News Task

1. Explain your role/responsibility within the team and the task. What were you required to do? 
For this task, we were the temporary editorial team that was in charge of the front page of the Daily Mirror, the home page of Mirror online and the newspaper's social media pages. Livia and I were in charge of the newspapers social media pages, this meant that we had to work together to reflect the traditional conventions of the Daily Mirror on all social media platforms. We therefore met in our free time to pick the most suitable pictures for each platform and came up with appropriate headings whilst incorporating direct address, alliteration and hyperbole, as the Daily Mirror intertwine these throughout their social media pages. I also analysed each social media platform individually in order to fully understand the Daily Mirrors codes and conventions in order to assist us when we were writing and checking the headlines and photos. 

2. For one media form, describe the codes and conventions you chose to follow and explain your intended impact? 
For our Instagram page, we selected the 'Buckingham Palace announces that the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at Windsor Castle next year will follow an American theme' story. In order to be successful with mastering the typical codes and conventions of the Daily Mirror, we thought very carefully about the picture which we would choose. Therefore, we browsed the Daily Mirror's instagram and looked for pictures of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, we noticed that most of these pictures were medium close ups and in media res, therefore we chose a medium close up of them waving, just before a TV interview. Furthermore, when writing the headline, we also noticed that the Daily Mirror conventionally wrote lengthy anecdotal headlines, therefore, we mirrored their compound sentences and incorporated a light-hearted and humorous undertone whilst explaining the story. 

Moreover, we employed direct address to make the readers feel included and used colloquialism as instagram is aimed at a younger target audience. In addition to this, we included the traditional blue hashtags as the Daily Mirror never fails to use these in any of their posts. As the Daily Mirror receives many likes and comments, we thought that we would reflect another typical convention and add a comment by creating a username called '@kathryn93'. Furthermore, after browsing the Daily Mirrors instagrams, we noticed that sometimes they would add a title with a banner on top of the picture. As a result, we reflected this and put the title 'The American Dream' in a white serif font with a red background to match the Daily Mirror's left wing relations and brand values. This was strung throughout all of the three different media forms.

3. Explain how your choices reflect the real newspaper's values and target audience. 
Livia and I chose to string the red colour motif throughout all of our media forms. The repetition of the red exemplifies the Daily Mirror's left wing relations. For our instagram, we decided to use a red banner, for our facebook page, we used a red background beside a picture of Jeremy Corbyn, who was additionally wearing red. This also signifies the labour party whilst intertwining elements of Christmas. On our twitter page, we picked a picture with a red background and Trump who was wearing a red tie; as Trump is a conservative, we picked an unflattering picture of him to match the Daily Mirror's anti-Trump associations.  Furthermore, Livia and I ensured that we adapted the lexis to reflect the Daily Mirror's style as different platforms, such as Facebook, which used more formal lexis to exacerbate the gravitas of the story, this was because we noticed that online readership is more affluent. In addition to this, on our instagram page, we continued to reflect the Daily Mirror's cheery and light-hearted undertones through our language, especially in our hashtags. We did this because we noticed that many more young people read the Daily Mirror online and more women than men furthermore.

4. Explain how your team adapted the news across the three different media forms and the reasons behind your decisions. 
Firstly, when I was absent, the team comprehended each story and ranked them in importance, they decided that the most important story would be the '534 killed in terrorist attack in Iraq' as this held the most gravitas. Therefore, this story would be incorporated on all different media forms. On the other hand, they ranked the stories with a more comical twist, such as the story where 'Mum finds severed finger in bag of Iceland frozen chips' towards the bottom of the list. Throughout the team however, the biggest convention of the Daily Mirror which we tried to display was the language used as we encompassed a lot of alliteration, hyperbole and direct address throughout all three different media forms.   

5. In hindsight, is there anything about your team's outcomes that you would adapt or improve? 
In hindsight, I think that maybe we should have checked our work thoroughly before printing it as Livia and I noticed that we had a spelling error in one of the headlines when we were cutting. This could have perhaps saved us a little bit more time. Furthermore, Livia and I could have been a little bit more careful when measuring the boxes of the headlines, because when we cut some of them, they turned out a bit bigger than we expected, therefore we had to cut some of the box off to match the required measurements.

Minecraft Pocket Edition Gameplay for Youtube

My Minecraft Pocket Edition Gameplay

1. How I did it (for example what videos I watched, what technology I used and how).
Firstly, as I was not very familiar with these type of Minecraft videos, I browsed Youtube in order to guide and inspire me. This included watching famous YouTubers such as DanTDM and CaptainSparklez, whereby I adopted a very light-hearted and friendly tone. Furthermore, both Youtubers incorporated witty humour throughout their videos to contribute to the cheery and upbeat tone, which I tried to mirror in my video. As both Youtubers intertwined a friendly and natural style to their videos, as a result, I did not write a script when producing my video. I watched the selected video a couple of times and then I recorded myself on an IPad whilst commenting on the muted video. After a couple of retakes, I then edited my video using Film-maker pro to overlay my video with the Minecraft footage to make a seamless visual representation of myself playing the game. 

2. How my video might attract the attention of Mojang and/or Microsoft, and how it might influence them. 
As my Youtube video consists of myself playing Minecraft, this may attract the attention of both Mojang and Microsoft as they may want to observe how different audiences utilise and play the game. Furthermore, I am also advertising the game by playing it, therefore I am able to entice viewers to potentially purchase the game. In addition, I am portraying the game positively, as both family-friendly and immersive, with minor violence in order to attract the correct target audience.

Video Games and Me

Video Games and Me!

I have never considered myself to be a hard core gamer, however when tracing back my memories, I realised that I have been playing video games since I was about five years old. My first hand held console was a Nintendo wii which I had received for Christmas, this played an important role of my social life as I would always invite my friends round to play Mario kart or wii sports. I always remember having such a fun time playing these games as they were both engaging and competitive. Furthermore, the wii was a digitally convergent media type as it also allowed us to connect to Youtube, whereby we could also play music. My sister also had a Nintendo DS where we would play 'cooking mama' and 'Super Mario Bros'. I would say that this game was the most annoying but addictive game at the same time and I could not let go of the DS until I had completed all eight worlds of the game.

After my phase of the Nintendo wii, I became obsessed with my Ipad whereby I played games such as clash of clans, subway surfers, candy crush, angry birds, flappy bird and pokemon go. I used to take my Ipad anywhere and play these games, both alone and with my family/friends. More recently, when my brother received a PS3 for his birthday, he used to make me play Fifa with him as well as call of duty; Black Ops. We used to play these games both in the living room and kitchen and when my cousins used to visit us, we would play as a group. However, now I do not play many video games as I have lost interest combined with a lack of spare time. Therefore, video games will always encapsulate a major time of my childhood life.   

Minecraft Mission

My Minecraft Mission!

Minecraft is the second most successful game of all time and for the first time ever playing it, I could finally see why! This incredibly addictive game is encompassed by a world full of textured 3D cubes, the game is free of structure and constraint allowing the user to explore, mine and build. Users are able to play on many digitally converged platforms, such as a PC, a tablet, an Xbox, Playstations...etc To date, over 121 million official copies of the game have been sold combined with over 16 million registered users. The innovative game was created and designed by Markus Persson. a game programmer, who also developed and published through his company; Mojang. A full version of the game went on release in November 2011.One may argue that the game was so successful as there had never been a game like this before! 

As a beginner in this new engrossing world of virtual lego, I found it very hard to get used to the free and open nature of the game. I found that I was just running around everywhere trying to find animals to punch. However, once I had mined some wood from the trees and built a crafting table, I started to try and build a house which ... didn't turn out so well. I mainly placed the oak wood blocks on top of each other, however, I did not manage to put a ceiling on my house or insert a door. Despite this, I made a sign using the pickaxe stating "Riana's palace" which is really quite contrasting. On the other hand, I felt more confident with the game the more I played it, thus enticing me to continue playing the game for longer.  

Latymer Radio Breakfast Show!

Riana and Livia's Latymer Radio Breakfast Show!

1. Did you fulfill all the content requirements; both in terms of including all the correct features as well as the actual choices made.

Livia and I satisfied both sets of criteria when producing our Latymer breakfast show. This is highlighted through the two snippets of contrasting song tracks as we played Rockstar by Post Malone juxtaposed with Beautifully unconventional by wolf Alice. The mainstream rap and modern hip-hop ‘Rockstar’ has been consistently playing on the Radio 1 Breakfast show, therefore it was a good choice. Furthermore ‘Beautifully unconventional’ is an example of an alternative English rock band. Radio 1 breakfast show provides a global platform for emerging UK artists to flourish, therefore playing this song was also an intelligent option. In addition, our radio consisted of three different jingles; the Radio Latymer jingle, the celebrity gamble jingle and the news jingle. Moreover, our radio includes a phone call from Jade, a fellow Latymer student, who stars in the main feature of celebrity gamble. As a result, the social media responses flooded into the show, with a special tweet from @BossmanMrsCobbet. Furthermore, our radio breakfast show comprised of a promo with the celebrity guest, Molly Foster, who is head girl at Latymer, which is relatable for the target audience. Our radio also includes two major news headlines involving a ‘Teacher Fight Club’.  

2. Have you nailed the conventions and style of Nick Grimshaw and the Radio 1 Breakfast show?

When planning our script for the Latymer Radio show, Livia and I ensured that we contained youth speak which is similar to Nick Grimshaw’s conversational style. Therefore, we added colloquial terms such as ‘lit’ and ‘true say’. Furthermore, we made sure that there was banter throughout the whole radio show as this is a typical convention of Radio 1 Breakfast show. We did this by incorporating as many jokes as we could into our everyday conversation as well as maintaining a lively, energetic and bubbly atmosphere like Nick Grimshaw does. Moreover, we made sure that our Latymer Radio show serves the three purposes of informing, educating and entertaining by including the news headlines and a diverse range of music. Another major convention of the Radio 1 Breakfast show is the audience interaction, which was evidenced through our game of ‘Celebrity Gamble’ whereby a member of the Latymer School called and participated in.

3. How did you manage your running order/ timings?

When we first rehearsed our script, we realised that we were over time, however only by 15 seconds. Therefore, we decided to cut out some of the dialogue which we thought was not as entertaining as the rest of our script in order to stay within the time limit of three minutes. Before recording properly, we ensured that all the IPads and IPhones were loaded with the correct songs and jingles and then we started recording on one of our phones as a practice run. This allowed us to have an idea of our time when rehearsing. Finally, we decided to actually record via the microphone and computer, however the timings were the hardest part of the task as we felt very rushed with playing all the sound effects and songs, therefore we made many mistakes, for example, when a song wouldn’t play or when one of us would mix up the words on the script.  

Music Video analysis - Castle on the hill

Castle on the hill music video – Ed Sheeran

1. Visual illustration of lyrics 

In the music video, Ed Sheeran is saying "I was running from my brother and his friends" which is evidently shown in the shot. The visual depiction of lyrics helps to create a nostalgic atmosphere as Ed Sheeran paints a memorable scene of his childhood adventures. 

 2. Varied and fast-paced Mis-en-scene

As exemplified in this shot, there are three different mis-en-scenes, however, they are formulating a linear sequence to the music video, as this music video is a mixture of both performance and narrative. This is a typical convention of music videos as it features jump cutting as highlighted in this shot. Furthermore, the low key lighting combined with the casual costumes illustrate a natural setting of the music video, whilst still creating excitement. 

3. Parallel editing 

                                                                             Parallel editing is a technique commonly used in narrative music videos. It is used to portray multiple lines of action, occurring in different places, simultaneously. In this shot, there is parallel editing to emphasise how all of his friends have grown up as he states what each one is doing currently; "One friend left to sell clothes, one works down by the coast, one had two kids but lives alone" This adds to the nostalgic ambiance as Ed Sheeran reminisces about when they were all friends. 

4. Variation of camera angles and shots 

As exemplified in this shot, there is a combination of a medium close up, extreme close up and an establishing shot. Music videos use a variation of these shots especially in narrative music videos to gain a connection with the protagonist and to magnify the emotions of the characters in the music video. Furthermore, the establishing shot gives the audience a sense of location, thus adding to the narrative. Also, later in the music video, there is tracking which is prominent in music videos as this includes the audience and makes them feel as if they are in the video. 



5.  Miming and lip sync  

                                                                     Miming is a well-established technique of the music video, the artists will often mime and lip sync in their videos to connect their image and performance to the sound of the song. As highlighted in the shot, Ed Sheeran is miming on the chorus of the song to emphasise the nostalgia that he inhabits. 

Continuity Task Evaluation

Continuity Task Evaluation

1. Explain the story of your video 

In our short video encapsulating an accident, we wanted the narrative to be realistic and relatable during the six shots. Therefore we decided to have two people bumping into each other and causing an explosion of papers. Firstly, we started off with an establishing shot, consisting of the first character speeding down a flight of stairs hurrying to get to class. Meanwhile, the other two characters are casually strolling across the corridor, engrossed in their conversation. Then both characters approach the edge of a corner, resulting in the collapse of one of the characters, accompanied by a small outburst of flying papers.

2. How did you attempt to create 'narrative flow' (continuity)?

We tried to create continuity the whole way through the video. Our first attempt was trying to set the scene by showing that all of the characters were in the same building, however moving at different paces as the shots switched, this is a technique called cross-cutting.We ensured that both characters that bumped into each other were on opposite sides of the corner so it looked realistic when the accident occurred. Furthermore, we tried to ensure that after the characters bumped into each other; the first character would fall to the floor, whilst dropping her papers in the air. We created continuity by making the first character stay in her same position before shooting the last shot, where she was accompanied by a single piece of paper falling.

Moreover, we tried to create continuity when doing the pan of the feet in the third shot by making both characters speak, however due to the school environment, the classrooms were all very quiet, this was juxtaposed to the last shot when the classes had just finished, therefore, there was a noisier atmosphere. Therefore, some may interpret that the third shot seemed muted; however this is the reality of filming in a school.

3.Did you achieve full continuity? If not, why not?
As a result, we did not achieve full continuity, furthermore, when analysing the video in depth, we noticed that the pan of the feet walking in the third shot was out of sync compared to the previous shot. However, we were really impressed with the wide frame of the panorama as this adds to the different variety of shots which we captured, thus grasping the audience. It also adds to the suspense as the audience anticipate what is going to happen next.

In addition, we did not reach full continuity as one of the characters raised her arm as the other character collided into her. This exacerbates how the character was preparing for the accident covertly. Furthermore, in the last shot, as the first character rose from the ground, the single shot of the paper was very slow to fall on the ground. Some may argue that the paper had already fallen on the ground; therefore, the video is not continuous.

4. In hindsight, what would you do differently to improve the narrative flow of your video and tell your story more effectively?  
In hindsight, I would ensure that we are filming the video during the lesson, not in between lessons, in order to avoid a variation of noise. Furthermore, I would suggest that on the panorama of the feet, that we could have followed them a bit more; this would grip the audience even more. Moreover, Sam cut some of the panorama out, therefore, next time we should have increased the pace of our shot. Also, on the second shot, I would ensure that we had a tighter shot on the door as it was very wide. Finally, on the last shot, the formation was too similar to the previous shot due to a lack of variation as we neglected the 30-degree angle rule. Overall, it was a challenging and exciting task and I look forward to improving my mistakes throughout the course of the year.