The News Is A Joke: Week 4 Reflection

The News Is A Joke: Week 5 Reflection

The News Is A Joke: Week 6 Reflection

The News is A Joke: Prototype Shoot

In total, our prototype shoot is around 5 minutes in length, EVS included. Overall, the shoot went very well, which no doubt is the result of our team’s familiarity with the script, the multiple practices we did before shooting and communication inside the control room and outside it. Since we had the opportunity to come earlier to class, I had plenty of time to set up graphics and place them in sequence, ingest the EVS footage. This eliminated a lot of time which would otherwise be spent doing these things during our time slot.

In our first shoot, we had minor timing issues with the graphics and EVS with the host’s delivery; such as a few beats of silence before EVS is played or graphics being a bit delayed. Apart from this, we had the issue where the graphics were overlayed on top of EVS footage like this:

This was due to the graphics still being keyed into the program feed when switching from camera to the EVS feed. In the first shoot, I had to manually take off the graphics on Xpression Studios. We were able to fix this issue in the second shoot by having the vision switcher press the EVS and graphic key at the same time: doing this enables them to switch to EVS footage whilst taking off the graphics at the same time.

The layout of the set is a host behind a table, however, I think more could be done for the background instead of just a black curtain. The current look we have for the prototype does show a bit of halfheartedness, and more efforts towards set design will improve the overall presentation of our segment. We only used two cameras for our shoot: one from the front which allows for over-the-shoulder graphics and another on the side for emphasis. While these two camera angles do the job, I think a further exploration of the camera could be useful for the future such as the movement of the cameras.

The reading this week by Harrington highlights some features of Australian satirical late-night shows and how they differ from their American counterparts. Personally, this difference was quite noticeable in their respective comedic style. Mad as Hell for example, often dives into the absurd with their props, design or costumes, having guests dressed up as a Kraken or playing an exaggerated version of a media corporation. The American counterparts, in contrast, are more traditional in their delivery. John Oliver rarely hosts other guests or move around in this set, the content is focused on his comments and critiques of the news. In these ways, I agree with Harrington’s view that Australian satirical late-night shows do not conform to the standards of American satire shows.

This week’s practical lesson allowed me to put all my preparation into play. By positioning the graphics in their final positions prior, importing them into Xpression studios was a breeze. Likewise for our EVS footage, with enough time before our session began, we were able to convert the files into the correct file type and ingest them into the server.

During the session, I wanted to operate graphics, since I already have an idea of their timing. However, just in case, I printed a copy of the script and marked up the exact time when a graphic change is needed.

A key question arises after the conclusion of our session. How do we continue with this prototype until the end of the semester? The end of the prototype video is quite abrupt, and perhaps it is best that we kept it as such. Dealing with a developing issue meant that if we complete the script in week 6, it would be outdated by week 12. Additionally, more new content will require more graphics and EVS footage, if these content “expire”, the graphics and EVS footage will also be obsolete. Keeping these in mind, we should include events with a sense of conclusiveness to them, therefore making the final script to not have any redundancy.

This was a forming week for our prototype project as well as how we want the final project to look like. Firstly, the Hong Kong protest segment. Our initial idea was focused on parody, to mock the official coverage of the protests in Hong Kong by China. Along with this mindset, we came up with several gags that were akin to the Eric Andre Show. However, a team member reminded us of the bigger picture, and that our objective should also to provide our own voice, and to do so in parody can distort and/ or make it difficult to understand our message. Therefore, our current plan for the segment is more similar to a late-night show like John Oliver; doing so allows the moments of satire as well as the ability to insert our own voice.

I am tasked with creating graphics and footage for this project. During the Friday lesson, I found out how painstakingly annoying it is to move the graphics onto a template I made. This is very inefficient to do in the time we had before going live. Similarly, with the EVS footage, I initially thought it would be easy to have a background for the footage and then place the footage over the top whilst live. This would be difficult to do as well.

For the over-the-shoulder graphics, I prepared them beforehand in Photoshop so that they are already in the right position and can be placed directly onto the screen without any adjustments in Xpression studios.

Likewise, the videos were rendered with the background already included, so that playing the video is all that is required when live. However, one uncertainty I have is with the format of the videos. Ruth mentioned that they have to be in the .mxf format when I converted them in media encoder, the file size became 400% larger than their .mp4 counterpart. This makes me wonder whether they will work on the EVS machine.

The issue we want to cover is the recent protest in Hong Kong. We wish to highlight the absurdities of the police department and the government’s response to the protest so far.

There are a few ways and segments we decided to cover this issue in a satirical way. The first way is through a parody of the State coverage of the issue, in a way that condemns that the protests whilst revealing the government’s own transgressions towards its people. This segment could be used as a fake correspondence or in a sketch format. Some considerations for this segment would be to draw a line that ensures that we do not turn it into a segment that bullies China, but to use the devices of parody to criticise and find humour in them.

Another segment is an interview where we interview a fake Hong Kong policeman about what the protestors are doing. There are various tactics that the protestors employ to protect themselves, therefore seeing the way the police respond to them would demonstrate how extreme the police are dealing with these protestors’ techniques.

However, the main framework of the show would still be in the form of a late-night satirical comedy show which starts with a monologue that summaries the events that have transpired for those uninitiated. Throughout the show, we will incorporate many news clips from both the west, Hong Kong, China and footage from protestors. Most of which will serve as the punchline to jokes or as part of an edit that contrasts. Headlines and quotes from news articles will also be used.

The overall aim of choosing this issue is to raise awareness since most of us in Australia can not directly support the cause in any substantial way. Therefore, we believe that by presenting this issue in a comedic way will help this issue remain in the minds of the audience.

I chose John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight on Boris Johnson to examine. Firstly, this show is on HBO, allowing for looser guidelines on cursing and humour. There are various times where John Oliver curses for comedic effect. This is different from Seth Meyer or Stephen Colbert which airs on NBC and CBS respectively. They must adhere to certain guidelines and as a result, will have limitations on their word choice. The camera work in this segment is very minimal, small adjustments are made to keep John Oliver in the same frame and to allow space on the left for the visuals.

The comedy aspect is worth commenting on. In this episode alone, John Oliver utilises call-backs to earlier jokes many times. Much like a stand-up comedy routine, the call-backs to jokes always seem to get the audience by surprise.  I assume that this would rely heavily upon the scripting of the segment. The visual aid on the left also serves as gags that are timed perfectly with John Oliver’s lines. The visuals also assist with the explanatory parts of the segments, presenting headlines, quotes and sources that often proves the point on what John Oliver is making. A format can be seen with the layout of the images and text to ensure readability and reduce visual clutter.

In this video where John Oliver targets a person and not just a single issue, the way he transitions between topic to topic is interesting. He starts off with more surface and light-hearted aspects to comment on and gradually becomes more pointed. The show uses news clips to demonstrate a point or to highlight the absurdity of a situation. I would imagine that gathering these clips from news stations would tie closely with the scriptwriting process and in itself a challenge to sort through.

In this week’s reading by McClennen, she discusses the idea of using satire to educate. In it, she distinguishes satire with pseudo-satire, and that true satire’s aim should be education. The writer also points out South Park and The Simpsons as satire that “do not lead to productive political debate.” I think this is not always the case. Although it is hard to see the immediate political impact of a message in a cartoon, it does present us an insight into an issue in an interesting manner.

Recently, South Park had an episode dedicated to the online shopping giant Amazon. Its depiction of the working conditions in Amazon warehouses has been described as being exactly the same as real life. In the montage, we are shown the robotic nature of task while the song “16 tonnes” play; the song itself is about the life coal miners. Through this, the viewers are given an insight into what goes into their Amazon orders and are encouraged to think a certain way about the working conditions in these warehouses. In this sequence, I believe South Park was able to achieve satire in its ability to inform the audiences.

In the studio this week, I had the chance to operate the cameras as well as the audio desk. Important processes I’ve learned when on the camera is to check the comms and also that the red light on the camera is working. It is important to have my headset on at all times to hear what the director is saying. During a run, I would have to listen closely to what the director is saying to know when my camera is being switched to next. At the end of the shoot, it is also important to not switch the cameras off. At the audio desk, I had to control the microphone audio of the speakers.