridges

On Sunday the 19th our team met up at 3:00 outside Selfridges, Marble Arch. We sat down at a cafe and talked over the shots that we were about to film. Once made clear with each other, we begun to go to our first shooting point which was at the top floor of Selfridges. On the escalator we discovered these cool 'energy generating spinning lights'. So from the top floor we were able to get a great view of these stunning lights and also crowds of people doing their christmas shopping. We took some steady high angle shots for a minute or so which we will then speed up in the editing suite for a part of our title sequence. The footage was bright and it will hopefully go great with the title sequence music too. We then made our way down the escalator and filmed people going down and up, these shots will too be added perhaps in our opening sequence. Once all the filming of the Selfridges department store was completed we made our way out of the building to the main streets for us to film the Oxford Street lights.

#NB #AK #ZT #KH

Questionnaire

We created a questionnaire to find out peoples opinions on News as a whole, this was to help us better our news package by finding out what our audience like. Our questionnaire contained 10 questions and we asked 20 people to give us a verity of results. We asked questions like:

"do you Watch the news?" - this was to help us find out how many young adults watched the news.

"What news Channel do you watch?" - this was to help us find out the most popular news channel, so we could research what techniques they use to reach that level of popularity.

"what is your opinion on cultural news?" - We asked this question to gain an insight to how popular our news package will be if it was going to be released publicly.

"How do you prefer to receive you news?" - This question help us find out how young adults prefer to access the news, so we could try and include this in our news package.

Our Results found that most Young adults watch the news and that BBC was the most popular news channel; and that young adults accessed the news about once a day. Our results also showed us that people were interested in cultural news and would watch it if the service was available.

We are hoping to draw up another questionnaire asking more questions.

#AK

Christmas Lights

As always Christmas lights are put up in Oxford Street and this year was no different. So this weekend we have planned to go and film the lights. With a lot of discussion we've decided to meet up at around 3:00 in order for us to first film our title sequence (the central london part) and once it begins to get dark around 5:00 we will make our way to Oxford Street, set up our camera's and start filming. We will continue to use the HD camera and the radio mic.

#NB

Change name to ICN London

As a group, we decided to change our news channel name to ICN London. After posting a questionnaire, we found out that many were confused by the name and could not understand the meaning behind the name. We have now clarified that our name stands for Independent Cultural News London(ICN London).

We decided to have this name as for having abbreviations for our other name was hard as we had a pun on the words. We've kept the logo the same with the London Eye behind the logo. This represents the London Eye that will feature in the title sequence of our news package. It also shows that we are local since we are filming in the heart of London. We aim to start filming our news opening sequence and some of our news package this Sunday!

Thank you.

#ZT

Jeremy Hunt interested in Local TV

Ironic of the fact that we are currently making a news package for our local area, we have found out that Jeremy Hunt has enthusiasm for local TV.

He has said thta there is enough 'interest in sustaining a network of local TV stations across Wales.' Mr Hunt reveals how media is marching forward and how we are living in a multi-media age where local information can be gathered on iPods and iPhones, not on TVs.

He mentions: 'The cost of running a local TV station would be similar to the cost of running a local newspaper', whereby the stations could be run by potential volunteers.

#ZT

Plan for Diwali on the Square

12pm- Meet up at Edgware Station take the Northern Line to Leicester Square staion.
12:50pm- Arrive at Leicester Square station, walk to Trafalgar Square.
1:10pm- Arrive at Trafalgar Square.
1:15pm- Start filming.
2pm- Stop filming for lunch.
3pm- Start filming until the official opening ceremony starts.
3:15pm- Opening ceremony starts. (Film Deputy Mayor speech.)
3:35pm- Film some performances. (Dances, live music.)
We used this website to find out about the programme and what was going to happen.
http://www.diwaliinlondon.com/

#KH

Jeremy Hunt

Background information about Jeremy Hunt. (extract taken from website)

'Jeremy was born on 1 November 1966 and grew up in Surrey, where his parents still live. He went to Charterhouse school in Godalming, a town where two different generations of his family have lived for nearly 60 years.

After leaving school, Jeremy studied at Oxford University, where he graduated with a first class honours degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He then went on to work for a management consultancy firm before going to Japan for two years where he taught English and learnt Japanese.

On his return to the UK, Jeremy set up his own educational publishing business, Hotcourses. The company, which employs over 200 people, has become the UK's largest publisher of guides and websites to help people find the right course or college (http://www.hotcourses.com). He also set up a charity to help AIDS orphans in Africa in which he continues to play an active role (www.hotcoursesfoundation.org).

Jeremy was re-elected as Member of Parliament for South West Surrey in May 2010, increasing the Conservative majority from 5711 to 16,318. On first becoming an MP in 2005 he increased the Conservative majority from 861 to 5711. He is well-known locally for his supermarket surgeries and has campaigned actively on local issues including overdevelopment and local NHS services. He was closely involved in the successful fights to prevent the closure of the Royal Surrey and Milford Hospitals.

In December 2005 he was appointed Shadow Minister for Disabled People, where he successfully campaigned for the BBC to increase the amount of subtitling on its programmes. He also campaigned strongly for simplification of the benefits system for disabled people and individual social care budgets. In July 2007 he was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport where he has campaigned for more philanthropy for the arts, local TV, superfast broadband, a schools Olympics and a strengthened domestic tourism industry.


In May 2010 Jeremy was appointed Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport in the new Conservative - Liberal Democrat coalition.

Jeremy divides his time between Westminster and his constituency home in Farnham. He married his wife Lucia in July 2009 and they have one son.'

Source: http://www.jeremyhunt.org/text.aspx?id=109

Music for news title sequence

As we see many news opening sequences, they usually last for approximately 25-35seconds, in which this meant we needed something short but effective - having that 'news feel' as it starts. We focused on the build up of the strings and synth, which then led to a sharp finish; opening up our news story.

We tried to visualise having the background moving along with the music, so that everything fitted to how we wanted it to be. As examples, we had a listen to the BBC and ITV London news openings. They inspired us to film in central London, as it showed its focus in London and stayed local within the area. We hope to get some footage of the London Eye to add to our title sequence!

#ZT

Uploading footage

After filming at Trafalgar Square, we are now uploading the footage onto the computer. However, having used another camera- we are having a bit of problem being able to transfer the clips into the desktop. It is slowly loading and we hope that the footage can be seen clearly.

We are only having this problem because of using a better camera(HD), in which we attempted to get more clarity in our filming so that it gives a realistic news impression. We are using the program: Adobe Premiere Elements to edit our footage.

Follow us on twitter @ www.twitter.com/ICUNews247

#ZT #AK

Diwali on the Square Visit

A fruitful visit to Trafalgar Square on the 16th October helped to give useful knowledge on the Diwali celebration. On the day, we experienced the handing out of free sarees, but only a special few were given the traditional clothing. It then led to a speech from the host, who invited everyone to come and celebrate with them- using the words 'PAR-TY'. The celebration continued with a 3 hour long party, filled with different performances which he called 'items'. The performances consisted of the traditional dance, drum playing and influential speeches. Many people attended, making the place very crowded and busy- there was hardly any space.

We managed to get footage and photographs of the place, in which would appear in our news package once all the footage of other festivals is taken and edited.

#AK #NB #KH #ZT

Plan for our news package

We have planned the order of where everything should go in our news package.
1. Title sequence.
2. New Years Eve by the London Olymics stadium in Stratford, before the fireworks.
3. Recap- Diwali, Winter Wonderland, Christmas decorations, Chanukah.
4. Voxpox of people's views on the events.
5. Facts and statistics.
6. New Years Eve once the countdown starts and the fireworks.

#KH

Camera Useage

We are going to use a SONY HD camera instead of A DV camera. This is so we can get the best quality footage. Using this camera we be no hassle for us because we have all the connections needed to upload the footage. That consists of the fire-wire connection and the USB connection.

#AK

Festival Visit on Sunday 16th October at Trafalgar Sq.

We have arranged to go to Diwali on the Square on Sunday 16th October at 2pm-7pm. We have planned to film the main parts of the celebration- including dances, story telling, food and interviews from people.

If you have any free time, please come down to the event! They are giving away free sarees!

#ZT #AK

Filming equipment- Clip microphone

Today, we have tested the new clip microphone that will be used for our filming when we have interviews and speeches. The sound has more clarity and detail and catches the voice of the speaker. However, the clip microphone we are using stil captures some noise in the background, which is a disadvantage- but the sound is more clearer.

#ZT

Title Sequence- The Airport

For our news package title sequence we have planned to take a few shots which give an over view about the multicultural environment of London. In our group we have discussed various ideas and places for us to film these shots. One of which is the 'Airport'.

Since today I will be seeing off my sister at Heathrow Airport, I have taken up the task to then film some of the shots at the airport.

Therefore, one of the group Members #KH wrote me a list of shots and inboxed me via facebook

#KH :

Hey here's the list of shots that you can try to get, film each shot for like 1 minute, then we'll speed them up when we're editing them. BUT... make sure it's a still shot and you don't move the camera (on a tripod).
-Escalator shot (preferably two next to each other, one going up and one going down.)
-Just outside the airport, people getting on and off cabs
-Somewhere you can see the airport and little planes flying off
-People arriving from the gates (people holding name signs, greeting each other)
also try to get more international people/foreigners



This is indeed going to help me today and i hope to take as many of these shots as possible.

#NB

Durga Puja

Throughout this week there has been a huge Hindu festival called Navratri going on. Navratri is a auspicious time of the year where fellow Hindu's get together to dance, sing, socialise and enjoy. I, Myself am a Hindu Bengali and was born in the city of Kolkata in India, where, at the time of Navratri, a celebration of the goddess 'Ma Durga' is very hugely celebrated in a major scale. Thus, this celebration is still enjoyed by the small Bengali communities in London and is mainly celebrated in hired halls. Obviously it is not celebrated in the big fancy way like they do in Kolkata but, we still try to make the most of it. This event goes on for five days and includes a priest leading the 'pujas' (prayers), we also come to socialize, listen to music, eat food and sometimes dances and various other acts are performed too.

On the 3rd, 4th and 5th of October I attended my local 'Durga Puja' event and also was able to film some good footage. I will now need to show my team mates of 'NAKZ' to see whether or not we could use some of this footage in our news package.

#NB

Conventions of a News Package (Youtube Video)

The video that we have uploaded has helped us to notice and identify the various conventions of a news package, including the variety of shots needed, VOX POPS, voice overs, interviews, and many more characteristics of a news package. We will explain in detail next about how we go about it and engage with the audience.

#ZT

Follow us @ www.twitter.com/icunews247

A message from the Mayor about Diwali on the Square

GREETINGS FROM THE MAYOR

"Diwali is a wonderful festival and offers an inspiration to all communities with its underlying themes of peace, renewal and co-operation.

The dynamism and contribution of the Indian community to London’s economic, social and cultural life and their commitment to this city never fails to impress me. It is with this in mind that I am calling on all Indian communities to get involved in volunteering during the 2012 Games as well as becoming mentors to work with young people, especially in uniformed groups such as the Scouts and Cadets.


I would like to wish everyone a happy and prosperous Diwali."

Boris Johnson

Mayor of London

www.london.gov.uk

Visiting Diwali Festival (Filming at Trafalgar Sq.)

Hey! Today after some research of upcoming festivals, we have decided to visit Trafalgar Square for the celebration of Diwali- a Hindu 'festival of Light'. Neha: a practicing Hindu has helped to give us insight on this special occasion. We aim to get footage of the many things that happen, including: bollywood dance, music, food and various stalls. There will also be key guests attending, such as the deputy Mayor and we hope to film his speech or get interviews from him and many memebers of the public, including the organisers and professionals.

Interested? Come down to Trafalgar Sq. on the 16th October from 2pm-7pm and hopefully you may spot us filming! Take care!

#NB #ZT

News Title Sequence

After just a day of thinking how our logo would look like, how it would move onto the screen and deciding on the various colour schemes and patterns we would follow- we have finished designing the logo for ICUNews!

So firstly, you may be wondering how the name came about?  The name sprung to mind as we were thinking of famous Landmarks or tourist attractions that has caught the eye of many people to go and visit and we have seen some news companies use the 'Houses of Parliament or Big Ben' as their background or logo and we wanted something similar, but something that has never been done before. The 'I' stands for the London Eye as a pun on words instead of 'eye' and also represents 'I myself looking somewhere'. 'C' is also a play on words for 'see', in which it would be seen as this: 'I See You News.' We decided to shortform everything so that it is easier to remember, for example- ITV news or BBC news do not address their full name.

After figuring out the News channel's name, we needed to sort out what colour theme we would have for the background, the sub titles and the various other components that will take part in the news package. With inspiration from 'SKY news' and 'BBC news', we targeted at simple but effective colours that will capture the audience's attention and something that looked 'news-like'. This meant we needed formal and clean colours. We decided to go for red, black and white as our main colour scheme. We had a play around with many colours to go with our logo, but these 3 colours suited it best. We then chose the font and edited the London Eye to go round the letter 'I' representing that this is a British London news channel.

Keep updated as we will post a picture of our logo soon! Thanks. #ZT

Follow us @ www.twitter.com/ICUNews247

Beginning Research- where to start?

As a group, we started to plan the topic that we will produce for our news package. After making several spider diagrams and analysing its strengths and weaknesses- we managed to come to a decision. We chose to focus on the area of 'culture in London', because of the diversity that this country has. The idea came from looking back at past events that have happened (religious and non-religious), for example: Christmas, Divali and Rosh Hashanah and also other celebratory events such as Nottingham carnival and music festivals.

Next, we have been researching when and where this festivals will be taking place and will hope to get footage of some events over the next couple of weeks, so that we have an array of the festivals to show and talk about in our news package. Some events start at different times, so we will focus on events that are happening soon so that there is plenty of time to edit the footage. We have also managed to produce a rough storyboard of how our news package layout will be like, and will draw another one again once finished to show the contrast of how we portrayed it to be at the beginning. Remember to keep updated to our posts on making this news package!

Thanks #ZT

Follow us @ www.twitter.com/ICUNews247

Zun-En

Hello there. My name is Zun-En and I am the Director of our news pacakage, in which the contribution to photography, music and scripting is what I manage. I am very fortunate to have this role as of having a passion to photography; capturing every bit of detail for the audience to grab. I want the audience to view something from different angles and perspectives, so that they keep up with the flow of our news as it runs. In addition, with having played piano for a few years now- it has taught me rhythm and dynamics when I play, and most of all- being specific to genres so that the music fits the footage and style, e.g. A thriller opening sequence would involve tense music, being built up to a climax with an upbeat rhythm of the drums or synth. The team that I am working with are very supportive and we value each others' opinions and thoughts on what we want to portray- so that it is of a team effort. Keep viewing our blog for updates. Thanks!

#ZT

Kanako

Hi, I'm Kanako and I am the producer and cinematographer of ICU News. I will be taking care of what goes on behind the camera; planning the shots and setting the location, also overlooking how the footage is edited and presented. I will be using my own knowledge and experience of filming from previous projects to deliver a successful news package.

#KH

Hello YouTube

In order for us to get converged more with the media and promote our news channel have now opened our own YouTube account. Now we will be able to put up videos of our backstage shooting of the reports and even create vlogs talking about our planning and research!

Aleksei

Hey I’m Aleksei and my role in the ICU News team is the chief editor. Being the chief editor means that I have the job of editing all the footage we take; I will have to filter through the footage we don’t need to find the footage we do need to create our news sequence; creating special effects is also part of my job description. I am very happy to have this role because it is an area I know a lot about and have a strong liking for. I also contribute to the cultural news stories we develop and seek to film.

#AK

Neha (Paushali)

Hi my name's Neha and I am a part of the ICU News team. I have been designated the role of the 'news reporter' therefore I will be delivering the cultural reports in our news package. I am very excited to have been given this role as I enjoy public speaking and performing a great deal. Presenting and performing are some of my key qualities so I hope to deliver all the news stories in the appropriate and right manner.

#NB

Introduction

Welcome to ICU News blog. We are: Neha, Aleksei, Kanako and Zun-en. For our year 13 media coursework we have been set the task to create a portfolio in a form of a blog along with a news package. Our final news package will be a 2 minute long sequence about the multi-cultural background London has and a recap of the cultural festivals celebrated in 2011. To create our news package we will use our advanced skills and knowledge of 'Adobe Premier' Editing Software, as well as Photoshop to create our logo and title. For our music we have chosen use Garage Band as we are experienced in using it.