Thursday, 23 April 2015

My name is Jeff overdub

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9zW_kbesVs&feature=youtu.be

In this lesson a group of us went to record some sounds which we thought would be good for the clip in 22 jump street. We used props such pens, card board boxes, draws, our feet and a sound app on my phone. This task was quite difficult because it was hard to sync the sound effects up to video and I think that shows in the video therefore if I was to do this task again I would spend more time perfecting it so it would look more realistic. I enjoyed doing this task because it was very different to the other tasks we do in college and it allowed us be very creative.

Animation soundtrack feedback

Monday, 13 April 2015

Assignment 3 initial ideas

Poster

  • Posters can be placed anywhere, for example they can be placed on buildings around a city which catch the attention of the public. I think a poster would be very effective because it will grab the audiences attention within seconds, posters don't need to be full of information, they don't even need to include many words as long as it is persuasive and has a link to a website or email which gives more information. 
  • The poster can contain any gossip from the city or events that can attract the younger generation. 
  • A monthly poster which is placed around the city giving out information about events. 
Video clip/viral

  • I think a video would be affective because it can be over social media sites which will be shared with a large audience, especially the younger generation. The video can include the main attractions in Bath and what the city has to offer. I would include information about Bath College which will appeal to teens and give information about the different courses and what they have to offer. 
  • The video will feature what the Chronicle includes what they feature in the newspaper as well was short past pace clips of Bath and what it has to offer. 
Radio

  • Adding a radio advert with a catchy jingle can familiarise the product to the audience and make it well known. If the advert is added to a well known station that appeals to the younger generation for example radio 1 or kiss FM. 
OR
  • A radio station for The Bath Chronicle which is aimed at the younger generation, it will include lighthearted news stories and gossip from around Bath that will be included in the newspaper as well. It will be hosted by younger presenters therefore the audience can relate, as well as news stories the station will include competitions and humour to keep the audience engaged. 
Online 

  • Posting adverts on websites that receive a lot of views is one way to get the word out. Social networking sites such as Facebook, twitter, instagram etc have advertising programs with ads tailored to a particular demographic. These adverts can show up next to specific target products. 
  • The Bath Chronicle have their own Facebook page which can be linked on all of the other online networks.
  • Improving the current sites to make them appealing to the younger generation.


Sunday, 12 April 2015

Bath Chronicle Day 1


On the first day the Bath Chronicle placement, a group of four of us were given a different example of a rough copy of an article for this weeks magazine and website. Firstly I was given a story about the importance of apprenticeships for the younger generation, we were asked to include key facts and quotes however make it more interesting and readable for the audience. This is my finished article:


Norton Radstock College is no stranger to the West of England Rural Network, the local Enterprise Partnership and Bath Spa University considering they have been working alongside each other on the Connect-VET project for about one-and-a-half years, they share good practise with partners across seven different countries including Finland, Italy, Spain and Estonia. Norton Radstock College appreciate the work from the other networks, which was demonstrated by Rosaleen, “It’s been really good to learn from other countries and to come together to move forward.” She then added: “It’s all about building links between the college, the university and businesses to help develop the local economy.”
Andy Jeffery, owner of Farrington’s Farm Shop also illustrates his strong views on the importance of colleges and education, “Our experience is that most rural businesses don’t realise how much help the local colleges and training providers can be to them.”
Employers are due to participate in yet another business breakfast on Wednesday, April 22 at Newton Farm Village Hall, Newton St Loe.
For further information, get in touch with Project Leader Rosaleen Courtney at Norton Radstock College, email rosaleen.courtney@nortcoll.ac.uk


After businesses from engineering, computing, tourism and service industries were informed how apprentices can boost the local economy, Norton Radstock College and Bath Spa University took action.


Staff from the College and University indulge in a business breakfast at Farrington’s Farm shop with more than 25 company representatives to discuss the benefits of apprenticeships and work placements. The event was part of a European project called Connect-VET, which aims to develop innovations in the vocational education and training sector. Connect-VET aims to maintain a strong bond between employers and students during their studies and increase their readiness for entrepreneurship.


Rosaleen Courtney, the project leader and colleague at Norton Radstock College, “We address funding issues and spread the word on how apprenticeships and work placements can fill any gaps.”
When we had finished that we were given a second press release, my second one was similar to the first because it was about why bushiness should employ apprentices. This is the finished article:
Report reveals five million consumers would prefer to do business with apprentice employers.

Endless opportunities for the younger generation have arisen due to the Benefits of Apprenticeships to Businesses study which has illustrated that offering apprenticeships were perceived by three quarters of consumers in the South West. An amazing five million consumers nationwide are more likely to make a purchase from an apprentice employer. More than one in four consumers in the South West say they would go as far as even paying more for goods and services offered by companies that employ apprentices.

National Apprenticeship Week starts today with events across the country to celebrate the success of apprenticeships that have been transformed over recent years. The report, launched to mark the start of week, is part of a national drive to promote the benefits of apprenticeships that have made a difference therefore they are more responsive to employers.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “In launching National Apprenticeship Week we are celebrating the 2.1 millions apprenticeship starts since 2010 and the positive impact they are having on businesses around the country.”
Businesses employing apprentices can enjoy a number of other financial benefits, such as increased long-term productivity. Typical apprentice delivers productivity gains of over £10,000 per annum, this is almost double the construction and planning, and engineering and manufacturing sectors. Luckily for some, even if an apprentice is not fully qualified, many businesses will see economic benefits of offering apprenticeships.

Skills Minister Nick Boles said: “This research is further proof that apprenticeships deliver for businesses as well as providing life changing opportunities for young people.”

As part of National Apprenticeship Week, employers are being encouraged to share their reasons for employing apprentices on social media, with #100reasonswhy.

To find out more about National Apprenticeship Week, search for apprenticeships on www.gov.uk.

The Bath Chronicle Day 2


After finding an article in the national news that I thought would be interesting to cover I went into the centre of Bath and took part in a vox pop. I covered a story about David Cameron sending his youngest daughter, Nancy, 11 to a state school. When I had received the research I needed I wrote up an article on the subject:
David Cameron sets out to be the first serving Conservative PM to send his daughter to state school.

From September, the youngest of the family, 11-year-old Nancy will be attending The Grey Coat Hospital school in Westminster, which was founded in 1698 and is now a Church of England academy.


Grey Coat Hospital is thought to be the second choice for the family after another church school in West London. The decision to accept a place at the school just down the road from Downing Street is a bold decision by Mr Cameron which is likely to be seen as an indication that he will remain Prime Minister after the election in May.

Nancy, amongst hundreds of thousands of other children found out whether they got into the school of the their choice, luckily for Nancy there was no doubt she would get into the school which was rated "outstanding" in its latest Ofsted inspection.


Reports in the national have said that Mr Cameron has been paying regular private visits to the school over the past couple of years, it is clear that he was impressed by the school.


Head teacher Sian Maddrell describes the school as being "committed to ensuring that each student is known as an individual, develops the knowledge, skills and personal qualities to lead successful and fulfilling lives, and is empowered to do so."


Students from Bath College ask the people of Bath what they think of David Cameron’s decision to send his daughter to state school.

The first Prime Minister to send their child to a state school and since the country has been informed about David Cameron’s latest decision to send daughter, Nancy, aged 11 to state school, Grey Coat Hospital Academy the reactions are mixed.


Whitehall Garden Centre employee, Abbie Nelson, 17 said: “Good for him, why should David need to send Nancy to a private school”

“He isn't doing this for votes, I strongly believe keeping his reputation up is not more important than the well being Nancy.”

Jill Pearce, 68 from Bath said: “I’m not surprised by this at all.”

“Of course he is doing it for votes, every decision he makes is to improve his reputation.”


Anne Wilmot, 72 from Bath said:

“It’s fine, why shouldn't he send his daughter to a state school.”

“The school is well known.”

“He definitely isn’t doing this for votes, this is his personal life and it is nobody’s business.”


James Marcelle, 19 from Frome said:

“This is yet another publicity stunt.”


“I am no longer surprised by David Cameron’s attention seeking tactics.”

“Of course this is to gain votes, he is trying to demonstrate that he is not stuck up.”

Thursday, 19 March 2015

Newspaper case study

The newspaper: Gazette & Herald
The date: Monday 9th March, 2015
The news event: Soldiers march through Chippenham to mark Commonwealth Day.

The article has the name of the newspaper at the top of the page followed by an advert, the headline of the article is also clearly shown at the top. Below the headline there is an photograph of the event taking place which has a brief description of what is happening in the photograph and who took it. Under that, the date and location is stated as well as the name of the write of the article. On the right hand side of the article there is an advert and a list of the most read articles.

The article discussed how three hundred soldiers marched though Chippenham for the 9 Regiment's first official celebration of Commonwealth Day. About 550 schoolchildren and many others in the community lined the streets to witness the soldiers marching from Wood Lance car park down The causeway, Market Place, High Street and The Bridge to Bath road car park.

The Gazette and Herald is a local weekly paid-for newspaper, established in 1816. It is published every Thursday and serves the areas and communities of Devizes, Calne, Chippenham, Wootton Bassett, Swindon, Marlborough, Malmesbury, Corsham, Box and areas in North Wiltshire. The newspaper was originally the Devizes and Wiltshire Gazette in 1822.

I went online to find an article because I think that a lot of people nowadays prefer to access news that way because it is a lot easier and efficient. Considering it is online there is no surprise that there are adverts popping up onto the website, I also noticed that there was a number of social networking site logos next to the photograph with in very unsurprising for this day in age.

The newspaper: Gazette and Herald
The date: Thursday, March 12, 2015

The front cover is mixed, it has a strong splash of stories across the page. On the right hand side of the page there is a column listing the news stories that are included in the newspaper, each subject has a different colour font for their headline. The layout is not unusual, newspapers are known to have a busy cover. There is a bold headline which draws the audience's eyes to the main story.  The cover has an advertisment at the bottom which is up selling the newspaper because the audience want to know more about the deals.


The newspaper: News of the world
The date: October 1, 1843
The news event, MP, Tory Jeffrey is caught paying off vice girls.

The front page of the magazine is split into two different stories, the main story is clear because the headline is a lot bigger than all of the other text and then their is a secondary overlapping story. This design and layout is typical for the time of the newspaper.

Background:
The News of the World was a national newspaper published in the UK from 1843 to 2011. The newspaper concentrated in celebrity and populist based news. Its fondness for sex scandals gained it the nicknames News of the Screws and Screws of the world. It had the reputation for exposing national of local celebrities' drug use, sexual peccadilloes, or criminal acts.

The front page:
It was announced on 7 July 2011 that after 168 years in print the newspaper would print its final edition on 10 July 2011 after the ongoing phone hacking scandal which caused a loss 200 jobs. There was a speculation that News international would launch a Sunday edition of The Sun to replace the News of the World, and it did, on 26 February 2012.

Design:
The front page is simple and dramatic, the eyes are automatically drawn the the bold headline in the middle, the story is easily understood by the headline and the article to the right which is a lot smaller. I am quite surprised by this front page it doesn't look that different from a modern newspaper, I would expect the layout to be a lot busier but I was shocked to only see two different stories being brought to the attention of the audience, typically of its time there were a variety of different typefaces.








Tuesday, 17 March 2015

Analysis of requirements

The main issue for the client is that there is just one main demographic for the Bath News and Media (BNM), the context in the newspaper and how it is presented is only aimed at a group of people. Although now there is a larger scale of media products for news, the paper is still widely used however it is becoming less and less approachable to the younger generation.


I feel that the BNM need to resolve this because the younger generation need to have a better understanding of what content is in the newspaper. Lyne, the editor chief of the Bath Chronicle spoke about how the newspaper is doing well however they need to carry on the success of the paper. BNM need to reach out to the younger generation so they gain an understanding of what the newspaper is about and what is produces so they can appreciate it when they become the right demographic. The problems newspapers are currently facing are that the traditional revenue model of UK newspaper publishers has been torn up by falling demand for print media and declines in advertising revenue.

  • They need to attract a younger demographic therefore they can future proof their brand, if the younger generation are aware of the BNM product then they can gain a better understanding of the content therefore when they are old enough to be part of the ABC1 demographic it is aimed at they know about newspaper and they can use it, which will be good for BNM.
  • They need to remain recognisable and established to not only the local area but a broader audience to keep the business going.
  • BNM will need to earn enough money to keep the business running and continue to pay their employees.


The demographic targeted is 16-25 year olds who enjoy socialising with friends, social media and participating in individual hobbies. A large majority of demographic live at home therefore they are aware of the newspaper but do not buy it themselves however some will have their own jobs and cars. They need to have enough money to pay for their everyday life, a majority of them will need to have enough money to pay for travel to get to where they are being educated.

Thursday, 12 March 2015

Work Experience Day 5

On our final day of work experience, the group of four were determined to complete the work we had been working on other the week.
Firstly I updated my recent article about Thicke and Williams stealing Marvin Gaye's hit son Got to Give It Up.

Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams plagiarised their hit Blurred Lines from Marvin Gaye's 1977 song Got to Give It Up and have been ordered by a court to pay $7.4 million to the singer's children for infringement of copyright.

Nona Gaye, daughter of Marvin Gaye wept as the jury read the verdict and was hugged by her attorney, Richard Busch.
“Right now, I feel free,” Nona Gaye said after the verdict. “Free from… Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s chains and what they tried to keep on us and the lies that were told.”

Thicke and Williams had denied copying the hit and Williams told jurors that Gaye’s music was part of the soundtrack of his youth. But the seven-time Grammy winner said he didn’t use any of it to create blurred lines. Meanwhile, the Gaye family's lawyer said he wanted to stop the sales of Blurred Lines. “They fought this fight despite every odd being against them,” Busch said of the Gaye family outside court.

Williams, 41, signed a document stating he didn’t use any other artists’ work in the music and would be responsible if a successful copyright claim was raised as Thicke testified he was not present when the song was written, despite receiving credit.

An expert for the Gaye family said there were eight distinct elements from Got to Give It Up that were used in Blurred Lines, however an expert for Williams and Thicke denied that those similarities existed.
Bath College students played both songs to 20 shoppers in Bath and after hearing both songs, 80 percent said that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams’ hit Blurred Lines sounded the same to the 1977 hit Got to Give It Up. The remaining 20 percent recognised the similarity however did not understand the issues raised.


When asked is it fair for the artists to pay Marvin’s family the large sum of money the reactions were mixed, with around 60% agreeing they should pay. However the remaining 40% say it is too extreme.

After that I wrote up an article about the Zimbabwe and contemporary classical music combination event the day before:

New hybrid genre is brought to City of Bath College when Zimbabwe and classical music is combined.

Professor of Music at Bath Spa University, Amanda Bailey organised for Zimbabwe musician Chartwell Dutiro and dancer Denise Rowe, members of Mbira Academy to collaborate with Exeter Contemporary Sounds string quartet, Julie Hill, Andrew Gillett and Jane Price.

The group was welcomed into City Of Bath to take part in a workshop with performing arts and music students, demonstrating their individual heritages and meeting in the middle.

The workshop started off with an introduction to the two different genres of music and a demonstration of each which familiarised the students with the work of the professionals whilst they prepared to be split into two groups. One group took part in dancing, Denise discussed her inspiration from contemporary and African dance. “I am interested in the connection between person and planet that is pivotal in traditional African dance forms and essential to our understanding of what it is to be alive.”

The other group were joined by the string quartet trio that showed students the art of contemporary classical music. The students played their individual instruments whilst being introduced to an unusual type of rhythm.

Chartwell explained how he met Amanda Bailey when doing a performance 18 months ago which was when she suggested it would be a nice idea to do a collaboration with Exeter Contemporary Sounds.

Director of Tolo Ko Tolo dance company, Denise Rowe is a movement artist, choreographer, dancer, musician and creative producer drawing primarily from traditional and contemporary pan-African dance forms and non stylised/environmental movement.

Amanda Bailey’s research interests are based around the idea of performance and analysis; processes of composition, rehearsal and performance in contemporary music; string quartets; and ethnomusicology. The professor spoke about the importance of the contrast of cultures: “Separate curricular enables them to combine ideas together.”

Wednesday, 11 March 2015

Work Experience Day 4

A politician from UKIP came into the college to be interviewed, firstly we prepared some questions to ask him which were:


  • Why did you decide to join UKIP?

  • What are the main policies for UKIP?

  • Why are you perceived as a racist party?


  • A lot of students do not live locally therefore have to catch trains, buses etc which can be expensive, is there a system you will introduce which means students can get cheaper travel?


  • How do you aim your policies to the younger generation?

  • Teenagers from the ages 14-17 have a limited amount of socialising opportunities for example they can’t go to a pub if you’re under 18 and they are a bit too old for youth clubs? What could you introduce?


  • What is your opinion on Nick Clegg’s recent change of decision about legalising drugs?

  • It is difficult for young people leaving home, what could you do to support them gaining independence from their parents?

Two people filmed the event the other two asked the questions. We will be editing the footage and then send it to the Bath Chronicle.
The response we got from the politician was very interesting and he was great at answering our questions in detail.

Another task that we took part in was doing a box pop around Bath, I asked 20 people what they thought about Robin Thicke and Pharrell Willliams paying Marvin Gaye's family $7.4m after they were accused of copying Marvin's song Got to give it up. I then wrote on article on the subject: 


Marvin Gaye’s children awarded $7.4m by Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over Blurred Lines.

On Tuesday A jury decides Marvin Gaye’s children are the rightful owners of nearly $7.4m after singers Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams copied Marvin’s 1977 hit Got to Give It Up to create Blurred Lines, the biggest hit song of 2013.

Nona Gaye, daughter of Marvin Gaye wept as the jury read the verdict and was hugged by her attorney, Richard Busch. “Right now, I feel free,” Nona Gaye said after the verdict. “Free from… Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke’s chains and what they tried to keep on us and the lies that were told.”

Thicke and Williams denied copying the hit and Williams told jurors that Gaye’s music was part of the soundtrack of his youth. But the seven-time Grammy winner said he didn’t use any of it to create blurred lines. Meanwhile, the Gaye family's lawyer said he wanted to stop the sales of Blurred Lines. “They fought this fight despite every odd being against them,” Busch said of the Gaye family outside court.

Williams, 41, signed a document stating he didn’t use any other artists’ work in the music and would be responsible if a successful copyright claim was raised as Thicke testified he was not present when the song was written, despite receiving credit.

An expert for the Gaye family said there were eight distinct elements from Got to Give It Up that were used in Blurred Lines, however an expert for Williams and Thicke denied that those similarities existed.
Students played both songs to 20 shoppers in Bath and after hearing both songs, 80% of say that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams’ hit Blurred Lines sounded exactly the same to the 1977 hit Got to Give It Up. The remaining 20% recognised the similarity however did not understand the issues raised.


When asked is it fair for the artists to pay Marvin’s family the large sum of money the reactions were varied, around 60% say it is fair to pay up. However the remaining 40% say it is too extreme.

Work Experience Day 3


Bath Spa organised a workshop for the college involving music and performing arts students. African musicians performed with classical musicians. The hybrid event was put on to inspire the students, whether they wanted to involve themselves in dancing, acting, singing or playing a musical instrument. The media students involved in the bath chronicle work experience were asked to film the performance which will be made into a 3 minute film of highlights. After filming we interviewed the musicians, this will be made into an article.

Sunday, 8 March 2015

Directors


‘I like my films to be visceral – to burst right through the door at the beginning’

Danny Boyle is an English film director, producer, screenwriter and theatre director, known for his work on films such as Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire, and 127 Hours.
I found a video of Danny discussing how his style of film is influenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvvxnhstDIg

At a point in the video he discusses how film directors come up with the ideas of a film and he says, ‘’you discover it as you go along” this depicts that he feels that you don’t need to stick to a specific schedule and you should pick up ideas and inspiration on the way.


Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. He is best known for his atmospheric and concentrated visual style.
In his own words: “I’m a filmmaker, not a documentarian. I try to hit the truth.”

“Scott was one of the first to make the crossover, developing his ability to sell a product in 30 seconds into a knack for selling a story in 100 minutes.”

Even without dialogue, a Ridley Scott film is recognised by the use of lighting, shadow, wide shots and extreme detail.

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3pvcVWnedc



COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Ridley Scott has a more recognisable style, it appears that people can separate his films from others purely because of the camera angles. When I looked back at my film I thought about some shots that I could’ve done differently with inspiration of Ridley and I decided that wide shots could’ve been used in my film.

Example of wide shots: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHcHYisZFLU

Thursday, 12 February 2015

Political film evaluation


Overall I am pleased with how everything went however there is a slight problem with my film due to the absence of one of my main characters I had a use a different student to play his part which might make the film quite confusing. However apart from that I am pleased with each video shot, I have used a range of shots including pan shots, tilt shots, mid shots and close ups. I had planned each shot before filming therefore it was a lot easier and quicker to film. However at the beginning I struggled with using the camera, for example I found it difficult to get the camera to focus on the characters. I am not completely happy with my audio purely because of background noise and because I am new to filming I still struggle to get perfect audio.

If I could do this project again I would give myself more time to film, I left some of it to last minute and waited for the majority of my group to finish their filming therefore I felt like I was rushing a bit. I also assumed that editing the footage wouldn’t of taken as long as it did. Lastly I would’ve spent more time thinking about the structure and storyline of my movie because I feel like my script was quite difficult to write and reenact when filming.

For my next project I will spend a lot of time trying to make it as successful as I can and not rush it at all. I will also look into using different microphones to get a better audio.
During this project I enjoyed working with a group of people and filming together, I also liked being creative when writing the script. The people in my group were very helpful and reliable, they had time to be in my film and they were very patient with me. I found that working in a group with people was better because they encouraged me and helped me whenever I got stuck. I am pleased with the planning and pre production, it feels like such a long time ago I created a schedule however I’m so glad I did because it gave me goals to achieve for each section of the pre production.