All Done - Looking Back and Forward

FINISHED!

So I have completed my Creative Media Practice final piece and my first module of 3rd year is officially completed!

Last week I was just starting my post-production on the piece so I will talk about it first. I used Adobe Premier to edit the piece and I found that this was all I needed. It wasn't too complicated or too simple, it did the job and I could add my title tool text in as well which was very useful. Editing the footage was relatively easy, although I had to make sure that the final answer to the video was at the end so that after someone watched the answer footage it then didn't move on to another clip in the video. Looking at the footage while I was editing it, once again I did notice that the lighting wasn't as good as I would have liked, so if I was to do this sort of project in the future I would definitely want lighting kit to try and create a better mood. I would avoid using the TV studio though as this would make the setting seem artificial and I wanted it to look like a comfortable atmosphere.

Also once again listening back the sound quality wasn't up to scratch which annoyed me because of the reason. If I was to do this again I would make sure and sort the sound issue out, because I think that this element of the piece is extremely important.

The YouTube annotation editor was a lot easier than expected. Getting the timing right for each cut was the hardest part, but it wasn't even that hard it was more time consuming than anything. I would definitely use YouTube interaction again as I thought that it was very effective and engaging but at the same time not that hard to do! I also decided that I wanted my footage to be all in one video rather than linking to different videos. This was because if someone was on Full Screen and then clicked a choice that linked them to a different video, this would make them lose the full screen experience and also would break up the flow of my piece.

Here is my finished piece:

 

 

The text I choose, after reflecting, maybe wasn't the best choice and after my presentation, Mark and Ian fed that back to me. I think that it was easy enough to see and the colour was okay, but maybe it looked a little to 'fancy' for the piece. Maybe a Calambri or Arial would have been the better option.

 

 

The only other disappointment that I suffered was not being able to meet Sile. As mentioned in my blog post previously, it didn't mean that I couldn't complete my project, but I think that it would have improved the legitimacy of my project and also it would have been interesting for me to speak to councillor about the condition and to help me gain a better understanding of what I was trying to make people aware of. I chose Anxiety because it doesn't seem like a massive condition on the surface but when you look deeper into it, it can be really affecting and the symptoms aren't very clear.

 

 

I think that my presentation went well (although as always I talked a bit much!) and I was happy with my Prezi. Click the link below:

 

 

PREZI

 

 

I talked through the process of my project and then showed my finished piece. I also mentioned if I did the project again what I would change. I think that if I was to do this project again I would make sure and meet up with a professional, if it was something like mental health, just to give me more of a backbone and confidence in the knowledge that I am distributing.

 

Also I think I would have liked to use more than one person, to open up the video a bit and give the user more interaction.

 

The only other thing that I would consider would be using quick flashbacks of examples of the types of symptoms with anxiety. I think this would have been a nice touch to the piece but I did like the fact that the whole video was one shot and scene rather than different cuts to different places. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible, yet still have an impact on the audience.

 

Overall I have thoroughly enjoyed this module and I think that concentrating the classes in blocks has been beneficial to everyone in the class. I enjoyed looking at different ways to use interactive media and I think for me, looking at these techniques and software packages has been really useful for me. YouTube annotation seemed like the most interesting to me and as a user I thought I would enjoy it the most so this is why I chose to do my final piece using this technique of creative media practice.

 

Thanks!



During My Final Piece

Hello!
 
So this week I started my final piece for my Creative Media Practice module. Initially I had been unsure as to what my idea was going to be but after some thought I decided to go with my mental health awareness idea.
 
I have emailed Sile, who is the health and well-being councillor at LJMU, but at the minute unfortunately it looks like we might not be able to meet! Every time we arrange, either one of us is off or else I'm in class when she is free. I have already started to produce my piece now and I know that I will be able to complete it without her help but I think that if I had met up with her it would have gave me a bit more knowledge on the subject.
 
I looked at a couple of YouTube videos on Mental Health and more specifically anxiety and one of the videos really stood out to me. Watch below:
 

 
 
This is an interesting video about a guy called Jason and his battle with anxiety. I have looked up on the NHS website for symptoms of anxiety as well as another website for statistics, but this video is very useful as it is giving first-hand experience on the condition and how it effects peoples lives. Looking at this video has made me realise that actually having someone for my production that has this condition would be a lot better because it would be more 'from the heart' and honest.
 
Here are the links to two of the websites I looked at:
 
 
 

 NHS Anxiety Symptoms

 

 

Mental Health Statistics

 

 

 

At this stage I have completed all of my filming. I took Michael Shiells into The Automatic and found a suitable space with a blank wall, which I was going to use to insert the text on the YouTube annotation editor. I wanted to make my setting as simplistic as possible. The room was fine and all of the content I thought was fine, after the research I did, but there were a couple of problems.

 

The lighting wasn't the best and I thought at the time it might be okay but looking back at the footage now, it isn't as professional as I would have liked it to look if I'm being honest. The fact that the window was beside Michael didn't help with the lighting as it seemed very bright.

 

Also the sound could have been better but I was having major problems with using a boom mic. It didn't seem to work for me at all and when I went downstairs for help they said it was working fine, but in reality I think I would have liked a bit more help for that. We did have another play around with it but decided that we were just going to have to use the internal mic, so the sound quality wasn't as good as it should have been.

 

The shots were all okay and pretty simplistic, which is what I wanted, and I recorded the shots in different cuts so that it would be easier for me when it came to editing. I finished all of the filming in a day so now I just have the post production to worry about! I'm not the best at post-production so will have to set aside quite a bit of time for this. I think though I may not be as bad as I expect, maybe just a little bit rusty!

 

So the next stage for me is editing the footage together, then adding text onto my production, uploading the finished piece on to YouTube, annotating it on there and then creating my presentation.

 

Wish me luck!

 



 

 

Final Piece Proposal

So after dipping into all of these different new media practices I have had a think about what I might do for my final piece and I believe I have an idea! Once of the videos we looked at, was raising awareness of domestic violence and involved the user with yes or no answers. This interested me as it wasn't about diagnosis or like a game but it was more about raising awareness of this problem.

 

The whole idea of raising awareness about an issue using interactive media was really interesting to me and I thought that I could maybe create a video that was aimed along these lines. I was at a Liverpool Students Union Staff forum last night and at the beginning of the session a woman gave us a presentation on Mental Health and talked about the different forms and symptoms of mental health issues. I was always aware of this issue and the different types to a certain extent but I didn't know that mental health was such a common problem, especially with students.

 

I have had an idea, I will have someone in the studio sitting down on one of the sofas or chairs with simply a plain background. I will then pose questions which will be spotlights on my YouTube video and get my character to answer/react to these questions. The user will have the choice to look at as many answers as they please and then there will be a spotlight at the bottom which will be the 'answer' button. This button will lead to a series of answers and the user will have to choose one which will be their answer to which condition they think this person has after looking for symptoms in the characters answers.

 

I am going to contact the mental health expert at the university and see if I can meet up with her to have a chat and see if this idea could work. If so I will talk with her about the sort of research I need to do and the sort of things I need to convey in my video as well!

 

I really hope that this idea will work and who knows maybe, if it is successful, she will want to use the video!



Youtube Interactivity

Our final look at creative media software before starting our final piece was YouTube interactivity. For me this was the most fun and useful media practice and I enjoyed every stage of the production process!

The presentation we looked at showed us a number of different ways that YouTube videos can be used as an interactive device. We watched an interactive video made for Jamie Oliver's YouTube which included him handcuffed to a wall and you could choose how you wanted to abuse him, That sounds a lot worse than it actually was, it was all for comedy purposes!

 

 

This video had a great idea that was relatively fun, but also seemed very pointless to me and I wasn't quite sure why he was doing it, I know that it was to do with audience response but for me it didn't seem to go anywhere and also it didn't have the comedy value that I thought it should have had. Technically it looked like it was well made though.

We were then shown a couple videos that used the interactivity to tell a story where the audience had the chance to choose what path they wanted the story to go. One of the videos was a more serious story about a man living in a rough area and you had to chose what his actions where, arguably none being the right one. The other video we watched was a more humerous story called 'Ronald Has A Spider On His Head' which used the annotations in very funny way, also did I mention all characters where in Lego form, which is always a plus!

We also then looked at using interactivity for education purposes and then also for campaign purposes. I didn't really find the videos used for educational purposes that good except for the guitar video. This basically involved a man playing a guitar with the chords below which you could click on and then he would play the corresponding chord for you.

 

Once we looked a few more videos, we talked about Freytag's Triangle.

 

 

This is the standard Triangle that is used which we had looked at previously in Level 4, but then we looked at some modifications to the triangle which interested me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These images show how the triangle has been modified for example the 1st image shows how there can be sub plots within the three plots and then the second shows how the reader is missing information and becomes the 'Investigator'. It then got very very complicated as we looked at some structures where there was break off angles that led back to a core narrative.

 

 

I got into a group with Michael Shiells and Dave Molloy and we discussed options and ideas. We decided on an idea which was that we would have two characters and they would both be going for the same job and they would be preparing for the interview. We started to plan the narrative but quickly realised that using two characters was going to prove to be very difficult, taking into consideration how much time we had. So we settled with using one character. We then tried to create a narrative that was more detailed as we were only using one person now. We wanted to give the user choice but not a massive amount as this would over complicate things, but we still wanted it to engage the audience.

 



 

We filmed on the day that we got the brief and compared to all of the other pieces we did, this one was the most fun for me, for a number of reasons including the fact that out angle was humour for this piece. But overall this was more useful for me because it included standard filming, editing and then using the YouTube annotation programme. Also I think that our idea was really good and that we could make it work well if we were able to edit it properly.

 

When it came to to the editing, we used Premier again, which I think is very good as it doesn't complicate anything and is good for quick edits. We put our options in text in Premier instead of adding them into the YouTube Spotlights, as we could change the font and size easier. Also we slowed down some of the shots to prolong the time that the user would get the choice to choose their options.

 

We had to switch around some of the shots to allow the narrative to finish off without then skipping to other parts of the video as we edited the video so all of the scenarios were together rather than linking to a lot of different videos. This was better because it meant you didn't have to load up loads of different videos and could watch the whole thing on full screen.

 

We were very happy with the finished product and we think we conveyed our comedy element well!

 

Here's the link to our video - The Interview

 

 



Isadora

This week we looked into a software package called Isadora. Looking back I don't think I will be using Isadora as although I appreciate that it is a really good product and it has many uses that are simple to use if you learn everything, I still think that it isn't for me and would prove to be difficult for me over all. But I still think it is great and I enjoyed exploring it!

Mark talked to us initially about Isadora and what it was, giving a brief background and then he showed us the Troikatronix website, which is where we had to download the Isadora software from.

We then looked at a number of examples where Isadora is used, which I found quite useful as it gave me a sense of perspective, as before I wasn't sure in what way the software was being used! - Kids and Isadora

We also looked at a video which used sound to trigger graphics using Isadora. This to me was a more useful way of using Isadora and I believe that some musicians use this software when doing performances to give another element to their show. If I was to do Isadora I would have liked to use it this way, but I know that this might have taken quite a long time and that is something I did not have!

Once we had our talk, as always we got into groups, random this time which I enjoyed as I like working with different people for different projects. In our groups we brainstormed ideas and then decided we wanted to do a kind of game/interactive narrative where a girl misses the train home and has to find her way back to her friends house, trying to avoid getting killed! The reason this was quite a dark scenario was because our brief included the element of Halloween, so there had to be some sort of scary aspect to the piece.

Technically our idea involved all POV shots, with options at each stage of the narrative, for example, the character could choose to go down a dark alley or up a lit street, by using the left and right arrows. As we planned our piece we realised that the more options we had at each point of the story the more complex the piece would get, which would then involve more time creating, which once again we did not have, so we had to simplify things a little and leave out a couple of stages of the narrative. We drew out our plan on an A1 piece of paper to give us a clearer idea of the story, which helped a lot because righting it down just as text proved to be very confusing and didn't visually show us our story.

Once we were happy with our plan we decided on a film date, but unfortunately, for one reason or another, none of us where able to make that date so on the next Thursday I came in and instead of using original image I downloaded images from the Internet and used those instead. I was quite disappointed that we couldn't get moving image for this project as the idea I feel was really good and if we had pulled it off it would have been a really good piece, but unfortunately the time management wasn't right and maybe we just didn't work well as a team.

I created a short piece using the images I downloaded that lasted for around 3 stages of interactive narrative. As a finished piece I don't think that it was very impressive but looking back at Isadora I now believe that it is a great piece of software, but maybe not for the sort of thing we wanted to do, I think that it is better used for shows and for music.

For my final project I don't believe that I will be using Isadora as I believe that if you want to create something using this programme you need a lot more time than we have for our final piece, but I may be wrong, it might be because my ideas involve to much work!

QR Code

Hey!

Today we started looking at QR code. QR code has never caught my attention because maybe I'm too lazy to want to try it out but I was willing to give it a go today. We first looked at a prezi where we were shown various examples of how QR code can be used. Some of it I had heard of but then some of the rather strange examples I had never even though of, here are some examples below.

This idea was really cool to me because it was simple yet really effective. The only issue I had was that if you were to put that on a child the chances are they may complain or remove it in some way, we know what kids are like!

This idea was very peculiar to me! The idea is that you can 'dial up the dead' using a QR code, I'm still quite confused as to how this was good or what actually happened though. I get why this could be a cool idea, if someone that died left a message or a number of videos that you could go back and watch, this may be heart warming for loved ones. I'm not sure if I would have this though....probably would actually!

The most interesting example for me though was this. I was aware of QR codes being used for advertisement, but I had never seen it to this size or extent!I thought that the idea of using their roof to advertise from the sky hopefully benefiting from things like Google Earth was an absolute genius idea!











Once we looked throu8gh the presentation, we then got into our groups and decided on what we would do. I was in a group with Drew and Sam. We looked at a number of videos on YouTube and came across one that used QR code to generate someone speaking.

We thought this was a great idea because it was simple and could be done relatively easy, but it was quite effective and interesting. We wanted to add another dynamic to it though just to challenge ourselves a little bit more so we decided on using all three of us in our video. We decided that we would have a conversation between three of us having a laugh with each other. Because we wanted to create the QR code using a triptych dynamic, we realised that trying to trigger all three of the videos at the same time might prove to be difficult.

When it came to producing the piece, we took a picture of each of us, added the QR code (using QR Stuff) and then printed them out. We then went into a quiet room and videoed our mouths talking to each other, which proved to be quite humorous! We needed to film all three phones in sync so we needed another phone to do this. This proved to be the hardest part of the project because we found it extremely hard to time all three phones so they worked in sync with each other.

In the end it didn't work quite as well, but I believe that we couldn't make it perfect because of the short period of time that we had. If we had more time we would be able to sit down and work out timing with each video in detail. Also we would have been able to properly film the project using equipment such as a tripod to properly angle the footage.

This task wasn't interesting to me initially because I have never really seen the point in QR code but after having a play around with it I now have a new love for QR! It adds another dynamic  to something and I believe, even if the code is just a link, it is a great way of interacting the audience with something.

Spacial Montage and Triptych

Hello again! I have started a new module this year called Creative Media Practice, so far it seems like it will be very interesting and worth wile!

This week, in our first class, Mark and Ian talked to us about spacial montage, multi-screen narrative and triptych images and videos. At first for me it seemed like it was maybe a little but pointless to have three images when it would seem one is enough, but as we looked more and more into the reason and the effect of these narratives it actually became very interesting to me.

Initially we looked at some old paintings that where the start of thinking about triptych images and images that have different levels of narrative.

Then we went on to look at some more examples of this, and the development of the triptych. The triptych images ranged from very early on to very modern day versions and even though there was maybe 100 years between these images, they all had the same concept and idea.

As mentioned before, I didn't really get the benefit of an image that required more thought and told more of an in depth story but as we looked at these images I started ti understand why these were so interesting. With a normal singular image you look central normally and don't spend to long thinking about what is going on whereas with a triptych image it seems to be deeper and require more of you to see what is going on, it caught my eye.

We then talked about split screen within moving image and how it added a new dynamic. The presentation mentioned films like 'Suspense' and 'Pillow Talk' which used split screen to capture a phone call between three people. For us today this doesn't seem like it is very impressive or original but back then, especially in 1913 when 'Suspense' was released, this would have been quite a shock for people watching, being brought into a new way of projecting narrative.

Here is an image of 'Pillow Talk' showing how Michael Gordon portrayed the phone call scene and how it added a new dynamic to the movie, almost have a symmetrical feel.

Here is one of the triptych sequences we watched. This one stood out for me because it seemed to be more complex than normal, as I don't think the screens were totally in sync.

Once the lecture had finished we were then set our brief to get into groups and to create our very own triptych sequence. I was in a group with Michael Shiells and we decided that we would create a sequence where two people wanted the same computer. It was very interesting to me, making this sequence, because before I had made moving image but piece together shots chronologically, but this time I was piecing together shots at the same time, side by side. It proved to be an extremely fun exercise in the end, although piecing together shots at the same time so they sync with each other is a lot harder than it sounds!

Here is our final piece:

Hope you enjoyed!

Final Essay

Hello,

This week I have been concentrating on the 3000 word essay that we have to produce for Applied Media Research. Although I haven't produced an essay of this length before it hasn't actually been so bad, I'm not sure how confident I am though. I've been trying to look at some further reading in regards to this essay and I found some cool journals that I had a read through! The essay has been interesting to write though because the idea of audience behaviour and how, us, the audience are changing the game is so cool. We actually have all of the power now to demand something, and it is almost satisfying to know this because I feel like Global companies previously have been arrogant in their approach and feel as though they can throw anything at us and we will consume it without questions. This whole process has been so enlightening for me, I have broadened my knowledge of our culture and I can now see the media from a different angle which, after all, is what our aim was, right?

At least I can look back on this module and believe that I have learnt something and that I can carry it through with the rest of my skills now.

The blog this year has been a different approach by me as well. The feedback from last years blog made me realise that I was summarising rather than reflecting. I think I have taken this on board and now I enjoy reflecting on what I've done this year. I don't know whether this is because I'm getting better at Blogging or I have more to reflect upon!

On the Convergence module, I haven't progressed with that much more because the last week has been all about the essay and finishing off everything to do with Applied Media Research, as of next week though, I will be fully concentrating on that!

Finally, the Malta work placement I think is going to become a reality! We had a meeting with Michael Harley yesterday, where he filled us in on all of the details. All I have to do now is get the ball rolling and hopefully in 2 months I will be kicking back in Malta! Here are the links to the project that I will be going over to Malta with:

Paragon - http://www.paragoneurope.eu/

That, is all.

Quieter 3 Weeks!

Hello,

I know its been a few weeks since I updated my blog but there hasn't been too much going on so I thought I would wait and then create one post for everything I've been up to in these weeks!

In applied media research we got our marks back for our presentation. We got 61% which I was happy enough with but I think we could have got a better mark. After looking at the feedback I realised that our presentation skills were good but I think we could have went into more depths when it came to our research. I think feedback is a really good idea because if I hadn't have got this I would have probably been pretty annoyed at our mark. Reflecting on the whole project I enjoyed the presentation but didn't enjoy the research as much. This is mostly because I love presentations and as I've said before I am confident doing them. The research just dragged on a little bit I feel and I think the module could have been completed a lot quicker.

Here is our Prezi:

In convergence teamwork we have been given the brief now and we are now in the process of creating our project. We have decided to do a campaign. This is because we decided to carry on the idea of war with this project and we though we could concentrate on the psychological effects of war on soldiers. Because we are at the early stages of the project we have only done a few small things. We are making a poster for the campaign which I will put up in my next post. Also we have created a Facebook page which is here.

Last week we had a tutorial week which was useful for everyone for a number of reasons. Although the numbers for the tutorials were low I think a lot of people used the time to catch up with work for assignments and dissertations, I did attend one event which was the dissertation work shop. This was very useful because I learnt how to approach my dissertation and also things like certain grammar to use and not use. It was basically the etiquette of dissertation writing. I think that would should have another tutorial week next year for both of those reasons and as a course rep I think everyone responded positively to it!

Unfortunately I was told that there wasn't a free space for me in the radio station that was suitable 2 weeks ago. I was really upset actually because I was looking forward to getting a show and playing some music! I have decided though that next year I'm going to make sure I get a show because this will look really good on my CV and I'm also really interested in it.

Good news in terms of the Malta project! We have finally.....got an email! Michael Harley contacted Keith and he has sent us an email. I'm really excited about this project because its slowly becoming a reality. Working in a TV Studio and Radio Studio in Malta this summer would one of the most amazing experiences of my life yet so I want to make sure this happens! I have emailed Michael Harley for me and the others interested to see if we can meet up with him to ask a couple of questions about the internship. I will  keep you updated!

Finally I thought I'd mention my Student Voice Support Assistant Role again this post as I have been doing a lot of promoting for the Students Union. Last week I was promoting the Amazing Teaching Awards which is basically awards for teaching staff, support staff and course reps to recognise their outstanding contribution to their course. I really think this job has been useful to me so far because it has boosted my confidence, I have met so many more people and useful people to have in terms of networking, it looks good on my CV and it gives me skills in terms of teamwork and public speaking!

Here is a picture with a link to the Amazing Teaching Awards:

Presentation Week

This week has been pretty busy!

First of all in Digital Media Cultures we were told about our groupwork brief that we have to have done within 3 weeks! I'm confident enough we will be able to do it, but we have to get our heads screwed on! This assignment is going to be really helpful I think because it is challenging us academically and also it is giving us an idea about our dissertation which we really need to start thinking about.

Also Keith mentioned the Malta internship this week again but he is waiting on a reply to see if someone will come in and talk to us about it in more detail. After thinking about this for another week I've decided that I really want to do it, I think it will benefit me loads and will be such a life changing experience, being out in Malta for a summer and working in a different country, sounds amazing!

In Convergeance Teamwork we had been linked earlier on in the week a Henry Jenkins article, who Mark had mentioned the week before, here is the link (Henry Jenkins).

This week was the week of our presentation and we werent too nervous. As I've mentioned before I wasnt really nervous at all because speaking in front of people is one of my strengthes. I think that the presentation went really well and all of us spoke confidentally. While speaking during the presentation I was realising even more everything that we had researched and new points were coming into my head because after thought I've realised that our question was really interesting and I would consider looking into it a but more in the future.

Overall I enjoyed the process of Applied Media Research and It definitely benefitted me because I've started to think more about new ways of selling media and audience behaviour when it comes to new media platforms.

We recorded the presentation on sound but unfortunately I havent been able to link it on here :(

Finally to end the week off this week I helped out with my SVSA job to promote Liverpool SU as this week and next week is Love LiverpoolSU! This job is really useful to me because it is boosting my confidence in speaking to people and also understanding my university and course issues better.

Week 2!

Hello, this is my second week back from Christmas and I know feel back into the swing of things!

For applied research this week we had one more meeting before our presentation next week and really this was much the same as the week before but we were just finalising everything and asking any final questions or issues that we had with Sarah! I feel ready for the presentation now as we have pretty much finished everything and are just adding final touches. This whole process at first didn't seem to be interesting to me as a lot of it felt confusing, but as I've researched the question and carried out additional research it is all starting to make sense to me. Our group is taking the approach of audience behaviour as our answer to the question and looking into Mike Walsh has been so helpful as this is what he studies and tries to explain. I think media is controlled by us now, global companies have less power as a mass we can decide not to like something or the way something is being presented. So companies have to be careful now as to how they approach us. I don't know whether as a nation we have become more snobby or that we are searching for new ways to consume? This what I'm thinking about a lot at the minute.

In Convergence Teamwork this week we were given a short lecture about storytelling and multi-platform story telling and old examples of it. Mark explained that the story of Jesus Christ could be perceived as this because of the amount of different ways we can access information about this story. I had never thought of it in this way and it made me think about other examples of this. After our lecture we had to split up into groups and take an old fairytale, and then make it into a multi-layered story, giving background stories on the different characters. We chose the Elves and the Shoemaker and tried to tell the story of buddy the elf coinciding with the shoemaker, it was good fun but I think I'm still coming to terms with what Mark is trying to teach us. I don't fully understand it now, but think after time I will start to!

On another note I've been told that there is a free radio slot on a Thursday from 8-10 so I'm really hoping I can sort that out with the head of the society and get that slot. I really want to do radio! Hopefully it will all get sorted soon.

I've also been thinking about the whole Malta Erasmus project and am starting to really consider it, because this week Keith mentioned that we would be working in a radio station and TV studio and those are the two aspects of media I am most interested in!

1st Week Back

Back after Christmas and Ive had a pretty easy first week so far!

We had a group tutorial meeting for Applied Media Research on thursday which was just to keep Sarah updated about what is going on. I was concerned with our group only because I wasnt sure if we had enough to go with for our presentation but after a quick chat with Sarah it seems we should be okay. Im not feeling too nervous about the presentation because I can talk a lot and it is one of my strengths!

For our TV Studio module we had to write up a report on the whole experience. I found this quite easy because we did so much throughout the process of that module there was so much to talk about. Like before it is now just a case of piecing together everything.

I also had to write a report on the Beyond the Camera assignment. This was much the same, it was basically explaining what we did and reflecting on everything. I find reports quite time consuming but ultimately dont mind doing them because they are useful and I like reflecting on what I've done.

As well as everything that is going on within University I have been trying to get a slot on the University radio station Looprevil and I did manage to get a slot but it clashed with my Thursday lesson. This semester I should be able to swap the slot for another one because I',m really interested in Radio and want to experience it.

Just Before Christmas!

Okay so this is my last blog instalment before Christmas and I will show you both videos of my finished pieces for the TV Studio Production Module and the Beyond the Camera module.


First of all the TV Studio Module show like I said before went really well and overall was a great experience! On the day it was very hectic and everything had to be rehearsed and almost perfected before we went for recording but as a finished piece it went so well. Working in TV studio has made me realise that within that part of the industry, there is a lot of pressure and everything has to be time managed well. Now all I have to do is write a report on the whole process and our team.

The team I worked with was very effective, working in a team for this project was important as everyone had their own role and had to make sure that they carried it out. For someone to do this individually would just be impossible anyway as there are so many different roles.

Here is the TV Show, enjoy!

 

 

The second assignment that we finished this week was the Beyond the Camera project. Unlike the other project, this one was a lot harder for me because I am not that skilled when it comes to interactive media and packages like After Effects and Photoshop. I believe that this project came together really well and I was so happy with it all!

 

Using packages like this I think would require a longer period of time learning and taking part in tutorials and I think we could have had more time to do this. I think that this module should have probably been a year long module which would have then gave us more time to learn the different software packages. I think from doing this module compared to the TV Studio, I'm not a big fan of interactive media, I think this is because I'd rather be in front of the camera rather than behind and I have always felt like this. Using software requires too much time for me and I would say that naturally I find it easier to present.

 

Here is our Beyond the Camera final piece!

 

 

 

Finally in Applied media research once again it was just more of the same, which is researching and gathering information. We held a focus group in the last class before Christmas. We gave two people a blackberry, Iphone and HTC and told them to look at their App Stores. We then asked them some questions about these App Stores and gathered information. The focus group was really useful because we learnt new things about the app stores which we never would have even thought of before. Also talking to the other class mates about some of the features was useful and gave us a variety of opinions.

 

Also I fortunately got a reply from Mike Walsh which is extremely exciting! Here is the question I sent him and his response:

 

 

"Hey Mike, my name is Josh McDowell and I am a second year Media Studies student, studying in Liverpool in the United Kingdom. One of the modules on our course is Applied Media Research and we had 3 different companies come in and assign us questions that we have to now answer through extensive research activity. The question that we have to present an answer for is:

"What new models are there for selling media? When people download so much media freely, what are people willing to pay for and how? What are and what can we learn from the best monetization mechanics for Freemium games on mobile?"
This question was set by Jon Wetherall who is one of the creators of ONTECA, which is an App Developing company based in Liverpool, their website is www.onteca.com
The reason I have messaged to ask you is because I read your book "Futuretainment" last year and I think a lot of the things that you talk about are very related to this question. The idea of audience behaviour and the changes in media. If you could give me any advice for this question it would great!
Thanks a lot!"


And his response:


"Hey Josh - thanks for writing in, and glad you enjoyed my book. I personally think we are not only moving away from the idea of paying for media, but even downloading it. Think about what you and your friends do now. If I'm right, mostly we are streaming media. People are using YouTube as their music library. With platforms like Spotify, its more important to have access to content, than owning it. Then the real challenge, in a universe of infinite content choices, is knowing what to listen to and watch. Would people pay for curation of content? Seemingly not, but then again - what is a DJ if not a curator? Check out the discussion on music on this page from last week, my feeling is that business models are moving towards curation, organisation and access to content rather than the downloading and ownership model"


As you can see this is really cool and will prove helpful when it comes to devising our presentation!