Location based narrative

For our next 'Contemporary Media Issues' assessment, we have to create a story on Google Maps using a range of media. We were put in groups and assigned a starting location, ours being Sefton Park

The story we came up with is about a drunk man who falls asleep on a bench in Sefton Park then dreams about being in different parks around the world. The other parks we chose were Central Park, a park in Japan and the one that's under the Eiffel Tower in Paris. He eventually wakes up in Sefton Park and reassesses what he wants from his life.


I found the concept of placing markers and media on Google maps hard to grasp at first, but with help, it became easier to understand. Throughout the journey, we have added in icons and links to nearby restaurants, a job centre and even Alcoholics Anonymous!


Here is the link to our map: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=213945523486648040411.0004b6cabc0b8b9bdbc01&hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=44.550682,32.869211&spn=17.725273,213.678342&source=embed

It's Liverpool!

We have got a brand new film brief for 'Production Practice' called It's Liverpool. The aim is to create a 90 second film advertising Liverpool as a place that people want to come to. This coincides with a competition that is running in which you could win £1000!!! 


The video has to be filmed in Liverpool (obviously) and needs to include a time lapse. We are starting filming tomorrow and hope to create a winning entry! I'm excited to start as I want to learn more skills on the camera and with editing, as this is the area I most want to work in, in the future.


As preparation for a later project, we had a sound workshop with the Sony Z1 cameras using external microphones. This made me feel like a more serious media student as we had to use microphones on poles, like I've seen on TV before so it no longer felt like we were just messing about...even though we were

Creative Facilitation...sounds impressive

Another 'Creativity and Concepts' for you lucky guys. On Tuesday we were told to get into groups and sit by a whiteboard. Mysterious.

We were then given the task of coming up with an idea for a JMU day long festival, which would take place in the summer, using the budget of £1000. The target audience would be students, staff and members of the public so there were no limits at all. Throughout the process, each member of our group would take it in turns to be a facilitator, which is a person who takes charge and steers the idea creating process in the right way, ensuring there are no "road blocks" and there is a steady flow of our ideas. Firstly we had to come up with as many concepts as we could, and then use convergent thinking to narrow them down and find our 3 best ideas. As seen in the photo below, we came up with some inventive ideas, such as, my personal favourite, monkeys wandering round in tuxedos serving drinks...

Our final 3 ideas were:

1) a silent disco on the Liverpool Duck

2) a Drinking triathlon

3) a flash mob choir

I liked the idea of having a facilitator because I often find myself being easily distracted, and distracting others away from the task by accident. Having someone in charge helps me keep focused and enables the team to work more efficiently.

And the number 1 this week goes to...MY LEFT SHOE!

We've just been given our new 'Creativity and Concepts' assignment brief, called "National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside Commission". Catchy.

The task that we have to is to present an idea for a media exhibit, artefact or event which is designed to appeal to a target group off a predetermined list. This idea will be in the new Liverpool Museum. We need to consider the media habits of the users in order the design the ideal experience for them. We will then need to pitch this to an unknown panel, like Dragons Den without the guy with the weird fringe.

After getting in groups of 3, we were told to name our group...we chose 'My Left Shoe'. As typical MPS goes, other groups names included 'Spales', 'Dev From Corrie' and 'Gryffindor'. WOW. We then had to rank the list of target groups in order of most wanted, to least wanted. Each group had to pick a number out of a hat, to enable fair assignment of the target groups. Luckily we got number 1 so got our top choice, which is Music lovers. I hope that this will provide us with the best chance of coming up with a successful idea...

Number One Encourager...

So for the first 'Creativity and Concepts' session back after Christmas, we had to do a quiz to find out what type of team member we are. This is important as it can help us make the most effective team, with members being high in various areas.

My results were as followed: 

 Evaluator 2

 Ideas Person 6

 Leader 7

 Compromiser 7

 Summariser 2

 Recorder 2

 Encourager 11

This showed I scored high as an encourager, which is very true as i like to raise spirits and encourage people to do things that they think I can't. Admittedly this normally comes into plan on a night out, "You can have another drink, you don't need to go home yet" but it also has been seen to come into play on media projects, such as People On The Move. 

Getting a grip of my life...

Every 2 months I tend to put a blog post up saying how I have slacked on blogging and how I will start to them more regularly. Then I fail at this and have to another post saying how I will get a grip. But this time I'm serious. Definitely.