End of Year NEA Task

End of Year NEA Task

Above is my finished magazine front cover for my NEA project on the fashion magazine brief on diversity.

1. What you have learnt since starting the mini-NEA on 18th June?

While doing this mini-NEA project, I have gained a variety of skills along the way in performance and studio training and web design. Utilising research, I have acquired some knowledge on magazine conventions and have tried to emulate some in my magazine cover.

The tutorial on building a website through WIX opened me up to the site I have never used before. I found it easily accessible and a quick and easy way to create a professional site without the need of having to go through an extremely detailed process of a website buidling course for example.

  

Through performance and studio training, I was encouraged to take myself less seriously which made me find myself more at ease as the performance sessions progressed. The studio training was really informative and helpful when I used the equipment for my photoshoot on Monday 9th July.

In hindsight, I would have probably done more research for my project to have a larger amount of ideas and more inspiration. 

2. What you have achieved for your NEA so far?

Now I have completed the process of creating my magazine front cover, I have found I am more accustomed to using Photoshop now and am able to do things using the software at a faster pace. For my photoshoot, I produced a shootboard so I knew the order and the timings of my shots. During pre-production and planning, I made moodboards, one that reflected the general representation of people I wanted to include in my magazine as the main cover image and features and another moodboard on positions. I had to put together my outfit for my photoshoot and decide which positions I would use in my shoot.

3. What your future plans are for your project?

Looking forward, I want to carry on with the project I am working on at the moment which is the fashion magazine brief and I will most likely use the same magazine title too. Though I see this mini-NEA project as learning curve, in September, I will probably continue to work on this project but I would like to produce of more material in terms of photography for cover images and features, this would presumably happen in the studio. Over the summer I would like to take location shots predominantly around London to use as locations in the backgrounds of my features and cover image.

News Talk

The newspaper front page

The website page

The Facebook page


The Twitter page


The Instagram page

1. Explain your role/responsibility within the team and the task. What were you required to do? 

Working with Abbie and Oliver, our task was to work on the Mirror's newspaper front page. This involved choosing which of the selected stories would be the main article with the headline and which of the others would be secondary stories. We had to decide on the layout of the cover page in addition to producing standfirsts and captions and gathering pictures to match our articles. 

2. For one media form, describe the codes and conventions you chose to follow and explain your intended impact.

As The Mirror is a tabloid newspaper, we included simplistic vocabulary such as 'shoddy'. Other examples include; 'confused', 'shocked' and distress', which convey emotion for each article in every caption, moreover, the straightforward language is easier to understand.Since in tabloids have a higher picture to text ratio, we also employed this convention using a large splash of British politician David Davis for our headline story and a slightly smaller photo of  chips and a blurred severed finger for our 'Finger Frozen Fiasco' story and little images for our other secondary stories. In our puff, an advert for Tesco's Christmas pudding can be seen which is a sign of the social status of the class of the readers of The Mirror, lower classes (C2,D,E audiences). 

3. Explain how your choices reflect the real newspaper's values and target audience. 

Choosing a political topic of the Brexit deal as our main story displayed the Mirror's political view clearly demonstrating that this particular tabloid newspaper is left-winged depicted with negative adjectives: 'diabolical' and shoddy' over the Brexit deal. The skyline featuring Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, is there to tempt readers of lower socioeconomic classes to venture further into the newspaper, this article is a reflection of the newspaper's target audience.

4. Explain how your team adapted the news across the three different media forms and the reasons behind your decisions. 

The headline story for the front page newspaper in print was on the Brexit deal, our reason to use this story as our main article is because it showcases The Mirror's political view which is anti-Brexit for their left-winged audience. Since the online versions of the newspaper are more widely read by younger audiences, we placed the story on Iraq as our main article on their website and Facebook page which capture their attention. However, on the Twitter page, we used an article on Donald Trump due to the fact he has a large presence on this particular social media site whereas on Instagram we applied a story on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle because Instagram conventions are aesthetically pleasing photographs which promote positivity and happiness.

5. In hindsight, is there anything about your team's outcomes that you would adapt or improve? 
To improve our outcome I think we should have used the font that The Mirror uses across their multiple issues. I think we could have sized our pictures and sections of text better.

Minecraft Pocket Edition Gameplay Video for Youtube

Minecraft Pocket Edition Gameplay Video for Youtube

How you did it (or example, what videos did you look at, what technology did you use and how?)

Before doing this task I looked at Youtubers who are gamers such as KSI and PewDiePie and looked at how they interact with their audience, they both seem to have a casual appearance in front of their audience speaking very informally and expression which I attempted to replicate. To create produce this video, I first watched the video where Minecraft was being played and noted the specific things that happened in this particular video. Then I positioned the other iPad in place to film myself dropping in terminology specific to Minecraft such as 'wooden pickaxe,, and 'crafting table'. After a few takes and I managed to have produced my analysis of the game. Using an editing app called FilmmakerPro from the App Store I placed my commentary video on top of the actual gameplay video, editing my timing and the size of my video in relation to the other video.

How your video might attract the attention of Mojang and/or Microsoft, and how it might influence them?

Since I am playing their game, their attention may be drawn to this. This video features no bad language and does not have any negative connotations surrounding the game displaying it could be a game for all the family to play. As I am playing the Pocket Edition on the iPad this could influence viewers to buy into the game and could be possibly used as advertisement for the game which Mojang and/or Microsoft could invest in.

Video Games and Me

Video Games and Me

I mostly play games on my phone or on tablets, whereas, when I was younger, years ago I used to play game on computers when I need to pass the time. The reasons I play is when I have nothing to do, when I'm bored or waiting for something. it is a source that occupies me, such as during journeys by car or bus. The games I play are from the Play Store where normally you level up or try to beat records such as 2048, Make7 and Candy Crush Soda. Furthermore, I play whilst I'm listening to music in place of the visual activity to waste time. Nowadays, I play these games by myself, however, I used to play sometimes with my brother when we there is not anything to do and when we were younger we'd play computer games for hours on end. These days, I don't spend much time on games but spend some days playing a bit while other days I don't play at all. There have been long periods of time, for example months where I don't bother using the games or engage in one particular game at a time. 

Minecraft Mission

Minecraft Mission

As a person who has never played Minecraft, this is my first attempt at building a house on this video game. Playing on the iPad Minecraft: Pocket Edition version of the game, it is clear that the game takes time to adjust to using but can be engaging as one can create their own world. Because this is the sort of game that can be played alone, it is possible whenever the individual wants to, they do not have to get multiple people together to play. Since you, the play, are in control of the game, the wold can look however they want it to look and play how they want to as well. As this video game can be played on various devices, the areas where it can be used is versatile.

My Breakfast Show Segment

My Breakfast Show Segment

1) Did you fulfil all the content requirements; both in terms of including all the correct features and as well as the actual choices made.
We fulfil the criteria as we incorporated catchy jingles, the use of music tracks in the middle of sections of conversational interaction between the host, member of public and news reporter. Moreover, we made sure to include the significant feature of Celebrity Gamble which promotes the use of social media consisting of a phone-in from the audience and banter with the host. Our news reporter informed the host and audience of two news headlines which our host confirmed that a featured celebrity guest would come up later in the show.

2) Have you nailed the conventions of and style of Nick Grimshaw and the Radio 1 Breakfast Show?
I think we have come close toe achieving the style of Radio 1 Breakfast Show. The music tracks we used were current  providing our members of public with the best global music talents which attracts younger listeners in the 15-29 year old category. We communicated to our audience the latest news affairs  and connected with our listeners via Celebrity Gamble as well as  through the use of social media. In terms of adopting the style of Nick Grimshaw, I feel that our form was similar, we added in memorable jingles and our banter was interesting to hear. 

3) How well did you manage your running order/timings?
As we planned the order of our radio show in advance we were able to spend time practising running through our script, working out who should play what track and when on different iPads, in addition to organising how fast or slow we should relay our words and furthermore if we were talking clearly. Before recording we already ran through our script and playing it back utilising a phone device. I think our timings ran well as we practised several times to get it right.

Continuity Task Evaluation

1) Explain the story of your video
In our video, the story takes place in along corridors. In the first shot you can see Rose rushing towards a set of stairs and running downstairs carrying some folders, it is suggesting she is late for something. In the next shot Riana and myself are talking, having a conversation walking along the another corridor on the lower floor. As we walk along deep in conversation, Rose and Riana collide so Rose falls, spilling her folders and papers on the floor. In the last shot Rose has gotten up and a single sheet of paper is seen descending to the ground.

2) How did you attempt to create 'narrative flow' (continuity)?
By thinking up our accident beforehand, we drew out our six shots (a storyboard) on paper, deciding which orders our scenes should be in. To try to create narrative flow, Riana and I positioned our feet as close as possible to the position they were in when we were walking so the continuity would be better.

3) Did you achieve full continuity? If not, why not?
I don't think we managed to create continuity, I think the main reason was because of the close up of shoes shot. In the previous shot of Riana and myself, we were walking forward towards the camera but then the camera switched to behind us whereas it could have been more in front. An improvement is to have done a closer shot on the shoes and make a tighter frame and trim down the close up.

4) In hindsight, what would you do differently to improve the narrative flow of your video and tell your story more effectively?
In summary, the variety of shots in addition to the angled made our story more engaging in, the master shot of the stairs and people walking left the audience feeling anticipation for the collision. We had good establishing shots for both sets, the stories seemed parallel because we utilised the technique of crosscutting. In future, to generate a better narrative flow, we should make the sound more consistent and as our last two shots were too similar we needed to produce one more shot to cut in for it to work.