Technology

Technology is always changing, obliviously production companies including NCTV/MINE need to make sure they are up to date. There will always be new products that a company may want but not need. The development for things such a broadcasting in 4K is the next thing to hit production companies. As of yet it is not necessary to broadcast in 4K because the viewer has to have a 4K Television.

Broadcasting Picture Size including 4K and HD.

DALSA Origin, The first 4K camera released in 2013

These are currently on the market for around £2000- £5000 , to me this does not seem like an investment a lot of people will make as they are highly over prices. Although these may be currently over priced they are likely to be affordable for consumers with in the next few years. 4K is known as ultra HD, this is because it is double the pixels (3840 X 2160) that is used in HD broadcasting (1920 X 1080). Obviously if you are broadcasting in 4K you need to have a 4K compatible camera, the first camera released that is 4K compatible is the Dalsa Origin. This was released in 2013 and is currently £1800 to rent per day. As I said earlier this is currently not necessary because not a lot of consumers own 4K televisions. 4K broadcasts are currently being tested by Netflix that is planning to stream the next series of 'House of Cards' in 4K. 

Now on to the movie side of the industry, cameras used in the movies have now advanced from film to digital. Shooting on 35mm film was a very costly method, even though you could practically here the money running though a film camera the development of digital cameras was not very well welcomed by directors and cinematographers in the film industry. Digital cameras weren't developed enough at this point and it was said by people in the industry that digital cameras didn't give the same dynamic range that a film camera gave. It wasn't until the release of the RED ONE in 2007, which was made by the designer of Oakley sunglasses that shooting in digital Started to become accepted. Even then it was still not seen as acceptable, with the release of the RED ONE  several other cameras were also realeased including the 2k hand held with was used during the film of Slumdog Millionaire. Slumdog Millionaire was also the first film shot entirely on digital to win and Academy Award (Best Cinematography) in 2008. Although there as still some directors who still want to shoot on film, most movies are shot digital as like I said before it Is cheaper and you can see your footage right away instead of having to wait till the next day like you would when shooting on film because it has to be developed over night. 

With the development of digital cameras which are now available for consumers it is making it easier for them to make their own content. Now a consumer can walk into a store and pick up an decent DSLR camera for about £400. Not only is it making it easier from consumers to make their own products it is also enabling them to get footage of things that the Indusrties camera man wouldn't dream of. Some consumers are putting their lives at risk to capture things like natural disasters. Consumers are also managing to me their own content then uploading them on sites like Vimeo and YouTube and getting over 1000 views. This doesn't really help the industry as the consumers are becoming the producers but it's something we can't help.

I would suggest that the TV studio is completely refurbished and is kitted out to what is currently is industry standard, The TV studio at Newcastle College is out of date and it would be difficult is broadcast with what its like now. In the industry all equipment is now wireless, whereas at Newcastle College it is all hard wired. Being wireless opens a lot of options for a production company. If you were to broadcast a news show are a program with a presenter, the presenter would be free to move around, stand up and not be constantly at a desk.

This brings me on to online streaming and how NCTV/MINE could benefit from it. obviously in the media industry piracy has been a been factor especially with movies and it still is. With online streaming this can help minimize on your products. Over the years the levels of people using piracy have dropped and this is most likely because people are now able to stream legally online with sites like 4OD, ITVPlayer and BBC IPlayer. All of these on demand sites are also available in apps, this helps open the sites up to a wider audience who can now watch these on portable devices like iPads and smart phones. I would highly recommend to the management of NCTV/MINE that they consider making there products available online via online streaming and also possibly via and app. With the development of of super fast mobile internet more and more people are choosing to watch things on the go. Channel 4 have a smart was of showing adverts, for their 4OD online streaming they ask you to sign in with your email address, age and gender. This is helps them gather information on which adverts to show people that fall into the same catogry as you. 4OD have a number of different way for their consumers to select and view adverts, from 'ad elect' to 'ad extend'. When watching a program on 4OD there will be commercial breaks in these breaks and ad may be selected for you already or you may have a choice and be able to chose between 3 different ads. Also while watching an ad that has been shortened you have the option to watch the full version this would most likely be used for a film trailer, you can also use adlink this is where a product will have a link to a social newtworking site like FaceBook or Instgram and you can click on it to go direct to their page. Other Things they use for their advertising include; ad bloom, Adpause and Adapt.

 Consumers can now have internet on there phones that is as fast is the broadband they receive at home. EE were the first providers in the UK to supply its users with 4G. They were then later followed by Vodafone and 3.  

As for broadcasting signals they would have to be completely digital, as of October 24th 2012 analog signals were completely turned off. This means that to now watch television it is only view able via things like free-view or Sky boxes. It was the governments decision to carry out the digital switch-over, they made the decision to turn all analog signals off so that all households across the country could receive digital signals. It was thought that Digital TV would be widely welcomed as it opened up more channels for the viewer to watch. Even though almost all the country use and receive digital there are a certain number of homes that do not use digital, it is thought that this is likely to be elderly people who got lost in the digital switch-over. When the switch over occurred this meant that digital to analog converters have to be used.
 As like most channels NCTV/MINE would need a HD channel or they could just broadcast in HD as most consumers have HD ready TVs.



As we are in the UK the format we use is PAL, if we were in North or South America we would have to use NTSC. Even though this format is used in the states it is also used in other countries like Japan. these 2 formats deliver different frame rates per second NTSC transmits 30 FPS whereas PAL transmits 25 FPS they also have different aspect ratios, NTSC is 720x480p and PAL is 720x576. taking these into consideration don't really matter when broadcasting TV, you only need to look at which one you need if you are thinking about making DVD's as a DVD made for the USA that is formatted in NTSC will not play on a dvd player in the UK. There is also another format that is used in France called SECAM. These formants may not be compatible with DVD players the can be with TV, this is how we can watch American shows like Friends in the UK. In my opinion is isn't nessasary for NCTV/MINE to broadcast in NTSC as that is the format for America and as this is to be local I recommend broadcasting in PAL.

Contracts, Legal and Ethical.

Contracts

There are 2 different types of contracts; Employment Contracts and Project Contracts. The different between these two is that it you have an employment contract it means that you are a permanently employed by a company weather that be full time or part time, whereas if you are on a Project contract this is usually for a certain amount of time then you are out of a job.

In the media you will more than likely be hired on project contract, this is what freelancers are hired on. This contract means that the employer and employee can negotiate things like the length of the contract and the pay. Being able to negotiate with the employer allows you negotiate on the brief a little. Being on a project contract means that you will be giving a brief and a set amount of time to finish the project you are working on.

when working on a project that may ask you to sign an exclusivity contract, this is either saying that you will only work on this project, or that you are the only person working on it and the production company aren't going to give the contract to someone else. When an actor is working on a film they are often asked to sign these contracts, meaning there is no disruption or complications during filming with their movies overlapping. There also might be a confidentiality agreement in your contract, this is likely if you are working on something that is being filmed undercover. For example the panorama documentary 'North Korea Undercover' everyone working on this would have had to have signed a  confidentiality contract because if they had have been exposed they people involved may have been executed or imprisoned for it.


Employment Legislation

As an employer NCTV/MINE you have to make sure that you give everyone a chance regardless of there Gender, Race or Sexual Orientation. Employers are also not able to discriminate against someone for there age or if they have a disability. Employers also have to make sure that there employees are safe in there work environment, and make sure they know about the health and safety.

To make sure that employees are safe in there work environment company need to have Employers Liability Insurance. This is compulsory and it is illegal to not have this and is part of health and safety in the work place. Employers Liability Insurance covers a company if one of there employee's has an injury at work or picks up an illness from the work place. If a employee injures themselves the insurance company will cove the cost of the damages.

Its is illegal in the UK for an employer to discriminate against someone who applies for a job or who work for them. As an employer you cannot restrict an employee's pay or benefits regardless of their race, religious belief, sexual orientation etc. Every employee is protected by Equality Act 2010, therefore as an employer if one of your employees discriminates against another employee you have the right to dismiss them. When you hire an employee on to your company they then have a number of rights, Your employee receive the rights to; Protected Wages, Maternity Leave (Females), Redundancy pay and the right to not be dismiss unfairly.

When working for a company you can also join a trade union, this isn't compulsory but is a handy thing to be a part of. Trade unions take care of the employees rather then the companies themselves managers take care of the company. The Trade Union for the Media and entertainment sector in the UK is called BECTU they are the biggest trade union in UK for the media sector. Both permanent employers and freelancers can be part of BECTU. BECTU have their own Equality act to ensure everyone in the workplace is treated the same.

Legal and Ethical

When a program is broadcast the producers have to make sure it is ethically portrayed. When a show id broadcast and the people in it or are not ethically show this could mean when the idea of them appearing it has been changed. When this happens there is usually an uproar in the media, currently there is an issue with the broadcast of benefit street. When channel for pitched the idea to the show they told the 'starts' of the show they were making a documentary about community sprit, but now they have portrayed they as benefit scroungers and shown them committing crimes.

In 1990 the Broadcasting act was thought up, this is basically where BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) decide what is appropriate for TV and to be shown in films in the UK. The BBFC can only advise what is appropriate they don't have any legal power. They may not have any legal power but they are very well respected in the media. The BBFC managed to get 30 cuts to the Human 

Centipede so they it was considered appropriate to be in shown in cinemas in the UK. Even though it was shown in UK cinemas it was still rated 18. In 1959 The BBFC published the obscene Publications Act, which was later amended. In this act it is stated that no footage that is seen to be harmful towards animals or humans can't be shown. Having rules like this in place can help prevent things like copy cat murders similar to the ones that happened after the release of The Clock Work Orange which was later banned from UK cinemas for 27 years. This act is also enforced by OFCOM who goven all the TV and radio in the UK. OFCOM have more power that the BBFC, they are able to shut down a channel if they wanted too if they had the a reason to , they also deal with any complaints the viewers might have and have the authority to also issues to fines to channels.

When a company first starts out they will come up with some codes of practice, this a basically a list of rules that must be followed. This is to ensure every one gets a chance, on the bbc's committing site it states they must show an even amount of in house and out house productions. The full lists of their codes of practice can be found here http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/how-we-work/business-requirements/code-of-practice.shtml 

Job Roles in the Media

In the media there are many different sectors and jobs roles, ranging from managing directors to lighting technicians . In the media most jobs will not be permanent, especially the ones In creative media sector. A lot of people in the media sector are freelance, this means that companies hire you for something like 10 days or how ever long they need you for then you move on to another job. Some role ask for a freelancer but state in the job listing 'could possibly become permanent.' When you are hired you can be hired on a fixed term contract this is where you are employed for a certain amount of time, this can be extended if they require your services for longer. Working in the media you will more likely then not work horrible hours, you may work shits or have irregular patterns. When getting paid comes into play if you work freelance you will be paid hourly, but if you are employed permanent and full time you will be paid a salary at the end of each like an other full time job.

The easiest way to get a job in the media is to start out as a runner and sit wait you get promoted and continue to work your way up the ladder. I looked into job roles that are currently available in the media, a few jobs I found Include: Producer, Editor, Brand Manager, Boom Op and Tecnical Director

The New York Film Academy in LA are looking for a Producer of a 15 minute film, they require
someone with pervious experience, and wouldn't mind working along with a young director. They must have of experience and skills working In preproduction and working at film festivals. This is for 3 -  6 months, this short film only has a budget of $12000 (Approx £7000)and the producer will only get paid $500-$800 (approx £305-£489) this is practically nothing in comparison to what a Producer on a major Hollywood film would get. This job would have irregulars hours and also be very demanding. 

Loose Canon Films have a vacancy for a runner, this job is paid hourly and you would only be paid the lowest minimum wage. Being a runner is a ver low paid job but give you a good experience especially if you are a runner on a film. In this particular job you would only earn £5.90 an hour so for a typical 10 hour day you would earn £59 a day. The company also only require you for 10 days then you would have to film another job. Being a Runner you have to work shifts but they would be irregular shift patternes and you'd have to work when they require you. A runner doesn't really do anything else other then get coffees and food for people like the crew or the talent.

Like I mentioned earlier most jobs in the media sector are not permanent, the job I found that is permanent is as a Band Manager working for and international production company. For this you would work over 37 hours a week but be working on office hours (9-5) and possible over time.  With this job you will have to manage the rollout of brand strategies and work along side other members if the team. The yearly salary for this job is £45,000-£55,000.