This report reflects on the process of creating a news bulletin on the rising cost of housing for international students in Mauritius. In pre-production, a storyboard and script were created and equipment like cameras and editing software were gathered. Scenes were filmed at different locations using a Nikon D3300 camera. Post-production involved editing the scenes together using Adobe software and adding effects to create graphics and transition between scenes. Reflections note some issues like an unclear interview scene and lessons learned for improving equipment and studio design.

1. MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY (MAURITIUS BRANCH CAMPUS)
2015
News Bulletin Reflective
Report
CMT-3331 New Media Coursework 2
Ayodele Kuku – M00516349

2. 1
Introduction
This report reflects on the steps taken in creating a News Bulletin for a fictitious news station. It
outlines steps taken in pre-production, production and post-production of this news bulletin. The
report also details the concept, planning, filming, hardware and software tools used, scene locations,
props, video-shooting and video-editing. It also reflects on the work done and provides suggestions
for further improvement.
Concept
The concept for this news bulletin revolved around the recent rising cost of renting houses, in most
cases for international students. This news subject is important because there is a stark difference in
housing costs between the locals and the international students. The news channel to be used would be
a general news station, not specializing in a specific category of news, but rather broadcasts news
regarding happenings, events and lifestyle of the people in Mauritius.
Pre-Production
The pre-production stage allows for essential planning of resources and tools to be done. During pre-
production, I drew a storyboard and gathered resources including cameras, video-editing software and
the cast needed for my video shoot.
Sova and Sova (2006) stated that a storyboard is needed because it helps save time by providing a
clear depiction of what is to be done. A traditional storyboard (drawn with pencil sketches) was used
to reflect scenes, camera angles, duration of each scene, props needed and the studio layout. The
introductory scene lasting for 5 seconds contains a breaking news logo and a background jingle. The
logo ‘KTV News’ (short for Kuku TV News) was used as it can easily be remembered and it is my
name. The second scene, lasting for 15 seconds contains a background virtual news studio with a
newscaster at the center giving a brief description of the breaking news. The third scene which lasts
for 20 seconds contains a reporter and a landlord who provides his opinion on reasons for the rising
costs of international student accommodation. The fourth scene, lasting for 5 seconds is a close-up by
the correspondent. The fifth scene which lasts for 5 seconds contains the newscaster who concludes
the breaking news segment. The last scene contains a roll of news credits and copyright information
lasting 5 seconds. Besides the storyboard, a script detailing all that would be said was created. This
helps the cast know what to say and reduces repetitive filming (Vale and Vale, 1998).
Production
The scenes for the news bulletin were shot at two different locations. The camera used for shooting
the scenes was a Nikon D3300. It was chosen because it is lightweight, portable, has capability to
record high-definition videos, has face-detection capability and includes expandable memory storage.
Besides, it provides support for additional tools such as a tripod stand and an external microphone
(DP Reviews, 2014). An external microphone was needed to reduce the effect of background noise
(Turner, 2015) while a tripod stand was needed to reduce the effect of shaky hands during filming
(Tiffen, 2015). The cast needed for filming include a newscaster, a correspondent, an interviewee and
a director to handle the video shoot.
The filming of the second and fifth studio scenes was done outdoors in order to provide natural light.
Shooting was done early in the morning at Middlesex University’s The Jam as I believed shooting at
this time would reduce background noise of cars and people. Middlesex University was used for my
video shoot because of its unrestricted access for students regarding shooting of videos. Besides,
because it was a Sunday morning, there were no students around.
The newscaster, wearing a blue colorful shirt, stood in front of The Jam with a green screen placed at
the background. The camera was placed in such a way to shoot from the Medium Close-Up (MCU)
viewpoint, with the newscaster stood in the center of the screen. This is said to be good practice for
filming news scenes (Panse and Rothermel, 2014).

3. 2
A green screen was used in order to remove the newscaster’s background and create a virtual news
studio using video-editing software.
For the third and fourth correspondent scenes, two friends from Middlesex University volunteered to
act as my reporter and landlord. This scene was shot in my house at Bonne Terre in the afternoon.
While filming was done indoors, there was abundant lighting because of the sun. The interview scene
was to be shot in an informal arrangement using the Medium Shot (MS) camera viewpoint, therefore,
the correspondent and the landlord who were dressed casually, conducted the interview on the sofa in
my house. With all the necessary scenes gathered,post-production began.
Post-Production
Post-production involved bringing together the necessary scenes, editing them and adding the
necessary effects in order to create a befitting news bulletin. The Adobe Video Suite containing
Adobe AfterEffects, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premier Pro was used for post-production. The
decision to use these stemmed from the fact that they come in the same suite and are produced by the
same vendor. They have extensive photo and video editing capabilities, a familiar interface design and
can easily be integrated into the other (Klopfenstein, 2015). After filming of the scenes was done, it
was transferred to my laptop for post-production. The laptop used was a Lenovo ThinkPad beefed up
with 4GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, an Intel i5 processor and a 2GB video memory. This configuration
provided a speedy computer necessary for running graphics-intensive software used in this video-
editing.
The concept behind effects and video editing was tuned based on the storyboard and my creativity
which I felt within me. To create an appealing logo, I used Photoshop to create a layer of texts and
added a dissolve and twister effects. I felt the colour contrast of the logo was shiny and appealing.
The intro scene’s jingle was downloaded from a Free Music Archive which gives license-free music
for creative uses. The jingle was chosen because was captivating and aligned with the concept.
Thereafter, I created the studio background, on a new canvas in Photoshop. Using shape layers, I
created the basic structure for the studio. Thereafter, soft brushes from the presets folder were added
to give a light and shadows effect. I felt that this background would blend well with the newscaster.
Thereafter, I added a flare on the background to give lighting effect on the studio and the newscaster.
The bevel and emboss effects from the presets folder were added onto on the black wall corners.
Drop shadow effects were added to the background scene at random sections in order to make the
studio look realistic.
Thereafter, on AfterEffects, I imported the studio and logo created in Photoshop. Then, the intro scene
was created. This involved adding the lens flare and the dissolve effects found in the presets folder to
the scene background. Then, the logo was animated using the dissolve effect and fading effects found
in the presets. Thereafter, the studio scene was created by importing the green screen footage into the
workspace. Thereafter, the keylight effect was used to remove the background. Then, keyframes were
used to make the rolling text move from left to right. Text on the screen were animated using the text
animation preset. The background effect preset was used to animate white and yellow boxes on the
background. This was taken into consideration to fit the newscaster’s colour.
Thereafter, another scene was created with the correspondent footage added. The rolling text was
created using the text animation preset. The logo was adjusted to the top right corner, just like it’s
done on news bulletins by BBC, AlJazeera. The next scene was back at the studio where the
newscaster was rounding up. The layout was made in the same way as the first studio scene.
Thereafter the outro scene was created by removing the newscaster and adding text effects to the text
layer. This scene was animated using text animation presets. The credits information was done by
creating a text layer on a black background.
All scenes were rendered and the News Bulletin completed.

4. 3
Reflective Conclusion
This task has been a unique, challenging and learning experience. Within the limited time given for
this coursework, I feel satisfied with what I have done. During the duration of this coursework, I was
able to learn the use of Adobe AfterEffects and Premiere Pro to create text effects, perform scene
transitioning and noise correction. Besides, I was able to learn how to use Adobe Photoshop to create
virtual studios. Some mistakes were made however during the creation of the news bulletin. The third
scene containing an interview between the correspondent and the landlord was unclear due to a dirty
camera lens. This problem was not immediately noticed during shooting. In addition, the close-up of
the correspondent at the end of the fourth scene was shot too close. Improvements that could be made
next time include the use of a better camera, better sound adjustment and a more appealing virtual
studio design.
References
DP Reviews,(2014). Nikon D3300 Review: Digital Photography Review. [online] Dpreview.com.
Available at: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d3300/ [Accessed 8 May 2015].
Klopfenstein, R. (2015). Advantages of Adobe Photoshop | eHow. [online] eHow. Available at:
http://www.ehow.com/list_7257561_advantages-adobe-photoshop.html [Accessed 8 May 2015].
Panse,S. and Rothermel, D. (2014). A critique of judgment in filmand television. London: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Sova, R. and Sova, D. (2006). Storyboards: a dynamic storytelling tool. In: Proceedings of the 2006
UPA conference on Usability through Storytelling. [online] Available at:
http://videobrowsing.net/publications/KSLB_RollingStoryboard.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2015].
Tiffen, T. (2015). Why You Need A Tripod. [online] Tiffen.com. Available at:
http://www.tiffen.com/tripod_why_buy.html [Accessed 8 May 2015].
Turner, C. (2015). Microphones& Sound Equipment in Indie Filmmaking | eHow. [online] eHow.
Available at: http://www.ehow.com/video_2374494_microphones-sound-equipment-indie-
filmmaking.html [Accessed 8 May 2015].
Vale, E. and Vale, E. (1998). Vale's technique of screen and television writing. Boston:Focal Press.