TV NEWS - Analysis of the Structure, Branding, Graphics and presentation methods of an entire News Programme

 Analysis of the Structure, Branding, Graphics and Presentation Methods 

Drama Alert - 5.67 million Subscribers. 

Although Drama Alert is a youtube News channel that is dedicated to providing youtube watchers with all News and Gossip regarding youtubers themselves. I feel this is super relevant to the target audience we're trying to capture that come along with being a youtube channel. Also, although Keemstar, Drama Alerts presenter covers news stories mainly on youtube drama, he also covers a lot of news surrounding Gaming, which is also relevant to the technical side of our News Channel, as we are a youtube channel that delivers news of technical news and business.

Branding and Graphics

The News item starts with a very traditional themed music and intro. Although, this is a youtube news channel and also is probably not for the regular news demographic of older consumers, it's interesting to see as a viewer of both the regular news and also youtube news, how they cross over in regards to traditional graphics. The intro starts with a big bold countdown, following a red theme. Once the countdown has concluded, you see a globe on the screen that is later followed by a quick zoom into the globe with lots of different title graphics of different places and graphics. This again, is definitely a well known news graphic feature, for example, you can also see in the BBC News, which is an incredibly credible and well known mainstream news source, they also use the titles of places within their title sequence. This leads me to believe that they're trying to visually show that the news they're delivering is worldwide which also is conveyed through the use of a globe. The music within the intro, also follows a typical news round theme, its alerting music with the occasional high pitched bleep within the background, which also feels like a countdown. 

The red theme throughout which you can see follows the theme of also the logo and the graphics throughout the news piece and channel. I convey the red as a viewer to highlight the drama within the channel which is what it is based on. I also feel the importance of the red, the alerting news music and also the globe following mainstream news formats is very important when surrounding a news channel on youtube. As youtube is a platforms used by millions for lots of different reasons, I feel the branding and graphics they use throughout the channel makes it stand out for any other bog standard youtube channel. As soon as you hear the music and see the visuals surrounding the branding and graphics, you can tell straight away that it is a news channel.

 Fig 1. Drama Alert Title Graphics 1 (2020)

Fig 2. Drama Alert Title Graphics 2 (2020)

How the branding and graphics has influenced my own work.

I really like the cross over of traditional television news and also within this youtube channel, I feel the importance of the globe within the title graphics and the list of different countries and places makes it extremely inclusive and diverse which I feel is incredibly important. This is something that has definitely inspired me to ensure that we use the globe within our logo and graphics which we have agreed and spoken about as a group previously, by doing this, I feel it will ensure that our youtube channel stands out as a news channel and is also extremely diverse and inclusive, which shows this news is for everybody which is important. This concludes the theory ‘News Graphics illustrate ideas’ (Orlebar, 2009) also, as we see the Drama Alert channel as I’ve mentioned relates its channel to the graphics shown. Like red meaning drama and the music showing alert. 

The graphics throughout the news channel are also all very relevant to the title graphics, and the same colour theme throughout, I feel this is also something that has inspired me within the news format to ensure we follow a similar format as like traditional news, this is because it will help our audience remember and brand our channel through colours and branding. I also feel this will help us convey our channel, as we're choosing to base our channel on technical and business news which we feel will relate to the target audience of youtube and our target audience of 18-30. The way drama alert uses red which I feel conveys drama and also has props within the frame that also relate to the branding, means you're always aware of what channel you're watching. So, this is something that is important I take from this research and convey into my own work, with colours, branding and continuing to use diversity through visuals like a globe etc.

Structure

The structure of the youtube news channel, starts with the presenter Keemstar, introducing himself and the channel. He then begins to introduce the 'coming up' segment, in which we see him introduce all the stories he is going to speak about with a top line. This also crosses over with the graphics and branding, as while he is speaking about each individual top line for the upcoming stories, we see a related image to the story pop up to the left of the presenters shoulder. 

The structure of each story comes along with photographic evidence which is a running theme throughout each news story. As the presenter speaks about each story within the news episode, it is backed up by screenshots of news articles, tweets and any other source of information that backs up and evident what he is saying as factual that appear as images on the screen. This seems to me slightly where the format and structure begins to take away from mainstream media, as you wouldn't see a BBC News package backed up by evidence of the story broke by another news channel. So the channel begins to start feeling like a middle man delivering you the news instead of breaking it. 

The structure of the news channel continues as they bring in interviews to also add additional evidence and opinion to the stories the presenter is delivering. The main story is about how Fortnite is set to be banned from the US App store, meaning people will no longer be able to download the app. To highlight the actions this may have and relate it to the consumers, the presenter attempted to interview two influencers who are famous from playing this specific game. This to me shows how the channel it trying to make the news story relatable to the consumers of the game and the watchers of the news channel by bringing in consumers of the game.

Fig 3. Drama Alert Imagery (2020)

How the structure has influenced my own work.

I feel from the structure of this youtube news channel, I really like how they use consumers to bring relatable opinions to a news story, for example, the interview with a influencer based on the famous game fortnite, who bought opinions as a consumer of the game but also the opinion of who makes money from playing the game online. As a group we have chosen our Live OB story to be around how Cineworld are having to shut again due to the coronavirus, after seeing Drama Alert using a consumer opinions to engage their demographic and ensure the news story is relevant and relatable, I feel this has taught me how important as a viewer it is to be able to understand the impact of a news story. For this reason, this research has concluded that we should also be exploring how closing of cinemas has impacted workers and consumers who use Cineworld often. As the cinema is somewhere you can get away from regular life and immerse yourself within film, I feel it is bigger then not being able to attend the cinema and is actually some peoples escape being taken away. Therefore, I feel this is something that would be extremely relatable and advance the news story for people who can relate to the toughness of the cinema closing. Therefore, seeing the impact of the Drama Alert news channel using a consumer instead of an expert point of view, has confirmed to me that our group using a consumer point of view as well as expert opinions throughout our news channel will be an effective choice. 

Presentation Methods

The presentation of the news channel is fast paced and doesn't realistically feature any news package or Live OB's and is extremely presenter based. I also feel this is because of the fact it's a youtube News channel, with youtube, views and subscribers are very public and feature on the bottom of each video, this means that the presenter has to be very sellable, which is why I believe the presenter features throughout and delivers all pieces of the news and interviews. 

The punchline at the beginning of every drama alert episode starts with Keemstar who is the presenter saying 'Lets get right into the news'. This again I feel is down to marketing tactics as, as soon as you hear that, you're aware of who is speaking and also which channel you're watching. Again, this fits perfectly with being a part of youtube, social media and the demographic of the audience being on youtube brings. 

The presentation and staging of the channel is extremely visual and relevant. On the desk you can see different props that set the scene and make the whole package relevant. The popcorn on the desk as a viewer to me indicates the drama aspect of the channel. As a social media meme is someone eating popcorn while watching drama so it's extremely relevant to the news channels objective. The logo 'Drama Alert' featuring the globe is also front and center on the laptop, which is easily seen by viewers, so even if this is your first time watching the news channel, you're very aware of what the news channel is about and the name. As I have also mentioned above, the channel features a lot of news about gaming as this is also relevant to the target audience and youtube, you can also see on the laptop, stickers of famous games, which also makes the whole channel relatable and on topic. 

Fig 4. Drama Alert Props  (2020)

How the Presentation methods have influenced my work

By doing this research, it is clear that to stand out on youtube as a news channel you have to be focused on branding and have a presenter with a personality which sells the news channel. Although, news is based on being factual, reliable and serious, the research here has made me realise that youtube news is slightly different to mainstream news. Although, Drama Alert is a lot let less serious and is also a type of gossip channel as well as reporting the news, there are some formats, I wish to convey into our own channel that I feel will be beneficial to our target audience but other formats I don't agree will work within our news channel. 

For instance, the traditional aspects of the channel structure, the imagery shown when announcing the coming up and the fast paced top line and then the deeper information given once they go fully into the story, is definitely the structure we wish to follow for our news channel. However, the presenting style with extremely emphasized wording, hand gestures makes it feel slightly theatrical for me, which is something we do not want for our channel, although we want to be relatable and engaging for our younger target audience. I feel it's important we don't have any theatrics like the presenter does in this youtube news channel, as for me, this feels like it takes away from the factual and unbiased nature of news. We want to ensure our news channel is engaging, yet also serious and factual especially when we're talking about more important subjects like the Iphone 12 story, which is around the environment. So, although, I agree there are some transferable formats and structures, that have inspired me as I feel it works well for our demographic, there are however some pointers I feel will take away from what we are trying to convey as a reliable, relatable news channel.    

List of Illustrations 

 Fig 1. Drama Alert Title Graphics 1 (2020) [Youtube, Screenshot] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUELXBBeIYA (Accessed on 05/11/2020)

Fig 2. Drama Alert Title Graphics 2 (2020) [Youtube, Screenshot] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUELXBBeIYA (Accessed on 05/11/2020)

Fig 3. Drama Alert Imagery (2020) [Youtube, Screenshot] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUELXBBeIYA (Accessed on 05/11/2020)

Fig 4. Drama Alert Props  (2020) [Youtube, Screenshot] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUELXBBeIYA (Accessed on 05/11/2020)

Bibliography 

Orlebar, J. (2009) Broadcast Journalism: A Critical Introduction. [online] At: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucreative-ebooks/reader.action?docID=362312 (Accessed on 05.11.2020)

Trump might ban Fotnite #DramaAlert  - Drama Alert (2020) [Youtube Video] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUELXBBeIYA (Accessed 05/11/2020)