Finished TV Show & Reflection

Here's our finished show, it's something i'm incredibly proud of so please take the time to watch:

Looking back at this module it was something I was so excited for at the beginning of the semester and it didn't disappoint  It has been my favourite part of the course so far, I think i'd pay all the fees just to work in that studio. I find it such a shame we only get to use it for one semester because it's amazing, I would love to be in there every week creating something new.. I hope next year we get the chance too.
At the beginning it seemed so daunting that we would create a show, I didn't even know were to begin and it's so strange to know we pulled it off, it's genuinely one of my best achievements in making it all work. At the start I remember saying I was scared of the role of Producer, I didn't think i'd suit it at all.. How wrong I was, I think I was born for that role. Making sure everything stayed on track, knowing what we had to do, how and when, countless lists of what we had done/what we still needed to do and most importantly keeping everyone else moving and the project moving forward, I actually loved it. I didn't think I was the time of person to like to take control, but you learn something new every day I guess.

The biggest thing to come out of this module though.. my aspirations. I remember being in year 6 and they asked us what we wanted to be, people said the usual 'Vet' or 'Fireman'.. I said Director, even from a young age I always knew TV was my passion but as I got older I worried that had changed and was unsure where I wanted to go with my career. Even last year I was questioning my degree choice. But i'm so glad I stuck it out, because working in a TV studio was one of the most fun experiences I've had. While i'm still not sure whether I want to be a camera woman or a producer I know one thing.. Live TV is where I want to go, while i'm not a movie-making kind of person, working in a Live TV studio is where I know I want to end up and I have this module to thank for that.. I just hope I get to fulfill that goal!

Applied Media Research - Questionnaires

At the end of the focus group we wanted to get overall feedback so I designed a questionnaire for them to fill in based on the activities in the focus group. Credit to my other team member Ceri for creating the document below summarizing all the answers we received for each question:

Applied Media Research - Books

Our lecturer Sarah gave us two books she had to look at, the strange thing about these books is that they have no formal structure, the pages are loose to be read in any order you choose. We thought this was really interesting and so asked the focus group what they thought of them.
They were fascinated by them as it was something they've never seen before however while they found them interesting, they said it would not be something they'd want to sit and read as it would feel like hard work trying to piece the jumbled story together.

Applied Media Research - Firsts & Lasts

The next activity we played is another storytelling game called 'Firsts and Lasts'. The idea is you take the first sentence and the last sentence from different books, and then create the middle. We thought this would be a good way to get the group feeling like authors. Here's what they came up with:

1. Pressia is lying in the cabinet. Wondering what to do with herself today. "Why am I in a cabinet?" she wonders. When all of a sudden a loud bang, "oh an aeroplane has crashed into my house" she exclaims. A lone man leaves the wreckage. His breathing became softer, lighter, finally it stopped altogether.
2. When I woke up the other side of the bed was cold. I did not know where she went. Company is hard to find in this world. Before the end. Before the storm. [Plot] Basically man wakes up to find his bed empty, he had a lady friend sleep over. But this is a zombie apocalypse world and she has turned into a zombie. So the main character learns to not trust anyone in this new world. Here's what I learned - you've got to be really good to survive out there more than a few days.
3. My Mother drove me to the airport. She's drunk. Again. Well one thing led to another and now... Something's caught fire.
4. My Mother drove me to the airport. As I got on the plane I was really nervous. I decided to take some sleeping tablets to help with the nerves. My eyes closed and I drifted...
5. When I woke up the other side of the bed was cold. I therefore decided to go downstairs and put my socks in the microwave. That is when I saw my husband lying face down on the floor with a knife in his back. His breathing became softer, lighter, finally it stopped altogether.

Applied Media Research - PlaidLibs

One of the websites we got people to look at during our focus group was called 'Plaid-Libs'. It's similar to consequences in that it lets you put in certain information and creates a story from that. While the website isn't very professional, I thought it would be a nice way for them to have a go themselves and see what stories they could create. 
It works by having fixed points of the story but the audience can change certain details for instance you can say that a person eats an apple, and that is added in, it's a very basic form of user participation.

Want to try for yourself, Here's the link:

Plaid-Libs

Applied Media Research Focus Group - Consequences

After finding the research already available it was time for us to create our own. We decided on a focus group as it'll give us better results that a questionnaire and rather than just asking questions which is rather boring we decided on some activities for them to play. The more fun you have the more detailed answers you're likely to get! We started off by playing a storytelling game called Consequences.
Working in groups of three, we asked each person to start by writing down a location, fold the paper over and pass it along where the next person would write an action, fold and pass again adding a character, dialogue and another character. Once unfolded you end up with a completely random story. Here are the ones our group created:

1. At Alton Towers on a bus ride William Wilberforce said "why are you doing that?" to Becca Fadden.
2. In Japan on a see-saw Adele said "did you eat my cheese?" to Enrique.
3. In The Raz picking their nose Mavis said "would you like a lift?" to Pink Panther.
4. In Australia frying a courgette Jeremy Kyle said "I want a muffin" to Hugh Grant.
5. In my sock cupboard riding a cow James Dunn said "what are you doing in my garden?" to Barrack Obama.
6. In Florida having a boogie Mr Dunn said "where is my car?" to Ian Gardner.

Editing the Show and Titles

With filming complete for both the interview/demo and the music segment it was time to edit and add in titles. I thought editing our show wouldn't take long, I didn't think there would be much to do, in fact we were there for most of the day. I really enjoy editing, while it's tedious work and can get frustrating I like piecing things together and making something complete.
One of the main problems with our show was with the music shoot, because we were cutting 'as live' we didn't realise until we watched back that 2 shots of one of the musicians feet happens within a space of 30 seconds and honestly.. It makes it look like a foot fetish, it did not look right at all. So we tried correcting that and luckily we made it work.
Creating our titles also took some time as we shot them on the day, looking back I wish we'd created different titles, I don't think they went well with the theme of the show, but they were still good.

This show is something i'm incredibly proud of, it took A LOT of hard work and dedication but it really paid off, I think our final piece is really good, I would actually pitch it to Channel 4 myself!

Beyond the Camera - Deadline Day

Deadline Day for the Soundscape assignment may be one of THE most stressful days I have ever experience. My group decided to come in early, we didn't have much to do, the sequence was basically complete, we just needed to complete the ending, add in the titles and then transfer it over to After Effects to use the Rostrum Camera Tool. Sounds simple for 6 hours till the deadline right? WRONG.

Firstly it took me at least 20 minutes to get the hard drive to work because it decided it didn't want to turn on.. with ALL of our work on it, that happened twice. Stressful situation number one.
While Stevie was correcting the sound levels so they were all even, me and Josie created the title sequence, ready to add into the beginning of the sequence. However would it add to the beginning of the timeline, no. For some reason unknown to us or the lecturers it would not work. Stressful situation number two.
However probably the most stressful part of the day, learning that the sequence we first created in Adobe Premier as we had film footage to add into the sequence.. Wouldn't go into After Effects to use the Rostrum Camera. We weren't aware that you couldn't do this and unfortunately we found out too late. The final stressful situation of the day!

Luckily Premier does have Rostrum Camera techniques, but they are extremely basic, it was so frustrating knowing we had all these plans to make our piece even better and we couldn't do them.. It was also disappointing knowing we wouldn't get the grade we wanted because of it.

On the positive side I was so proud with my team all pulling together to get it to work, especially the fact that we sourced nearly all of the material we used ourselves. I also take a lot away from this project, knowing your way around how software works is really important, and not leaving it till deadline day is not a good idea, even if you have little to do.. If something goes wrong it could be a disaster.

CV Workshop

I recently attending a CV Workshop... I've had a CV since we had to make one in school, and I haven't really undated it, so it's no wonder I struggle to find a job. While this workshop was about CV's for media work, it can apply to both media jobs and a general job, both of which I desperately need and I was surprised by how much was on my CV that didn't need to be, and what simple techniques I missed out using that would make me stand out.

I wasn't aware you didn't need to list every qualification you owned.. That took up far too much space than necessary.
I also know it sounds stupid now, but I didn't think putting something like 'I like to go to the cinema' sounded incredibly generic and dull. Livening it up such as 'I like to engage in debates about current art films out in the cinema' sound MUCH better... Simple little tricks like this help to make you stand out more.

This is one of the most helpful things I have attended and now my CV is up to a professional standard, hopefully it will now get me a job!

Applied Media Research - Henry Jenkins

Center for Storytelling is made up of a network of storytelling specialist who aim to assess the field of storytelling. They held a conference in June last year in which Henry Jenkins talks about 'Partizipatives Storytelling', the video is a bit long but definitely worth a watch:

Digital Media Cultures Essay

Now that the majority of the lectures for this module have been given it's time to set the questions for the essay and pick one... Scary.


Here's the list we have to choose from:

1. How are public service broadcasters responding to the challenges of the contemporary media industry?
2. 'Developments in digital technology are democratising the media industry' discuss.
3. Choose one area of the cultural industry and assess the impact that the Internet has had on the way that particular industry operates.
4. Outline and discuss the shifts in the relationship between producer, text and audience. Your work should acknowledge recent theoretical shifts in audience studies.
5. Analyse the impact of formats on the TV industry. Your essay should also analyse debates that relate to the potential social and cultural impact of formats on audiences.
6. Analyse the relationship between developments in media and the processes of globalisation.
7. 'The pursuit of profit has become the driving force in the development of media and has ultimately ha a negative impact upon culture' discuss.
8. Outline and discuss the impact Apple have had on the contemporary media industry.
9. Choose one area of the media industry and assess how the shift from analogue to digital has impacted upon the industry.

As I've said before I'm such an indecisive person, I can never make my mind up and when I do I worry if I've chosen wrong, and picking an essay topic was not something I wanted to do wrong! I didn't want to pick a question that I had little interest in because I would struggle to come up with 2000 words and would get bored doing so, the choice was tough.

I narrowed the ones I liked the best down to question 1,2 and 5. 

Question 1 appealed to me because well as cheesy as it sounds I love Public Services Broadcasters like the BBC, the fact that unlike so many other companies and people in the world they have to do whats best for the people in the country, they have to comply with their remit.. And they do, they produce some amazingly good pieces of TV. Think of how innovatively crazy Doctor Who is or how captivating series such as Frozen Planet are, especially when you compare them to such shows as TOWIE. I think it would be a real shame if this country lost PSB. Answering that question would be something I would actually enjoy researching into.. And that's saying a lot because research is something I dislike.... That said, I'm really gravitating towards looking into PSB for my dissertation and so I thought it was best to leave that, rather than repeat myself this year and the next!

Question 2 has so much to talk about with the fact that anyone can be a film-maker or a journalist nowadays. Apps allow ordinary people to create things that we're possible before and there's a genuine shift in how the worlds working. But while there is a lot to talk about, there's not much in this question to keep me interested.

Question 5 however is a subject that until recently I wouldn't have even thought about, I'm not sure what it is but I have a genuine fascination with Formats and why they're so popular with people (not just broadcasters) over gripping dramas. It's a subject I would look into regardless of having to do an essay but what perfect reasoning than to write about it as well.

So there it is, question 5 is the winner... Time to start researching.

Applied Media Research - How Storytelling is Changing

Here's a brilliant website I stumbled upon featuring a 9 part video series all about how storytelling is changing, including interviews with Henry Jenkins! It's definitely worth a watch..

How Storytelling is Changing

Filming for TV Studio

Filming the Interview/Demo

So we got through it, how i'm not sure but we did and it went perfectly - sort of. Like I've said before the interview had already been scripted and perfected so we got through that really well and quickly, plus the set looked amazing, it all fitted so well... The hard part was the demo. Ambrose couldn't bring the instruments for the demo until the day before, but then he had to leave, meaning we had to set the demo up AND script it on the day! It was incredibly stressful trying to co-ordinate it all but somehow we got it done and it looked really good! I'm so proud of how well our team worked together.

Filming the Music

For the music shoot all we had to do was pick a song and script it, the set would be done for us. The band TJ & Murphy played us some of the songs to pick from and we chose 'Michigan', its tempo fit well with the rest of our show. All that was left to do was script it which wasn't that hard. On the day I was actually in the gallery giving the boys who presented a chance to work camera. Honestly being in the gallery is nerve racking, more so for Amy who has to cut it all together. But I had to tell her which camera was next, tell the guys on camera to change shot etc, trying to keep up with it all was stressful but surprising fun. I can not wait to see the final piece all put together,

But if you can't wait till then, here's the song we chose:

History of Storytelling

In order to figure out how storytelling will change, we first need to understand its history! Rather than bore you with a list of facts, I found a short, interesting little video that does it for me. ENJOY :)

Applied Media Research - Storytelling

After choosing to research into the question set by the Digital Fiction Factory, I first looked at some of the examples he gave us in terms of media that allows for audience participation. 

One that stuck out to me was 'Bear71', I found the story really interesting but I enjoyed that I had control of how I viewed the content. I also found 'The Beauty Inside' interesting with the fact it was a different person playing the same character but I can't decided if I like it, I think I like the idea but it's just so unusual that it's different people!

Anyway here are some of the examples:

• Britain in a Day - On the 12th November 2011, thousands of people in the UK recorded part of their day and uploaded the footage to YouTube. Hundreds of them were chosen to create a documentary for BBC Two: Britain in a Day.

• This Exquisite Forest - This Exquisite Forest is an online collaborative art project that  allows users to create short animations that build off one another to create a branch like structure.
• Bear 71 - Bear 71 is the true story of a female grizzly bear monitored by wildlife conservation officers.
• Alice for the iPad - An interactive version of the Alice in Wonderland book.

• Take This Lollipop - An interactive horror short film and Facebook app which uses the Facebook Connect application to bring viewers themselves into the film, through use of pictures and messages from their own Facebook profiles.

• The Beauty Inside - A film which gives the audience a chance to play the lead role.
• The Well - A multi-platform horror drama with 4 TV episodes and a true-to-show game running alongside.

TV Studio Meeting

Our show is finally coming together and it's making me so excited/nervous. Today we got so much done, we sorted out everything from the set to the interview!

Set wise we've decided we want something different from the usual living room feel you get with chat shows, we want something that fits well with Channel 4.. Our set designer came up with some great ideas. We decided on a black background with 3 brick covered panels. As we have two presenters we decided to use two armchairs that Phoebe owns for them to sit in, we liked he fact it separated them and showed their clashing personalities, for the interviewee we have a black couch - which we'll add some cushions too to give it some life. We also want a TV monitor between the couch and chairs, helping to join them together to show the connection, it also is a good way to displace the logo of the show and the images we have to display. Under the monitor we have a table with some ornaments including a metal camera and a photo frame containing a cat, while random they fit well with the uniqueness of the two presenters. And that's it really for the set, we wanted it to stay as minimal as possible!

As for the show name I came up with a few suggestions and we chose 'The Alternative Lunch', it may seem quite plain but I like the fact that it says exactly what it is.. If you want something different from everything else then come to watch this! I like the fact our set always reflects the name in keeping with an 'alternative' theme.

Lighting we didn't want to bright and decided on a warm yellow to have on the presenters and interviewee to highlight them, while the background was light with a warm orange to give it a warm, inviting feel.

We even completed the interview script, all that's left to do is sort the demo, while Ambrose is letting us use the instruments he can't bring us them until the day before the shoot and so we won't know how it's set up to be filmed until then, it's daunting to leave it so late, but everything else is going so well I have high hopes for this, I think it's going to go really well!

Collecting Content for Beyond the Camera

Today was the day I was dreading.. 5am start to collect footage for Beyond the Camera, getting up this early is probably the most dedication I've given to uni! I am so proud of my group for sticking to our schedule and getting the majority of the footage we needed. Our next step is to capture, put it into some sort of sequence and figure out what we're missing so we can have everything we need to complete the sequence. During the day I look charge of collecting the sound, Stevie in charge of the images and Josie in charge of the filming, we worked really well together and kept a look out for any other sounds/images we could use while we were out. Walking around we found places that represent the city to capture such as the 'Ferry across the Mersey' and the Liver Building and even some unique shots such as the Liverpool One fountains which visually and audibly are amazing.

Applied Media Research - Choosing a Question

It's come to that time where I need to choose a question to research into for this module. I really struggled to pick one, i'm indecisive at the best of times. Straight away I knew I didn't want to do the question set by Onteca, it just did not appeal to me at all, and if something doesn't interest me I don't feel I work as hard.

This left me to decide between the question from Digital Fiction Factory and Nine Lives Media, both had good aspects of appeal. With Nine Lives the notion of a second screen experience was something I already used and experienced and finding out why people turn to second screen did seem appealing. But the question from the Digital Fiction Factory had something new, a new form of storytelling to explore and understand.

I chose to go with the Digital Fiction Factory question, I liked the idea of a challenge, while I wasn't as aware of new storytelling experiences as I was with second screen, I was intrigued to find out and learn. But also, storytelling is a part of everyday life, I love how storytelling varies from a conversation, to a book or a film and how you can get sucked into this other little word. Reading books is one of my favourite things to do, I find it relaxing and the thought of a new form coming along and challenging this peaked my interested. Understanding this and seeing what the future holds had more appeal to me than second screen. While I'm not a fan of research, I am excited to see what I can uncover from this question.

Applied Media Research - Nine Lives

The final question for this module was set by Nine Lives Media, an independent television production company who make documentaries, current affairs and drama documentaries for UK broadcasters and American channels. Their presentation talked mostly about the idea of multi-platform media, how a show can cross over to another platform to enhance the audiences viewing experience. 

One of the best examples of this multi-platform media is the Million Pound Drop in which an app has been created for audiences to play along. While the show is on, the app is free and people can play along answering the same questions and seeing how far they get, most notably when Million Pound Drop isn't on, the app is no longer free, clever trick to get audiences to watch your show.

Nowadays audiences want more and so simply having a show on TV isn't enough anymore, they like the option of additional content in apps, websites, webisodes to view and explore.

At the end of the presentation the final question was set:

Which are the three most successful ever examples of cross platform television programming, how did viewers participate and most importantly, what did they gain from the experience? (I would anticipate answers such as the London Olympics/Paralympics & Embarrassing Bodies) 

I really like this question, the topic is something current and relevant, especially because I often use second screen experiences when watching a programme. I also think this would be a great research question, most of the time I find research tedious and boring but this sounds like you could have fun and inventive in collecting data... Now that all three questions have been set, it's time for me to think of which question I want to research into.

TV Studio Meeting

Had a meeting with my group today to discuss what we want to do for the TV show. I came up with two idea.

The first was to find a tattoo artist, I was trying to think of something unusual and different and I thought of the often bizarre tattoo's they are asked to create. I was hoping to find something with an interesting story to tell and to be able to use that. I even thought a quirky demo piece would be to have someone tattooed 'live' on the show... Thinking more into this though, a tattoo artist isn't that unique, just looking down the high street there are tonnes of shops, they fact that there are so many highlights how normal it has become. Maybe a decade early, it would have made a great segment but not nowadays.
My other idea was to find a world record holder in Liverpool, as many are for weird talents. However my research found me only two record holders.. One boy for being the youngest footballer to make a professional team, and the other the most about of people singing together in one place. Realistically neither of them are interesting enough and the large group of singers certainly isn't do-able in the studio space.

Luckily one of our presenters Josh told us he had been speaking to a man called Ambrose who runs a charity that keeps the Bombed Out Church in Liverpool open to the public and open for events such as outdoor cinema and concerts. He also uniquely is in a band were the instruments are made out of recycled material.. One is even a mannequin leg! 
From what information we had he sounded like the perfect person to interview, a demo of the visually pleasing instruments would also suit the brief.

Our next step is to contact him and set up an interview to hopefully find out more and get him to get involved.. Hopefully he will.

Applied Media Research - Onteca

The second question for this module was set by the company Onteca, based in Liverpool they are an independent games development company who produce games and apps for Nintendo Wii, Iphone/Ipod/Ipad and Android. Many of their apps have made it into the Ton Ten including the Big Pub Quiz, an app I actually have on my Ipod!

They lure people into their apps in a clever way, making the app free allows for people to become invested in the game, but the content actually costs. A clever way to make money, by exploiting peoples need to want more. I recently became extremely invested in an app called 'Tiny Tower' while the content is free, you can get extra coins by paying £0.69, a small fee I was willing to pay because I needed the coins and didn't want to wait to earn them. Now, think of people having that same thought by the thousands who download the app, pretty soon the money adds up!

Onteca asked the question:

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? 

I can understand why this question was asked, we want everything for free nowadays and often don't see why we should pay for a lot of things.. So how do people make money? While I see the need for this question it does not interest me enough, i'm intrigued as to what makes certain apps popular and why people become so invested in them.. But trying to figure out what people would be willing to pay for and why did not interest me... So far, Digital Fiction Factory has my attention. 

Brief for Beyond the Camera

Our next assignment for Beyond the Camera is to create a Digital Artifact in groups. The film should be no more than 2 minutes and help to explore and develop a narrative through motion images and sound (though some video can be used).

This assignment is an opportunity to learn to tell a story a uniquely different way. Techniques such as rostrum camera, which allow you to zoom and pan within a single image can take one still frame and transform it into a full narrative. I'm quite excited to see if we're able to make something as interesting and engaging through images/sound.

I'm working with Stevie and Josie, I know them well and they're really hard working people so I know we can pull this off!

Stevie came up with the idea of 'A Day in the Life of Liverpool' starting from early morning sounds up to late at night. I really like the idea of taking 'A day in the life' and reinventing it through a new way of storytelling, hopefully making it more intriguing. The first thing we did was come up with a list of all the types of sounds of the day:

Bin men/street cleaners
Seagulls
Traffic
Shopping centres
Liverpool One
Tills
Markets
Taxi's
The Beatles
Nightlife
Bold Street
Restaurants
Echo man
Football
Doors
Clocks

After this we got straight to organizing when we could film it all and when was the best time of day to capture each sound. The three of us are lovers of lists so we created a schedule for the task:

Tuesday 23rd October
9am - Meet at University building to pick up equipment
9am-11am - Albert Docks and Liver Buildings
11am-12pm - Liverpool One
12pm-1pm - Matthew Street
1pm-2pm - Find a shop to collect sounds
2pm-3pm - Bold Street
3pm-4pm - Cathedral

Thursday 25th October
5am-7am - Early morning shoot
Cleaners, market set up, traffic, Lime Street
9pm-11pm - Late night shoot
Music, laughter, people, drinks/glasses, party

Hopefully we can get all the sound/images we need.. And that early morning start doesn't kill me!

Digital Media Cultures - Formats

I found today's lecture really interesting, the subject was Television Formats. I'd never thought much about them but it's surprising how much of our TV schedules they take up! ..Whether that's a good or bad thing i'm yet to decide.

So what is a format? 
     'A TV format describes the overall concept, premise and branding of a copyrighted television program.'

A format is licensed by a TV network, who then produce a version of the show in their own country to suit their specific audience and nationality. Formats have become a major part of the global television market, mainly because they:

• Are an already-proven idea, creating a lower risk for failure
• Are preferred by national audiences who can relate to them, rather than canned foreign shows.

Popular examples of formats include:

• X Factor
• Strictly come Dancing
• Wife Swap
• Big Brother

Most interestingly formats allow us to think of the globalized world, looking at how formats are adapted into different cultures helps to see how diverse we are. Yet they raise the question of homogenization. 

That is literally just a short overview of formats, but I think they're an interesting commodity in the media world.. One i'm seriously considering using for my essay.

Beyond the Camera Illusion

Our first assignment for Beyond the Camera is to create a simple illusion composition using the software Photoshop to manipulate an image. I haven't had much experience with Photoshop and so I was a bit hesitant with this assignment, I therefore decided to keep the idea really simple to try and make it the best.

The first idea that came to my head was to create something involving cards and a rabbit coming out of a magicians hat, while I liked the idea and thought it could develop nicely, I didn't feel confident enough that my skills could create it realistically . So I went back to the drawing board!

While watching a documentary with David Attenborough inspiration struck, I wanted to have a bird flying out of a television. Finding the image for the bird proved a challenge, attempting to get my own picture of a bird in flight wouldn't have been easy and so I decided to find one online. However after testing many out, I found they were too small to make an impact.

I then came across an image of an eagle which fitted perfectly. And so here's the finished piece! I wish i'd made the background look a bit more like the sky, rather than being so plain and added in a shadow where one naturally would have occurred  but i'm still happy with how it turned out.

I'm hoping once I better improve my Photoshop skills I can try out the magicians hat idea, fingers crossed I can make it work!

Applied Media Research - Digital Fiction Factory

For the module Applied Media Research as the name suggests we have to research into an area of the media world. Three different companies are going to come into the university and give us a lecture on what they do and set us a research question in relation to their companies role in the industry.


The first company to come and give us a talk was the 'Digital Fiction Factory' a creative partnership between the BBC, Channel 4, Creative England and Conker Media who deal with multi-layered storytelling. The companies digital producer Ian Wareing gave the presentation.

Here's a link to their website: http://www.digitalfictionfactory.com/

The companies main goal is to create stories across different platforms to enhance the experience for the audience. The platforms include:

• TV/Radio/Film
• Online
• Social Media
• Mobile/Tablet

At the end of the presentation Ian set us the question his company are hoping for an answer to:

'The internet, social media and other open systems have allowed for user generated content (UGC), crowd-sourcing and other forms of audience participation to prevail in digital media. But how do we translate these features into storytelling experiences, without treading on the toes of the author?'

When he set it I think i stared at the question for a good 10 minutes trying to figure out how I would research and try to answer such a question, I understand why it was important to ask, the way in which audiences interact are changing with new technologies and storytelling needs to learn to change and adapt too in order to keep up.. At the moment though I have no idea how that can be done.. Research is the key.

The TV Studio

This year we have a £1.1 million TV studio installed in our new building and it's something i'm extremely excited to use. Having never worked in such an environment before I can't wait to get stuck in and learn how to work in a 'real' studio.

Our first lecture for TV Studio Production involved setting the brief; we have to create a 15-25 minute pilot for Channel 4 at lunch time. This pilot has to be different from everything else already out there at lunch time and fit with Channel 4's quirky nature.

For the brief we were put into groups, my group consisted of 5 others from my course, people I hadn't worked with before and so I was looking forward to working with different people. We also had to pick production roles for the project.

Roles to choose from where:

• Director 
• Producer 
• Floor Manager 
• Set Designer 
• Presenter 

I have been assigned the Producer role, the role is defined as:

The producer is the team leader and performs a variety of management and coordination roles in bringing together the many elements of a production. The producer works closely with the presenter in producing a script for the production. They also generally encourage the team and over see everything that goes on. On the day of rehearsal and the recording, the producer is in charge of coordinating the guests, overseeing the content and also keeping an eye on the presenter. On the day this person will use a camera.

Originally I wanted to be the Floor Manager, it seemed a role that I would suit well, but another team member asked for that role first. However i'm looking forward to challenging myself with something different and getting to grips with being the producer and what the role involves,, hopefully it's something i'm well suited too!

Start of 2nd Year.

After what feels like a lifetime away, it's time to start my 2nd year of University and in a brand new building! We have 4 modules this semester:

• Digital Media Cultures - Aimed at developing our theoretical  critical and analytical skills in relation to media institutions, texts and audience. As well as strengthening our research and writing skills (helpful for our dissertation next year!).
• Beyond the Camera - A module to introduce students to compositing techniques and software packages such as Adobe After Effects and Photoshop.
• TV Studio Production -This module will address multi-camera studio production and allow students to become skilled in the inner-workings of a studio.
• Applied Media Research - Aimed at preparing students to engage in research practices useful for the future as well as understanding the media landscape and how to keep yourself in the loop.

I think i'm most excited about the TV Studio, I can not wait to get to work in such an environment as I never have before. But i'm also excited for the challenges 2nd year will bring, this year actually counts towards my degree and so I want it to be the best it can be!

So it's time to get back to blogging, hopefully this year will be as good as the last. 
Enjoy..

Factual Short Feedback

Our group had a lot of problem with the factual short, what started out as a piece on a doors exhibit lost all creativity and in the end we just focused on getting the film completed, while we didn't have the best story, we felt we had good shots and would pull it off, our lecturers were less enthusiastic. Our feedback was poor, they repeatedly told us that the film didn't work because it lacked creativity, which we of course understood. Some useful feedback they gave us was to focus on the creativity as that's what makes the film good. I think this was just a case of a bad film as our others have been good and its a lesson learnt for next time. At least we know to aim higher for next year

My Website

I finally finished my website! After what seemed like forever trying to figure out Photoshop and Dreamweaver, I eventually worked it out and was able to finish my website. Admittedly its not the best that it could be, but for a first time attempt I am very proud of what I created and I'm sure if this website continues through with me in the next 2 years I'll be able to improve it as my skills improve. I tried to create an vintage feel to the site as I love that kind of effect, whether it worked though is a question as I don't think I've quite achieved that yet, once more content is added as I create more to add it will probably look better than it does but for now here is my finished website, enjoy..


http://www.student.ljmu.ac.uk/LSSGBLAN/Website/Homepage.html

Museum Presentation

This is one the assignments this year that I have been really proud of. I think our tour bus idea was a success, it was something unique and interesting and we had the idea fine tuned to the last detail, making sure it made sense and would work. The prezi was sorted for the presentation with all the necessary information without overloading on text, mainly pictures for a visual content and it was time for the presentation. I'm not very good at presenting, I don't like to talk in front of people as I get nervous and I have a bad habit of talking extremely fast but I think our presentation actually went really well. We knew what we had to say and who had to say it. We were worried we wouldn't have enough to say for 15 minutes but we in fact nearly went over until the lecturer stopped us. I hope I get a good mark for this, we worked really hard to make the idea a success and everything worked out well, I've even got better at presenting which is a bonus!


Here's the prezi from our presentation:
http://prezi.com/vmqxkspsoadd/band-tourbus-museum-crash/

Presenting Our Characters

Finally it was time to present our characters, in the process I had established Chelsea Mai Riley on 5 social media platforms. By the end of the assignment she had 67 friends on Facebook, 24 followers on Twitter and 4 followers on Tumblr. In a short time this is quite an achievement, particularly the Twitter followers as the majority were genuine strangers, compared to Facebook in which the friends were class members and their own fake characters. In our presentation my group explained that we each actually had a character as we had create a sort of sitcom in which these group of strangers have been thrown together in uni halls and it follows there lives, they each have stories to tell and secrets to share. For instance Chelsea-Mai is in love with fellow room mate Chad, However Chad is actually gay and Chelsea-Mai being such a bimbo does not realise this. Our presentation went well, we had lots to show as there was lots of content for the characters. 
There are things I wish i could change about my character looking back though. I think it would have been an excellent idea if that while on Facebook and Twitter, she did just seem superficial in a private blog I'd explored the real Chelsea-Mai who does in fact have more depth to her than people imagine, she just hides it. I also like the idea that instead of using myself for the pictures (while that was fun) I'd have used someone else and then added my own friends on her profile, to see if I could fool any of them into believing that Chelsea was a real person, that would have been a true test as to whether I succeeded in created a real online identity. 




http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003597313536
https://twitter.com/#!/ChelseaMaiJLS
http://chelseamaijls.tumblr.com/

Factual Short Rough Cut

Today was our rough edit deadline for the factual short, and it could have gone better. There was no one in from my group other than me and I'm not the best with editing but I did my best to get the rough cut finished. Unfortunately we did not have enough useful footage to complete the edit and so when it was time to show the lecturers they were slightly concerned. They told me our group needed to find a creative angle with the piece otherwise it will end up more like a news report, and they were right. So our next task was the find a way to make a story about doors creative..

Chelsea-Mai

This is probably my favourite assignment this year, getting to create someone from scratch, how they act, dress, see the world, it's role play but you have to make others believe that it is real. Instead of creating an avatar, you create a person and in my case I reinvent myself into a whole new person. I'm not saying if I had the chance to change myself I would become an orange bimbo, but it's such a brilliant role to play. I have numerous people on my own Facebook that are just like 'Chelsea-Mai' and so inspiration was endless. My main idea was to create someone with no substance... superficial. The kind of person that would not be seen dead a shade darker than orange and who doesn't understand classic films and would rather watch clueless. This kind of character was easy to create because in theory she has no depth, her biggest dilemma is that she's ran out of eyelash glue. If you look on her profile you can see all the stuff she's interested in, you can get a sense of the character I created
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003597313536
But Facebook was just the start, I made my character viral. She also has a Twitter, Tumblr, Hotmail and eBay account. 


Facebook and Twitter are obvious, they are the main social platforms, but I decided a Tumblr as Tumblr is often where you get to see what a person really thinks and from hers... you can see she doesn't. It will basically be full of her obsession with JLS while her eBay is a way to show the kind of interests she has.. mainly clothes. 

More to a Door?

Its been over a week and unfortunately, no one has emailed us back about the original locations of the doors and so after a talk with out lecturer, we've decided to change the idea for our factual short slightly and focus on the fact that 'there's always something behind a door'. And so, we're still going to start with the doors exhibit but lead onto the fact that Roger, the poet, was trying to show that doors are much than just objects, but doorways into much more. 
So we've decided to research famous locations in Liverpool, such as the cavern club and town hall. We have a list of places and hopefully we can find interesting events that these doors hide.

Creating 'Chelsea-Mai Riley'

For the identity brief we had to create our identities on social networking platforms and so on Sunday night I dressed up as 'Chelsea-Mai' and got pictures, ready for my profiles, and I've never had so much fun. To create my chavy bimbo character I needed a lot of fake tan, bronzer, pink blusher and giant fake eyelashes, the result a very orange bed and a very different me:

After taking a few pictures I created her Facebook:
http://en-gb.facebook.com/people/Chelsea-Mai-Riley/100003597313536 



Adding information to the page helped to give her character more depth and so I gave her a secondary school, added her to a hairdressing course in the Community College and then started added in her favourite music, TV shows and movies. 'Chelsea' is obsessed with JLS (she will be found on a lot of JLS blogs) but she's also a fan of a lot of pop music such as Britney, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and very girl 'chick flicks' such as Mean Girls, Twilight and Dirty Dancing. However I think her most telling information is her inspiration people: Paris Hilton, Jodie Marsh, Jordan, Perez Hilton, Beyonce... This famous people give you an idea of what kind of person she is. While TV shows are a lot of reality shows, 'Trash TV' as it can be called. and once i'd added the pictures and all this information i added all my friends and began to post statuses.


I also created a twitter, with the name '@ChelseaMaiJLS' and followed many of the people she likes (that you can see on facebook). Within 2 hours i already had 17 followers, with only tweeting 3 times. So i'm quite excited to see what kind of people follow me!
https://twitter.com/#!/ChelseaMaiJLS 



I still need to create a Tumblr and an ebay account, as well as start to write on JLS blogs, it's going to be quite fun :)

Doors Exhibit Research

On our day off, my production group took a trip to the museum, to find out more about the Doors exhibit, where they came from and if they have an interesting background. We found that the majority of the doors came from:

• Strawberry Fields Childrens Home
• Anfield and Goodison
• Old Art College (Myrtle Street)
• Everyman Theatre

We're going to research into these places and hopefully find an interesting story from where they came from and take that angle with our film, but failing that we were thinking of going with the angle of the students working within art. but for now we'll focus on the doors history.


Here are some pictures from the exhibit:

Reflection and ScreenR Feedback

In the first semester for Creativity and Concept we submitted a personal reflection on the techniques we had learnt and ScreenR presentation. I was extremely pleased with my mark for the ScreenR as I didn't feel I had actually done that well with the presentation. Firstly I'm not a great speaker and so I thought that would hinder my mark, that the audio would be difficult to understand however this wasn't mentioned, so maybe I have a better voice than thought. The comments note that I had good research and a good presentation, but that I needed to avoid reading exactly what was on the screen, which I did do. I should have made the information more note based and had my own notes off screen of what to say to develop the screen notes further. However other than this I had positive feedback and I am pleased with my ScreenR presentation.
My personal reflection feedback wasn't as positive as the ScreenR. It mainly says that I need to expand my ideas and give much more detail in the information I give

Website Design

Before creating my website i first created a mock up to experiment with how i wanted it to look and to check it fitted in with the 'rules' of a website such an not too much white space etc. I found creating my mock up quite easy considered I don't really know how to use Photoshop. Once i'd created it i asked my lecturer for feedback, he was quite happy with it but suggested having a more colourful background or even an image, just to make it less plain. I havent actually done that yet, I need to find a background that I like.. but here is my mock up anyway..

Fictional Online Identity Brief

Our final brief for Contemporary Media Issues is to create a fake online profile and interact via social networks to create the persona of a real person. Originally we were meant to work in groups of 3 with one character between you however my friends and I have formed a group of 6 as we have a more elaberate design. Basically we have almost recreated skins/a reality show, we each have a character and all 6 characters live together in a flat as a group of students.
To create this group of people we first create a brainstorm of what kind of characters would be interesting such as a nerd, a bimbo, a chav, an indie, a goth, a jock, forgeigners etc, we ended up with around 10-12 characters and from this we then created 6 profiles for instance the 'chavy bimbo', by doing this we gave our characters more depth and after this we gave each other a character and got to work creating a persona.

I am 'Chelsea-Mai Riley' a 20 year old hairdresser who is essentially a chavy bimbo who's obsessed with JLS. And i'm far to excited to create her on all social platforms so look out for her on Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr/Ebay/Blogs.

Preparing for Pitch

In about 3 weeks we have our 15 minute pitch about our idea for a museum exhibit and so knowing this we got our idea finalised and sorted, ready to prepare. This was actually one of my most productive sessions and we managed to get the idea sorted and how we're going to prepare this. The feedback we got back from the previous session in which we gave a 5 minute pitch, really helped us define the idea and make it a simple yet creative idea as our original had too much going on and most of it was already available in the museum. And so this is our final idea, an exhibit to attract a band:


A double decker tour bus has crashing into the side of the museum.

the first level is the 'facts level' and will be like a simulation of a tour bus, the windows will be interactive and go through famous landmarks such as penny lane, strawberry fields. it's going to be set out like a real tour bus, so people can experience it with real probs like those you would see on a tour bus (items in cupboards/sounds/smells) all showing the not so glamorous side of touring. There will be a voice over, possibly a famous one to make it interesting telling facts as the 'tour' happens but the fact will tell interesting stories and will tell of the music history of Liverpool, fun knowledge facts will also be written around the bus. This 'tour' will run around every 15 minutes, like the simulation length and at the end it crashes...

Then the second level is the 'stage level' where you get to act like a band/pretend to be famous. there will be a bit where you can dress up if you wish, famous costumes of like michael jackson and others will be available but also just normal jackets and wigs. instruments will be there also to mess around with on the 'stage' and staff shall be dressed as paparazzi, taking pictures to make it more of the famous band experience with the sound of an audience cheering played in the background. The experience can be filmed and then upload to the website for people to see and have a copy off (also a way of introducing new bands in liverpool). there will be a screen of songs to pick, both classic and modern so all genres are covered to appeal to everyone, but also the option to sing your own song (kind of promoting yourself). people will be able to go up to the stage level but if you want to perform, to save a queue of people, we'll give out admission tickets, with set times to come and perform, and the tickets would look like concert tickets.

Then the presentation. We want to have a main prezi to showcase the idea, with pictures of the museum and of inside a tour bus, to show what it would be like. also create a photoshop image of a bus crashed into the museum. we were thinking of having pictures of people dressed up pretending to be a band as well but that might be difficult to do, you can't take pictures in a fancy dress shop. Also a poster to show the advertising of the exhibit (focusing on the crash element) and a mock up of the admission ticket for the stage. finally we want to make a viral video, a way of promotion. the video would be the simulation you'd see in level one, going through penny lane etc but at the end of the video it goes black and you hear a crash. and then its like you have to go to the museum to find out what happened. we though a viral video would be a good way to attract a younger audience, especially as bands are quite media based. 

And so there you have it. Our idea for an exhibit, we plan on making everything such as the prezi and video next week and start organising everything.