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.