evaluation

Different media codes and conventions.
My media project follows the codes and conventions laid down in standard media production quite loosely, although there are some conventions that are broken due o to the limits placed upon us due to the fact that we are only part of a small organisation. The first media convention that I followed was the use of fairly fast shots in quick succession. I found this incredibly useful for making my trailer more exciting, as when I tried using slower shots, it slowed my production down and made it less enthralling for viewers to watch An example of this is during the chase scenes where the action cuts from one chase to the next in a matter of seconds.. A second media convention that I hollowed was the building up of tension throughout my trailer. This was particularly useful for me as it allowed time to give the viewer some insights into the plot while still keeping excitement levels high. This was achieved by cutting fairly quickly between shots of different people and locations effected by the power surges. Focusing in on the hero from the halfway point also helped, as it allowed the audience to see him dealing with various hazards create by the villain, and made them wonder whether he would make it through alive or not. Finally, I believe not giving away too much information about the plot was another key media convention that I followed.

There are also some media conventions that I did not follow, firstly, action movies like mine tend utilize a large amount of special effects., due to the fact that we are a small college with only 150 students, I knew right from the start that it could be impossible for me to follow this convention. Another thing that I did not follow were the rules regarding the use of dialogue, most trailers in the action genre use very little dialogue in order to keep the viewers focused on the action, but I had to ignore this rule because it would have been very difficult to get the story of my trailer across otherwise.

I will now look at the decisions made with regards to the mise en scene for my production. For the scenes that took place inside the Blackmore corporation headquarters, I shot these in the point 4 ( the colleges newly built sports complex) the reason for this is that with its highly polished floors and modern design, the Point 4 looks every bit the corporate headquarters that required for this production. Another example with regards to this is that we shot the scene where the citizens are listening to a radio in an actual house to make it more convincing to the viewer. I adjusted the lighting ales of some locations in order to help them better serve their purpose. An example of this is when I slightly darkened the lighting values of the point4 in order to make it look more sinister. As I mentioned previously, I had limited use fo special effects, I did use a lightning effect at the beginning of the trailer however, in order to better illustrate the power station being affected by the villain’s plot.

I will now look at how my three projects work together. On the positive side of things, I believe that all three projects were very well coordinated, as all three kept a gritty, dark theme throughout. This was achieved through the use of fairly dark colours and text. Pieces of music that also helped to build suspense allowed me to continue this theme into my radio productions. The music that was used was fairly fast paced and fitted into the rock genre in order to get the action oriented theme across to the consumer. However, I also made sure that any usic I used also had a slight electronic feel to it, in order to get the science fiction elements of my trailer across to consumers. The only piece of music that I used that did not follow these tow guidelines was that slow piece of music that I used at the beginning in order to help build tension. I also believe that my website does a good job of linking all the promotional methods together, as it has more in depth information than can be found on the other two methods of promotion.

On the other hand however, the three pieces repeat a lot of the same information. I therefore think that it would be more interesting for the view if all three pieces of material gave out slightly different information. I also believe that there needs to be more links between these pieces of material, as an example of this, I believe that both my radio trailer and my film trailer should have a link to my website, so that interested customers can visit it for more information.

I will now look at the audience feedback that I have received as a part of my production. My video was placed up on YouTube, with a wide variety of people from both my home and college environment viewing it So far, 77 people have viewed my production. The feedback from here was mainly positive, with almost everyone saying they enjoyed it. Some people, such as my mum’s work colleagues, posted the link up on their Face book pages, meaning that I have likely had people whom I have never met viewing the video and giving positive feedback.

On the other hand, some people have given not so positive feedback. One said that some of the props I used, such as the cardboard gun, were too obvious. This is a problem that cannot be rectified, as I believe that it would be very difficult for us to obtain more realistic props. Comments upon the acting ability of the actors involved were also varied, but this cannot be helped due to the relatively small budget of the college.

I will now look at how I have used new media technologies in my work, starting with research. The main way that new technologies were used was through the Internet to gain ideas for my project. This is because I was able to view real life trailers and websites for real films in order to see how an actual movie studio would complete these projects. The two ways I used new technologies in planning my projects was using email to communicate with all the different parties involved, and using an online blog to record this plan. So that I know where everyone was up to. An example of the s when communicated with all the different actors in order to set up my soot at 54 Venn’s Lane In production and post production digital technology became incredibly important to m production. This is because I completed most of my production work using digital technology. This was invaluable to me, as it meant that I could easily go back and alter things if I made a mistake.

I am aware that there was a continuity problem with my piece. this is that the actors who play the agent and the guard also play the civilians listening to the radio in 54. Although this does not present a major problem due to the fact that the scene is shot in semi darkness it is something that I wanted to avoid. Unfortunately, this was not possible due to the fact that it was difficult to contact other actors at extremely short notice, meaning we had no choice but to use the people already available to us.

completing the trailer

after extracting the remaining music and speech samples from my trailer, it was time to assemble the whole project. I did this in Garage Band, by selecting the piece of audio i want to use, and dragging it to its correct position on one of the tracks. I faced several challenges here however, the length of the production was an issue for me, as after listening to several example trailers online, i discovered that the trailer needed to be kept short and sweet inn order to grab the listeners attention and make them want o come and see the film. I also decided not to use too much music in my production, in order to allow the listener to be able to focus on the speech and really get a feel for what the film was about.

radio advert

I have began to construct the radio advert for the second subsidiary project I began by recording several new voice overs to replace the ones form my trailer. This was necessary because although I tried to share resources, with my trailer, many of the announcer clips referred to visual elements on the screen, so i had to reword them in order to convey the same message to a radio audience.

webiste production

i have embedded the trailer into my website and added various still images to my site. I chose images from my trailer that had various dark background colours, as they fitted in nicely with both the mood of my site and my trailer. i used green text on a black background in order to make the site appear to fit within some of the connotations of an action movie site It also gives the trailer some of the connotations of the science fiction genre.. I extracted my images by saving them as stills and placing them into my verbiage.

start of webiste prodcution

i have began to create my web page for my project I have created stills form m trailer to sue as stills for my web page, I also choose a dark background and green teat, as this not only fits within the stylings one would expect for an action movie, but also fits well within the genre for my film. I now plan to embed the trailer into my web page.

changes and things that went wrond druing procuion,

during the production of my trailer, several things had to be changed. in this post, i will document these changes and explain why they happened. Firstly it was impossible to get the scenes to be perfectly matched with their original script versions. this is partly due to the fact that we were very limited with regards to the timing we had to shoot the scenes, as was the case with the office scene, or we found it difficult to obtain the correct props, such as we couldn't find a briefcase for my main character for when he was talking to his boss on the phone. Another major change that was made was that we replaced the scenes that has the main character and the security guard running down hallways, with more varied chase sequences, such as the shots going into the lift and the more varied outdoor scenes. This was done because too many scenes of people running down corridors would have made the trailer less interesting for the viewers and would have also slowed the pace down quite considerably. As part of this, i also decided not to shoot the scone that involves the actor emerging from a cupboard of some description, as this would have proven extremely difficult to shoot, and i felt my time would be better spent focusing on other, more important shots. I also changed the confrontation scene that was originally due to take place in an office to directly in front of the villains super computer, and removed the scene in which the main character steals the computer program and is confronted by the scientist, as I felt this gave too much of the films narrative away. Finally, I had a slight problem shooting the scene by candlelight, as due to the fact the the college I'm at is incredibly small, had to sue the two actors who played the main character and security guard in this scene as the tow civilians listening to the portable radio. I also had to lower my expectations with regards to the prop list. an example of this is that we could no find a uniform for the guards or a briefcase for the main character. this is partly due to the fact that we have no production budget and partly due to the fac that other props on the list would be very difficult to come by.

final edit and music

I have finished puting the ifnal peices of footage into my blog and editing it down to the correct sixe. This was not nearly as challenging as the other edits that i have done, namely because it was much more obvious as to which footage was nessessary for the production, wheras choosing the best footage had previously been a difficult descion. I also choose my three peices of music for my production, the first peice of music was desinged to intrigue the viewer and build up suspense, as it is played durign the beggining of the trailer when we find out th baisc primeis of the film. the second peice of music and played drung the action sequences, so it is desinged to assist in the job of helping to excite the viewer. the final peice of music has a ver similar purpose to the second one, except that it is played during the climx of the trailer and so is sligltly slower.

final shooting

I have finished the shooting of my trailer. This was completed when we shot the final sequences at night that show my main character entering the base. We decided to change several scenes here, as the ideas for scenes that i had originally would have made the trailer too slow. This would have been a major problem for viewers, as action movies tend to excite the viewer, so having a slow and boring trailer would have done exactly the opposite. Disguising our Media studies classroom as the villains lair was also a challenging endeavour, but this was accomplished y typing a massive ream of nonsense into PowerPoint. this may seem silly and pointless, but when the presentation was run on the large monitor that is in our classroom and the lights were switched off, the monitor looked much more convincing in its role as a computer that cold bring down the national grid! the green ambient light that this monitor gave off also helped my trailer, as it increased the threatening connotations that made the scene realistic.

audio voiceovers

I have began recording voice overs for my production and then imported them into Itunes. then imported them onto Imovie. the challenge was adjusting thier length in audio to fit the visual clips as required. I then placed effects onto some of the film clips, such as a echo effect for the two telephone voiceovers , in order to make them more suitable for their roles in the trailer.

editing

I have began to edit the material I have and began to slot it into the correct positions using IMovie,. I have been spending particular attention on the editing side of things, as currently many of my scenes are too long and have had to be cut down dramatically in order to keep the trailer to a reasonable length.

shooting scences

I have began to shoot several scenes for my media production, these include the chace scenes and the scenes around 54, getting the required group of actors together was one of the challenges i faced, as was making sure that everyone gave the permission to be filmed. this was particularly paramount when we were shooting g in public places, such as the point four leisure centre.

scenes checklist

completed scenes
power station scene
server scene
house scheme
Luke talking to his boss tin he day.
interior chase scenes
exterior chase scenes
office scenes
confrontation with scientist
scientist in office talking for cliffhanger next Tuesday pm
jack under walkway talking to his boss in the night for cliffhanger next Tuesday pm..
Luke sneaking through base before confrontation with scientist
voice overs
newsreader, jacks boss, and narrator, next Wednesday.

unfinished scenes
as of February 2010, all scenes are now complete

provisional prop list

Prop list
agents mobile phone
Portable Radio
Pen Drive
mobile phone for the guard
peaked caps for guards
weapons for guards
torches
briefcase for agent
suit for agent

locations props and lighting

I did some location scouting yesterday. I found that the point 4 sports complex at college would make an excellent base for the Blackmore corporation. because it is quite a large modern building. We also thought the tutor room would make a good office for the opening scene. When we asked the point 4 if we were allowed to use the area, they said as long as no members of the general public were in any shots as we would have to fill out a release form for them. We also looked at 54 Venn's lane as a good area to use for the section where people are huddled
round a radio.

in terms of costumes, I believe my scientist should wear a lab coat to demote him a such, and my agent should wear a suit. I am not sure what the three security guards should wear, as it will be difficult to find costumes for them. In terms of props, we will need something to represent the program that my agent has to recover, and perhaps my agent could have a briefcase as part of his disguise for getting into the base. We will also need a mobile phone to allow my agent to communicate with his boss.

Ressearch

I watched a wide variety of trailers in preparation for this project. These gave me a good understanding of how a trailer is put together, and gave me ideas on how to give a broad overview of the film without actually giving away too much of the plot. It also gave me a better idea of the different genres of film Of particular interest o me were action trailers, as this is the genre in which my film was based. the things I noticed about these were that the trailers relied on fast cuts in order to build up a sense of excitement, and gave hints about the story through bief lines of dialogue. Dramatic music was also often used, as this helped to build suspense and helped to intrigue the viewer.

I also looked at various film websites, and how these can create an imaginary world for the film. an example of this is that 2012 website which is a website in which the supposed "institute of human continuity" invited visitors to place their name into a lottery to escape being on the earth when an asteroid hit the planet . This resulted in several people complaining to NASA about why nothing had been done about the supposed asteroid heading towards earth. it is important to note that a large number of these film websites used colours and font styles to match the ambiance of their respective films, an example of this is the district nine web page, which uses dark colours and Grey background in order to reflect the grim mood of the film.

film script

scene 1 = computer room. All that is seen is a shot of a computer server, the title of the film "power surge" appears on screen. We see several views of the server, including the machine next to it and the plugs.
Voice over = if this computer goes down, the whole national grid goes down.
scene 2 = shot of electricity substation. the camera zooms in on various parts of the building.
VO= Power surge.
text appears on screen stating " a Jack Blackmore production, starring Luke Mitchell and Paul Green"

scene 3 = in an office, in broad daylight, several people are sat at desks typing,, all fo a sudden all the lights turn of and the computers go dark.

Office worker 1 = powers out

scene 4= several people sitting around a radio in a darkened room listening to a news broadcast at night wrapped in blankets. . there are candles on the table, as well as other household items.

Radio announcer , = this is the 12th power cut in two days, and each consecutive power cut is worse than the last.


Scene 5 = Jack outside the enemy base talking to his boss via a high tech mobile phone.
He is stationed underneath a walkway, and a guard can be seen on top of the walkway entering the base. It is a grey and rainy day, and jack is carrying a briefcase and wearing a suit, because he is disguised as a business man in order to get into the base

Boss= Blackmore corporation are the people responsible for bringing the power down, Retrieve Dr Blackmore, and bring back the program their using.

Jack = understood.

Scene 6 = still in daytime. A security guard walks down a high tech corridor. corridor, past a room with a safe clearly visible inside, when the guard goes off camera, Jack comes out of a nearby cupboard, and enters the room with the safe, just as he picks up the disk containing the program from the safe, the scientist appears, his finger poised over the alarm button.

Scientist = you’ll never take me alive

Scene 7 = Jack being chased down a hallway Inside the Blackmore base by a security guard.

scene 8, a chase scene that shows jack running along various walkways outside the base.

Security guard a = seal all exits

Scene 8 = Jack back outside the base talking to his boss again, he is underneath the same walkway, this time, However, he is dressed in black, and it is in the middle of the night.

scene 9= the scientist is seen in an office like room, it is still night time

scientist = tonight, we're going to switch the whole country off forever!

scene 10 = the name of the film appears on screen followed by the text " made by RNC productions".
Boss = destroy the system and kill the scientist.
Jack = understood

Casting list so far
Scientist = Paul
Agent = Luke
guard = Dave
house residents = 54 residents
Boss voice over = not determined
Narrator voice over = not determined
Newscaster = Mathew
Office workers = tutors

media project treatment

Below is an overview of the whole film, not all of this will be seen in the trailer.
Scene 1.
The first scene would involve all the lights going down in a building, with someone yelling the words “powers out.
Scene 2.
The second scene would be a shot of Jack Jones talking to his boss. His boss would be explaining to him the threat the terrorists pose to the nation, and explaining that they were responsible for the power outage yesterday. Finally, the boss would explain to Jack that his mission is to retrieve both the program that shut down the power network and the scientist that created it.

Scene three.
This scene would show Jack evading guards on his way to the scientist. A possible method of him doing this would hiding in cupboards as the guards walk past, or hiding in various storage containers so that guards do not notice that e is there.

Scene four.
This scene would involve Jack meeting the scientist ( Dr Smith) for the first time. This would be done in a large room filled with computer equipment. Jack would enter the room just as Dr smith was about to shut down the power network for the second time Although jack is able to retrieve the disk from Mr Smith, Mr Smith sets off the alarm system, and so jack is unable to evacuate him safely.

Scene 5.
This scene would be a chase sequence in which Jack is seen running away from pursuing guards out of the terrorists headquarters, he would escape to a helicopter that is waiting outside.

Scene six.

Jack wold be talking to his boss again outside the base for this scene, his boss would explain that the disc that Jack recovered was only a backup, and the real program was on the terrorists central computer system. Located at the top of a tower.Jack objective is to blow up the mainframe.

Scene Seven.
This scone involves Jacks re entry into the base. It is another chase scene, but this time the chase covers different areas that it did before, at the end of the scene jack finds the mainframe control room and plants the demolitions charges he has been given.

Scene eight
This is the scene in which jack escapes from the base, at the beginning of the scene, Jack communicates with his boss, who explains to him that he only has five minutes to escape before the whole thing blows to pieces. This scene will be incredibly similar o the other two chase scenes, expect that the people rushing around will not necessarily be after jack but looking to escape as well. At the end of the scene, jack fights the scientist and wins. The end of the film sees jack escaping into the waiting helicopter, with the base blowing up behind hm.




Contents of the trailer.
this is the parts of the film that I would actually shoot for the project.

The trailer would Begin with a shot of the computer room, and a voice over saying that if this machine goes down, then the whole national grid will go down.

The trailer would continue with a shot of lights going out in various offices, and someone yelling “powers out. As happens in the start of the movie. The trailer would then cut to a scene of Jack talking to his boss outside the base he is supposed to be entering, with his boss explaining to him the situation.

The next scene in the trailer would involve Jack hiding in a cupboard to to evade a guard, then taking the disk that contains the power disrupting program form a shelf. He then sees the scientist about to push an alarm button , who says the line “ you’ll never take me alive”

“ the next scene involves Jack being chased out of the installation while being followed by guards. Eventually bursting out of a large gate. The trailer ends with jack talking to his boss again, setting up the final scene of the movie.

proposal

The story of my film involves a secret agent named jack Jones trying to track down a program on a disc that has the power to disable the UK power network .The power network already went down for just over 24 hours once with devastating effects. The government has has received a letter saying that if the terrorists do not receive ten million pounds, then the power network will go down again. The government sets Jones a mission to recover the computer program that brought it down, and bring the scientist back to London for questioning.

The agent enters the base through a back door, and has to evade a few guards in order to progress deeper into the base. On the way down a corridor, he is spotted by guards and has to find a safe place to hide, which he accomplishes by hiding in a broom cupboard until pursuit has quietened down. He then finds the disc but is seen again on the way out by guards and fails to evacuate the scientist. Upon looking at the disc that Jack recovers, the government discover that it was only a backup and the main program is on the terrorists computer network. The government then sends Jack back into the base to destroy it and kill the scientist at all costs, which is accomplished by the agent.

I would produce a trailer for this film for my project. It would be an action film. I am attracted to this idea because I believe it would be fun to create something in the action genre, and I have played a fair amount of games based around this sort of concept so I have several places to look at for inspiration. .. The trailer itself would show small snippets of the actions, such as just showing the agent entering the base, evading pursuit from guards and possibly extracting the scientists

In terms of research, I would probably need to look at movie trailers online, in order for me t o get a better idea of the structure or form that they are usually displayed in. I would probably also need to look at some more action films, because although I have played many games with similar concepts, I have not seen a massive amount of films.

In terms of technical resources , I would need a video camera and a video editing package like those found in the media department. I would probably need access to Garage band once again in order to compose the music for my trailers. For this project to be effective however, I would need to develop my video skills as I have practically no experience in this field at all. I wold also need to learn how to use the video editing software in order to edit my piece successfully.

I believe my product could be created fairly successfully in the college. This is because the college building itself would make a very good enemy base.In terms of people, I would need about five actors in total, one actor to play the agent himself, a couple of actors to play the the guards that he has to get past at the base and possibly another actor in order to play the scientist that he has to retrieve. In terms of props, both the agent and the guards would need a costume in order to make them look convincing, and these characters would likely need to be armed as well.

In terms of how my project could be distributed in real life, the most logical choice would be at the cinema, at the beginning and end of films, as that is when most movie trailers are shown. My trailer would also likely be available on the Internet , as this is where most film trailers can be found these days. The potential audience for my project would likely be males in the end of their teens or early twenties, as these tend to be the sort of people who watch these sorts of films.

In terms of how I would promote my film, I would crate a radio trailer, this would utilise key snippets of dialogue form the film, and would probably also use some sound effects in order to convey the premise of the film to a radio listening audience. The second method I would use to promote my products. I would also use a web page where both the trailer and the radio trailer could be watched and heard, along with pictures for the film, as another possible method of promotion

media evaluation

The ways my media project uses, develops, and challenges media products.
My media project uses many conventions of radio news, for example, it uses vox pops, and it uses an introductory summary, jingles, and packages. . One thing that it does is start off with a brief summary of all the headlines and then go into each of them in more detail later on in the broadcast. This enables me to encourage the listener to keep listening if they hear the brief summary and then listen on to get more information about something that interests them. Another convention that my piece follows is the use of a jingle to identify the station with the listener. There are also conventions with regards to the packages that I have used in the assembly of my piece. The first of these is that I have included Vox Pops as a way of getting peoples opinions on the stories that I am covering. My media project does not uphold all media conventions however. The first example of this is that it uses news stories which are not real; because by the time the news stories were devised into a product they would have been out of date. Another convention that my radio project does not adhere to is that my project was constructed in a matter of weeks as opposed to hours., because, we could only access a large amount of the technical equipment within the media sessions. It is important to note that all my stories relate to real issues taking place in the world today, an example of this would be that Harrods closing down relates to the fact that real businesses are closing down because of the credit crunch.


My product and particular social groups.
My media project represented particular social groups in two ways. The first would be that I was representing` the interests of regular Londoners when I was interviewing my guests, because I was asking the questions that they wanted to know the answers to. The second way that my media product represents particular social groups is through social class. An example of this is that Boris Johnson and the ladies from Harrods both represent upper class London citizens through their accents and the language they use In contrast to this, the people in my vox pops for the congestion charge story present classes from all across London, as evidenced through the large range of accents heard in the clips.

Audience and distribution
The sort of media institution that might play my media project would be a commercial station based in London such as Capital FM. This is because my project fits the style used for these stations and covers news stories that are appropriate to Londoners.
The audience for my media project would be Londoners aged 35 and under. This is because they are the people most likely to listen to a station than plays contemporary hits. Another reason this audience would be attracted to this station would be than they news stories actually affect Londoners, such as the congestion charge story.
In terms of distribution, there are many ways that LHR radio would be distributed. These include FM Radio, and digital methods such as through DAB and freeview. Finally, LHR would have a website, through which you can access an audio stream of the station.
Attracting and addressing my audience
I attracted my audience making sure that all stories played were of interest for them. An example of this is that most people will be affected by the congestion charge story because it affects their day to day lives. In terms of addressing my audience, I used an informal style to do this and also ensured that I spoke on the same level as them. I believe the cockney accent in my jingle helped with this because I helped forge a link between the station and its listeners.

The technologies that I used
The main technology that I used in this project as Garage band, Sound forge, I also used R09 portable recorders. A mixing desk and a pair of CD decks. Garage Band is a program that enables me to create jingles, and also edit and assemble the finished package. Other features of Garage Band that I found particularly useful are the fact that you can position sounds on tracks, change the volume of tracks, or add special effects to specific tracks. Finally, it is possible to add various audio clips and sound effects to tracks, if you are having trouble creating a jingle or need to add atmosphere to a project.
Sound forge has editing features similar to garage band, but the big difference is that it is not multi track, meaning that it cannot be used during the composition of jingles. The Ro9 portable recorder is a simple device with two microphones built in witch I used to gather vox pops and interviews.


What I have learned with regards to technology
The first major thing that I have learnt through using this technology is that mistakes through digital media are very easy to correct. This is because if you make a mistake, you can simply use the undo command to start over again, or if the worst comes to the worst, reload the original file. Another than that I have learned form using this technology is the search for the right acoustic setting. , this means that if there is too much background noise, as there may be in an outdoor setting such as by a busy main road, the actual voices of the people talking could be obscured by background noise. Therefore, I have learnt that it is always better to record in a quitter setting (such as inside a quiet room)
And then add the background noise in as a separate track. Finally, I have also learned a massive amount about using the software ad hardware, because before I started doing the course I had no experience in this area at al.

From the preliminary task to the full task
I feel I improved a massive amount in terms of my technical skills. This is because I got to se a much wider range of technology in this project... I also expanded on my skills in garage band, which was the main program I used in constructing my preliminary project. In some ways, I found the main project easier because it was not as rushed as the preliminary project. Another reason as to why I found the main project easier is because by that point, I had a better idea of how to plan my project because I knew by that point what most of the technology was capable of. A final reason as to why I found the main project easier than the preliminary project is that I had a better idea of media conventions by this point.

Audience Feedback
I have received two pieces of audience feedback so far. Both of them said that my radio piece sounded professional and believable. One of the two people made a comment that the levels fluctuated thought the piece. As the comment came from a sound engineer, this is something that I would like to improve on in future.

Link Script

Jingle

Hello, I’m Jack Blackmore
The top stories this hour.

The congestion charge zone will now cover Greater London!

Harrods is crunched by the credit crisis!

Nissan announces the first practical electric car!

And Michael Jackson gives Londoners more dates!

Now – the news in depth.

Boris Johnson has announced plans to extend the congestion charge in order to cover the whole of greater London.. . I spoke with Boris Johnson earlier for more information on this.
Insert 1 Boris. Start: “so Boris, when you were elected “end: “bloody terrible bloody terrible.

In other news, Harrods has announced that today will be its last day of trading. , chaos has erupted inside as shoppers scramble to make the most of the reduced prices; we spoke to two shoppers as they left the store.

Insert 2: Harrods start: “it’s dreadful, dreadful,” end: "but we did pick up some bargains “We tried to reach Mr Al fayed, but he was not available for comment.

Nissan have developed a new electric car that can go at 100mph and will b sold for under £20,000. The car will be exempt form so of the major car taxes such as the congestion charge and will also come with a cable enabling you to charge or home. We spoke to a representative from Nissan.

Insert 3: Nissan start:” the new Nissan can reach speeds of up to 100 miles per hour” end: to ensure you have enough power to reach your destination.

Michael Jackson has extended his stay at the o2 area by a further 10 dates, meaning that he will now continue to perform at the venue until March 2010. It is also expected that a new album will be released in order to coincide with the tour. Michael Jackson’s spokesperson has said that this is due to overwhelming demand for tickets.

In other news:

The 20 top universities have announced that university fees need to be doubled in order for them to continue to survive. The University of South London however, has said that it plans to cut fees by 10% in order to attract more students who would not otherwise have been able to cope with eh funding requirements.

Finally, the metropolitan police are planning to recruit a large amount of new officers to its ranks, in order to combat rising crime levels in London. The head of the organisation said that this move, coupled with the announcement that police officers will now be patrolling alone in order to have a wider reach.