#1 Creative Process – Assessed Blog Posts…

Throughout this module I have gone through many creatively critical process to challenge and develop my work, to create the most relatable forms of media, which compare to existing forms of new media around at the moment.

To begin with, I had to build an identity for myself, and throughout the branding process I wanted to create something that was unique and would represent myself in a professional manner.

I first started by looking at existing logos, and found out what they all had in common and what set themselves aside from the others. I found that the main element that set themselves aside where their fonts. In the first couple of weeks, Mez showed us a table of logos, which only consisted of one letter from the logo. Just by seeing one letter of the company’s logo I could associate most of the logos to their brands. Such as the M in McDonald’s. Therefore it made me realise that the key thing that set themselves aside were the fonts that had been used.

This then got me thinking that I had to create something different, something unique. However I also found it important that it related to the profession of media. Therefore I experiment with a style on Photoshop. This style consisted of me cutting certain letters from existing magazine/newspaper’s and fitting them together, almost like what you would see on a generic ransom note in films. (Hopefully less sinister looking).

After playing around for a while, I compiled five letters and slotted them together to make my name. Although it looked a little rough around the edges, I really liked they idea and decided to peruse this style.

After deciding on a name to brand myself with, “DMB Media”, the DMB standing for my initials I tried this process again with these letters.  Once I had done this I was really happy with the way it looked, this would now be the very basic form of my logo.

When I began branding my social media with this logo, such as my WordPress account. I found that to use it successfully I would have to use my logo in a banner form. To fill the empty space behind the letters i decided to use pictures behind the text, however I wanted these pictures to be personal to myself, once again to reflect my professionalism. To do this I used existing photography work I had produced as the base, which once I had put the whole thing together, came together quite well.

Throughout the module I feel that the process that took the most development was creating the website for out television shows.

Once again I found that I had to brand, however this time, it wasn’t to reflect my personal work, but to reflect a television show that our group had created. Throughout the process of creating the actual programme, our group decided that the colour scheme would be red and black and I created a logo to go with this theme accordingly. Therefore the colour scheme red and black and the theme of magic would have to follow through onto my website.

Once I had set up a base template for the site everything seemed to fit together quite well. I had produced a basic website that had all the relevant pages, many of which I had taken inspiration from on existing television show websites such as “This Morning”.

However once I had looked over what I had already produced from an audience point of view, I found that the layout looked quite amateurish and empty.

When doing my A levels I was told a piece advice that I remembered when looking over my work. This advice being, “don’t leave empty gaps where necessary”. I looked over my work and realised there were an endless amount of empty gaps. Therefore I changed all of my pages around and made it more tight and full. Once I had done this I saw a massive difference and realised that just by doing this simple task, it instantly looked more professional. By going through this creative process I found myself more proud of what I had accomplished and glad I didn’t produce my website in just a week. I was glad I had spent over a month getting it perfect for what I wanted to produce.

When producing the actual television show, I found that I may have had too much creative input at times. Although I was only the vision mixer I found myself over whelmed with ideas for things such as set design, VT’s and the use of shots in the programme. The reason I say I think I may have had too much creative input was that I got so carried away and excited that a member of our group felt that I was trying to take their role off of them. Once I had been told this I realised that at the end of the day, that is their job. However I still wanted my ideas to be heard, so I went about it in a more suggestive and subtle manor, which came across a lot better, and in the end, my ideas were mostly used. Therefore if I was to redo anything involving my creative process it would be that when working in a large group, I would remember that everyone else has ideas, and that sometimes all I can do is suggest mine.

Overall im really happy with the way I have gone about developing my work in this module and I feel that this is probably the module that I have done the most development with my thoughts, ideas and process’s and by doing this, I feel that I have hopefully produced my best work.

#2 Media Forms – Assessed Blog Post’s…

The element of this module that I have found the most interesting is the word that has been used consistently throughout, “Transmedia”. The term “Transmedia” and its definition was at the start of the module a whole new topic I had never been informed of before. I find it silly now to say that I had “never been informed of it before”, seeing as I take part in many social media tools and other new medias everyday. I just find it strange how blissfully unaware I had been to the fact that these tools can have such a large impact on a business, person or lifestyle. I think that I enjoyed this module over any other this year because it was intellectually stimulating and really interested me.

The use of Transmedia storytelling is a new and exciting way to retell stories in new ways, by the means of social media. Recently people have often produced new videos by recycling existing pieces. For example turning a news report into a song. Although it sounds like a very basic idea, the creator has not had to leave their house to acquire this footage and sometimes the new footage can get more views than they original.

A great example of Transmedia storytelling is the video we were shown in lecture about the birth of Jesus, and the nativity story. This video is a great example as it uses most of the popular social networking sites on the internet to tell a story that has been told a million times in a whole new and entertaining way.

Another example is the guardian advert. Once again they have taken a story that has been told many times and produced a whole new version of “The Three Little Pigs”, although it is a different style to the previous as it involves a lot more actual footage in it, it still has the same effect, that a story can be told via a variety of online tools.

The interesting element about these types of storytelling is that once they are finished they can be shared and promoted by endless amounts of social media for free. Often large companies produce films and don’t put any money into paying for advertising, because they’re video is good enough to get promoted on its own.

A great example of this is Kony 2012, due to creating a great video, which did involve certain elements of Transmedia Storytelling it seemed to be an over night hit, in the space of 72 hours the video got 55 million views and they didn’t have to pay a penny for advertising. If a company were to pay for an advertising campaign that would reach 55 million people it would cost millions upon millions of pounds/dollars, but yet they achieved this by word of mouth via social networking sites. The idea of people being able to advertise for free via online medias is a very modern and exciting concept, which is defiantly something that will only grow.

When producing my own piece of Transmedia storytelling I took inspiration from all the videos I had viewed and used a wide range of social medias and websites and screen captured them to produce a modern version of Cinderella. This task was a completely new concept for me, but found it really new and exiting.

 

#3 Professional Development – Assessed Blog Posts…

The combination of social media and branding is a great way, (if done correctly) to promote yourself in the business world, specifically in the media industry.

When Adam Swords came in to our lecture to discuss how he has branded himself it was really interesting to actually meet someone who carries around a brand identity in the world of work, and has been successful with it.

There are endless forms of social media that came be used to promote yourself and your business, and since the start of the year I have been using these social medias in a way that promotes my work more.

To begin with, although I consider my Facebook as the most personal social media I am involved in. I have still put my logo as my cover photo on my profile and often post links to work I have produced. The way I look at it is, if my friends don’t like my work, then nobody will. However if they do, then often they share my videos and overall I get more views, therefore they are more likely to be looked at by more important people who would potentially hire me.

Before this module began, I had a twitter account, but never used it. Since then I am now on my 300^th tweet. I feel it’s a great way to share your work and opinions, but more importantly it’s a great way to network. A lot of well known people/business people us twitter as a type of scouting process, to find out who has talents that they want to use.

I also have a Flickr, WordPress, vimeo, Youtube and Instagram account. All of which I have added my branding too. By adding my branding, if someone was to look at more than one of my social medias they would see a consistency and would be able to associate my brand with my work, and by doing that makes yourself look more professional, but more importantly, more hirable!

I have recently begun to use Instagram and I have really become addicted to it. Instagram is a great way for me to share my photography work on a social media that is just a simple social media just for pictures. Although Flickr already exists I find the layout not very nice to use, but also the great things with Instagram is that it is only a mobile app, so everyone always has it at their fingertips. The way I use Instagram is like a virtual portfolio where people from all around the world can see my work.

Overall by branding myself on various social medias I have upped my game greatly. My aim before university again next year is to produce a professional website promoting my work. In the future I plan to brand everything just like Adam Swords does, with his portfolio, business cards etc. Personally I think by branding myself it puts me that step further in the industry to be recognised as a professional.

#4 Evaluation – Assessed Blog Posts…

Overall this has been my favourite module of the whole year. It was also the first module that I found intellectually stimulating, purely because it wasn’t really a topic that I had every came across before.

I think my favourite and the hardest part of the module was producing the re-telling of a fairytale. Although it took me around twelve hours to produce, I was really proud with the outcome, probably because I had never produced something like that before.

I specifically liked how we had to produce a website about our television programme. The reason I liked that these two were related, was that we had all become so passionate about our TV programme, and we had all this extra content that we could actually put somewhere.

However one thing I did realise when producing the television programme was how hard it is to get a following via social media. For a month every member of our group was promoting our pages, however the following ended up at under a hundred people. Also when we were asking for people to send us their videos in, I posted on endless amounts of magic forums and only got one response.

My least favourite part of the module was creating the recycled media piece. Although I understood the relevance of the task and how it ties in with modern day viral videos, I just personally found it really hard to come up with a new piece of work, from other pieces of work I am so familiar with.

If I was to do anything again over this module it would have been to put myself forward for a more important role when producing the Television programme.  I feel that I had so many ideas for the show and that I have quite good organization skills that I would have been able to put a lot into the role.
Im most proud about my fairytale piece and feel that it is the most unique piece of work I have ever produced.

What this module has taught me is that by using online tools and social medias you can create a large amount of new content or even get a silly video of a cat screaming going viral. I think that by introducing us to branding, if we go about it correctly it will be a great tool to further our professional careers.

My Finished Website…

After completing the website im really happy with the end result. Going through the creative process has been a successful one. Although Ive constantly changed what I had produced I now have a finished product that I can be proud of, and feel that it could be seen as a professional site.

Overall I really enjoyed making the website and hopefully the hard work is reflected in how well the site content is relatable and how the site itself flows.

http://www.wix.com/davidbird92/magicnettv1

161mc Evaluation & Reflection

Below are the finished pieces of the three tasks, but separate evaluations can be seen of all of them in other blog posts. 

Logo/Banner:

Recycled Media (And logo process): http://prezi.com/rgijks4hq3qg/161mc-david-bird/

Modern Fairytale: 

Overall I have really enjoyed this module and have been enlightened to the world that is new media. I realised that I take a lot of new media for granted, i.e. Facebook, Youtube and twitter, and now realise that they can be used from a professional direction as well. Mainly I have been introduced to various forms of new media, which I didn’t know existed i.e. Prison Valley, which as a whole is a really interesting and form of new media.

For my Branding, I experimented with a variety of different approaches, so I could produce a piece that most importantly represents my self. The key themes I wanted my branding to resemble were myself, and a clear media aspect. To allow my branding to resemble myself I found that it was important to include work that I had produced myself, therefore using my photography, as the background for my banned was something that I felt quite passionately about and found that it worked quite well. The way I made my logo represent the media aspect, was a very simple way I choose to use my font. The use of me using cut outs from magazines and newspapers for my font was something that I played with a lot, and found that it worked quite well, but also found that it showed that I didn’t take myself to seriously. If I was going to change anything about the way I produced my branding, it would be that if I knew how, I would like to produce an animated piece, which I could use in my films, to make it look more professional, and would allow the audience to notice my branding. As a whole I am happy with my finished logo and banner.

The recycled media task was the piece that I found the hardest. Although I had all the resources already at hand, I struggled to find ways to produce a new narrative. However after sitting down for two hours and storyboarding out everything that I was going to do, it all came together. I decided to present my recycled media piece on Prezi, which was a new experience in its self. The most interesting thing about my recycled media, was how I chose to present it. Although all the resources were in a narrative structure on Prezi, I chose to verbally present my project as if it was a news report. Although I am really happy with the way it came out in presentations, I am worried how it will come across when it is assessed, as it will be just viewed online, without me adding the realistic element to it. However altogether, considering I found this task the most difficult, I am happy with the outcome and the finished piece.

At first I was a bit reluctant about the fairytale piece, as I was stuck for ideas about the new way I was going to produce it. However in the production stage,  I had experimented with video capturing tools, and decided to present it in the style of the “Nativity” piece we had been shown in lecture.  My fairytale piece, is the piece of work I am most proud of in this module, as it took me a long time to put it all together, and I was happy with my attention to detail. I also feel that putting some of my own humor in it, allows the audience to see parts of myself in the piece when viewing it. If I was to change anything in my fairytale piece, it would be that I would fine tune it a bit more and tighten the cuts up.

Overall I am really happy with what I have produced in the module. Also I have found this module the most intellectually stimulating module since being at university, and have been engaged with what we have learnt throughout. I just hope that my final mark reflects how much work ive put into my finished pieces.

Fairytale Evaluation…

 

The fairytale piece, without a doubt is the piece im most proud of producing on this module. I found the task fun, exciting and a bit of a challenge.

To begin with I had planned to use the story of Alice and wonderland. I had decided to choose Alice in Wonderland because when I researched the story (my research is in my Prezi presentation), I found that a lot of people think that Alice is really on a drugs trip and wonderland is a hallucination. I found that this was a really interesting concept and turned the classic children’s story on its head.

However when in the planning process, I found that actually, I had no ideas of how to use new medias to tell the story of Alice In Wonderland.

Therefore I went back to the drawing board, and decided to choose the story of Cinderella. At first I was really reluctant to do so, because I know that everyone else on the course will probably be doing it. However in planning I had lots of ideas, so I just had to make sure, that I pushed myself to do better than normal.

The reason why I choose Cinderella was because that it is the most widely known fairytale and there are endless amounts of medias to do with the story online.

At the beginning of this module I was a stranger to screen capturing software, and also key framing on final cut. Both pieces of software will allow me to produce better pieces of work in the future, and are both good skills to acquire.

The main problem that occurred when producing the fairytale was how much time it took. Although when watching it doesn’t look like a hard task to do, it took hours capturing shots separately, placing them together, key framing them and adding the typing noises and clicks in the right place.

The narrative I decided to go with was a comedic one. I didn’t want it to be to serious, and stories are always better when they’ve got a bit of humor in them. Therefore Cinderella speaks in a chavy modern day twang, using various slang words. I wanted to put across that Cinderella was just a normal girl living today, therefore I changed Cinderella’s ball gown to a prom dress instead, among other things.

The editing side, was quiet a complicated process as i had to try and time the clicks and typing with what appeared on screen, although on some attempts i did not succeed, on most, i did. Here is a picture of what was going on, while i was editing.

As of now the videos been up on vimeo a day and has already got 88 views. Not brilliant, but not too shabby either. I think I may put this video on Youtube, I don’t normally upload to Youtube, however because this module is all about New Media, why not!

Overall I am really happy the outcome of my fairytale piece and would happily produce apiece like this again. If I were going to change anything with my video, it would be to tighten the edit up and make it shorter, and make sure the typing sounds are in exactly the right place. Therefore my faults are mainly editing issues. I think that I have grasped the idea of this task, and brought Cinderella to the 21^st Centaury.

 

Resources used when making the piece:

Cinderella Rag Picture: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_wS7sVvfz8jY/TU6BsIonyjI/AAAAAAAAALE/Z_he9e71ZfU/s1600/cinderella8.jpg

Cinderella Dress Picture:

http://images.wikia.com/disney/images/e/e6/Cinderellaprincess.jpg

Prince Charming Picture:

http://www.wearysloth.com/Gallery/ActorsP/13806-3440.gif

Soundtrack – “The Snow Queen” (Royalty Free): 

http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/index.html?feels%5B%5D=Mystical&Search=Search

Typing and Clicking Sounds (Royalty Free): 

www.freesound.org

Recycled Media Evaluation…

This is the Prezi i have created in preparation for our presentations on tuesday. It includes My finished Logo/Banner and Recycled Media, and touches on my ideas for The Fairytale Project.

161mc David Bird – Prezi

Above is the link to My finished Recycled media.

I have now finished my recycled media, and have decided to present it on Prezi. At first i thought this was a good idea, as when we present it to our groups on tuesday I’m going to read it out, as if I’m a news reporter giving a news broadcast. Im hoping this is going to be an effective way of presenting my work, so that the audience almost believe its real and really get into the story. As a whole I’m really happy with my finished Recycled Media, as i used a variety of different resources to illustrate the storyline.

• Firstly i altered some of the footage from our “Lost in London” Piece, to make it look like CCTV footage, of the two “Killers” running away from the scene of the crime, i altered the footage on Final Cut Pro X, and thought it would be an interesting way to use a form of new media to put a new spin on a piece of footage.

• Secondly i used an old resources from our cabinet project. I decided to use a photo collage of the Victim and his family, while i describe to the audience who the victim was, i did this to try to get the audience believing that he is a real person and maybe start to form an emotional attachment of some kind.  The piece was created in a Slideshow format in iPhoto.

• My third shot was two mug shots of the killers, although not a lot of new media was used for this, i found that it was appropriate within the narrative to allow the audience to recognise the killers. However when getting the photos i did use Grab to screen capture their faces from the video, and then used Photoshop, to turn the photos black and white.

• For my fourth slide i decided to use Google Maps, to show the suspects route and last known whereabouts. Although Googlemaps is one of the simplest forms of new media, i really struggled with it, and for some reason found it unnecessarily complicated. The problem with putting google maps on prezi is that you can only insert a photo, therefore the google map i produced, wasn’t used to its full potential,and didn’t show the pictures or text that i have added. Therefore for the full version, visit: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=204575480110054967032.0004b8d78359537e6de24&msa=0

• This is when i decided to create a re-enactment of the killing. So i decided to use Xtra Normal, to produce what happened at the scene of the crime. Using xtra normal was an interesting method of creating a narrative, and would defiantly be interesting to make stories out of, if you were planning on making a film.

I also used a variety of other forms of new media in the presentation, such as Vimeo, Twitter and a website that creates wanted posters. Overall i am really happy with the way the narrative came together in this piece, and i feel that i have presented my story in an authentic way. I am however weary about how it will come out when viewed online, as a big part of the presentation was me reading the notes out as if a news bulletin. Therefore if i was going to changing anything in my recycled media task, it would be that i would produce an actual news report in video form, therefore compacting all the resources together. This was my first time using Prezi as well and found that it is a really beautiful tool to produce organised pieces of your work, to present in a new and interesting way.

Recycled Media Treatment & Planning…

Until today, I have been sitting at my computer for hours on end this week stuff for ideas for the recycled media task stuck for ideas. However today I’ve had a breakthrough! I have thought of an idea, which contains various forms or exterior media.

 For the recycled media task I have decided to combine my two previous projects. These two projects are “The Four Week Project – Lost in London” and “The Cabinet Of Curiosities – Luke Johnson”.

In the original “Lost in London” piece, the film takes place during the London riots, in which the main characters get caught up in a mugging.  My cabinet piece was about a professional golfer who recently lost his wife.

Thinking up the basic narrative was the hardest part, however once I had decided on this, all the other pieces fell into place.

Therefore my new narrative is about “Luke Johnson” the professional golfer has been killed in a hate attack by three unidentified youths. Although the narrative is simple, its how I plan to present it that’s key. I have decided im going to present the piece like a news report. The news report will contain various different medias.

To begin with there will be a “breaking news” slide on my prezi, which I will then speak over and address the audience telling them that the crime took place last night. Following that on the next slide I will show a clip from the original Lost in London piece, showing it as CCTV footage, which shows two of the three murders running away from the scene of the crime. The next couple of slides will show pictures of the victim and the suspects, filling the audience in on their character profiles.

I will then show the audience a Google map, which will illustrate the journey that they made after the crime according to police, in which I will follow with saying, that the police are looking for witness’s.. Various other slides with different medias will follow such as a reconstruction of the murder, made on “xtra normal”.

I have storyboarded all of my planning, and am happy with how it is coming along.

Recycled Media Ideas…

Coming up with the idea for my recycled media task is proving very difficult. I have three pieces of existing work of which to work from:

My four week project – The London Riots Story

http://vimeo.com/31249068

Cabinet Of Curiosities Project

https://davidbird92.wordpress.com/category/160mc-developing-meaning/

 My Poetic Eyes Piece 

http://vimeo.com/35922342

 I have been reviewing my projects and have been looking at ways to combine them, but yet at the same time, use a wide range of new medias. My four-week project includes crime, and my poetic eyes focuses on homophobia. Therefore I have been thinking about combining the two and showing how my main character from my four-week project kills someone in a homophobic attack. Therefore the story will continue to be the police’s investigation trying to find the attacker. Using mediums such as Google maps to track where he had been previously sighted. As well as news reports of Youtube and ill try and find a website which will allow me to create a wanted poster.

 Alternative ideas:

 Brett (Four week project) and two accomplices, shoot pro golfer Luke Johnson in a meaningless assassination. The story continues with the police trying to track down the killers

News report on the incident

Xtra normal re-enactment

Twitter showing lukes last tweet

Google maps, last seen

Wanted poster of brett and frank