Analysis and Comparison of the News

First Video: Cristiano Ronaldo (CNN, 24-hour news broadcast)

My analysis is based on an interview that CNN made to Cristiano Ronaldo, in my opinion, the best football player in the world. There are many techniques used to emphasize the answers given by him, including the camera movements, the lights, the sound, among others.


At first, they use the Two Shot technique showing the interviewer and CR (Cristiano Ronaldo) interacting. This means that the scene between two people is shot exclusively from an angle that includes both characters more or less equality. This is reinforcing the importance of the conversation between both people, which is the topic of the program also. 
Then, every time that Cristiano Ronaldo talks, there's a Medium Shot or a Close-up Shot to him when he starts to answer the questions from the interviewer. This make the message given more crucial and we focus completely on the answer, with no distractions. 


In addition, there are not camera movements, the only one is on the change of shots, but instead of this, there are many zooms to Cristiano when he answers, specially when the interviewee ask him if he is better than Messi. This zoom is used to make us focus on the answer, which will be probably the most crucial and controversial of the whole interview. Furthermore, there are not too brilliant lights on the stage, because this gives an special background, in which every single answer will get the audience stunned. 


The camera angle used is Eye Level, during the whole interview. This is the standard camera angle, in which the participants can look at the camera to make us believe that they are talking to us, so we get more interested on the topic, because we are "participating" on the conversation.


The sound is Diegetic, which means there’s no background music (the sound is "part of the information given") because this is an interview, the most important thing is to focus on the answers that, in this case, Cristiano Ronaldo gives. Also, it can be considered Direct sound or Live sound. This may have a sense of freshness, spontaneity and 'authentic' atmosphere, but it may not be acoustically ideal. 


About the editing techniques, they used the matched cut technique, which means that a familiar relationship between the shots may make the change seem smooth. This is shown when the interviewee asks something and then the camera "matched out" and shows Cristiano, giving continuity to the scene. 


The main informational bias present in this piece of news is the personalization, because the "story" is focused on the opinions given by CR7. He gives us his opinions about Real Madrid and the rivalry with Barcelona, between him and Messi, and also about Mourinho, the Trainer of the team. This type of bias is used to emphasize the interest in the topic of conversation and to impress the audience with the answers.

Second Video: Notebook: Sick at Work (CBS Evening News, prime-time news)

My second analysis is about a prime-time news program, in which the newsreader talk to us about the technological advances, in addition to her opinion about a new law.
First, the shot present on this video is a Close-Up shot. A shot of the person from the knees up or the waist up is a close-up shot, and it's used to make the audience focus on the message given, in this case, a opinion about Congress's Healthy Families Act. In addition, there are not camera movements, but instead of this, there is a zoom at the beginning to complement the effect of the Close-up shot, and to make us focus completely on the person that is talking. The camera angle used is Eye Level, during the whole video. This is the standard camera angle and, because the one who is talking "is in our height" we get more interested on the topic.


In the case of lighting, Soft and harsh lighting can manipulate a viewer's attitude towards a setting or a character. The way light is used can make objects, people and environments look beautiful or ugly, soft or harsh, artificial or real. In this case, the light is "standard", because it's important to have no distractions to get the message given on a right way.  


Also, there is present an INVISIBLE EDITING. These are the different attitudes that the newsreader has. For example, she isn't looking at the camera because of nothing. All those things are conditioned by the NARRATIVE STYLE that the producers want to give to the program. The Narrative Style is based on the "Talk to camera" style. The sight of a person looking ('full face') and talking directly at the camera establishes their authority or 'expert' status with the audience. Only certain people are normally allowed to do this, such as announcers, presenters, newsreaders, weather forecasters, interviewers, anchor-persons, and, on special occasions, key public figures. 


Other interesting aspect is the sound. It's diegetic, which means that it is part of the things that are narrated. For example, the music that the TV editors use to begin the program, is non-diegetic, because it's not "part of the information" given by the program. As well, there is not background music, and the only sound that we hear is the voice of the newsreader. 


The most important bias present in this piece of news is the personalization, the same that on the interview to Cristiano Ronaldo. In this video, the newsreader is giving her opinion about  the Congress's Healthy Families Act. This type of bias is used to emphasize the interest in the topic of conversation and to give a subjective tone to the answer.


Prime-Time News vs 24-hour News


Making a relation between the 2 pieces of news, we can see that there are many things that are repeated in  both of them, but after all, the 24-hour news has a more complex "editing", because it's really important to maintain the audience interested and that's difficult to do if at every hour of the day they are presenting news, and if the editing is boring, that would finally produce a "changing of channel" of a big part of the audience and the rating of the program would be dreadful. In the case of the Prime-time news, they have a lot of interesting programs along the day so the news's time is not so important as it is on a "24-hour", because that does not affect the rating of the channel too much. That's why they don't take care as the 24-hour news of the editing and the "construction" of the program.