Alien Me

This is my alien transformation poster, it has a code on it that takes you to my alien transformation gif blog post. I made this by taking a picture of myself on the webcam then I used InDesgin to edit the photo and put in the bar code.
Before doing this task I had no idea how to insert a code into the picture so it will take you to a web page however now I know that as long as you have the web address it can be easy. Also when doing this I was new to the software on apple mac's so it took me a while to get used to it however after being taught by the teacher it got a lot easier.
I think this sort of poster is very effective because it allows you to access a website very quickly because you don't have to type in the web address.

Political Film

So far I have written a script for my political film. I need to make a few changes to my script, for example I need to name my characters, I need to include a PI in my film and make a couple of little adjustments to the story line.

As well as a script I have created a schedule, this allows me to plan out each step of the reece. By having a schedule I have used almost every day to write down what I am planning on doing on that day.

As my movie is only set in two places it isn't very difficult to find places to film. I have decided that I will be filming in the media studio and outside college in a car park. These places are good because they are easy to get to especially because I am working in a group of people that will easily be able to travel there. 

Citing and Referencing

The task 
During our lesson on cite and reference, we looked at three sources and two different ways of citing and referencing them. Using an online book, a physical book and a website, we took different parts of the text to reference. The first form of citing was to paraphrase which is using someone else's words but slightly altering them. For example:

 James A.Thurber has confirmed in 2013 that academics use explicit hypotheses and scientific methods for making systematic observation about campaigns and election, whereas professionals draw generalizations based on direct experience.

When taking a direct quote from a piece of text you have to have to put speech marks around it so others understand that it is not your words and so you don't get all the credit. This is my example:

‘Academics use large data sets and systematically test hypotheses to make careful statements and voters and election’ (Page 4 James A.Thurber 2013)

We then went to the college library to find a book of our choice that would be useful for our task on elections in order to make a campaign. We used the online library catalogue to search a keyword that would help us find a book, eBook or magazine that would contain the information needed. I searched for 'Election' and a couple of books appeared on the screen that I thought would be useful. A lady in the library kindly helped me to find a book that would be best and she explained in detail about each book.

What did I know and what do I now know

Before doing this task I didn't understand the importance of citing and referencing however now I do. I was unaware that it was such a crime to take another persons words especially if you had changed it slightly however now I know that if I ever take words from books or the internet I will always find out who wrote that originally. I know now how to reference properly, for example including their name, the date, page number and any other sources.

Political Film

Pre-production is very important when making a film, it seems like there is a lot to do which could be stressful, pre-production seems like it would take up a lot of time effort and if that didn’t take place the film would be difficult to make because each individual character involved in the making of the film needs to know what to do and have a planned agenda for everything to run smoothly. The end product will depend on how well the well the pre-production goes, that’s how important it is.

For example, the location is essential to plan out, this is needed so the crew can get comfortable with the setting and they are able to plan for weather conditions.

Cast rehearsals are important because they need to get used to their lines and it will be much less time consuming when it comes to filming.

When it comes to filming, the crew will want food, therefore planning what food there will be and how much it will all cost is extremely important also.

Ideas for my 3 minute political film:

Two political parties that are very competitive with each other to gain power in Westminster to the point where they start to get certain members begin to ruin the other parties chances of winning the election. They have a lot of arguments and fights which could be considered inappropriate and cheating. The final decision will be a big shock to the audience. After William Hague resigned from the conservative party, the labour party started feeling threatened therefore tried to do as much as they could to stay in power, Tony Blair hated the fact Duncan Smith was the conservative party leader, he cheated and broke the rules just to ruin the Conservatives chances of winning. Blair and Smith ended up having a fight which broke the rules.

Tony Blair

Duncan Smith

Voting

The task
In this task we wen't on http://voteforpolicies.org.uk and took part in a survey to find out what party we should be voting for, I selected four policy issues and for each one there were 6 policy sets, we then clicked on what policy we thought was best. At the end of the survey the two political parties that said I should be voting for were Conservative or Labour.
We have been asked to find ways of making the younger generation get involved with politics and sign up to vote. In previous lessons we made eye catching posters in different art styles in the hope to get younger people to vote. A couple of posters have been chosen to go around the college to be apart of the appeal.

What I knew before
I am not very involved in politics myself, I know about certain political parties and their policies however after this lesson I now understand why it is so important for the younger generation to vote or at least register. By this happening politicians will be able to do more to interest more people.
I also found out about Conservatives policies for example they say they will be cutting income tax for over 25 million people, saving the typical taxpayer £705 a year. That means hardworking people keep more of the money they earn and are better able to provide for their families. 

Copy Right for audio

Creative commons 


Creative commons allows you to share your work with no legal obligations. Make sure it is credited, meaning you credit the person who actually created the product, image etc.

Copyright 

The legal right to edit, and redistribute someone else’s work for a certain number of years. This work can include literary and audio.

Fair Use
The legal right to edit, and redistribute someone else’s work for a certain number of years. This work can include literary and audio.


Royalty Free
This refers to the right to use copyrighted material without the need to pay royalties or license fees for each use.



I have chosen to look into creative commons, an example of this is YouTube as it allows users to mark their videos with a Creative Commons CC BY licence. These videos are then accessible to YouTube users for use, even commercially.

There are certain places where you can access royalty free music to use for projects meaning that you won't have to worry about paying anyone or getting in trouble with copyright laws.

Youtube has an audio library which has a collection of sounds and music for any creator to use on their project. Youtube has a page that tells you information about the tracks that are free audio and other conditions about what track are copyright etc. 

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3376882?hl=en-GB

Research Method

I have planned out my research which makes it a lot easier to do as I can can go back to look at what needs to be done at what stage and I have a guide helping me. Also by doing this, I have been able to explain what sort of research I am going to be doing and why.

Research method: 

Define the research you will undertake

In this project I will be doing research to find out what young people think about politics and what involvement they have in it. I will then begin to find out how to get the younger generation to vote and I’ll be finding out what media product will attract the younger generation. By finding out this information I can make a media product that will be appealing to the younger generation and get them to be interested in politics and hopefully start being involved.

• I will conduct a range of textual analysis on existing political multipage documents.
• I will be using the internet and books to find out political information and what others think about it.

Describe how you will do it

Primary

To do this I’ll be using primary research such as paper based questionnaires and focus groups. This will allow me to get a better understanding of the relationship between teens and politics. Questionnaires will be good because the teens can answer the main and important questions I want answering then by doing a focus group they can include opinions and expand on each of their points.

I will be giving the questionnaire to students around the college because that will allow me get a range of different opinions and answers. Using a

Secondary

I will mainly be using the internet to find out information because I can imagine it will be very informative, as will books. These two resources will be useful because I will gain a larger range of knowledge and learn more about the subject. YouTube is also a good idea for secondary research because as well as being very information they will be visual which will be easier for me to understand and I can gain the knowledge quicker.

Describe what you hope to discover

I hope to discover information for example how many people access political information, who votes, what sort of campaigns attract a certain type of audience. This will help me to make a successful campaign that includes everything possible to make it appeal to the target audience.

Audio

The Breakfast Club

I have chosen a scene from the film 'The Breakfast Club', the scene includes a song called We Are Not Alone by Karla Devito. This is probably the most upbeat scene in the whole film and I would say that is because of the music. The scene starts with the characters sitting on the floor laughing with each other then suddenly the music starts with a drum, we then see each character beginning to dance to the song. The genre of the music is pop and it adds an element of humour to the scene because the dancing is quite fast and exaggerated. The song and the characters movement compliment each other because the lyrics and the upbeat instrumental shows us that the characters are happy and enjoying themselves. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRMrMzw0t20

Youth In Revolt

There is a scene in the film 'Youth In Revolt' that has a sound called When You Love Somebody by Fruit Bats. The scene begins with a conversation then as a two characters are saying goodbye to each other a piano is introduced which highlights the emotion within the scene, after that another beat begins which is building on the tension as a character walks out of the front door. He stays by the front door for a few seconds which allows the the volume of the music to increase, as an audience we feel like something is about to happen. As the character gets up and starts to run the music changes slightly and we can hear the lyrics to the song because there is no dialogue any more. I would say the genre of the song is a mixture pop and electronic which helps us to understand the tense atmosphere. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6R3Oeg0-U8

Remember Me

This particular scene I have chosen from the film 'Remember Me' is towards the end of the film, it is an extremely sad scene and it is based on a true story therefore the soundtrack needed to capture the emotion. Firstly we see the main character looking out of a window whilst we hear the almost classical music begin, it has a slow tempo and it is very quiet, the music fades out which allows the audience to hear the background noise then as the scene goes black the music begins again and starts to get louder and more instruments are involved, this creates more tension as the audience begin to realise what is happening in the scene. After this there is a voice over however the music remains the same, there are then more background noises so there are a lot more sounds in the clip which is making the scene seem 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ku3Jld7mEU

After looking at each scene I now know the importance of genre and type of music, for example if the scene is representing something happy or exciting I will need to use upbeat and fast music to create the atmosphere. Also I think the amount of sound included in the clip such as the dialogue, music and background noise can alter the mood of the scene. 

Focus group

For this task we did a focus group for tasting cookies. Whilst doing this task we realised that carrying out a focus group for these questions were good because it meant that we were able to do it a lot quicker than if we were to fill in a survey and because we were speaking it was more detailed because we were just saying what we initially thought. I think by doing a focus group we were able to state our opinions more because are I stated earlier we could just say what we thought. However there were some negatives of doing a focus group, for example people could not clearly state their opinion if they are just speaking, they may change their mind and waffle on, it might be difficult to understand and hear the voices in the audio clip.  Another con is that it might take a wile for the researcher to collect all of the information if they have to listen to each audio clip.


Before doing this task I didn't know much about focus groups and what data they were used to collect however now I understand in much more detail and I thought it was a lot more informal and interesting to do.

Appearance?

Does it make you interested in politics?

Does it grab your attention?

Style?

This is my final poster. After printing it out in A3 I have realised that I have made a couple of mistakes, for example the triangles in the middle are wonky which could make the poster look untidy. Some of the edges are not straight which I didn’t realise before printing it. If I were to do this task again I would make sure I zoomed in a lot to make the edges and triangles to look neat.



























This is the focus group that took place, each of the students at Bath College took time to look at the four posters and analyse them. You will see that from this audio clip you can hear the students saying what they like and what they didn't like about the posters. They also discussed which ones were more effective and why.

Flash

During our interactive lesson we used flash to make a short animation. I decided to make an animation of a tree, I didn't think it was too difficult bearing in mind I have not used the software before. However I am not very good at drawing so I struggled when drawing the tree with the brush tool. In order to make it an animation after drawing each part of the tree I clicked on insert then I went onto timeline, after that I selected keyframe. When I have selected that I carried on drawing and did this after each step. 

I then repeated the same steps for a Christmas related gif. This one involved more steps however it was a lot easier because I knew the steps and I knew what to do. 

The week after I tried outcome more gifs, the one below was a little more difficult than the others and it took more time to do however I got the hang of it eventually. I started off by drawing a ball on the first keyframe, I then right clicked on the 60 then moved the shape to the other side of the frame and went to the middle of that section to select create shape tween. Next I inserted a key frame at 120 which was the end of my animation, after that I right clicked in the middle of that section and selected create shape tween again and I changed the shape slightly. This step made the shape change as it was moving across the frame.

Podcast

Election Connection Research Report

Research is the investigation into sources in order to find new knowledge, finding out new research allows us to educate ourselves on certain topics. There are many different types of research, for example quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data is a more logical type of data, it gives a measure of what people think, you can collect a large amount of quantitative that can organised for analysis. To collect this, questionnaires and surveys are mostly used in order to collect specific answers, this sort of data can be flexible as it can be carried out in many different ways, including online, post and possibly over the phone. However qualitative data is based around opinions, what people think and how they feel. Qualitative data can be changed and changed or measured, unlike quantitative data.  This type of data can be led by discussion which is a lot more casual.

Primary data is new data that can be found out by yourself, it is used to answer specific problems and overcome issues. This can be found out by doing questionnaires and surveys to find out the opinions. Secondary data is research that has already been carried out by someone else, it involves a collection of existing research, for example finding information online, in books, on TV etc. Secondary research allows us to get a better understanding of certain subjects, you could say it is an educational type of research.

Market research is finding out information in order to know how successful a particular product will be. As part of this you will need to find out what the consumers needs and preferences are. Using a focus group is a good way of carrying out market research, it allows the potential consumers to have an input into the product. Questionnaires and surveys can be used, similarly to focus groups we can find out what the customers are expecting of the product. Audience research is gathering information about the audiences attitudes, preferences, interest, knowledge etc. The reason this is carried out is so we can get a better understanding of the target audience, it would be pointless making something that won’t appeal to the right people. Knowing the people you want to target the product at will make it have a more successful turnout. Questionnaires are good in audience research because they are quick and easy to do and they allow us to collect a lot of information about the target audience. Interviews are good because to public can describe what they would like to see, what works and what doesn’t. Online reviews and ratings are good because people can judge the product and express how to improve it.

Production research allows us to identify what resources are needed to launch a final product, and whether the product will be suitable and profitable to the market. It will give us an idea of what factors will affect the production of the product. The controllable factors will be, pricing and promotion and uncontrollable factors will be technology, competition, economic changes. Examples of production research are pre-production and post-production because they both give the producer knowledge of important aspects that need to be thought of whilst the product is in production.

To conclude I think all types of research because it allows us to gain knowledge and a better understanding of what we want the end product to be like, who it will appeal to  and how well it will do on the market. We will also have an understanding of the costs and of the income and how to organise to create best possible financial results from release date.

Linear And Non Linear

Linear Narrative

In a linear narrative can be divided into 3 or 4 sections, act one is where all the main characters and their basic situations are introduced, it explores the characters background and personalities. A problem is normally introduced in the first section which leads the storyline forward. The second act is the bulk of the story. There is normally a problem being introduced which changes and alters the storyline, as an audience we try and solve this problems ourselves. After that there is a resolution, leading to the end of the film. This is where the problem in the story boils over and the characters have confronted and solved the issue. This allows the elements of the story to come together leading to the ending. 

An example of a linear narrative film is The Exorcist, the first section of the film is where the main characters are introduced and we learn a lot about their lives. In the second part, the main character becomes possessed by a demon which is clearly the problem, their is no real explanation as to why this happened. After this there is the last part of the film which is the exorcism which is the main part of the story which it has been leading up to.



Non Linear Narrative 

In contrast, a non linear is a disjointed structure that often starts in the middle or at the conflict/problem and makes it's way to the beginning of the film. Another non linear form is including flashbacks or flash forwards to tell the story, this is interesting to the viewer because it keeps them on their toes and makes the film interactive with the audience. This unconventional way of presenting events challenge the viewer’s memory in the way that they can only understand the plot by making cause-and-effect connections between the scenes. This draws in the audience and makes the film more interesting and exciting.

An example of a non linear structure is Pulp Fiction, it structures around three interrelated storylines: Vincent Vega, Butch Coolidge and Jules Winnfield. Vincent Vega is the lead of the first story and is a hit man for Marcellus Wallace. The third story has Vincent’s partner Jules Winnfield in the lead. Each story focuses on a different series of incidents but they are all connected together.

Colour Association

Different colours can show different feelings and emotions, a certain colour can demonstrate how you are being perceived. For example I would say red has a few connotations, one is that red shows signs of danger however it can also be used to convey romance and love. Blue is seen as a relaxing colour, it can make people feel comfortable in their surroundings. Many themes of spa's are blue. Colours such as yellow, green and pink can be very bright and for me they depict happiness and a light hearted nature. The colour green is the colour of nature, I would also link it to recycling and making the world more eco-friendly. Colours such as grey and white are quite plain which in my opinion have no attached feelings or meanings because they can be shown as 'dull'.

Here I have arranged some coloured pens into the style of a colour wheel, by doing this I have gained a better understanding of how the colours look when they are put next to each other. For example, colours opposite each other are complimentary and some are contrasting due to their positioning in the colour wheel. 

This is a collage of pictures I took last week when I was walking around Bath, I took pictures of objects ranging from clothes to doors. I have arranged this in the form of the colour wheel. 

Primary Colours are those that are formed by mixing any other colours, some say they are pure colours. Secondary are formed by mixing two or more primary colours together and tertially by mixing two or more secondary colours. 

Tetradic Colour Scheme 

This colour scheme uses four colours arranged into two complementary colour pairs. This scheme is hard to harmonise; if all four colours are use in equal amounts, the scheme may look unbalanced, so you should choose a colour to be dominant or subdue the colours. 

Triadic Colour Scheme 

This colour scheme uses three colours equally spaced around the colour wheel. It offers strong visual contrast while retaining balance, and colours richness. The triadic scheme is not is not as contrasting as the complementary scheme, but it looks more balanced. 

Complementary Color Scheme 

This is made of two colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel, the complementary scheme is intrinsically high-contrast and draws maximum attention. Using one colour for the background and its complementary colour to highlight important elements, you will get colour dominance combined with sharp colour contrast. 

Analogous Colour Scheme 

Analogous colour are colours that are in close proximity of each to each other on the colour wheel that share similar hue and saturation. The graphic example below shows red and two analogous colours of red violet and red orange. Analogous colours are most often used to achieve proper colour harmony. 

Art Forms

Postmodern

PostmodernI in general, included movements such as Intermedia, Installation art, Conceptual Art and Multimedia, particularly involving video are described as postmodern. Dates that have been proposed as marking the beginning of the postmodern movement include 1914 in Europe and 1962 or 1968 in the United States.  Postmodern art tends to deconstruct traditional narratives of race, gender, nationality and family. 

Futurism Art

Futurism  was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence. It was largely an Italian phenomenon, though there were parallel movements in Russia, England and elsewhere.  The Futurists practised in every medium of art, includingpainting, sculpture, ceramics, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, urban design, theatre, film, fashion, textiles,literature, music, architecture and even gastronomy.


Art Nouveau



Art Nouveau is considered a "total" art style, embracing architecture, graphic art, interior design, and most of the decorative arts, including jewellery, furniture, textiles, household silver and other utensils and lighting, as well as the fine arts. According to the philosophy of the style, art should be a way of life. In the 19th Century, it was inspired by natural forms and structures, not only in flowers and plants, but also in curved lines. 


Swiss Style


Swiss Style, is a graphic design style developed in Switzerland in the 1950s that emphasizes cleanliness, readability and objectivity. The style is also associated with a preference for photography in place of illustrations or drawings. Fonts chosen for the text are sans serif. Many early pioneers of the movement believing that design is a “socially useful and important activity... the designers define their roles not as artists but as objective conduites for spreading important information between components of society.”

Bauhaus

Bauhaus, was an art school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicised and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. The Bauhaus was first founded by Walter Gropius. The school existed in three German cities: Weimar from 1919 to 1925, Dessau from 1925 to 1932 and Berlin from 1932 to 1933. Changes of venue and leadership resulted in a constant shifting of focus, technique, instructors, and politics.

Recce

We walked to two different places looking for a setting for a romantic, comedy and sci-fi film. The first location was in a park, it had a lot of slopes which would allow us to get some good shots however I wasn't blown away by the surrounding, it wasn't much of an open space and it was very crowded with the play equipment. I don't think this location would've been entirely suitable for the film. In this particular location, the road was visible and could get quite busy, I think the traffic going past can have an impact on the scene and possibly be harder to work around.

The second location we went to was a lot better in my opinion because it was more of an open space, I think that a plain area would be more effective because it allows us to be more creative with our ideas. There were also a few slopes which would allow us to get some good shots from different angles. This area was quite tucked away despite having a row of outstanding buildings surrounding it, I believe this makes the set more gloomy and suitable to the film.

Both of the locations we went to were near building work which may not be suitable for the film because if we take time to discuss the shots in the middle of filming, the surrounding could have completely changed which could possibly make it look unrealistic.

Mini Research Project

Textual Analysis

I have chosen to use an album as part of my research project. The album I will be focusing on is ‘Neighborhoods’ by blink-182. Neighborhoods is a 36 minute long alternative rock/pop punk album, it was released on September 27, 2011. This is their first album in eight years, its recording followed the band's breakup and reconciliation. The trio wrote lyrics regarding such subjects as isolation, confusion and death. The band infused inspiration from each member's various musical tastes to form a unique sound that recalled their separate upbringings, leading the trio to compare the album to separate neighborhoods.

Genre

I have decided to choose this album to do my research project on because I believe it has a lot of hidden meanings behind it which are interesting to look into. The genre of this album is the type of the genre I am interested in. Blink-182 produce a very specific genre which is alternative rock/pop punk, a band such as blink-182 know exactly what type of music to write and perform for their audience as they are very aware of the audience profile.

Representation

The lyricism of the album is majorly influenced by heavy elements in each members lives, elements considered dark by Mark Hoppus (bassist/vocalist). The band wrote lyrics  dealing with breakdowns in communication and trust and tackled with themes of isolation, confusion, depression, addiction and loss. Mark Hoppus struggled with writing upbeat, happy songs for the album and attributed to dark lyricism to the heavy events occurring shortly before the reunion.

For example, I focused on one song on the album called ‘After Midnight’. The lyrics are centred around romance. The song revolves around two broken individuals who fall in love. The music video to this was released in January 2012, it combines a narrative of young lovers sneaking around a youth psychiatric ward and performance shots of the band performing.

Introduction to the ‘After Midnight’ music video

The music video begins with a mid shot of the sign saying ‘youth psychiatric ward’ which straight away tells us the idea of the video, the mid shot is used so the audience are able to read the sign clearly. There is then a wide shot to show the teenagers sat in a canteen, the lighting at this point is dimmed, this is used so show the dark atmosphere around the ward. After this there is a close up of different activities the teenages are participating in, each of which have a blank expression on their face hinting that they are distressed. A close up of a boy is used, he looks up a smiles slightly, an over the shoulder shot is followed, showing that he is smiling at a girl across the room, there is then another close up of the girl, the camera zooms into her face slightly demonstrating her realisation of the boy. This allows the audience to understand the main characters of the video. The music the begins as there is a wide shot the blink-182 performing.

Audience

I believe the target audience for this album is mostly teenagers who can possibly relate to the music the band produces. I would not say that I think there is a specific gender because it can relate to a lot of different circumstances that can happen to anyone throughout their life. Personally I am a fan of this album because I think blink-182 are extremely talented musicians and I enjoy the music they make and think the lyrics are inspiring, however I know that a lot of the audience listen to an album such as neighborhoods and use the lyrics as inspiration and it helps them with certain situations that are happening in their personal lives.

Promotion

The band approached sponsorships, song releases and social media incorporation during the roll out of Neighborhoods. Social media such as Twitter and Facebook were present throughout each stage of the release of the album which allowed more direct access and control over the bands music. I think it is good to have a range of different ways to promote an album or any other type of media because focusing on one promotion idea may only target a small group of people so making a variety will reach out.

Packaging

This is the album cover, the front cover is simple yet effective. Blink-182 is  written atop a city skyline. It clearly relates to the name ‘Neighborhoods’. The Neighborhoods sleever contains close family member names to each band member which makes the album more personal.

"Everybody in the world thinks of something unique unto themselves when they hear the word 'Neighborhoods'," Mark Hoppus.

The back lists each song, it includes their record label, a bar code and the blink-182 logo.

Secondary Research

Album: Neighborhoods

Release date: September 27, 2011
Label: Interscope

(Wikipedia)

Neighborhoods was released to mixed reviews from critics: some felt it was a natural evolution from the band's previous releases, while others found it stale and disjointed. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and "Up All Night" and "After Midnight" were released as singles, with both attracting modest success on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart.

Neighborhoods did not sell as well as previous releases. The band looked back at the album with mixed feelings, for example, Tom Delonge admitted that the album may have been not have been as successful because of the bands previous unity problems.

Critical Responses:

Neighborhoods received generally favorable reviews from contemporary music critics. Mike Diver of BBC Music called the album "unexpectedly great.”