National (Media) Stories

Studio brief

News provides us with ways of understanding the world of the media. National news outlets, covering stories related to the media, will provide the theme for researching and producing documentary and drama films in this studio.

For Level 5 students: news and current affairs provides a rich source of material for filmmakers. Documentarists take current news stories in order to follow up and contextualise recent news events, and these events are also developed for dramatic fiction.

The studio also provides the opportunity to look ‘behind’ the news, to investigate what happens to those involved when the news bandwagon has rolled on.

The process of newsmaking will be investigated. What do the subjects of news stories feel about their time in the news? How is this particular news story constructed?

National (media) Stories will base studio production on recent news stories appearing in national newspapers or TV news bulletins, and examine how they highlight issues within media production. Students will develop research and creative skills, using printed or broadcast media, possibly contacting the participants in the headlines, converting this first into factual and then fictional stories for the screen. Audience perceptions can be influenced in many ways, and in news stories, ideas of ‘objectivity’ and truth are often assumed. The 'constructed' nature of news can be overlooked.

Through the “use” of real events and people, students will also consider the ethical and moral dilemmas central to the construction of both factual and fictional screen and newspaper stories. Students will develop techniques and strategies for researching and developing stories from information gathered and how to present those stories in both factual and "fictional" forms.

Students will make use of the www.storify.com online application to organise their initial news story research.