This document summarizes key codes and conventions of ITV Central local TV news broadcasts. The 4-minute program begins with an attention-grabbing intro and title sequence featuring local landmarks. It has one presenter who sits at a desk in a formal studio setting and delivers the top news story first. Subsequent stories range from serious hard news to lighter, human interest pieces. Graphics and banners appear in blue house colors. The weather report follows commercials and uses maps, graphics and direct address to viewers. Convergent links are provided for additional news on social media and mobile devices. Consistent music, fonts and editing style maintain continuity across the formal, straightforward newscast.

1. Codes and Conventions of local TV news – ITV Central Notes:
- This local TV News programme is 4 minutes long.
- There is a hard music intro, which aims to get your attention before any
news appears.
- A short title sequence, lasting around 4 minutes with images of the local
area in Birmingham.
- Through the use of semiotics, it informs the audience who the news is
aimed at. I.e. If you recognise a featured landmark, you will know that this
news is relevant to you.
- Zooms into the title of the programme and the logo - ITV. This is what you
see throughout the programme.
- The font used isn't extremely formal at the start, however when the words
'News' and 'Central' appear it is in capital letters and is much more formal
to still have the attention of the audience. It also relates to the formality of
the news programme.
- Central hints on the locationof the audience.
- Blue is the colour of the set and is used for banners when they appear on
the screen - This is a formal colour, which is what is needed for a news
programme, it also helps to keeps the audience's attention. The colour of
the set also relates to the type of news programme it is, lunchtime news.
- Panning shot at the start, zooming into the presenter as a close up.
- There is one presenter is positioned in the centre of the shot.
- The presenter is sitting at a desk. There is a large sofa and a round table
with a laptop placed on it. There is also paperwork around. In the
background there is a shot of Birmingham. This creates a formal setting,
one which suggests that the presenter knows exactly what she is doing and
can therefore be a trusted source of information for the news that the
audience is receiving.
- The presenter is black African. She speaks with a British accent. She is
wearing a formal dress, which is blue. This matches the colours of the set
and logo. In contrast she is wearing a bright necklace and earrings.
- She opens the screen with 'Good Afternoon'. This reminds the audience of
the time of the day of the news. She also draws the audience in with a
friendly greeting.
- After her greeting she goes straight in with a hard news story. Whilst she is
speaking a banner appears with the logo and the title of the programme.
This matches the house colours of the programme.
- The programme starts with the most important news story.
- Blurred out image of the subject.
- Reconstruction (a banner appears in the house colours, same font).
- The hard news story the presenter is portraying features of a voiceover
visuals that relate directly to that story. - Bank statements, bank cards etc.

2. - The story is turned round to apply to the audience ('They trick you').
- Blurred out visual of the subject on the on field report. There is ambient
noise when on the field to show that they go out and speak to locals
affectedby these stories. This creates the surrealism that the programme
wants to portray.
- The Interviewer isn't shown on screen. Focus more on the interviewee.
- Transition into a new story. Story number two is of equal seriousness.There
isn't a lot of information as it is an ongoing investigation, meaning it is a
second news piece due to this. If the full story was given it would have
been the main news story. It is also only featured for a very short period of
time.
- The third story is still serious, but is very much lighter in comparison. The
presenter tells the story in the studio, with a brief cut away to a piece of
YouTube footage. The super at the bottom of the screen informs us where
the footage is from.
- The fourth story. This goes frombad news to good news. Really small story
but is very good for Birmingham. There is a still image of an
artist's impression.
- The final news story appears. This again is a good news story. This is a
personal interest story, which is a soft story. This is a very 'classic' story to
feature on local news. It's a good news story for Birmingham. Interviews
and name super's appear. It also features some publicity for Marks and
Spencer’s shop. The story is about a Birmingham citizen who had a bad
childhood but turned it around. This also aims to play on people's emotions
to draw them more into the story.
- The shot is changed when it returns to the studio. A wider angle, where the
presenter appears in front of a TV screen. This suggests that the
programme has come to an end.
- The weather commences with a sponsor advert.
- The weather reporter enters. There is a close up image of raindrops. There
is a name super at the bottom of the screen. There is a name super logo -
with the caption being weather. There are convergent links to ITV's Twitter
and there is an email address the for audience to use. The presenter is
dressed formally. There is a different house style shown but is still formal.
- The background is a map of the country which is what is expected of a
weather report. It focusses solely on the weather in the midlands.
- The name super details what the reporter is telling the audience. It also
tells us the day of the week.
- The weather reporter gives a direct mode of address to the audience -
looking directly at the camera.

3. - A simple map of the midlands appears. Giving us an overview of
temperatures and rain clouds. This sums up the weather report. The
weather report normally covers a three day period.
- The advert returns at the end of the report. The ident for ITV News
appears.
- The central close up of the reporter returns. There is a microphone issue
when it returns to the studio.
- There is convergent links which are there to inform the audience that they
can get the news on the go.
- There is a panning out shot of the studio and the presenter's final
goodbye.
- Long news story at the beginning, some short stories and finishes with a
soft story.
- The music on the whole is the same across the programme, creating
continuity.
- The same font is used for the text which keeps the continuity going. This is
also for the house style, a mid colour blue, which is generally seen as a
trustworthy and serious colour.
- The editing is very straightforward and doesn't consist of any effects.
Straightforward transitions. The importance of the news is portrayed by
this.
- The name super is also used as the ticker space - for headlines of articles.