Rebecca Barnard BTEC Media (1)

News programmes have many different tricks to both knowingly and subconsciously connote truth, reality and un-biased delivery to their audiences, especially through their opening sequences. A combination of transparent graphics and visuals of the newsroom studios are favoured concepts many popular news programmes adopt to enforce this. For a more in depth analysis of this, see my previous blog post dedicated to the connotations of truth during opening sequences - http://rebeccabarnardbtecmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/connotations-of-news-starting-sequences.html Apart from attempting to enforce a feeling of neutrality to their audiences, it is actually required by law and ensured by OFCOM that television news is impartial. Here is a link to the official OFCOM website outlining section 2: Accuracy and Impartiality - https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/broadcast-codes/legacy/text_srvcs/part_a/89248 Here is what the OFCOM Accuracy and Impartiality requirements en...

News programmes aim to broadcast/publish newly received or noteworthy information, particularly about recent events, and claim to be the most unbiased source. There are many different ways that news programmes try to promote their impartiality, and these can primarily be found during their opening sequences. By initiating their neutrality from the beginning, an implied trust towards and from the viewers is created.  A few of the ways news programmes connote urgency, importance and neutrality during their opening sequences are; Transparency This is a common and popular trait favoured by news programmes and can be found in many places of the opening sequence. There are many ways it can be shown, and this element is important to ensure the viewers that the information they are receiving is the complete truth, and that none of it has been hidden or changed. Often transparent text and graphics are used to imply this, but another subtle way is to display the newsroom set. I...

By Dictionary definition, a documentary is "using pictures or interviews with people involved in real events to provide a factual report on a particular subject". This definition implies that everything shown in a documentary is the complete truth...but there is also a second definition of the word documentary, "consisting of or based on official documents". The use of the term 'based on' poses the question, are all documentaries truthful? Is every documentary an utterly unclouded display of the events that took place? To base something upon something else is to use certain facts and ideas to conclusively make a decision. The problem that is posed when creating a documentary based upon facts is that the complete story is unknown, therefore the creator uses the given evidence to come to a conclusion of what they believe occurred. This approach is problematic as a conclusion is a personal decision, therefore the creator of the documentary is using the platfor...

Feminism is a topic I would deem myself extremely passionate about, and therefore the subject of my 3 minute short film.  Feminism has been hit in recent times, and Feminists have been labelled as "man haters" and "selfish". It has also been hit with controversy about what a Feminist truly is and what their beliefs are. One such example of this is Emma Watson's recent Vanity Fair shoot, pictured right (http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/02/emma-watson-cover-story). A BBC article perfectly summarised the backlash that feminism is still experiencing through an article on Emma's   "Rebel Belle" photoshoot, posing the question of whether Watson is an anti-feminist for exposing her breasts. The article can be found here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39177510 Feminism, to me, means equal rights and opportunities for both genders, and personally I think it's fantastic how far society has come for women and how much has cha...