Before getting into our groups to answer our chosen set questions, we first learnt about different types of questions we can ask in our research. They were 2 types: Quantitative Research and Qualitative Research.
Quantitative Research is answers are from a multiple choice, or a rating, such as from 1-10 and are easy to analyse. These are ideal for quick little surveys to provide a snapshot of people's opinions but with no explanations.
Qualitative Research allows people to respond in their own written way, allowing for rich and detailed answers. These are harder to analyse but it is worth it as you find out exactly what people are thinking and why
I found it easy to learn about this research as I had previously covered it in A Level Psychology. In my 2 years of this course, this has been the only piece of information I have already known - everything else has been completely new but I have enjoyed this because it proves that I am a quick learner who can be as successful as people who have known it all for longer. However it was extremely useful to go over it again and to have it applied to what we are now going to use it for. For my chosen question I hope to use a combination of the two to find out exactly what we want to know for our answer.
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
Sunday, 28 October 2012
Applied Media Research Guest Speakers!
I decided it was best to do one big post about all 3 speakers than do 3 separate individual ones so that all the questions will be all in the same place.
1. Digital Fiction Factory
The first guest speaker was Ian Wareing from Digital Fiction Factory. They are a creative partnership between BBC, Channel 4, Creative England and Conker Media (now known as Lime Digital) who specialise is multiplatform media productions. One of the examples of their work was for 'Hollyoaks' called 'Hollyoaks - the Morning After The Night Before'. This grabbed my attention immediately because as I am a huge fan of 'Hollyoaks' I had participated in this multiplatform product and really enjoyed using it as it allowed me to learn more about the characters and interact with the show all day and night, instead of the usual 6.30pm slot.
The question Ian set was:
"The Internet, social media and other open systems have allowed for user
1. Digital Fiction Factory
The first guest speaker was Ian Wareing from Digital Fiction Factory. They are a creative partnership between BBC, Channel 4, Creative England and Conker Media (now known as Lime Digital) who specialise is multiplatform media productions. One of the examples of their work was for 'Hollyoaks' called 'Hollyoaks - the Morning After The Night Before'. This grabbed my attention immediately because as I am a huge fan of 'Hollyoaks' I had participated in this multiplatform product and really enjoyed using it as it allowed me to learn more about the characters and interact with the show all day and night, instead of the usual 6.30pm slot.
The question Ian set was:
"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?"
This question definitely interested me because I think one of the best recent developments within the media is the fact that audiences can interact with characters and storylines, sometimes even having an impact on what will happen. By choosing this question I would get the chance in learning mroe about how audiences can and have participated with their favourite shows which I would enjoy. However I struggled with the wording of the question, not quite knowing where to start in answering it, and how I would go about researching it.
2. Onteca
The second question was set by Jon Wetherall from Onteca. They develop games and applications for Nintendo Wii, iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, Android, Facebook and IPTV. They specialise in free games that entice the customer then asking them to pay for extra content if they want to. This is a very effective tactic as I have often downloaded many free games and ended up paying for the extra content as I've enjoyed the game so much and want to experience more of it. In today's media world, companies need to think of new ways to advertise as more and more people are not watching adverts on TV by either using an on demand service on the Internet, or recording the shows and fast forwarding through them and advertising on free apps is a perfect replacement as you get global outreach.
The question Jon set was:
"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?"
The app area of the media is probably one of the areas I am interested in least as I don't wish to go into the market of sole app development. However in today's modern world you can't escape them and I feel it is important that all popular shows have their own app and offer exclusive extra content on them that is accessible anywhere, as the key thing with having a successful television programme is to have extra content for fans to interact with and offer their opinions with and to be accessible everywhere on a range of devices - which is a mantra I hope to take with me through my career. However gaming apps are not my biggest interest and I probably won't pick this question as I know I will work better with a question that fascinates me greatly
3. Nine Lives Media
The third and final question was presented by Mike Lewis, from Nine Lives Media. They are an independent TV production company that make documentaries, current affairs programmes and drama documentaries. This immediately appealed to me as I am the most interested in TV and that's where I hope my career will take place. Mike's talk was all about multi platform shows - shows that offer extra content on apps, websites and social networks. This appealed to me greatly because I believe that soon all popular shows will be multi platform to increase the 'buzz' about a show and keep fans interested. I love interacting with multi platform shows such as 'The X Factor' and 'Million Pound Drop' and researching these shows would be perfect for me!
The question Mike set was:
"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 am definitely going to choose this question because it appeals to all my major interests within the media: television, audience participation and multi platform programming. In today's world, the 'second screen' is becoming a vital part of watching television, with people tweeting or facebooking all their thoughts about a programme, and therefore creating an online 'buzz' about a programme, for example #XFactor trending every weekend on twitter. This is something I would love to delve in and learn more about as it is only going to become more popular and important in creating shows for television. Also after researching the company 'Nine Lives Media' I was really excited to discover they have created some programmes that I have watched and loved, such as 'Small Teen Big World' and its follow up documentaries, 'Small Teen Bigger World' and 'Small Teen Turns Eighteen' for BBC Three. These documentaries really inspired me as it was fascinating to see what the young girl had to deal with and really opened my eyes up to how everyone is equal and should be treated with respect.
This question definitely interested me because I think one of the best recent developments within the media is the fact that audiences can interact with characters and storylines, sometimes even having an impact on what will happen. By choosing this question I would get the chance in learning mroe about how audiences can and have participated with their favourite shows which I would enjoy. However I struggled with the wording of the question, not quite knowing where to start in answering it, and how I would go about researching it.
2. Onteca
The second question was set by Jon Wetherall from Onteca. They develop games and applications for Nintendo Wii, iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, Android, Facebook and IPTV. They specialise in free games that entice the customer then asking them to pay for extra content if they want to. This is a very effective tactic as I have often downloaded many free games and ended up paying for the extra content as I've enjoyed the game so much and want to experience more of it. In today's media world, companies need to think of new ways to advertise as more and more people are not watching adverts on TV by either using an on demand service on the Internet, or recording the shows and fast forwarding through them and advertising on free apps is a perfect replacement as you get global outreach.
The question Jon set was:
"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?"
The app area of the media is probably one of the areas I am interested in least as I don't wish to go into the market of sole app development. However in today's modern world you can't escape them and I feel it is important that all popular shows have their own app and offer exclusive extra content on them that is accessible anywhere, as the key thing with having a successful television programme is to have extra content for fans to interact with and offer their opinions with and to be accessible everywhere on a range of devices - which is a mantra I hope to take with me through my career. However gaming apps are not my biggest interest and I probably won't pick this question as I know I will work better with a question that fascinates me greatly
3. Nine Lives Media
The third and final question was presented by Mike Lewis, from Nine Lives Media. They are an independent TV production company that make documentaries, current affairs programmes and drama documentaries. This immediately appealed to me as I am the most interested in TV and that's where I hope my career will take place. Mike's talk was all about multi platform shows - shows that offer extra content on apps, websites and social networks. This appealed to me greatly because I believe that soon all popular shows will be multi platform to increase the 'buzz' about a show and keep fans interested. I love interacting with multi platform shows such as 'The X Factor' and 'Million Pound Drop' and researching these shows would be perfect for me!
The question Mike set was:
"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 am definitely going to choose this question because it appeals to all my major interests within the media: television, audience participation and multi platform programming. In today's world, the 'second screen' is becoming a vital part of watching television, with people tweeting or facebooking all their thoughts about a programme, and therefore creating an online 'buzz' about a programme, for example #XFactor trending every weekend on twitter. This is something I would love to delve in and learn more about as it is only going to become more popular and important in creating shows for television. Also after researching the company 'Nine Lives Media' I was really excited to discover they have created some programmes that I have watched and loved, such as 'Small Teen Big World' and its follow up documentaries, 'Small Teen Bigger World' and 'Small Teen Turns Eighteen' for BBC Three. These documentaries really inspired me as it was fascinating to see what the young girl had to deal with and really opened my eyes up to how everyone is equal and should be treated with respect.
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Magical Illusion
Our first project in 'Beyond the Camera' was to create a magical illusion on Photoshop by manipulating a still image using the software. I was initially worried about this because as I've mentioned before I've not been the most confident with this software. However after having another tutorial in one of our lessons I feel so much more comfortable with Photoshop and felt confident to go ahead with this assignment.
The first thing I had to do was think of an idea. Creating ideas has always been one of my strong points and because we could do absolutely anything at all it was wide open. I definitely wanted to think of an idea that noone else would so I decided to choose an interest of mine that many don't share. One of my favourite animals are is a whale so I liked the idea of putting a whale in an unusual place. I ran with this idea and decided to not just stop with a whale but use an underwater scene too. My initial idea was to put an underwater scene behind a window looking into a living room with someone sitting on a couch by the window unaware of what was behind them. However I chose to change this into something even more unusual and decided to go with the idea of having an image of someone holding a glass. However in that glass there will be an underwater scene with a whale jumping out of it.
I went to the Blue Planet Aquarium to take some of my own photos so that I could use my own images for the underwater scene. Thankfully there was a special tropical section and I managed to take the perfect image that I was going to put into the image I also took of someone holding a glass. Unfortunately as there are no local whales I had to find a copyright free image of a whale to use.
My first draft:
Assembling my composition was easier than I originally thought as thanks to the tutorial I had received I knew my way around Photoshop. Also I found that there were a wide range of tutorials online that provided me with instant help if I encountered any issues. this was great to know as when I begin to experiment more with Photoshop I know that I can just go to these tutorials and get answers to any problem I have! I will definitely go on to learn more about the software because I know that it is an essential skill to have in the media industry.
The first thing I had to do was think of an idea. Creating ideas has always been one of my strong points and because we could do absolutely anything at all it was wide open. I definitely wanted to think of an idea that noone else would so I decided to choose an interest of mine that many don't share. One of my favourite animals are is a whale so I liked the idea of putting a whale in an unusual place. I ran with this idea and decided to not just stop with a whale but use an underwater scene too. My initial idea was to put an underwater scene behind a window looking into a living room with someone sitting on a couch by the window unaware of what was behind them. However I chose to change this into something even more unusual and decided to go with the idea of having an image of someone holding a glass. However in that glass there will be an underwater scene with a whale jumping out of it.
I went to the Blue Planet Aquarium to take some of my own photos so that I could use my own images for the underwater scene. Thankfully there was a special tropical section and I managed to take the perfect image that I was going to put into the image I also took of someone holding a glass. Unfortunately as there are no local whales I had to find a copyright free image of a whale to use.
My first draft:
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Stay Fresh, Liverpool!
This afternoon sees something very exciting return to all our lives...it's the long awaited return of James Dunn and myself's radio show, Stay Fresh, Liverpool on Looprevil radio station.
This is something that I really enjoy in my life and helps me learn new skills within radio. I want to take it to the next level this year, with more features, more guests and more listeners! I plan to advertise the show more to gather more interest as it would be great to have people who we don't know listen to the show, not just all our friends and family!
If you've never listened why not give it a go today? We're on 4pm-6pm on http://looprevilradio.co.uk/ and it definitely makes for an interesting and humorous listen!
We also have a facebook group on Stay Fresh, Liverpool Facebook which plays a huge part in our show as listeners write posts to respond to what we are discussing. We focus a huge part of the show on the listeners as they are truly what makes the show what it is.
So yeah, please have a listen today as we would love to reach an all time high on our first show back!
Thankyou :D
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Avid Awards 2012!
As the second year was only just beginning, we were all in for a pleasant surprise. Avid, the makers of video editing software that we use in university in first year, had decided to very kindly sponsor an Awards Evening in association with the Liverpool Screen School. This was in order to celebrate all of our first year films that we had made, not just on our course of Media Professional Studies, but also on Film Studies and Broadcast Media Production. I thought that this was a good idea as it allowed for all newly second years to get together and appreciate each others work, as we don't normally get the chance to see what each other has done.
I was fortunate enough to be nominated for 'Best Location Film' and 'Best Factual Film'. I was so proud of my group and myself to be even nominated for 1, let alone 2 awards for 2 different films. It gave me the realisation that this was definitely the right course for me, and it felt amazing to have work that I played such a huge part in, actually be appreciated by industry professionals. It was also lovely to see that quite a few of my friends had been nominated too!
Here is a link to the film that was nominated for 'Best Location Film':
Hopefully soon I will put up the film that was nominated for 'Best Factual Film'
So awards night came, and my uni mates and I all went down to the Redmonds Building for the grand ceremony to begin (well it was in a lecture theatre but one lecturer was wearing a tux so it was basically the Oscars). We took our seats and the anticipation was flying through the air. It came to our first nominated category, 'Best Location Film' and unfortunately we lost but the winners definitely deserved it. More awards were given to others then it came to our second nominated category, 'Best Factual Film' and we WON!!! I then had to awkwardly go down in front of every and accept the award with my group. I was really happy to win the award as it proved, not just to me, but to others who may think I am a slacker, that I actually work hard and do the work well.
Here is the LJMU article on the awards night:
Winning definitely inspired me to continue working hard as it showed myself that I've got the ability to succeed. It also inspired me to start making my own films in the summer as I don't want to be distracted from uni work, but watch this space!
Here's my award:
Also major congratulations to my good friend, Joe Costin, who won 'Most Original Film' with his group. And thankyou to my group of Cathryn Appleton, Lois Bunker and Molly Dale for being an amazing group to work with!
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Applied Media Research Introduction
We recently had the first introductory session of 'Applied Media Research'. This module is all about, as the title suggests, research within the media. I've found that research is really important within the media because it is vital you know what the audience's needs and wants are otherwise you end up spending money on, for example, a programme that receives low ratings and criticism.
Over this module, we will have 3 guest speakers and each of them set us a question. We then choose the question we want to do and answer it in a presentation after collating a variety of research from focus groups, questionnaires and academic research using the Internet, journals and books.
This module interests me because I've always found researching things fascinating as I love to know more about topics and love knowing people's opinions on things, especially the media! I am really excited for the 3 guest speakers as they will be industry professionals from different areas and will give us an insight into what it is like to be successful.
Over this module, we will have 3 guest speakers and each of them set us a question. We then choose the question we want to do and answer it in a presentation after collating a variety of research from focus groups, questionnaires and academic research using the Internet, journals and books.
This module interests me because I've always found researching things fascinating as I love to know more about topics and love knowing people's opinions on things, especially the media! I am really excited for the 3 guest speakers as they will be industry professionals from different areas and will give us an insight into what it is like to be successful.
Monday, 1 October 2012
Summary of Semester 1 modules
Year 2 has officially began and with this comes a whole load of new and exciting modules and I can't wait to get stuck in! Here's a summary of them!
Digital Media Cultures
Digital Media Cultures is the theoretical module, all about a range of different areas of the media, from television formats, to music, to social networks. We then have to produce an essay based on one of these lectures as we will get to choose from a range of questions. I am excited for this module as I've never really learnt much about media theory before. I am going to ensure that I attend every week because I want to have the best choice of questions so by going to every lecture I will know all about each of the topics and make an informed decision. I am most excited for the lecture about television formats because this is the area of the media that fascinates me and where I hope my career will be.
Beyond The Camera
Beyond The Camera is the follow up module from last year's Digital Media Tools. We will learn more about Photoshop and After Effects in order to create our own Magical Illusion image using Photoshop and then a digital artefact which combines our self sourced sounds and images to create a story. I am most nervous about this module as last year's Digital Media Tools wasn't my strongest area, and I'm not the best at being experimental with sounds and images. However this just means that I am more eager to learn more about the software and already feel more confident with Photoshop after practicing with it over Summer.
TV Studio
The TV Studio module was the main selling point for me picking Media Professional Studies as my degree choice because television is where I've always wanted my career to be focused on. One of the most exciting aspects of this module is that we are one of the first to use the amazing brand new TV studio worth over £1million!!! In this module we have to create a 15-25 minute daytime TV programme with a guest and that guest doing a demo. It has to be a quirky idea that would fit perfectly on Channel 4 lunchtimes. I can not wait to get stuck in to this module as I've always had plenty of ideas for new TV shows and I am an expert at daytime TV!
Digital Media Cultures
Digital Media Cultures is the theoretical module, all about a range of different areas of the media, from television formats, to music, to social networks. We then have to produce an essay based on one of these lectures as we will get to choose from a range of questions. I am excited for this module as I've never really learnt much about media theory before. I am going to ensure that I attend every week because I want to have the best choice of questions so by going to every lecture I will know all about each of the topics and make an informed decision. I am most excited for the lecture about television formats because this is the area of the media that fascinates me and where I hope my career will be.
Beyond The Camera
Beyond The Camera is the follow up module from last year's Digital Media Tools. We will learn more about Photoshop and After Effects in order to create our own Magical Illusion image using Photoshop and then a digital artefact which combines our self sourced sounds and images to create a story. I am most nervous about this module as last year's Digital Media Tools wasn't my strongest area, and I'm not the best at being experimental with sounds and images. However this just means that I am more eager to learn more about the software and already feel more confident with Photoshop after practicing with it over Summer.
TV Studio
The TV Studio module was the main selling point for me picking Media Professional Studies as my degree choice because television is where I've always wanted my career to be focused on. One of the most exciting aspects of this module is that we are one of the first to use the amazing brand new TV studio worth over £1million!!! In this module we have to create a 15-25 minute daytime TV programme with a guest and that guest doing a demo. It has to be a quirky idea that would fit perfectly on Channel 4 lunchtimes. I can not wait to get stuck in to this module as I've always had plenty of ideas for new TV shows and I am an expert at daytime TV!
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