TV News Broadcast
13th April 2026
Since last September and the start of the first year of the Digital Media Production course, I have loved every part of it. That does not mean that some of it doesn’t fill me with some trepidation – film is one of the aspects which has worried me but I’m starting to get a handle on this thanks to the things we have produced along the way and the help of Tutors and fellow-students alike. I’m grateful too to the other members of the ‘class’ who kindly took part in the video including, Kennedy who took the role of Raynor Shine the weather presenter and all of the others who kindly looked suitably unimpressed as the audience for our award ceremony scenes.
I began this module with a quiet … I was going to say confidence … but it wasn’t quite that, maybe a quiet determination, a quiet belief may be a better way of putting it that everything would be, as it were, alright on the night.
And so it is proving … but the second fear was that of team working. I’m not dure who coined the phrase ‘herding cats’ but getting a few people together is tricky at the best of times and doing so among a fascinating and diverse group of students is especially so. That said, I am proud of the work that this little team consisting of Ben, Iva, Quinn and myself has done. I’ve appreciated the support we’ve had from out Tutor, Liam, and the way in which he help us with the filming – both with ideas AND as a cast member. That does not mean that it has all been plain sailing. When I popped into Costa for a coffee and a bit of time to reflect this morning. The words of the inventor and designer of the original Mini motorcar popped into my mind: “A camel is a horse designed by a committee”.
Image: A cartoon I asked Google Gemini to design based on my coffee based thinking. I used the prompt: Please make a joke meme of my little graphic quoting Sir Alec Issigonis – original designer of the Mini/Austin Seven motorcar. The quote is “A camel is a horse designed by a committee”. It should take the form of a cartoon strip. A group at a meeting to design a horse, all adding their thoughts and feelings, views and opinions on what should be included and excluded. It should end with the horse looking remarkably like a camel. The setting should be an ARU classroom with the ephemera of digital media and photography around and with an older student looking concerned. It must be fun in the style of The Beano or The Dandy.
I used the same prompt for the new (to me at least) CapCut image generation which gave me this:
Quinn has done a great job of creating the first edit of the video. Time was catching up with us and in the end we decided to film just 14 of the 20 scenes from the original script (much of the dialogue was designed to be improvised – in the style of shows like ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ and we have – largely I think – captured the bulk of the intended storyline.
What’s Next
Having reviewed the first edit, my plan is to make the following creative suggestions to the team:
What’s working well: I think the scenes work well – Liam is brilliant as the deadpan lecturer and the audience bits look great. The inflatable trophy is perfect and earns every second of screen time. The weather segment – Kennedy in front of the weather map is a highlight and feels like the most polished performance.
What could be stronger: The anchor desk section (Paige and Jim on the sofa) doesn’t look like a news studio so needs a background I think – perhaps based on the designs I created on Google Gemini – or something else:
The email misinterpretation scene would benefit from the actual email text on screen.
Opening Titles:
ARU Tonight – Film Festival Special
Consider a “BREAKING NEWS” ticker across the bottom of studio/presenter shots
Lower-Thirds/Captions (In Scene Order)
Anchor Desk Opening
When Paige appears:
PAIGE TURNER Senior Anchor, ARU Tonight
When Jim appears:
JIM BOOM Anchor, ARU Tonight
Mike Holder Field Intro
MIKE HOLDER International Celebrity Correspondent, Live on Campus
Add location tag: 🔴 LIVE | ARU CAMBRIDGE CAMPUS
“This is our Cannes”
This is a talking head so the lower-third appears briefly at the start then fades:
BEN Filmmaker. Visionary. Patient Man.
“I paid for childcare for this”
IVANUSA Has Come A Long Way For This
“My Comeback”
NICK Award-Nominated Old Guy
Email Misinterpretation
Shot of the actual email from ‘Tom Pedallo-Tripp from ARU’
Scenes 12/13/14 – The Awards Climax
When Liam steps forward to present:
LIAM CONROY Lecturer and All-round Good Guy
OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO MEDIA NIGHT ARU Film Festival
Acceptance Video
Possibly skate over ‘BEN DOVER’ just Nick will do here!
Anchor/ Studio Reaction
PAIGE TURNER Processing What She Has Just Witnessed
JIM BOOM Professionally Unmoved
Spoof Weather
When Kennedy appears:
RAYNOR SHINE 7-Day Forecast: Deadlines, Stress & Occasional Inspiration
Add animated weather symbols – the UK map is good but maybe add weather symbols timed with her script:
- Storm cloud: DEADLINES
- Red sun: PRINTER FAILURES
- Snowflake: CREATIVE BLOCK
- Rainbow: UNEXPECTED BREAKTHROUGH (save this one for last, small moment of warmth)
End Credits (Full List)
ARU TONIGHT: FILM FESTIVAL FEVER A Film by People Who Deserved Better
DIRECTED BY Quinn
PRODUCED BY Ben, Ivanusa, Quinn and Nick
WRITTEN BY Nick and Cast
PAIGE TURNER ……………… Ivanusa
JIM BOOM …………………… Ben
MIKE HOLDER ……………… Nick
RAYNOR SHINE ……………. Kennedy
LIAM …………………………… Liam (as himself)
AWARD PRESENTED BY Liam
AWARD ACCEPTED BY Nick (on behalf of the team, whether they liked it or not)
CHILDCARE PROVIDED BY Unspecified But Appreciated
FILMED ON LOCATION AT Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge A venue the team described as “basically Cannes” ARU has not confirmed this
NO STUDENT FILMS WERE HARMED in the making of this production
CATERING None
THE INFLATABLE TROPHY (played itself)
SPECIAL THANKS
ARU Media Services
Base Room Rus 137
THIS FILM WAS SCREENED in Rus 137 and special thanks to our audience members
ARU TONIGHT Broadcasting since this afternoon
© ARU Tonight Productions All rights reserved Especially the trophy
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