We were set the task to review Channel 5's 5 o'clock news by the editor Geoff Hill, who will similarly critique our WINOL bulletin tomorrow.To begin with the first thing I was drawn to was the delivery of the headlines, I expected the presenter to sit down after the headlines were over, as I found it slightly distracting that she was stood up for the entire bulletin. I find the traditional news readers of BBC and Sky News are always sat behind a desk similarly to WINOL which I find more professional and engaging with the audience, as the eye line is more intimate and enticing.
Two flood related stories led the bulletin, this was ideal for the top story as it is the most current national story affecting a large audience who will want to be updated on the story. The bulletin lasted around 20 minutes, this is an ideal length to keep the concentration of the audience, however the floods took up 10 minutes of the bulletin and therefore I lost focus as it felt like it dragged out for a long time. I really liked the use of OB's from the reporters and the link/handover from the presenter, the fact it was live also enhanced the strength of the content, as it was happening then and there, making the news present, and it visually supported the story by having the PTC on location near the floods. I thought the range of interviews from emergency services, to Prime Minister to local residents really covered the entire scope of public opinion, in particular the interview with the man stood in the 2nd floor window added a humorous appeal but also demonstrated the extremity of residents being housebound.
I found with a lot of the interviews the reporter/interviewer was in vision, although this seems like a stylistic feature of Channel 5 I found it visually uncomfortable as I wanted to just focus on the interviewee and found the back of someone's head distracting - moreover seeing the gun mic (or fluffy dog as I call it) in vision was a little distracting too, but this is hypercritical.
I really liked the studio set, the opening music, and the neutral colour blue which added a universal appeal. I thought it was really effective that a photo illustrated what the presenter was saying in the screen behind her, it was visually pleasing and was a teaser for the viewer who is waiting to see the full footage.
The use of graphics in two of the stories: floods and the virus were a nice visual way of getting the statistical evidence across, it was punchy and clear for the audience to follow. In terms of the norovirus story, I thought the pictures were good, especially as they filmed inside the hospital without breaching privacy rights of Article 8 - Human Rights - simply filming hands and bodies rather then identifying peoples faces. However, I noticed that the package did start and end with the same image, which was a bit lacklustre.
The third story was about I'm a celebrity star Nadine Dorries, this added more a light hearted entertaining tone from the previous risks to property and health. I did question why there were still images used, and Nadine Dorries herself wasn't interviewed, but this was shortly answered when the reporter in Westminster explained that she couldn't be on screen, which I have not often seen.
I loved the coming up news belt, it continued to build tension and interest to know what's still to come, this is something we have recently introduced on WINOL and I think it works really well in keeping viewers tuned in. Furthermore, it breaks up the bulletin from having solid packages one after the other. On return, the presenter reminded us of the top story which is a nice introduction and refresher for potential viewers who may have missed the start of the show.
I am not sure whether this is because I am not used to writing links, or because I have not had a great deal of practise with but I found the links that introduced the packages were very long, but this is only a personal preference.
The OOVs in the bulletin helped to break up the lengthy packages, compared to WINOL where we have recently incorporated an OOV belt of several OOVs lined up back to back.
The funeral of Coronation Street star was a story to touch the hearts of the nation, I felt it should of been situated above the story on Nadine Dorries. I've didn't feel like the package began with their best shots, the opening frame of the young child and the crowds stood outside didn't illustrate that it was instantly a funeral as it would of done if the first thing we saw was the coffin being carried into the church. I liked the use of fair dealing clips of the actor on the soap opera, giving the audience fond memories of his on screen performance. I felt the clips of the speeches inside the church and of other fellow actors outside added a touching and heartfelt message as well as seeing a lot of common faces for Corrie fans.
Archive footage was used on the Yasser Arafat story which was well handled considering it was hard to get pictures.
The final story was Sports Personality of the Year, which had some sharp and superb photography that caught my eye, I liked the effect of overlaying miniature clips of the Olympians over each other. During an interview with the reporter it would have been nice to see a more creative approach to the reporter being stood by the interviewee, for instance a walkie talkie instead of a long held shot that cut in closer to the reporters head. It would of worked better if the interviewee was framed in closer, or a sequence shot was done before introducing the interview. I liked the vox pops too, it added some light and shade from the lengthy interviews, getting an overall balanced opinion of who may win. This sporting story featured in the headlines which included action shots and natsot of crowd cheers which instantly grabbed my attention.
I personally would of liked to watch the bulletin back, but Channel 5 on demand says that it is not available I think this should be altered so the presenter can refer the audience to the website for more information.
Overall, the bulletin flowed really nicely, the sound was continuous, the stories were relevant, covering a large scope and there was something for everyone covering beats on environment health, politics, entertainment, crime and sport. I liked that it ended by promoting the 6.30pm news: "find out why..." which teased the viewer into tuning back in.
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