Halo

This is Jacob and i have just logged in to this site and am looking forward to an exciting learning experience in this semester,

Hallo

Its not to late to say happy new year. Hope the new year is doing you good despite the heat. I’m great just adjusting to being in V- road and boy do i miss Athi river this place is not so cool(imagine even with the heat in Athi). Any way just saying hallo and wish all of you a lovely year.

Kimacia

CITIZEN TV NEWS CRITIQUE

MARTIN MWANZA 07-1257

A critique does not always mean that something is wrong somewhere, maybe it also hints and points the good things in that place. News is a way of ending or updating our day in style. That is why every time i look forward to Citizen news especially at night after a hard days work.

 

Talking about Citizen TV news, i must say that they have really tried to localize their content to target the mwananchi who is their primary target. The kind of news which comes on Citizen is mainly featuring the county edition or just local happenings (everyday crimes, entreprenuer and local sports).

 

the organization of the station however to me is not very pleasing, whether they use virtual studio or not, i have come to hate it. it looks so dark, the mixture of colors is not perfect or rather good for a news room… i don’t understand why they changed from the past background they used to have. the present background does not complement the otherwise flamboyant presenters in the likes of Julie Gichuru.

 

the readership of news itself has been taken as a comedy of late. reading while walking around the studio might distract the viewer maybe wanting to know the physique of the presenter, what she or he is wearing and how he or whe walks like.

 

Normally Citizen TV has one of the best lighting systems and this gives them an edge even in other programs.  I like the illumination of their set and the clarity of their presenter when reading the news.  the well trained presenters whom most are poached from other medias are well conversant with the iPads they hold while reading news, they know how to present themselves and keep you glued to the screen all through the bulletin.

 

Citizen TV news desk have a little bit of assignment they need to do. we Kenyans don’t only want to know whats around here and that’s all, we also want to know what is happening in the entire globe. They should come up with a better background also to update their image. Lastly we need to see young and fresh blood on the news desk, people we can easily identify with.

NEWS CRITIQUE

G.B.S NEWS

Afternoon News Broadcast

Good News Broadcasting System (G.B.S) is a relatively new player in the Kenyan media industry.Barely a year old, the network has began on quite a firm footing having gained the interest of a significant number of the Kenyan public. Though their programming has still much more to adapt for a larger audience share, it has quite a promising future, with their content aimed at Christian viewers.

 

However, the subject of this critique is their news broadcasts and content. G.B.S news broadcasts, begin with their afternoon news update. Though the network was established and is owned by the South-Korean company G.B.S, its presenters and reporters are all Kenyan. This I find is good, and appeals to the Kenyan audience.

 

The afternoon news is also quite comprehensive. The broadcast often features both local and international stories. The presentation by the presenters is often clear and well laid out. The editing of the stories that run on air is well done. The camera shots often help to tell the story, are well selected and their clarity is many time good. The voice overs and the angles taken by the stories are also engaging. The reporters give key details that make the view see why the story is important.

 

However, international stories covered by G.B.S afternoon news broadcast are not always as well done as the local stories. This is as regards to the video footage used to cover the stories. The shots are not often clear and the audio from the shots is sometimes hard to get. The network also has a bias on stories touching South-Korea, and will often air them as the first international news item. Sometimes, the story may not affect the Kenyan viewer, but since the story is important in South-Korea, it will often feature in the bulletin.

 

Finally, the set used for the afternoon news broadcast is virtual. The colors used are dark shades of blue and grey. The virtual set is average, and could use an improved look that would help the network have a modern and competitive look. The lighting in studio is average as well for the afternoon news broadcast. Though one gets to see the presenter, the presenter does not seem to standout in the set as well as they ought to. However, this is not the case with the Late Night news bulletin. The light is exceptional in this broadcast, and rivals that of other local television networks.

 

Though just beginning to make it mark in the Kenyan media, It seems that G.B.S has the potential to be a strong player on television screens. With their continued professional approach to news and program content, G.B.S is a welcome addition to professional journalism.

film production responsibilities

COM 408 (Movie: CONtrol)

Pre-production

My duties included helping in the auditions of the cast plus assisted at some other occasions the location manager in getting the appropriate and available set locations ready.

Production

My duties included being the camera person. I was also in charge of the equipment, this would involve borrowing and booking of the equipments we needed at particular scenes. I also featured as a cast.

Post-production

Helped the editor at times in approving some of the shots and music to be used at the final product. I also helped in the preparation of the movie premiere.

Bilha Wangui – 07-0339

VERY SORRY FOR THE MIX UP THIS WAS NOT MEANT TO BE POSTED HERE

help needed

if any of the students who were in COM 408(advanced video) and are reading this blog right now, please assist in giving me the blog details because i cannot seem to be getting through

this is from bilha

NEWS CRITIQUE

CITIZEN NEWS

In my own opinion, if there is one media station that has taken the presentation of news to another level is Citizen TV. It is diverse and the news not only covers the norm of hard news, business segment and sports but it goes further and presents entertainment news, features and also interviews. The presenters are also interactive with the audience. I particularly had a close watch on the Sunday live news by Julie Gichuru.

Video

In most of the evening news coverage you could notice the various camera shots that are used especially in the studio. There is use of high angle shot, medium shot, long shot and also a close up shot of the presenters. They also use zoom and a boom to follow up the presenter when they are walking off the studio. The pictures always look clear and of high quality. Presenters also in the field try as much to get establishment shots of the particular story they are covering plus close up shots.

They also have large monitors on the side of the studio which display the story being introduced by the presenter.

Sound & Lighting

Sound is always clear because you could hear the presenters clearly unlike at some other stations where you can hear as if the presenter is in a hollow place. I think they accomplish this by the use of lapel microphones.

Lighting is also of good quality because you can see the presenters clearly with no shadows being casted behind them.

 

With multimedia convergence Citizen also has a website where is more interactive and readers can comment on stories, view videos, pictures and also blog in. They also have an epaper, The Citizen. News is also covered in the radio station, Radio Citizen.

 

Bilha Wangui  07-0339

 

NEWS CRITIQUE

NEWS CRITIQUE

KTN PRIME TIME NEWS

The KTN staff is quite presentable and is eloquent in their mode of presentation. However, I noticed that there are specific news presenters who often do the 9:00 news; Mrs. Beatrice Marshall and Mr. Njoroge Mwaura. This I find to be limiting to the rest of the staff members who may perhaps want to do great in television presentation.

At first I had had a problem with the lighting of the studio as it looked dull as they seemed to only use one flood light because much as the light covered a wide area there were still shadows at the background of the presenters. This needed the standard lighting format of the key, fill and backlight to kill the shadows.

Also, the use of the new trend of a digital studio that plays with the eyes of the viewer to think that it is an actual studio seems to be working for KTN apart from the sports segment which makes it look so “not real/fake”. The presenters at times look as if they have “floating heads”.

In terms of news content, it is delivered conclusively and with a wide variety of news beats, though there seems to be a faint inclination of agenda within the news items covered.

NTV PRIME TIME NEWS

The NTV staff to me seem to be the most authoritative as they seem to have a sense of seriousness in terms of confidence, dressing, command of language and persuasion. The reporters are also as daring and creative as they get very interesting news beats. A good example is Mr. Lolani Kalu who even reports news in the eyes of a chicken in the luhya land. The editors are also just as active in news presentation just as the reporters and the anchors as we see Mr. Linus Kaikai also conducting exclusive interviews with rare personalities.

Also, through NTV’s innovative coverage of news from different counties is very interesting as they took normal Kenyan broadcast journalism into another level; The NTV County Edition. They moved from county to county with a portable studio and made great use of web journalism too as they constantly posted news even on their Facebook page and their website.

The lighting in the outdoor studio was good although at times they faced the challenge of natural events such as flying insects and strong wind which caused distortion in the highly sensitive lapelle microphones they used for presentation. Also, at the studio, the lighting was very good and the use of the virtual studio was effective, thus, commendable.

CITIZEN PRIME TIME NEWS

The CITIZEN staff is also very eloquent and very flexible too in terms of presentation and can also ad-lib easily while adding important detail to presented news items. I am fond of their good use of the portable cameras that one can move about with form the news room to the studio which is creative and also the boom camera which captures a very rare aerial shots form within the studio. Also, their lighting is very good and their studio is very wide which allows an anchor to move about the studio creating interest during presentation.

KBC PRIME TIME NEWS

The KBC staff has really evolved over the years to adapt to the latest mode of news presentation and I think upon what I constantly observe, their work is commendable. The use of a virtual studio is still under progress and especially during sports news presentation and analysis. The lighting is fair though at times it seems to have too much contrast and sometimes brightness perhaps an issue with white-balancing as well as the image setup of the cameras. The anchors dress very smart and good for TV as they avoid very bright colors, patterns and shiny jewelry as well as extreme make-up.

There is little use of camera movement within the studio which tends to create boredom.

Michelle Ayuma Senda

07-1396

Citizen’s news critique

Citizen news stories covers most of the daily happenings that take place in our day to day lives, these are mostly what affect us as an audience, the news stories targets all the age groups and they bring the comprehensive part of their stories they are working on.

Story idea

Their story idea seem original and what comes on the screen shows so much hard work on the part of the news department, their stories seem toe be of concern to the audience and deals with the day to day things that affect the audience. the stories gives the audience a chance to make their own judgement, the station does not take any sides on the stories they cover.

Video quality

Citizen’s video quality is good, both in the studio and the footage that is brought from the field, the pictures are clear and are of a good composition.The shots are good and communicate differently to the audience, when the headlines is being read there is the use of the long shot to show the news anchor. the other shots being used are the close ups and the extreme close ups to show emotions on the faces of those being interviewed. the shots being used by reporters in the field are mainly medium shots and long shots.

Sound quality

The sound quality is good bearing in mind that at some points the reporters are out in the field and their is alot of noise or it is too windy. the reporters counter all these noises with the use of lapel mics. At the studio during the live broadcast the anchor projects the voice well enough to have their voices well heard.

Janet Koech

07-0888

NEWS CRITIQUE

News is what keeps us updated of what is happening around us and the world at large. Everyday in life there is always something new if not strange happening. I watched NTV news.

NTV airs their news 5 times a day, that is, at 1pm, at 4pm, at 7pm, at 9pm and late night news at around 11pm or 12pm. These news are read at different time to capture different audiences who are available at different times.

NTV news has been divided into 3 segments, that is, news, business news and sports news.

NTV has developed a new weekend news style whereby they have County editions which cover a different county every weekend.

VIDEO

The pictures used are of good quality and are able to tell the story that the reporters are telling. the cameras used were of high quality.

There was a range of use of different camera shots and movements. There is use of long shot to show the studio and the presenters.

Zoom, medium shot.long shot are some of the camera moments and shots that were used.

SOUND

The sound was brought out clearly by the presenters, reporters and even those who were interviewed. The use of microphones helped in the projection of the sound.

LIGHTING

Lighting was good as there wre no shadows created behind the presenters and they could be seen. this shows great skill in manipulating light to work for their benefit.

The editor is good at what  he does as he is capable of working the pictures to tell a story. The pictures are good. The use of many pictures shows helps make the story interesting and attractive.

The presenters are always presentable and are able to bring out the story with the effect intended for the audience. They are able to articulate the message well.

This shows that they are conversant with what they are doing and have well researched information.

The news presented also shows that enough and good research has been done.

To be able to present news, research is essential and one should have good and reliable sources.

Juddy W. Koigi