June 2010 Archives

Kare11.com with Mike Pomeranz

For this Assignment I attempted to get to watch the news for days. I kept getting in two minutes after it started or having to break up a fight between my kids and missing half of it. I ended up having to watch a recap posted on the web which eliminated the weather and the ads. Looks like sports was gone also. I still had to hit the rewind many too many times just to see this though.

I do regularly watch the news. I enjoy it. I tend to watch cheerful news over crazy or dire news. Local more than national though I do enjoy the BBC.

Date: 6/11/10
Timeslot:10 pm

Intro:
Short preview of top stories
• boil water in WI
• Police Search
• Floods in AK
Time 00:28

Dozens of people missing in Ak floods.
*16 dies as flood waters go through campground. Dozens missing. Watchita National Forest, Albert Pike recreational area. Happened overnight on Thursday.
Shots: Mix of interviews with flood victims and rescue agencies. B-roll of flood footage.
Style: Mix of narration and interviews.
*Story done by NBC national news. Lead into and followed up by local broadcaster Mike Pomeranz .
Time: 2:04
Type: Nation/Disaster

MPLS police looking for man who has been breaking in and threatening women over last three weeks.
Imagery: map of locations of attacks. B-roll of buildings and printout of 911 calls.
Interviews with police and local residents.
* as a final emphathis to the seriousness of the occurrences the female anchor gives a police description of the assailant and information on contacting police if he is seen.
Story by Julianna Olsen who did the wrapup on the end. Leadin done by male anchor . Mike Pomeranz
Time: 1:57
Type: Public Alert

Boil your Water
Prescott WI well somehow got contaminated by a bacteria that causes flu like symptoms. Any water to be digested must be boiled. City is going to chlorinate and flush the holding tanks and distributions system.
Imagery: mix of interviews and b-roll of shots around town
Interviews are with locals and city officials.
Story by Jana Schull leadin and out by Mike Pomeranz the male anchor
Time: 1:57
Type: Public Alert/ Informative

Ecoli cases linked to raw milk have grown to 8. Source is thought to be raw unpasteurized milk.
This is an update to previous stories.
Done by Mike Pomeranz
Time: 00:10
Type: Update to previous story
Nurse Strike Affecting 14 hospitals lasted for 1 day Friday.
14 metro hospitals affected and said to be motivated by patient safety. 2800 temp nurses were shipped in from all over the country for phenomenal pay of 1600 to 2200 dollars plus travelling expenses. Staffing will be back to normal as patient levels come back to normal.
B-roll of striking nurses walking line and airport congestion of nurses.
Interviews with doctors and nurses.
Anchor and story: Mike Pomeranz.
Time: 1:58
Type: Health

Oil in gulf spill is far more than previously estimated.
Story is an update to previous stories.
All b-roll with narrative overlay.
All by Mike Pomeranz
Time: 00:20
Type: Environment

Belinda Jensen hosted Second annual Abby's Hope Safety event
Edina Police and Hennepin Cnty worked together to give pol safety tips to kids.
Time: 00:25
Type: Charity

Unemployment levels, who is unemployed and who is affected. New state study.
Racial gap in unemployment levels. How one black man has gotten past it when 1 in 5 blacks are currently unemployed.
Interviews and narrative. B-roll of northeast Minneapolis, documents, and barbershop scenes.
Time: 2:01
Type: Employment

Seal escapes the London zoo and is found in Spain.
How did he get there?
Time:35
Type: Humor/Entertainment

I like to watch the news on this station because they don't make you feel like you need to build a bomb shelter to protect ourself after viewing it. I have noticed some of the other stations to be almost creating a sense of paranoia for their viewers. No good. News needs to be informative, not panic inducing. Mike Pomeranz has a great tv voice and appearance. No crooked wigs or overdone make up for him. He is backed up with a good crew of weather, sports, and morning personalities. He is a Don Shelby in the making.

Kare 11 does some nice variety. This night it looks to be a lot of weather and environment related along with jobs.

Assignments related to this.
Have your students watch a student tv network such as Channel1 News. They then need to jot notes throughout. Required elements to be noted are to include
Focus Statement, Objective and Topic, Length, Type of footage.
What worked in the report.
What did not work.
How it could have been changed.
Aproximate length.

Going through one news cast you can get about 6-8 stories. It is an intense section of time as they try to madly take down info.
Afterwards during the discussion see what stories stuck out to them and why.

Second assignment.
Create your own news story.
FInd a topic and focus and create a 2 minute(or less) story that tells the story. THIS STORY SHOULD RELATE TO THE LOCAL AREA OR SCHOOL.

Assignments for Media Representations

Match the photos to the description
Objective: To show that predefined definitions of people may not always work.
Length: 15 minutes.
Task: Have the students match the various descriptions to the photos.
This can be done as a group participation or individual project.
*If done individually students should compare answers with each other after everyone is completed and then discuss why they chose those answers.
* if done as a group, the teacher should chart how many people chose which answer. Students will still discuss why they chose their answer.
Materials Needed:
12 photos of different people in various settings
12 descriptions of those people

Biography of a Public Person or Event
Objective: to show the students that the media does not always portray everything accurately.
Length: Two class periods.
One class period to research. One class period to present. Possible time outside class researching and developing their summary.
Task: Students will either be assigned at random or choose a public figure to research. In lieu of this the students can choose an incident that has occurred in the past or is currently unfolding. Students will be required to find elements of the figures history that have a varied story behind them. EX: Angelina Jolies feelings toward Jennifer Anniston. The Kennedy family and the Chapaquidick insident. The students will then present a summary of this with attached imagery. This can be done via an edited video or powerpoint presentation for upper level students.

Teachers are portrayed in a variety of ways by the media. Whether it be the news or a fictional portrayal, teachers are a popular topic.
One of the reasons why teachers are such a popular topic is because of the role we play in society. We are the mentors, the educators, the ear for the youth, and our society values its youth. The mass media has found that teachers make good news and television. Since educational stories involve a wide range of ages, an article or story involving teachers will attract a wide audience.
Teachers are the section of our society who spends some of the most time with our youth, so when something significant happens it usually has a heightened portrayal. When something bad happens involving a teacher the news media loves to latch onto it. The reason for this falls back to the heightened roles that we play, and the value placed upon our societies children. This does not mean that the media always gets it right though. For instance, in the last year there has been a major story involving two teachers possibly referring to an aledged sexuality of a student. Teachers that had been teaching over fifteen year were targeted. As the news media has told it the student was harassed and embarrassed by teachers in class. They are said to have debated his sexuality, his sexual preferences, and other factors in his life. The interviews were primarily with the student, the teachers stayed mainly quiet. The story became sensationalized due to the media portrayal of these teachers. That students themselves do this to each other on a daily basis was not mentioned. That the teachers were most likely referencing what other students had said was given minimal focus. Simply because the student is accusinga teacher of a possible harassment issue, the media latched into it and blew it out of proportion. In this case I think the media did wrong. I do not feel they accurately covered all the issues.
One of the cases where I feel the media gets the portrayal of teachers right is in television and movies. While not all of the fictional media out there portrays teachers in a sunny light, they do balance out the diversity that can be found amongst teachers.
The channel that does well in portraying us to our youth is the Disney channel. Their shows portray teachers as teachers. They do not make every teacher out to be a wackjob or nerd. Teachers are shown as being stern when needed and fun where its appropriate (which we all try to be at some point). The Disney Channel makes an attempt at showing how teachers can be misunderstood by their students, and how teachers can make mistakes in regards to our students. They also do not place teachers on a pedestal. The Disney Channel also does show the bored teachers that need some motivation. In portraying us in this manner they are showing the real people that we are. We do have our interests and we are educators in order to pass them on to the younger generations. At least some of us do.

One of my favorite shows on television was "Head of the Class". This show was on from 1985-1991, and gave the public a view of what it is like to teach genius level students. They showed the trials and tribulations involved in dealing with students that are more advanced than you in some ways, yet socially lacking in others. The teacher in this class was given a group of misfit genius'. Which begs the question of why so many genius' students are portrayed as misfits, I know of a few that slide under the radar and many would never suspect the high level of brainpower the slang speaking woods student may possess. Back on track here though, the teachers portrayed in here took on the task of teaching them social skills and working with others, along with the prescribed task of base knowledge. My only fault with this is that he was an actor taking over teaching. I know they do this to help the story line along, but how often does this really happen?
Teachers are a direct source of learning for our youth in how to play well with others. Having the media accurately portray this helps to reinforce to students that educators are a knowledge source to be respected. I realize that it is not realistic of us to find only accurate portrayals by the media. While I wish the news media would quite sensationalizing everything, I also understand their need for ratings and stories to draw in their viewers.

Heineken Commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1ZZreXEqSY

Subject: Heineken Walk-In Fridge
Time: 00:32
Language is Dutch?
Shot Description.htm

Chuck. I love the show Chuck. It is on NBC on Mondays and was recently renewed for another season. Chuck is a spy show with a sense of humor. A computer geek for a big box store accidentally becomes a spy and falls in love with his handler. His dasturdley ex-college roommate has downloaded top national secrets and info into Chucks brain. When he "flashes" his brain is triggered and he accesses the info.

This clip is a fight scene with a mix of effects. Camera angles and shots change almost by the second and serve to show the intensity of the situation. A mix of lighting and sound is also used. The lighting remains bright through the beginning to add to the absurd nature of Chuck breaking into the building. BTW his gun is a tranquilizer gun. He has a problem with killing people. Through using changing audio levels between the natural sounds of the clips and the background music they also play with the moods. I enjoy their use of natural sound. It is subtle and used to perfection.

Link to clip on the web:
http://www.nbc.com/chuck/video/my-chuck-the-hero/1213777/

Shot layout
Time 2:16
Title: My Chuck the Hero
Lighting: Bright, almost cheery.
Music: Slightly Techno in nature. Uplifting and energetic with a military feel. No vocal. Instrumental only. This music ties into the subjects love of video games and nerdy nature.
Additional natural sounds of fight, explosions, muttering, and rolling grenades, along with verbage.
00:00- 00:02
Overhead closeup of a Stealth Bomber. Shot in air as from a copter
Transition to indoors. No effect simple clip to clip
• Indoor scene is office bulding hallway. White walls, floor, ceiling
00:03 Move to indoors Close-in on one lone person in limited armor walking down a hallway.
00:06 Rear view. Chuck spins around corner and shoots at unseen assailant. He moves towards victim as shot pans out. And camera angle changes to become more level and cut Chuck out of the shot.
00:09 Back to midlevel mid range frontal view of Chuck lowering weapon
00:11 Front View but long range
00:14 Shift to rear view again
00:15 Front View close up
00:17 Rear View mid range, Chuck standing over body.
*the rapid changes are to show his watchfulness and the intensity of situation.
00:18 Front View Eye level with Chuck. Closeup, in the long range you can see two bad guys coming into the shot.
00:20 Chuck spins to face attackers, close range shot of his upper body/face
00:21 Pan out to mid range. Arms outstretched, body on ground behind him
00:22 Rear view of Chck with bad guys walking closer from long range to mid level range. Chuck Stays in Close.
00:24 Flip to Front vie of Chuck at mid range, full body. Bad guys backs are in close range.
00:27 cut to everyone at long range.
00:28 pan into a closeup on Chucks eye. Shot goes inwards(insert some aftereffects into here of fire and kung fu) (This signals that Chuck is retrieving his programming from his intersect to complete a needed ability or task)
00:30 pan back out to closeup to Chucks face that continues to pan outwards
00:32 cut to back view of bad guys in mid range, Chuck in long range.
00:33 The fight starts. Close over chucks shoulder
00:33 Closeup on flash/shock grenades
00:33 Over Chucks shoulder again
00:34 Pan out to close and midrange views of fight and second attacker
00:34 second attacker now in close up with fight in mid range
00:35 close and mid range are drawn together by a well aimed kick
00:36 close to fallen attacker with shock grenade rolling out of hand.
00:38 eye level closeup of remaining attackers head in foreground.and midrange Chucks upper body.
00:40 eyelevel shot switches places. Chuck now in foreground.
00:41 Attacker only in shot
00:42 Chuck only in shot
00:43 Grenade closeup (natural sound of timer on it to add tension)
00:45 Lighting enghanced to conceal most of cast. Vague image seen through and tremble added to show affects of grenade.
00:48 Upper body shot of Chuck as light goes back to normal, vague tremble still
00:49 Upper body of attacker, vague tremble
00:50 Upper Body shot of Chuck. Lighting shift to bright again then normal. Tremble
00:54 mid range shot, attacker in foreground. Lighting and tremble varied to show shock dissonance. Shot pans out then back in.
00:56 pan to Chuck
00:57 pan to bad guy.
Shots are now panning and flowing together more than just cutting from one to another. Done in jerky fashion to show the shock
00:58 Pan to chuck
00:59 Pan to bad guy
01:00 Mid range, Both in shot. Chuck with back to us and tremble still in air
01:01 back to long range shot with all three in the view.
01:03 Close up Chuck
01:05 Pan out to mid range, eye level
01:06 cut to long range
01:07 move to next scene, longe range shot. Black room with body in center in spotlight. Chuck entering through door on far side
01:10 Close in on chuck
*Music change to military style music with mysterious aggressive strings and brass
01:13 pan out to mid range
01:13 Chuck disappears into black of room. mid range
01:16 close in on Chuck emerging from shadows.
01:17 Pan to closeup of person on floor (Shaw)
01:21 Cut to closeup on Chuck
01:22 Change scene to outside view of Stealth Bomber zooming in Shot in air as from a copter. Continuation of first shot in clip.
01:27 Scene change to indoors Chuck in dark room listening to headset.
01:28 cut to long view of dark room of shadows.
01:29 outdoors. Ground level. Long shot but of car driving into foreground
01:31 car now in closeup
01:32 cut to midrange as female (Sarah) jumps out of vehicle
01:33 switch to closeup of her running into camera
01:35 switch to sarah perspective(long view) of warehouse type building
01:36 pan upwards to Stealth flying from background
01:39 pan moves to closeup of underbody of Stealth with bombs emerging
01:39 pan outwards to follow drop of bomb
01:41 cut to bomb hitting building and explosion. Natural sound of bomb through air and fire
* music crescendos and is replaced by explosion sounds
01:41 cut to another view of explosion
01:42 cut to view from behind Sarah as explosion continues
01:42 cut to closeup of Sarah as she ducks
01:43 cut to view from behind Sarah as explosion continues and she keeps dropping, slight slowing of motion
01:45 cut to another view of explosion, still slowed
01:47 closeup from above of Sarah as she begins to stand.
01:50 cut to view from behind Sarah as explosion continues, mid range
* Music change, strings go bye bye and music softly comes back in. same theme without the overtones. female vocalist with uplifting military theme music. Becomes final result.
01:52 closeup from above of Sarah as she begins to stand.
01:53 cut to mid to long range view of figure coming out of smoke of building. Smoke obscures figures. Figures walk into foreground to be seen as Chuck carrying Shaw into foreground
02:05 closeup from above of Sarah as she begins to stand still
02:10 shot fades from closeup of sarah to Chuck carrying Shaw. Transparency used to merge
02:11 Sarah now completely out of shot as Chuck/Shaw move into foreground and the clip is done.

In teaching video editting I would like to start the kids off by giving them a series of clips of stock footage along with a mix of audio. I would assign them to then arrange the shots to tell a story. The shots would need to align in with each other with simple transitions. The audio would be added in to complete the story. A simple trick in editting is changing the sound levels to add impact.

Time of editted segment: 1:00
Number of video clips offered for use: 40
Number of audio clips offered for use: 10
Number of clips required in final clip: 10
NUmber of audio clips required in final clip: 3

Focus of story: To be decided by student

Summary of the film, television, and media studies currently available for "HypoTech High". Hypo Tech is a smaller fourth ring suburb school. The school is for 9-12 graders and has an average of 200 students in each grade level. There has been recent growth within the district and the number of students will be increasing in the next three years by at least 20%. The district is currently reevaluating its curriculum in an effort to go "back to basics".
Courses currently held in this area by department are:
Technology:
MULTI MEDIA II, Video Production
SENIOR VIDEO, Independent studies in video production
HYPO TECH NEWS, Student Run television Broadcast
English
MEDIA STUDIES, Current television and film
MEDIA WRITING, Writing for Film, Television, and Theatre
Business
WEB DEVELOPMENT, Creating websites for Business and Commerce

The current rationale behind holding these courses is to prepare students for life after high school by allowing them to participate in coursework designed to explore specific fields of interest. These classes are upper level classes that have pre-requirements that must be completed in prior years.

The Technology department holds classes in Video broadcasting, Editting, and Production. These courses reinforce basic skills in reading and writing through the development of their work. For every piece of work research and development must be done. Students are reinforcing their reading skills through their research. They are assigned to extensively research for each project on the web, through text, and via interviewing. Writing skills are also reinforced through the development of their work. Students are required to write scripts, storyboards, and other information as needed.

The courses held by the English department also serve to refine skills in reading and writing. Students are required to read the print basis as well as watch the corresponding media. In this way the students have a further developed interpretations of the assigned media. Through developing their own scripts the students are able to get an enhanced writing class specific to a subject area that interests them.

Our Business Department also provides classes in web development at our school. In this class students are assigned businesses and industries to promote via the web. Students research the companies and its clientele, reading industry and private text in order to ascertain the needs of their client. they students then create the needed website and promotional work. The students create all text and design elements.

It has been previously proven that students working within a subject area that interests them learn more than students working in areas that do not. In providing our students with coursework that draws their interest we are better able to educate them and prepare them for their futures. These classes all have mandatory readings and writings pertaining to these subjects.