Critical Thinking Update

So after todays lesson with Ben i now have a better understanding of what is needed to do and i feel with a bit of research and better knowledge of the flash itself i can make a good enough flash site that will be good enough. I spoke to Ben about my idea for what i want to do with my work and originally i was thinking about doing a stage with curtains opening but thinking over it i thought it would be a bit stereotypical and cliche. I then had an idea pop up that maybe get a background image something quite scenic or abstract then have like a camera lense on it being able to take it then it heading into the website i think it will be a nice touch or have like a play menu that goes into the site. I still want to keep the same idea of having a bit about the background of my interviewee then show the clips of the interview and maybe even show some of his work.

Once i knew i had to interview someone with a more creative background i have done a research about local cameramen and come on a website of Jon O'Neill. I found some of his work greatly interesting and i feel some of the stuff is i want to get in. So it would be great if i could get him for a chat. But obviously if i don't there is a few others i could try its just about me taking time out to do some research and emailing people about getting an interview. But i need to know as soon as possible to help me start my flashsite because i then can start sorting out what i need to put on in it terms off background of my interviewee. But until then i can just make a start on what i want to do.

Below is a bit of sample work of what Ben showed me and this is the kind of thing i will be looking to do

Critical Thinking(Who Will I interview)

So this week I now have to start thinking about who i will be interviewing for my flash project and what style I want to go for with it. The aim is to get advice from someone in the industry. The kind of work I am looking to get into is video production so doing things such as sound and filming and eventually getting into more theatre production doing lighting and sound productions. The flash we will be making is going to used to explain how people can get into the world of production and i have got to use a variety of video, pictures and sound clips.

Last Year I did a placement at The Hive which is based at NTU and in my time there I managed to build up a good relationship with my boss Sean. So my first choice would be him. Simply because he has got a great knowledge of how to help people achieve what they want to. Teaches sessions on a good CV and interview techniques and i think for what i want to achieve he would be perfect for an interview as i could get a lot of material from him to put towards.my site. He also does a lot of networking and knows people in the industry who i could interview and he basically helps with entrepreneurship.  If i fail to manage to get him i would try Paul Hough because he has got experience in video production and is currently working free lance and has built up a big list of contacts and it would be interesting to see how he has managed to built this all up.

The kind of questions i would be asking is how they started, as a creative person what do i need to make sure i put myself ahead of everyone else in the crowd? How do i build up a decent portfolio and what should be included in it? when should i be doing this? how did they start out and what did they do build up there portfolio.

How I want the site to be laid out is pretty simple. I want my audience to be able to read though it and feel that everything is understandable. They should be able to look and it understand completely how to get whats going on. The background should be something simple like maybe a studio or something to link in with my industry of choice. Like maybe have some stage curtains opening to see the site.

 First of all i want an introduction explaining who i will be interviewing and write a little about their experience and current job. This might mean putting a link into the site from something linkedin. Then i would put on the interview showing the key moments and picking out certain things that i would find important. This might be done on something like adobe premier and then put this on the site. My aim would maybe interview them for about twenty minutes and then each question separate them into different categories.

Adverts

So in last weeks lesson with Paul we started to get to grips with the course and learn what is going to be required of us. We had a discussion about different ways adverts are disturbed and an advert that we liked. The link for it is below.

The advert i decided to watch was an advert from about ten years ago for lynx. Its a simple idea and it is something that lynx uses in their adverts now. Lynx is basically saying once you spray yourself makes you irresistible to women. Is it true? Well i can say for a fact that its not true...not that I've tried it or anything. But its a great way of showing that the product is a step above the rest and once you use it you become a sex symbol to women who probably would not see you in that way.

The reason i like this advert is because its funny. If there is one thing i like when it comes to adverts its something that is funny and memorable something you will be talking about the next day at school or work. This is a great way of  selling a product or making you more aware of the product. Lynx adverts have a brilliant blend of using comedy with sex appeal. The women used are usually have a certain look about them. and what is that look? Sexy plain and simple. Some might deem this as a little bit sexist but it sells and this has not stopped lynx making bigger and sexier adverts. The company has some big names in their adverts such as Kelly Brook, Jessica Jane Clement and Lisa Snowdon who are all very desirable women. But do this kind of put down lynx? is the only way they can sell a product is though sex? Well in my opinion i think its maybe a bit late to change their philosophy and why should they?

It has encountered problems with been accused of sexism in 2009 an advert for lynx bullet received numerous complaints for its advert. It was cleared of any mis doing but it is very similar to the problems faced by lads magazines at the moment that images are maybe effecting younger generation but it doesn't stop people from buying these kind of products.

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/lynx-bullet-cleared-of-sexist-campaign/3003786.article  

The adverts for lynx are getting better and personally i enjoy them as they are clever, sexy and funny. They even link some of their new products. Last Year they released an advert which predicting the end of the world which was a great idea. This year the lynx apollo has used a big sclae budget with outfits and yet the adverts still have the same idea to them. Use Lynx and you will attract women.

Year Two Begins

So after a summer of hard graft for myself its time to begin my second year at Trent. I need to unpack and get my head back down to studying hopefully it won't take long.

Hopefully year two will be as successful as my first year. bring it on

Aims For Second Year

Just a few things i want to improve on in second year.

- Public Speaking is something that has always been something that scares me. Having to stand there and see people watching me i hate talking because i get nervous and can't talk properly

-Editing i want to get to a lot more about different software and hopefully start producing more videos from this i also want to get to know photoshop a bit more

-Deadlines i want to start setting more deadlines for coursework because sometime i felt i have rushed it and i need to make sure i put more effort into work

-Getting involved I want to do more things next year make sure i really get the most out of my time do something i have not tried before. This way i will have more to add to my portfolio

-Explore Nottingham a lot more so i understand where i live a lot more

Crossroads

Where Have I come from?

I come from Birmingham. I live in a town called Streetly where i have lived for about 17 odd years. Its not a bad place to live but it's not the best really. School was a difficult time for me and being creative was sometimes my only output. More music back then really i felt i could be myself when i had got my headphones in chilling to my music. But when i got to college i found myself a lot i enjoyed entertaining people talking to people and not being my usual shy self . This also when i got into media as well i started my journey that i am still on. Certain events in my life have put me off course but right now i feel i am in a good place and i hope it stays this way.

What is important to me?

Not much really my course is my main concern at the moment as i want to make sure i pass university and go on to a good career path. Also i hope to get involved in animal right stuff

What people are important to me?

All my family and friends back home are the main people i care about. Then there is people on my course and my flat mates who i have got to know over the past few months. Also my Guinea Pig Marvin i love that little man too much bless him.

What is hindering me?

Humm hard one. I can't really answer that at the moment but maybe some of my own personal skills are holding back my full potential. I can be a negative person when it comes to myself

What Am i Afraid of?

My biggest fear is failing and i sometimes panic that i won't be up to the standards that are set for myself.

The Hive Project

So as part of my course we get the chance to gain some work experience in the form of a placement. I actually ended up doing two work placements and the first one i will be doing a review on is The Hive. This was a brilliant chance for me to get some experience i have taken a lot away from this project.   The brief was to produce three videos for our boss Sean that can be shown to his students as well as at meetings.

The first client was Boo Boo Kitty Couture. The company is owned by Aislinn Ball and she hand makes vintage dresses  for her clients. She was a real interesting character to look at as well she had a very vintage to look to her and had some massive tattoos. Filming her was great because it gave us the chance to get creative and Sean had gave us total control over the video just as long as we keep to the brief that was set by him. My role in the team was filming and recording i also took the role of sorting out meetings with Sean and keeping him updated with how we are getting on.

So the filming of Aislinn started when Sean offered us a job to film a big lecture he had put on called Fusion we spend the whole day filming and Aislinn gave a speech about her company and we found out a lot about her past and who she is as a person. Below is an image of me filming at the event. We was there for about eight hours in total and learnt a lot with setting up and filming for long periods of time. I took a few notes about what Aislinn had said and also managed to get a copy of the presentation she did at fusion.

Filming went great as well for me it was my first experience of going out and filming a client. We had prepared some questions for her to answer and she was more then happy with them and she had invited us to film at her studio. We took a risk of not going out before and doing a recce so the storyboard we prepared was not hundred percent accurate but we knew we could solve any problems that arose.

When we got to her office is was very obvious at first that she seemed a bit nervous and she said afterwards she found it more difficult talking to us then she would a big crowd but we remained professional and this helped her relax a lot more and the shots we got were great we used a Panasonic 151 for the still shots of her talking and the cut away shots used were with a DSLR. Afterwards when we was packing up Aislinn offered us a bit more work for some of her clients and she gave us an email for a burlesque dancer called Scarlett Daggers. This was such a pleasing result for us and for anyone looking to get into the media world need to get to know the importance of networking and building up clients because that way you may know somebody who perhaps wants you to make a video for one of their clients and it builds up a big network of people who you can turn too.

Once the filming had been done for Aislinn and edited it we could move on to the second client Pip Spoerry at Studio Made at NTU and interview her and the students she has had. Sean was impressed with the work we had done with Boo Boo Kitty so he said to put more effort into Pips video and if we had time start work on the third video but as it turned out we didn't have time for third video and Rachel Hayes the client was not happy about.

But back to Pip we actually had two meetings with her where we got given her brief and what she was expecting from the videos we was going to produce for her. Then the second one she gave us some images for cut away shots and also we had made some questions for her to answer and she organised the filming dates due to the students work so we had to make sure we kept time free for Pip as she was going to India for business.

Filming went just as well and this time round we learnt a bit more we changed certain positing's of the cameras that Pip wanted and it felt a lot better then the Boo Boo Kitty were was a bit nervous this time we wasn't scared to say if we didn't like something and this meant that the shots we got were a lot better and the editing was a lot more smoother and its basically learning from the past mistakes. Also we was working with more people this time. We interviewed three students with Pip. The shots above was us setting us the background and seeing if it looked good in the shot. We asked Pip to change it around a few times to make sure it looked good.

After all the editing had been done it was time to show Sean the work and we was happy with the work we had done and once we had shown Sean he was blown away. He admitted to being a bit nervous at first with us being students but he said that conducted ourselves in a great manner we had produced the videos he was looking for and it was smiles all round.

It all finished with the team presenting the work to staff at the university and The Hive. It was just an informal kind of thing but it was a big thing to me. This is something i was worried about because if  we did bad all the praise Sean has gave us would of made him look stupid and we would of let him down so the pressure was on during the presentation of the work. I was a little nervous talking in front of people so this is something I have to work on but i managed to get though say my bit and then it was on to the premier of our work. Thankfully i went down well and we got a lot of praise and some decent feedback on where we can improve next time which was brilliant. A picture of some of the staff waiting to watch our videos

                                                                   

Thankfully we got a good reception and Sean has invested a lot of time into this project and i am thankful i had the chance to work on this project as I have learnt a lot from it just just in terms of being a creative worker but also being professional and in the long run this will benefit me greatly.Speaking in front of a crowd, working to a brief that a client has set for us. But really i was thrown in the deep end with no arm bands but i managed to swim and it has been a great learning curve. Sean has even offered us a bit more work for the summer which is great and i hope to keep in contact with him as he has gave us a reference and even said he would work with us again which is great.

If i was going to do a project like this again i would make sure i improve on my editing skills to make sure the videos produced look a lot more glossy and maybe use better cameras. But overall i felt my team work improved on this production i got a lot better at talking to people i know and even spoke in front of people which always makes me nervous.