Digital News: Roller Derby Research

I have been doing a lot of research into roller derby so i can understand the game as if i played the sport. I think this will not only help when writing the script but also help to connect with it and understand what we should film and what is going on during training.
Our current idea is to focus on the fact that roller derby is the fastest growing female sport in the UK, something that i did not know about. I found out this information through various news articles but found it difficult to find any facts or figures to support this.

Here are the articles i found:

http://thepositive.com/roller-derby-female-sport-britain/

"The Positive talks to the stars of roller derby, the UK’s fastest growing female sport

As Britain nurses the hangover from London 2012, there has been some concern that the legacy of the Games is bypassing women. But there’s one almost exclusively female sport that is thriving and gaining momentum in the UK: roller derby."

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/others/roller-derby-rollers-who-are-rocking-the-world-of-women-6268604.html

"It has been described as "a series of muggings on skates" and is the fastest-growing women's sport in the UK."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-23085953

"A sport which originated in Chicago in the United States of America in the 1930s is enjoying a resurgence - and is the fastest growing women's sport in Wales."

Due to this lack of statistics and facts i had to search through UK surveys to try and find some hard evidence to support this statement. I felt that if the independent are calling it the fastest growing women's sport  in the UK it must be the case though.

I eventually stumbled across this:

http://rollerbillies.com/2009/04/05/hello-world-2/
"the first UK league, the London Rollergirls, was established in 2006 by American and Australian ex-pats" 
http://ukrda.org.uk/?p=90
"Arriving in the UK in April 2006, roller derby is a unique, fast-paced and fast-growing female-dominated sport. In the beginning, there were only a handful of active leagues, now just over 4 years later, there are currently in excess of 70 leagues nationwide." (February 2011)
http://www.redditchadvertiser.co.uk/archive/2006/10/30/993771.Bee_s_on_a_roll_with_US_craze/?ref=arc
"Bee, 36, from Studley, has been skating for 30 years and is recruiting other women to take up the sport so a Birmingham league can be formed." - October 2006

Two further leagues would form in early 2007 - glasgow and a 2nd in london.

Here are some other useful stories -

http://ukrda.org.uk/?p=90
"Roller derby recognised as a sport in the uk - February 2011"

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/18/could-the-men-of-roller-derby-become-sports-first-male-feminists
"Revitalised on the back of third-wave feminism, roller derby, a contact sport on skates that is created, owned and managed by women, is a direct challenge to the male domination of sport. A sport that says women can be just as aggressive, just as competitive and just as entertaining. And a sport that demands women get top billing – just as men do everywhere else."

http://www.kentrollergirls.com
More information on the league we will be featuring.

What is roller derby?

Roller Derby Bootcamp:

The people of roller Derby: 

Roller Derby Culture:

I found these videos really useful as they helped me to understand the rules and some of the calls involved in the sort. I like this idea that roller derby is more than just a sport its a lifestyle and the culture and everything behind it really intrigues me. Obviously it is much easier to learn the rules of any sport through participation so i felt that perhaps watching a game would help me further.

Here is a game of roller derby in action, i like the filming style and commentary and hope to create something similar for our piece:

I have also been watching whip it, the roller derby film from 2009. Whip it was the directorial debut from drew barrymore and features 2 of my favourite actresses Kirsten Wiig and Ellen Page. Here is the trailer for the film. 

One of the things i found interesting about roller derby are the nicknames. 

here is a video explaining a little bit more about how Roller Derby names:

I also fund an interesting and ultimate guide to roller derby names:

http://svrollergirls.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-choosing-your-roller-derby-name/

All of these videos and articles have really given me a better understanding of the sport and i feel confident in getting the right portrayal things across. 

Stay safe,

Helen

Digital News Project: Rochester Filming Task

Today myself, danny and chris filmed our rochester tourism video.
The day started with myself popping down to cineworld, where i work, to ask them if would be possible to film inside during a quiet period and also to get a quick interview with one of the managers if they weren't to busy. They said that this was fine and they would be available for an interview as long as it remained quiet.
When the boys arrived we got everything set up and chris realised that the clip mic batteries were almost dead - on reflection i now will make sure i bring batteries to every shoot even if i am not in charge of the kit. He also forgot to charge he camera batteries but luckily they were both full. I went into my work and borrowed some batteries so we were very lucky or it would have messed up our whole day. We began by filming a quick walking scene outside the cinema. Danny was our presenter for this piece. We got him to walk by the posters to help orientate people to the cinema and lined up the shots quiet well. Chris then did a couple of cut aways of the river, the various eat out places, and the cinema itself. I then checked to see if my manger was available but the cinema was incredibly busy, he said to come back in 15 minutes so we decided to go away and film a couple of other bits. We decided to shoot the ending and then hopefully we could get our interview. The only problems we had in this location were that it was right next to a road and cars kept whizzing past and therefore we could pick it up on audio so i decided to be on car watch and then hopefully we could get the filming done inbetween cars. Luckily we managed it but as we didnt do a location scout we didnt think about this. On all my future shoots this will remind me of how important it is to remember as it would have been a nightmare to film a long scene for a short film a this location. We then went back to the cinema but although it was quiet my manager was still unavailable so we decided to shoot the cut aways and all other relevent stuff and then see what we could do. After this was finished with i made the decision to do the interview myself as we were wasting time and i could answer all the questions anyway. I then was interviewed by danny and chris and danny set up the shot. We decided to have it by a film standee and i borrowed some uniform of one of the other workers on shift. After that we went to our next location which was hollywood bowl so we could film bowling as an exciting activty to do in rochester. However it was packed and the next available slot was at 6pm so we couldnt film it. Instead we filmed chris and danny playing air hockey on a table at the arcade they have and i did a 360 turn to try and show the bowling alley but it was difficult. This has taught me to always plan and although this was just a test project it would have been a disaster if we had just turned up thinking we could go bowling and then been turned away on a proper shoot. I have learned you always need to plan dates and times with the people you are filming or places you are filming at. Getting an exact time and date helps things to be less stressful and also more professional and doesnt leave you in  the lurch. We decided to have some food and then head back to rochester castle and catherdral to do the final bits.
As chris had work myself and danny did the last 2 bits to try and show a little more culture and history. We wanted to go into the cathedral but a service was on so we had to stand outside and film a couple of interesting shots and i think due to the sunlight it looked pretty nice. Rochester castle also looked really nice is this lighting so this was really good for filming. We then walked back to give the footage to chris when i realised we hadnt really got a way to begin the film - we decided to film the welcome to rochester sign so we could get danny to do a voice over and hoepfully that would make the film flow.

From this project i also learnt the importance of having a solid flowing idea. i felt that we didnt utilise danny enough as a presenter and he sort of would appear one minute and then not the next. We didnt really think it through properly and so for next time i would definailty be able to improve on this aspect. Chris will now put the film together using the script outline and we will record danny's v/o later in the week.

stay safe,

helen

Digital News: News Package workshop

Teacher Helen set us a task today to put together a news package about tourism in the local area. We chose Rochester as it was the most convenient area and as we are doing our main project planning also it would be good time management. In the group we had a discussion about what we could look at in rochester for tourism. As i work at Cineworld Rochester i mentioned that we could have fairly good access to the cinema and we could interview myself or one of the management about what tourism brings to the cinema. Chris is member of the virgin gym at the same location so we thought we could also talk about this, and danny mentioned about the bowling in this area also so we decided it would be a really good location to film and save a lot of time. We also spoke about looking at rochester high street, the castle and the cathedral.
That night i did some research on Rochester and learned more about the town and its story. It holds events to do with Charles Dickens as he was very fond of the town and actually used some of the locations around the area as inspiration for his books including Great Expectations. The 1959 James Bond Goldfinger describes Bond driving along the A2 through the Medway Towns from Strood to Chatham. Of interest is the mention of "inevitable traffic jams" on the Strood side of Rochester Bridge, the novel being written some years prior to the construction of the M2 motorway Medway bypass. 
Many famous faces also have a connection to rochester - Kelly Brook was schooled in the area, Comedian Joe Pasquale and James and Ola Jordan from Strictly Come Dancing live in the area as does Singer Songwriter Tara Macdonald. 
I thought these things were interesting and will help us on shoot tomorrow as we travel around rochester and film our segments. 

Stay safe,

Helen

Fiction Adaption: How should the words be delivered?

I have asked myself this question a few times recently - How should the words from the poem be utilised in my adaption. I have spoken to my friends about this and mentioned how i initally felt that prehaps the boy could say these lines, like a voice over. But it was mentioned to me that as my main character is someone who has learning difficulties of some sort that prehaps the wording of the poem is a little advance and therefore this would loose its effectiveness. I then said how my other thought was to have the mother of the boy say the words through v/o. They felt that this would work well so im currently thinking more along these lines. I will post and advert on casting websites for an actress as i may need to include a scene with the mother at some point to show who this women speaking is but i will run this idea past simon and helen and see which if they think possibly a v/o artist would work just as well. Her voice is obviously the most important part as i want someone who is able to deliver the poem in a certain light. She also needs to look like a mother though so it needs to be the right balance. I won't rule out having jack say the lines as i still think this could be a good portrayal.

stay safe,

Helen

Digital News: Finding a 2nd Story

We have spent a lot of time trying to decide what our 2nd story should be. After we didn't hear back from John our freestyle option we decided to find something more alternative and possibly continue our theme of bringing fresh and sidelined sports into the forefront. We began brain storming possible ideas out loud over a meeting. We were suggesting things such as possibly looking at women's football, Karting, Roller Derby etc. I thought roller derby could possibly work if we found a local team and a quick search on google proved this to be not only true but very local - Rochester & Chatham!

After looking at their websites we began to get even more enthralled by the story, the nicknames they give to each other, how the sport works, The fact the rochester team is a coed while the other is soley a women's team. All this is quite interesting and possibly something that could make an interesting story especially if we speak to the players and learn more about them.

We decided to give them a quick email and to continue to look for a phone number to engage properly with them about our project.

Hopefully we will hear from them soon!

Stay safe,

Helen

Fiction adaption: Script outline

Here is a breakdown of my script in a basic form using an outline of what im currently thinking for each section of the poem.

Death Bed Script Outline

The ? in the outline are bits that i'm yet to figure out and will be discussing with my friends and helen and Simon to get some outside views.
Overall im really pleased with how its going as i feel im getting a clear picture of the characters and the flow of the story im telling. 

stay safe,

Helen

Digital News: Branding Meeting

Today myself, danny and chris met to discuss some of the branding as part of our channel. We made it our priority to come up with a design for channel logo. We all know that most channels have a clear logo that makes it clear what channel is which and that logo also reflects the style and brand that they are delivering.
One of the points from my research is that the colour and font need to reflect our channel's identity and professionalism. One of the things we did for hero hounds was to use a paw print text which was a little quirky and helped to get our child friendly message across, However from my research into font i had found that any fonts that are a little different or quirky can make your brand a little less professional. We want our channel to be professional but also relatable so i thought an american college sports style text would not only look simple enough to remain professional but would help us to become instantly recognisable as a sports brand. When it came to colours we ruled out colours like pink, red and blue for the reasons that - pink is far too girly, red and blue are easily recognisable for certain sports teams colours - a man united fan wouldnt be seen dead in a man city blue for example - we also wanted to steer clear of using colours that were already in use by popular sports/ news channels - bbc are red, sky are red/blue.

We spent a long time talking and trying to think of a colour that could work when we all agreed on purple. Then we wanted a second colour that would help get our logo standing out. Chris was testing some colours out when he chose orange. Instantly it just felt right. It worked well and it was eye catching and also 2 colours that i feel women would like. From my research purple means creative and orange means friendly. Barbie, Aussie hair products and Cadburys all have a purple logo while nickelodeon, fanta and amazon use orange in their logo's.

Chris pointed out that we needed to come up with a way of creating something simple prehaps using the letters TTV to create a logo for the brand . We cant just write Tekkers TV in the corner of the youtube channel. (This is something i had mentioned earlier that i thought would be cool as a lot of channels always have a logo in the corner and most youtube channels do now aswell).
He googled some examples of tv station logo's to show us. Here is a similar picture to what he showed us:

We looked at some of the channels such as the E network which has a ! with an e inside as its logo with the slogan 'entertainment television' underneath. We tried thinking of something that could incoperate our letters or channel name that would still make it recognisable as a sports channel. Chris mentioned about some channels in spain using letters in different directions such as downwards or diagnoal so i drew some ideas on paper while chris and danny worked on the computer. Chris then came up with what would be our finished idea. We liked the look of it and it worked well with the colours. He played a large T in the centre with T V either side of this T. He then said some channels have their channel name underneath and that as people may not know what TTV is initially we should put Tekkers Tv under it. Danny mentioned about having just TV in capitals and making sure it was central under as it will look more professional. We all decided that having orange as the focal T in the front with purple trim and purple in the back letters with orange trim would also help to understand that it its Tekkers TV. This is our final logo:

We also spoke about our website and i mentioned we should use white as the base colour as too much orange and purple would be really garish and uncomfy on the eyes for too long.

The next point we discussed was our slogan - We knew danny would be the man for this job as he is always coming up with great puns and catchy phrases so hed already brought a few ideas to the table through our facebook chat.

Sports. News. Now

This is very catchy and it felt very much like a slogan that sky sports would use for their trailers. I liked this idea.

Get Your Head In The Game

 

This slogan was a little bit of a mixed bag. It was perfect for describing exactly what our channel does - bring new and under appreciated sports to our audience but as Chris rightly pointed out it is a song from High School Musical. The target audience for Disney is not our target audience and would easily confuse a few people and make them think our channel is something that is isnt.

Over The Line

Danny also mentioned about wanting to use the phrase over the line. I liked this idea very much, it could be used in a few different ways - bringing sports news over the line for example - but we couldnt think of a catchy enough way of incorporating it.

Net

Danny mentioned using the word Net in a sentance for our slogan as it means internet and therefore goes with the digital news aspect but also helps with our sports brand - we could say, in the net, on the net. I liked this ideas also as it a little different from the others but also explains what the brand is. However because we arent using sports that have balls in them or basically mainstream sports it wouldnt work for the specifics of our channel. 

Shooting sport onto your screen

This one we felt might be misinterpreted so we decided against it.

All Sports, No Balls

This one was a little bit of a joke at first as our channel is aimed at women so the 'no balls' bit is a bit of a joke but also it gets the point across that it only features sports that arent normally shown. We wont feature any sport that has a ball in it. Danny made a good point that the all sports part is therefore a bit confusing so we came up with...

 

Just Sport, No Balls

I like this one the best. It suits our target audience 16-25, brings a little sense of humour into the news and gets the message across. i think its something people would remeber.

The final thing we discussed was what we wanted to see in our intro and news studio. Danny liked the idea of having the TTV come up in the centre of the screen at the end with out virtual studio behind it and then the TTV shrinking and slotting into the corner. I wanted it to include different sports we might feature like the pole dancing and prehaps clips from our 'future' shows. I also mentioned that in the studio i would like a TV to one side where our stories could pop up when Fran mentions them before we cut to them. Chris said he will take all the ideas on board when he creates the virtual studio and intro and also encorperate his own ideas and spin on things.

Stay safe,

Helen