Episodes
There are 5 topics that "Behind the News" producers are looking for their episodes on Global warming. These include:
Episode 1. How are weather patterns changing as a result of global warming? Interview a television weather person, or a weather person from your local Bureau of Meteorology about effects such as rising temperatures, El Nino, and the increased intensity of storms and cyclones.
Episode 2. Sea levels are gradually rising due to global warming, but that is not the only effect being observed in our oceans. Interview an officer of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and ask them about coral bleaching, and the acidification of the oceans. This segment could also demonstrate what might happen to the food chains of the ocean with further acidification.
Episode 3. Investigate the causes of global warming, both natural and human activities. Talk to a scientist about how the carbon cycle is becoming unbalanced.
Episode 4. The Australian Government intends to introduce a carbon emissions trading scheme. Discuss the scheme and its implications for industry and the economy with your local member of the federal parliament.
Episode 5. Alternative energy can be produced from renewable and non-renewable resources. Contact a company that installs solar or wind energy equipment. Interview someone from the company and ask them to explain how alternative energy sources produce electricity and about the advantages and disadvantages of using their product.
Every great television news story is created by a team, or crew, and
each member of the crew has a particular role to play.
You and your crew need to discuss with your teacher which episode you will produce,
so that all episodes are covered by the class.
Roles
When your crew have an episode to research it is time to choose roles.
Every crew has a:
Presenter
Director
Camera Person
Your team is faced with deciding who will do what in your team
To avoid any harsh feelings when allocating roles,
use the decision making matrix provided for deciding each role.
If you still have trouble deciding who does what, ask your teacher for help.
Role Tasks
Presenter
The role of the presenter
Assessment criteria for presenters
Director
The role of the director
- Research topic (use the links in resource section).
Use this graphic organizer to help you investigate your topic.
- Storyboarding your episode, as per the interview script
A template for storyboards is available from jteacher.com
Shot type guide
- Direct the video and ensure group remains on task during process.
Camera Person
The role of the camera person
Assessment criteria for camera person
- Research topic (use the links in resource section).
Use this graphic organizer to help you investigate your topic.
- Video taping the interview as per the storyboard.
Camera angles
- Edit the interview
Guest Interview person
The role of the guest interview person is to communicate with a real-world expert, and send the expert a list of questions from the presenter.
If the expert is not available for an interview, the guest interview person will role play as the expert for the interview using the expert’s written responses to the questions in the interview.
Assessment criteria for a guest interview person
- Research topic (use the links in resource section) - use this graphic organizer to help you investigate your topic.
- Work with the presenter to write the interview script
- Send the expert a list of questions to be answered
- Perform interview in character
- send letter of thanks to expert
You will be responsible
for completing the tasks assigned to your specific role. However, ALL crew members
are expected to research for the episode and take notes for the crew!
(permission to use image pending www.ergon.com.au)
Editing the video
A technical assistance session will be provided near the end of the webquest.
In the meantime, visit Window's Movie Maker How-to Center and explore some of the links such as
Video: see how to save your movie in different formats and Add transitions and special effects
Select the best 3 minutes of your video to submit to BTN.
You may re-edit to capture the best 3 minutes, but this needs to be shown to the class at the time of your presentation.
Make sure the video is saved to BTN’s specifications: Mini-DV or DV-CAM, SP, SX or Digital Betacam format or as an uncompressed QUICKTIME movie on DVD with the desired aspect ratio of 16:9.
BTN also advise that using music in your video requires copyright permissions and is best avoided.
Submitting the video to BTN
- Read the rules
- Follow the steps for submitting
- Make sure you have done everything on the submission checklist
- Fill in the submission form as a school group.
- Fill in the participant release form (under 18 years of age)
- Give your forms and DVD to your teacher to send to BTN.
(Image is GNU Free Documentation License)
Summary of Steps
Step 1. Research your topic. A Behind the News episode usually starts with a news item that needs investigation. Each crew member is required to research information for the script of your episode.
Step 2. Each role is assessed separately. Find out what skills you will be assessed on in your role by clicking on the links under Roles.[bookmark].
Step 3. Rehearse your episode
Step 4. Record and edit your BTN episode for presentation to the class.
Step 5. Present your BTN episode to the class for peer assessment. Everybody will be marking other groups' episodes as well as their own Print off a peer assessment criteria sheet from the evaluation section and self-assess your presentation.
Step 6. Use your self and peer assessments to make improvements to your video before your final cut is recorded.
Step 7. Submit your video to “Behind the News”.
