The Boogyman

I found this video clip yesterday while searching the internet and a few short film websites.

It caught my eye as the whole film is made using photographs and then put together in a long sequence. This gives the video an interesting angle as in our heads we fill in the gaps between the shots, which makes it feel like we are actual in this house.

The use of sounds effects that relate to the images that we see on screen trick us into thinking that we are actually watching a motion picture.

I like this video as its created in a unusual way compared with most horror films. It also makes you “jump” whenever the scream and the image flashes up which I was not expecting.

I would advise not using headphones when watching the video if you have the volume on high.

The link to the video is below. (If anyone knows how to embed the video onto this page it would be appreciated)

http://www.shortfilms.com/video/258/The-Boogyman

The film was made by Aaron.

I also found a website that hows similar free to use sound effects http://www.freesound.org/

2009
10/14
CATEGORY
101mc
Film Reviews
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Letter to my future self

Letter to my future self.
Didn’t I tell you that there would be no problems settling in and getting to know every one? There was nothing to worry about at all, as we were all in the same situation.  You may have had a few slip ups along the way, but what can you expect. I told you, you weren’t going to be the only one that made mistakes. I’m sure, if you are or not it’s all part of learning so it will help us over the next two years.
Along the way I’m sure you have produced some interesting films/programmes and I can’t wait to get to see them for myself as well as the outtakes which we can use to progress further. What you have created may not be the best that there has ever been, but the experiences will hopefully help us get there in the not so distant future.
Although you were nervous and excited about the many things you had to learn; all of the buttons and switches in the studios, controlling the cameras to remain in focus, developing your own photographs and so many other seemingly complicated processes. I know that you will have enjoyed the challenges these tasks have thrown at you. You will be pleasantly surprised at how easily you overcome them. “Why was I so nervous” you will say and I will have no reply.
I’m sure that you will have had many questions to ask but are not sure if you should or not, I hope that you have managed to ignore this feeling and be able to be proud of yourself as a result. At least one of these questions I’m sure will be; How am I doing? What can I do to be better? What can I do after this? I’m sure that you will have done just fine anyway but It can’t hurt to ask.
As well as listening to lots of music, I hope you paid even more attention in all of the lectures as that will get you further than 2 hours watching any band, DJ or anything else. The information and advice you will have been given by the lecturers, tutors and other students will be priceless.
Your interest in extreme weather since an early age has meant that you watched a lot of documentary style programmes. The variety of the documentaries that you watched expanded as you grew older. You will have aimed to have learnt how to find out what kind of documentaries the public/audience like to watch. You will have accomplished this by learning how to research audience’s needs and wants. As well as being able to put your theoretical knowledge into practice.
After you have learnt what they would like to see, you will hopefully have had the chance to make your own personal documentary. I doubt you will have being off chasing huge storms, visiting different countries or anything so extravagant but we all have to start somewhere.
If you have the chance you should look out for possible work experience opportunities as this will be of great help to your studies and future job prospects.
I look forward to seeing how you have done and all that you have accomplished.

Didn’t I tell you that there would be no problems settling in and getting to know every one? There was nothing to worry about at all, as we were all in the same situation.  You may have had a few slip ups along the way, but what can you expect. I told you, you weren’t going to be the only one that made mistakes. I’m sure, if you are or not it’s all part of learning so it will help us over the next two years.

Along the way I’m sure you have produced some interesting films/programmes and I can’t wait to get to see them for myself as well as the outtakes which we can use to progress further. What you have created may not be the best that there has ever been, but the experiences will hopefully help us get there in the not so distant future.

Although you were nervous and excited about the many things you had to learn; all of the buttons and switches in the studios, controlling the cameras to remain in focus, developing your own photographs and so many other seemingly complicated processes. I know that you will have enjoyed the challenges these tasks have thrown at you. You will be pleasantly surprised at how easily you overcome them. “Why was I so nervous” you will say and I will have no reply.

I’m sure that you will have had many questions to ask but are not sure if you should or not, I hope that you have managed to ignore this feeling and be able to be proud of yourself as a result. At least one of these questions I’m sure will be; How am I doing? What can I do to be better? What can I do after this? I’m sure that you will have done just fine anyway but It can’t hurt to ask.

As well as listening to lots of music, I hope you paid even more attention in all of the lectures as that will get you further than 2 hours watching any band, DJ or anything else. The information and advice you will have been given by the lecturers, tutors and other students will be priceless.

Your interest in extreme weather since an early age has meant that you watched a lot of documentary style programmes. The variety of the documentaries that you watched expanded as you grew older. You will have aimed to have learnt how to find out what kind of documentaries the public/audience like to watch. You will have accomplished this by learning how to research audience’s needs and wants. As well as being able to put your theoretical knowledge into practice.

After you have learnt what they would like to see, you will hopefully have had the chance to make your own personal documentary. I doubt you will have being off chasing huge storms, visiting different countries or anything so extravagant but we all have to start somewhere.

If you have the chance you should look out for possible work experience opportunities as this will be of great help to your studies and future job prospects.

I look forward to seeing how you have done and all that you have accomplished.

2009
10/13
CATEGORY
101mc
Uncategorized
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Short summary of Media Diary

The media diary from last week is representative of my media intake since I began studying at Coventry University in September 2009. It is unrepresentative though of my media intake before this date where much more television would have been watched in a normal day.

As I no longer have access to a TV and don’t have a TV license so I can watch Live TV on my computer I have changed my viewing habits to using on-line catchup services such as BBC Iplayer and 4OD. The access to these programs all of the time makes it easier to plan events and other activities as I no longer need to be in at a certain time or even remember to record the shows.

The list of programs/music that I have seen/heard will probably make me look rather uncultured as they are all mainstream programs for mass audiences. This is not really the case, other shows that I enjoy watching or quite often not on these services which makes it difficult to watch.

I have noticed though that there are TV shows that I haven’t ever seen/heard of on these sites that sound interesting and unique in their ideas so I am going to try to watch as many of these shows in the future as I possibly can.

2009
10/12
CATEGORY
101mc
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My Media Diary

This post contains what media i have knowingly and actively consumed from Monday 5th October – Wednesday 7th October.


MONDAY 5th October

Where What Medium Time
Home Top gear BBC Iplayer 1hour
Home YouTube Videos YouTube/Internet 30mins
Walk to University Music (indie/rock) IPod 20mins
Home Music (dance) BBC Iplayer 2hours

TUESDAY 6th October

Where What Medium Time
Home Fast and Furious DVD/Laptop 1hour40mins
Home Michael McIntyre BBC Iplayer 50mins
Home Checked email Internet 5mins
Home McOpenMediaCoventry Blog Internet 10mins

WEDNESDAY 7th October

Where What Medium Time
Bullring Shopping Centre Music Shop Radio 3hours
Home MSN News Internet 25mins
Home Flash Forward Five on Demand 45mins
KasBah Music DJ 5hours

I know that I will have seen/heard/read more than in the tables above as we are continuously taking in media. Such as adverts in newspapers, billboards and on websites.

2009
10/08
CATEGORY
101mc
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Tate Modern and V&A galleries

I never really had much chance to look around the V&A and mainly only saw the 1 room, titled “Telling Tales – Fantasy and Fear in Contemporary Design.” When it comes to art I find the modern and contemporary art the most interesting. Which is why I choose to explore this room, the art work included small scale replicas of famous worldwide landmarks that had been damaged by different means. I found this very unusual and related it to terrorists attacks as they had the Pentagon and the Twin Towers as two of these sculptures. The rest of the gallery was mainly made up of much older pieces from throughout the ages, as well as jewellery, paintings and sculptures. Most of which doesn’t interest me personally, but I took time to look at anyway to expand my horisons. Out of all of the art forms I like sculptures and other interactive pieces. I believe I find this more interesting as you will never see the same piece the same way, every time you look at it it will be from a slightly different angle, the lighting will be different so what we see will not be the same.

The Tate Modern I find more interesting as the work is work unique, because of this I have visited several times in the past. As expected the  art, sculptures and videos on show were unusual and unique. Some of the pieces I didn’t fully understand and therefore couldn’t appreciate as to me it didn’t look like art, for example a wooden stick covered in the primary colours or just a plane mirror on the wall. My favourite part out of all of the galleries exhibits, was 2 rooms one where all of the art was very small household objects and another where they were much bigger than life size.

2009
10/08
CATEGORY
101mc
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Letter to my future self

Didn’t I tell you that there would be no problems settling in and getting to know every one? There was nothing to worry about at all, as we were all in the same situation. You may have had a few slip ups along the way, but what can you expect. I told you, you weren’t going to be the only one that made mistakes. I’m sure, if you are or not it’s all part of learning so it will help us over the next two years.

Along the way I’m sure you have produced some interesting films/programmes and I can’t wait to get to see them for myself as well as the outtakes which we can use to progress further. What you have created may not be the best that there has ever been, but the experiences will hopefully help us get there in the not so distant future.

Although you were nervous and excited about the many things you had to learn; all of the buttons and switches in the studios, controlling the cameras to remain in focus, developing your own photographs and so many other seemingly complicated processes. I know that you will have enjoyed the challenges these tasks have thrown at you. You will be pleasantly surprised at how easily you overcome them. “Why was I so nervous” you will say and I will have no reply.

I’m sure that you will have had many questions to ask but are not sure if you should or not, I hope that you have managed to ignore this feeling and be able to be proud of yourself as a result. At least one of these questions I’m sure will be; How am I doing? What can I do to be better? What can I do after this? I’m sure that you will have done just fine anyway but It can’t hurt to ask.

As well as listening to lots of music, I hope you paid even more attention in all of the lectures as that will get you further than 2 hours watching any band, DJ or anything else. The information and advice you will have been given by the lecturers, tutors and other students will be priceless.

Your interest in extreme weather since an early age has meant that you watched a lot of documentary style programmes. The variety of the documentaries that you watched expanded as you grew older. You will have aimed to have learnt how to find out what kind of documentaries the public/audience like to watch. You will have accomplished this by learning how to research audience’s needs and wants. As well as being able to put your theoretical knowledge into practice.
After you have learnt what they would like to see, you will hopefully have had the chance to make your own personal documentary. I doubt you will have being off chasing huge storms, visiting different countries or anything so extravagant but we all have to start somewhere.

If you have the chance you should look out for possible work experience opportunities as this will be of great help to your studies and future job prospects.

I look forward to seeing how you have done and all that you have accomplished.

2009
10/03
CATEGORY
101mc
Letters
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Cabinet of Curiosities

Link to my google docs presentation.

2009
10/02
CATEGORY
101mc
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Nick Pollard

Nick became interested in Journalism as it gave him freedom to do what he wanted, in the sense he could write about what he enjoyed and to get paid for it. His first job was as a trainee reporter for the Birkenhead news. He did the usual starting out business of filing reports, answering phones but from this not so interesting beginning he knew this would be the job for him.

Nick had a lucky break when he was given the job of covering the D-day 40th anniversary. At the time he was given the job the event wasn’t expected to be very large. It turned out to be a huge event though with many leaders attending events. He mentioned how he didn’t feel that he was up to the job and that his boss told him he had felt the same in the past. He focussed on this point for some time to make sure that we all knew that this was normal and a good sign.

He also talked about his best and worst experiences which was very interesting to listen to. It also showed that even the best can have problems and that you just have to carry on to get the best. this very much proved Nicks final point that attitude is everything.

2009
09/30
CATEGORY
101mc
Coventry Conversation
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The First Week

First day

Obviously I was very nervous as I’m sure most of the people attending that day were. I suppose there will have been a few that said they weren’t but looking around the room that morning, I never saw any of them. It was good to see a few faces that i recognised in the staff from Open Days, Interviews and the summer school.

We had several talks throughout the day introducing all of the staff and giving us important information. The day finished off watching a film call ‘Be Kind Rewind’

Be Kind Rewind

I enjoyed the film as it wasn’t similar to any other film that I had seen before. It reminded me of videos that commonly appear on youtube or you will see on peoples mobile phones. Creating this effect and filming someone that is filming something else appears all of the time, but I liked how the actors on screen made it feel real what they were doing. The creativity behind the ideas for the remakes in the film I thought was very good and at times was like the original.

The task that we were set from this project was effectively to do the same thing to make a low budget scene from any film of our choosing. The group that I worked with decided on making a scene from King Kong. Taking inspiration from Be Kind Rewind we used basic props such as cardboard cut outs attached to sticks, as well as asking another student with ‘furry’ boots if we could film her stomping around and sticking pictures to a newspaper.

The finished piece by the end of the week looked OK. We were unable to edit the scenes together properly and had done several takes on each shot so the viewing wasn’t very smooth. The shots if edited together I feel would have looked good and had a clear narrative. We said as a group that at a later time we may come back to it to do this and then be able to upload it to this blog.

2009
09/29
CATEGORY
101mc
Uncategorized
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