Introduction

The final lessons of this first part of the unit are about pulling together the research, data, interview responses and any other sources they have collected, to turn it all into a story that they can prepare for a slot on their TV news show (to be created in part 2 of this unit).

While their report will not end up as a written piece, it will need to be turned into a TV report that clearly communicates the story in a relatively short amount of time. It should also be engaging for the viewers. So the biggest challenge is how to condense everything they have into a simple and easy to understand story for their show. To do this they will need to carefully plan and script the report. 

 

What did our research and data collection tell us?

Before the students can begin to write their script, they need to fully understand the story they are telling. Hopefully their research, plus the data they have collected or the interviews they have done will have begun to shape their report and inform what they want to get across to the viewer. 

Ask the class - What do the interviews and data you have collected tell you? 

Each group now needs to come up with a summary of their findings as a short bullet pointed list.

 

They should consider:

• Does your data give you clear findings that you can share in the report? 
• Which are the most meaningful results to share? 
• Are the results reliable and fair? 
• Are they surprising in any way? 
• How will you best communicate the results to your viewers? (verbally or graphically)
• What are the best interview quotes you have?
• What makes those clips the best?
• Do you have contrasting opinions you can use to provide balance to your story? 

Their summary list should be along the lines of:

• We are investigating ....
• Our research told us .... 
• We asked ....
• We also asked (if applicable)
• We found that .... 
• In conclusion ... 

 

Once complete, ask each group to share the summary of their findings. These headlines should then shape the plan and script for their story. 

 

What to include?

They may have a lot of information from all their work, so their next job is to whittle down their data and interview footage and decide which parts are the best to include in the final report. They don’t want to bore the viewers with huge amounts of data, nor will there be time to play out the full interviews they carried out. 

They may be able to turn the data they have collected into graphs that will be easier for their audience to understand, if they are included and explained in the final report. If the graphs are captured as images it will be easy to insert them into the video later when the editing takes place. Both Google and Microsoft forms automatically turn your data into graphs which you can see in the ‘Responses’ tab. 

Excel and Google Sheets can also be used to easily turn collected data into graphs and charts.

This page gives guidance on doing this in Excel.

This page gives guidance on doing this in Google Sheets. 

This video is also useful in explaining how to format and customise graphs in Google Sheets

You could take screenshots of the graphs on your device and crop out any unwanted parts of the screen. The image of the graph can then be saved or shared to the device that will be used to edit the news story. 

 

Writing up the report

The groups should then begin to plan writing up their report for their TV news show. 

The content below was previously featured on BBC News’ School Report resources and explains the parts that make up a basic TV news report: 

 

A basic TV news report is made up of five parts:

Introduction - This is where the reporter starts to explain the story. Don't make it too long, keep it short and snappy.

First interview - The first person you talk to will give their opinion on what is happening, and how it affects them.

Second interview - You need to talk to someone with a different opinion, to provide balance.

Extra shots - These show the audience more about the place and the people in the story. They make the report more interesting.

Conclusion - This will be the reporter's sign-off, where they summarise the outcome, or possible outcomes, of the story.

 

Think carefully about where you want to set up each of the shots, using different backgrounds and angles to keep it interesting for the audience. For example, reporters can look straight at the camera when they do their introductions and sign-offs. These are called "pieces to camera".

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/school_report/resources_for_teachers/8472052.stm

Following this as a rough guide, they should write their script for just this segment of their news show. The rest of the show will be covered in section 2 of the unit of work. They should aim for a report that lasts between one and three minutes long.

Once completed they should read through and rehearse the script out loud, perhaps playing any interview clips at the appropriate moments to try and get a fairly accurate idea of the duration for the whole report. Make any necessary changes and edits to keep it within the estimated time frame. 

 

Imagery for the report

If they are going to require any extra footage or images to include in their report, they will need to make a list of what they will need to collect and how best to do that. A few great sources for copyright free images are: 

• www.photosforclass.com
• www.pexels.com
• pxhere.com
• pixabay.com

Mapping applications such as Google Maps can also be useful for showing locations for stories and even satellite or street view imagery. Screenshots can be saved and cropped if required. All sources should be fully credited if they are used in the report. Guidance from Google on doing this is provided here.

The groups will also need to consider location for their reporter segments. Will they be done to camera, or as voice over on top of video footage or images?

If it is not practical for the students to go to the location they have in mind for their report, they can find a suitable image of the location and place it behind the reporter using a green screen. More on this will be covered in the second part of the unit, but, to help it look more realistic, they should try and find an image with the correct perspective.

For example, if they were doing a sport themed report from St James’ Park, an image like this is taken at the correct height and would look like the reporter was standing pitch side in the stadium  if it was used as a background.

 

Image source: Andrew Bryson Photography, via Google Maps, https://goo.gl/maps/6CA8rK46WPn52kkW8

 

However, using an aerial shot like this would not work so well as a reporter could clearly not stand in that spot! 

 

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aerial_view_of_St_James_Park_-_geograph.org.uk_-_472327.jpg

 

At this point the groups should have all the component parts in place to be able to film the reporter sections of their special report and prepare the other elements for editing. They must ensure they have a really clear plan for their special report which includes a list of shots they intend to film, images, tables and graphs they will use,  and the script for all spoken parts by their reporter, including voiceovers where the reporter is not on camera. 

 

Plenary

To complete this first part of the project, review what they have done so far:

• Do you have everything in place to move into the filming and editing process?
• Was your data collection and research successful?
• Would you have done anything differently if you did it again?
• Have you worked well as a team? 

Explain to the students that in the second part of this unit their teams will plan and produce the rest of their news show. They will include a main story, the special report they have planned out, a weather report and optional segments on items of their choice, such as sport, entertainment, or light hearted stories. 

They will script and film all the segments and make use of green screens to add some realism to their production, before evaluating the final products.