Final Letter

The people you have met over the last year have all been really nice and easy to get on with. The conversation has been easy to make, which helped at the more difficult times when decisions had to be made. As everyone would listen to everyone else so you feel like the projects and films are “yours!”

The pieces of work that you have produced aren’t the best that there has ever been but you wasn’t expecting them to be either. You have learned a lot though from the pieces that you have produced this year and have learnt many valuable lessons. So there is only one way for you to go now and that is up.

You did have lots of questions to ask about how to operate cameras and things but you have learnt this is how you learn best so it has been well worth it. The staff don’t mind all of the questions as that is what they are there for, you felt confident to ask them from the very beginning as well as the other students that had better technical knowledge than yourself. Your technical knowledge is now significantly greater than it was before and you have a great understanding of most the equipment and not just on the bits you used.

There has been a large difference in how confident you are as a person, this is mainly down to the documentary project that you will do in your second term. the first task is to find someone from Coventry that you don’t know and interview them. This is something that you would never have imagined yourself doing and I am very proud of us.

You have enjoyed the year even more than you were expecting and didn’t even remember that you were nervous when you actually got here. Lets keep it going and show them all what we can do!

2010
05/18
CATEGORY
101mc
Letters
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Jana Bennett

Jana Bennett is the director of BBC Vision and is considered one of the most powerful women in British TV. I found it interesting how she started off talking about all of the different areas of the BBC that she has influence on, ranging from mainstream BBC1 to the children’s channels. This alone shows the vast impact she can have within the corporation.

Jana then went into more detail about the audience and future of the main channels as well as the organisation as a whole. All of the channels have a very different audience so the broadcasting has to represent this to keep up viewing figures. So they have to continually find new visionaries that suit a channels audience to ensure that the viewers stay entertained and watch the channels.

BBC1 the nations “favourite channel” has a very wide variety of programs shown throughout the day. The type of show varies mostly depending on time from live interactive chat shows during the day to many fictional programs during peak time on the evenings. The channel has a lot of programs that the audience can get involved with. The other main feature of this channel is the extensive news coverage that is offered throughout the day and night. Even the news encourages audience interaction as they read out letters, emails and texts about certain stories.

BBC2 has a slightly more personal and specialist set of programming. With programmes like Top gear for car enthusiasts, as well as other programmes based on science, gardening, cooking etc. The BBC hope to change this channel in the future so that it contains a lot more British produced programmes and films.

BBC3 is a much newer member of the BBC family and as such is aimed at a much younger audience of 16-30 mainly. The Channel has a large impact on this age range with documentaries that show what the impact and lifestyles of this generation can have on themselves and society. The channel is also full of comedy based programming aimed at this younger audience and has launched a series of British Comedy programmes and acts into the mainstream.

The BBC is quickly moving with new trends in the digital world mainly with the introduction of the iPlayer. The BBC website is also one of the most visited websites in the UK for its comprehensive world, local, sport, entertainment news.

2010
04/29
CATEGORY
101mc
Coventry Conversation
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Lecture 7 (Convergence = Ubiquity)

Sense and respond environments that morph themselves to meet the temporal demands of customers’ immediate shopping objectives. The immersive retailing experience being delivered via microenvironments that narrow the focus of shoppers’ experiences to “I” and “me.”

Although this sounds great I personally hope we don’t end up in an environment similar to this. The fact that we would have adverts talking to us like in this minority report video would be really annoying. If I go shopping I generally know what it is that I plan to buy, if I am just browsing I would rather be left to do just that. The only people this will possibly benefit will be the shops as people will end up buying lots more stuff that they don’t want or need.

2010
03/27
CATEGORY
112mc
Lectures
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Task 3 analysis

I enjoyed this task as I got to learn how to create something that looked really good and had a really useful point to it as well. I added lots of points onto my map covering a wide area of the area that I live in. Although the area is rather large I only added points that have a specific point to my life. This is a change from my original plan as I realised that if I marked on every point it would take me way to long and become to packed with information to be of any use.

The points I marked using the preset markers that are available within the map editing. I had problems with the lack of different icons for certain things. this made me try to create my own icons, I uploaded 1 icon but when placing it on the map it did not appear so I had to continue using the presets.

While creating my map I tried to colour code certain objects, e.g. parks in green, shopping centres in purple I did this using the shape tool. This is to make my map much easier to navigate. When using the road line tool I had many problems including it not letting me go down certain roads as it was considered to be a one way street. I got around this problem by just using the single line tool where ever this occurred.

Adding links, photographs and videos was the last thing I did on this project as I was expecting it to be quick and easy. In the most parts I was correct, although I did have certain compatibility problems with images, I also couldn’t always find suitable links for my buildings so had to travel to get the information myself.

2010
03/22
CATEGORY
112mc
Production
Task 3
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Google Map

The videos and images are located in the purple Icons on the map. Other images are also in some of the other symbols including the cinema. If you can’t find these icons the links are also at the bottom of this post.


View Larger Map

Direct links to images and video.

Sutton Park Video

Duck on Water

Jamboree Stone

Mall Shopping Centre

Seating Area

2010
03/22
CATEGORY
101mc
112mc
Final Piece
Task 3
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Reflection 4

I feel that as a group we have worked very well together from the beginning. As we all contributed ideas as well as letting everyone else talk about their own. This allowed us to all feel that this documentary was part of our own work so the whole team was more passionate about it.
It also meant that when we came across problems we could all work together to solve these problems using a combination of our knowledge. We had several significant problems throughout the project but I feel that the ways we choose to solve these problems has meant a greater sense of achievement for the documentary. The initial problem was that we were planning on filming within the cathedral but as we spoke to Marlon in our initial interview we realised just how nervous he was in front of the camera, so we decided that it was probably best not to film him in this location. Marlon worked in a youth centre that he had shown us before we decided this would be the best place to film as the surroundings are familiar so he would be less nervous. This also caused our next problem though as we didn’t want to put lots of equipment in front of him as this would make him more nervous. This led to the decision not to use a special tie or a rifle microphone. This became a clear problem when we came to edit the documentary as the sound levels were really low. After a long time trying different methods to up these levels I managed to but there was now a lot of interference. We took the sound and asked Paul Adkins to help, he managed to up the sound and reduce the interference.
I feel that I contributed a lot to the team from start to beginning of the production process. During in the initial planning stages I suggested several ideas of how we should film the documentary as well as suitable locations. Before we filmed Marlon I did a significant amount of research (growing up in Coventry, drug/alcohol addiction, Alpha Course)  into things that I thought had effected Marlon in the past. This enabled me to suggest  more personal  questions, which I hoped would engage the audience more. During the production of the documentary I set up all of the cameras so that were ready to be positioned when we got to the youth centre to interview Marlon. The area that I feel I contributed the most though was with the editing of the documentary. I feel that I was the main editor as I did a large proportion of the editing both video and sound. I also let the other group members edit the documentary as well so everyone stayed feeling involved, If they then became stuck using the program I would show them how to achieve what they were trying to do.
I feel that as a group we worked very well together all allowing each other to try every aspect involved within the production of a documentary. I also feel that from being such a close team and being open with our ideas and views that I have learnt new ways of thinking and methods from the team. This project has taught me several important things mainly the importance of sound and using specialist microphones rather than relying on a standard camera microphone. It has also taught me that 2 cameras is not always better than 1.   This was not helped by our poor framing of Marlon and the background. This taught me that 2 is not always better than 1, or if using to camera on 1 person have them from the same angle but at different zoom levels. The composition also is very important as the subject should be looking more into the camera than out the side of the frame. I feel that all of this was valuable though as I will make sure that this does not happen in a future project.
The finished documentary I am very pleased with as I feel that the audience will stay engaged with what Marlon is saying and find it interesting.

2010
03/18
CATEGORY
111mc
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Research: Alcohol/Drug Addiction

Deffenition: The disorder of addiction involves the progression of acute drug use to the development of drug-seeking behavior, the vulnerability to relapse, and the decreased, slowed ability to respond to naturally rewarding stimuli.
The addictive potency of drugs varies from substance to substance, and from individual to individual. Dose, frequency and time are critical factors for developing a drug addiction. The larger the dose, the more often and the longer that this habit of going the greater the risk that consumption becomes an addiction. The time required for developing drug addiction differs greatly between different substances, from a couple of weeks at the intensive use of heroin to 5-10 years of alcohol abuse if the person is middle-aged (shorter time for teenagers) are typical values with many individual exceptions.
Understanding how learning and behaviour work in the reward circuit can help understand the action of addictive drugs. Drug addiction is characterized by strong, drug seeking behaviors in which the addict persistently craves and seeks out drugs, despite the knowledge of harmful consequences. Addictive drugs produce a reward, which is the euphoric feeling resulting from sustained DA concentrations in the synaptic cleft of neurons in the brain. Operant conditioning is exhibited in drug addicts as well as laboratory mice, rats, and primates; they are able to associate an action or behavior, in this case seeking out the drug, with a reward, which is the effect of the drug.
Depresants: These substances (sometimes called “downers”) typically facilitate relaxation and pain relief.
Stimulants: These substances (sometimes called “uppers”) typically cause heightened alertness and energy. They cause a pleasant feeling in the body and euphoria, known as a high. This high wears off leaving the user feeling depressed. This sometimes makes them want more of the drug, and can worsen the addiction.
Treatments for addiction vary widely according to the types of drugs involved, amount of drugs used, duration of the drug addiction, medical complications and the social needs of the individual. Determining the best type of recovery program for an addicted person depends on a number of factors, including: personality, drug(s) of choice, concept of spirituality or religion, mental or physical illness, and local availability and affordability of programs.
Residential treatment program (rehab) for the seriously addicted in order to isolate the patient from drugs and interactions with other users and dealers. Outpatient clinics usually offer a combination of individualcounseling and group counseling.
Other forms of treatment include replacement drugs such as methadone, buprenorphine, and suboxone used as a substitute for illicit opiate drugs.  Although these drugs are themselves addictive, the goal of opiate maintenance is to provide a clinically supervised, stable dose of a particular opioid in order to provide a measure of control to both pain and cravings.

2010
03/16
CATEGORY
101mc
111mc
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Run Papa Run

Run papa run is a Hong Kong comedy directed by Sylvia Chang. This was not what I expected as from the posters I was expecting the film to be much more of a gangster film. Although the film was not exactly what I was expecting this made the film more enjoyable as the story didn’t take the same way as most gangster films so I was kept entertained.

The film is about a triad boss who tries to hide his criminal lifestyle while trying to raise his daughter. We follow Tin-Yen through his life from the point where he meets the woman that will become his wife, as well as the mother to his daughter. He realises when his daughter is born that he has to change his lifestyle to protect his daughter from the harsh reality of what his role in society is. The film continues with him trying to prevent the 2 worlds from crossing, unfortunately as his daughter grows older this becomes more and more difficult.

He realises that the only way to keep his family safe is to leave the triads, before he is able to do this though he first has to carry out one final assignment. This doesn’t go well for him and he clearly regrets not doing this much earlier on so that he could just be with the people that he loves.

2010
03/12
CATEGORY
101mc
Film Reviews
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Browser extensions

I know that they have been around for along time but I have only recently started to use them. My first comment is that I wish I had started much sooner. If you spend long enough looking through all of the different options there is bound to be something there that your looking for.

The main point of these extensions is to make things that you do all of the time quicker and easier. RSS feeds are a good but simple example of this. If you visit many different websites regularly to find out information about sport, technology etc. RSS feeds are definitely for you when added to your browser all the latest information from all of those sources will come to you in a little drop down box. Then you click the link and are straight on the main page.

RSS is just 1 of the many options available though there are options to add preview screens to all Hyper-links so you don’t have to go to a website to view the page, options to have homepage screen shots in search results.

At the moment I am using 2 more than anything else one is a relatively simple weather application. When I click on the button it gives me the weather forecast for wherever I chose, If I want more detail then I’ll click the link to the website. The more useful extension at the moment is an automatic translation tool. I have booked a holiday to Germany and when coming to book train transfers within the country I did not understand the language. The extension automatically converts everything on the website I am on into English which made it very simple to book the train tickets.

2010
03/11
CATEGORY
101mc
112mc
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Augmented Reality

This is something that has very much captured my eye lately as I think it is about to become something that in 10 years time we will be using all of the time. Augmented reality is the combination of real world views which is over-layed by Computer generated images or information. This is the next technological step to what is now commonplace in our lives e.g. Windows 7 widgets. We are all used to not just having a phone for phone calls, the latest handsets do everything we could need and have apps that tell us everything we don’t need.

The main difference between what we have now and augmented reality is that today the information we get is separate from other information, we have to swap for application to application. Augmented reality though will show us relevant information to what we are looking at in the same place.

The technology has only really stared to take off in the last few years and at the moment is more gimmicky than useful. The first games that have been produced just feature flying spacecraft flying over what your camera can see. The aim being to shoot them down so your location is safe.

The plan for the technology is for it to be used as a information and guidance tool. Your phone or similar item will use GPS as long as digital compasses and other technology to pinpoint your exact location and the direction your facing. It will then be able to display relevant information on the screen for what you are actually looking at or be able to guide you where you want to go. A basic version of this is already available on iPhone and Android handsets.

2010
03/11
CATEGORY
101mc
112mc
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