The first step after receiving the article was to research the subject. This enabled us to find more information to support the statistics given in the article and to also find any opposing information which may question the reliability of the source. We found the website for #StopTheTrucks which presented some additional facts to the ones given in the article.
http://www.stopthetrucks.eu/en/
Once our research was carried out, we had to figure out the structure and angle of our story as well as coming up with the headline and tag. To come up with the structure of the story, we went through the article and picked out any shocking facts / key bits of information which would grab the audiences attention and that could be used in our news story.
We used google docs so that we could all contribute to the project.
The headline we came up with was:
One million join the fight to stop transportation of live animals for slaughter
The tag we came up with was:
The European Commission is under pressure today as one million people sign a petition to put an end to long, live transport of animals overseas.
For the story structure / angle - we decided to split up the facts pulled from the article and allocated them to the presenter and the reporter. This did change when we came to scripting it as we realised the presenter only needs to introduce the piece, the reporter needs to have the majority of the information.
Presenter lead
- Live transport overseas could be ended after a petition has reached over one million signatures.
- The RSPCA seeks to stop the shipment of animals overseas to prevent the suffering caused by the long distance journeys.
- The RSPCA has been campaigning over the matter for 20 years.
Interview / reporter
- The RSPCA surveyed the British public and 66% were ‘appalled’ by live animals being transported long distances for slaughter.
- Campaigns, Eyes on Animals and TSB/AWF carried out an investigation and found animals starving and without water in a truck parked in direct sunlight for 24 hours. Sheep were made to wait 5 days before continuing their journey and standing on carcasses of lambs that were trampled to death.
- The RSPCA campaign, Stop The Trucks, will be asking that an eight hour limit is imposed on all transportation of animals for slaughter. Here we have David Bowles, head of public affairs at the RSPCA. How pressing is this issue?
- “This shipment of live animals for slaughter and further fattening overseas continues to be legal in the UK, this issue is something the RSPCA is deeply concerned about”.
- And I understand that there is a petition that is being handed to the European Commission?
- About petition...
- Thanks David... back to the studio.
Back to Presenter
The additional sources we found:
Visuals
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Audio
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Presenter in studio
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Presenter:
“Good evening and welcome to the 6 o’clock news, I’m Alex Hargood. The European Commision is under pressure today as one million people sign a petition to put an end to long live transport of animals overseas. Reporter Katie Joslin is at the Port of Dover.”
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Reporter in the field
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Katie:
“Thanks Alex, a petition calling for a stop to shipping animals has reached one million signatures. I’m here in Dover where trucks carrying livestock will be taken across Europe for slaughter. The RSPCA, which is a member of Eurogroup for animals has been campaigning for the last 20 years to put an end to shipping animals overseas. They believe these journeys can cause a lot of suffering for animals being transported to slaughterhouses. The group has been pushing for this particular agenda for the last 18 months reached this milestone today, hitting one million signatures on an online petition. I’m here with David Bowles from the RSPCA, David how significant is this?”
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Reporter with interviewee (David Bowles)
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Interview
Questions:
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On Thursday after a brief introduction from Helen and Ferg, we then had to shoot the piece we had prepared. We got introduced to a new piece of kit - the autoprompter - which allows the reporter to read their lines whilst looking directly into the camera. The words are written on an iPad screen, reversed, then reflected onto glass covering the camera lens. The speed of the words can be adjusted so that the presenter can read at the pace they wish.
Alex was the presenter for this piece. He sat in front of the green screen and typed up his lines onto the autoprompt. Due to some technical difficulties with the clip mic, we ended up being rushed for time, although Alex still delivered his lines very well.
Then it was my turn to be reporter. I interviewed Jason as 'David'. My job was a little harder as I had more lines to remember and no autoprompt to help. Melissa did hold up Alex's laptop with big writing as a make shift auto prompt but this didn't give the best effect as occasionally you can see me glance to the side to read my lines. We rehearsed a couple of times and managed to get the interview in one take (even though I had the giggles at the end). Jason worked well as the interviewee and was able to improvise his answers based on what we had read in the article.
I then edited together the clips. I altered the background of Alex's presenter lead piece and put in a generic newsroom background. I also added a title sequence, news sound effects and captions to make the piece feel like a real news production. The captions were used to introduce the people. I would have liked to put the headline as a caption, however, Alex's PTC wasn't long enough to allow me to do this without it looking messy.
Final Product:
We then received feedback from Helen and Ferg about our final pieces:
Good Points:
- Good intro from Alex - clear - when know who he is / what he is doing / where he is going
- Good scripting
Bad Points:
- Too much info from me during reporter lead piece - cut to interview with Jason sooner - he has the info
- Rehearse more to make it smoother - so Jason knows what to do / less pressure for interviewee
- Tripod too hard - handheld would be better
- Don't cut away too quickly - can stay on interviewee longer
- Find a shot and stick with it
- Focus a bit soft on Alex
Overall, I feel like this mini project went well as it has helped us to realise what we need to focus on in our news piece.
What went well:
- Alex's PTC was very clear and to the point
- Everyone knew what they were saying
- The green screen was replaced evenly / looked quite realistic
What needs improving:
- Ensure the camera is focused and the set up is perfected
- Allow everyone enough time to rehearse - this is key for our actual piece as we need to do it in one take. Rehearsal takes the pressure off - enables people to talk more smoothly / know what they're talking about
- Let the interviewee give the information - don't make reporter say it all
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