Multimedia journalism has been an interesting module, covering the convergence of multiple media platforms to elaborately illustrate journalism in the online age. The advent of web 2.0 has changed journalism, creating a new level of interactivity previously impossible on other formats.
Studying the online world of journalism is a little more depth was an interesting experience, though one I was personally fairly familiar with. The push back into blogging and Google applications was beneficial for me, however, as i'd been letting myself slip in those areas. I discovered some truly inspirational (and other completely diabolical) multimedia websites in the course of the module, which was an influential experience.
The audio module was basic, but it was plain to see that good audio equipment skills are essential in the fast-paced journalism world. I've since employed microphones for impromptu interviews, and the techniques i'd learnt on the module had seemingly become second nature, which was helpful. Audacity is the most basic editing program on the market and nowhere near industry standard, so it would have been useful to have learnt editing on different and better software.
The video module was, though informative, something I personally found little value in. I unfortunately have no intention of going into filmmaking and so the techniques were fairly wasted on me. I was already familiar with Final Cut Pro, so the refresher was alright but I couldn't help feeling like I could be making better use of my time. The look at video journalism techniques was interesting in the sessions, but in practice it felt unprofessional and not journalistic at all. It would be a sad state of affairs if a journalist was left to man cameras, microphones and be on camera all at the same time and this just felt unrealistic.
The online and audio aspect of the module were great, however. The push back into blogging has been the most invaluable product of this module, and establishing my online presence again will be good steps for the future.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Audio: An Evaluation
Faced with the task of producing a podcast, I knew that i once again wanted to work with already-established interests - this time experimental music and sonic art.
The work of a good friend of mine's was the subject of my piece, as I tried to delve a little deeper into what made him tick and the influences behind his work. Knowing that he had a couple of projects currently ongoing, I saw the opportunity for a decent interview and went for it.
Armed with a zoom kit, I wanted the interview to have a conversational feel rather than a straight up Q&A session so I placed the microphone in an unobtrusive place that could pick up his voice well without behind held in his face and potentially putting him off a little. This helped the conversation flow naturally I felt, but would only be a good technique in a quiet indoor environment like I used.
I decided to open the piece with a sample of 'IZ-US' by Aphex Twin - a personal favourite of mine and something that felt altogether out of place - a mood i wanted establishing from the offset. I continued using music by Aphex Twin as a backing track for the interview, settling on 'Blue Calx' from the album 'Selected Ambient Works Vol.2'. The great thing about using an ambient track of this variety was that, whilst unobtrusive and not distracting, it still gave the piece a slightly unsettled atmosphere.
The stings I used were samples of a tribal chant - once again for the slightly unsettling audio value.
I think the piece was successful both in interesting views I got from the artist and in the slightly unsettling atmosphere evoked in the Podcast. It feels fairly fluid to me, though i'd add commentary before playing the samples of Ollie's work and VHS Head's work during the interview, as I feel it isn't absolutely clear what the listener is hearing when it's played. Other than that, i'm happy with the piece.
The work of a good friend of mine's was the subject of my piece, as I tried to delve a little deeper into what made him tick and the influences behind his work. Knowing that he had a couple of projects currently ongoing, I saw the opportunity for a decent interview and went for it.
Armed with a zoom kit, I wanted the interview to have a conversational feel rather than a straight up Q&A session so I placed the microphone in an unobtrusive place that could pick up his voice well without behind held in his face and potentially putting him off a little. This helped the conversation flow naturally I felt, but would only be a good technique in a quiet indoor environment like I used.
I decided to open the piece with a sample of 'IZ-US' by Aphex Twin - a personal favourite of mine and something that felt altogether out of place - a mood i wanted establishing from the offset. I continued using music by Aphex Twin as a backing track for the interview, settling on 'Blue Calx' from the album 'Selected Ambient Works Vol.2'. The great thing about using an ambient track of this variety was that, whilst unobtrusive and not distracting, it still gave the piece a slightly unsettled atmosphere.
The stings I used were samples of a tribal chant - once again for the slightly unsettling audio value.
I think the piece was successful both in interesting views I got from the artist and in the slightly unsettling atmosphere evoked in the Podcast. It feels fairly fluid to me, though i'd add commentary before playing the samples of Ollie's work and VHS Head's work during the interview, as I feel it isn't absolutely clear what the listener is hearing when it's played. Other than that, i'm happy with the piece.
Monday, 11 April 2011
Video: An evaluation
My video piece was and ill-advised and altogether unorthodox documentary piece playing with the concepts of hearsay and misdirection.
The concept itself was realised after multiple afternoons at the Undercroft with friends of mine discussing a mysterious next-door neighbour by the name of 'Salvo'. Their stories were often a case of Chinese whispers, but always of interest. Salvo was, on the surface, a simple mustachioed builder of Neasden. Their stories, however, painted a very different story. I decided to document these stories into some sort of mildly coherent short about the man.
I don't want to claim the piece was 'mockumentary' as the claims in the story were mostly unfounded rumour - they may or may not be true, and I as the filmmaker do not and probably will never know the origin of these rumours.
I adopted an interview style for the piece - a 2/3 shot of the interviewees that gave spacial context to their sides, which was furthered by the use of intrusive cutaways. The cutaways were almost claustrophobic in execution - something i want to incorporate to add a little suspense to the piece. This was poorly executed on reflection, and i should have added more of them.
There was a little visual distraction in a few shots - particularly a sign next to one of the interviewees. I noticed this at the time of shooting and moved him, though I liked the piece i'd recorded with that particular interviewee and so left it in regardless. I feel it adds a little to the genuine feeling of the piece.
The piece was recorded with a particular humour in mind - I feel this suffered in the cutting room. I couldn't include all of the footage i wanted to, and so a lot of context surrounding the character was lost. I don't think i noticed this at the time of editing as I had the context in my head and so it made perfect sense in my head. A little more consideration for the understanding of audience was needed.
I do, however, like the finished product. It's fairly narrative, well presented and (I think) fairly original amongst the crop of other (though fantastically executed and a lot more professional than this) pieces i've seen. Time will tell if the grade i receive agrees with me.
The concept itself was realised after multiple afternoons at the Undercroft with friends of mine discussing a mysterious next-door neighbour by the name of 'Salvo'. Their stories were often a case of Chinese whispers, but always of interest. Salvo was, on the surface, a simple mustachioed builder of Neasden. Their stories, however, painted a very different story. I decided to document these stories into some sort of mildly coherent short about the man.
I don't want to claim the piece was 'mockumentary' as the claims in the story were mostly unfounded rumour - they may or may not be true, and I as the filmmaker do not and probably will never know the origin of these rumours.
I adopted an interview style for the piece - a 2/3 shot of the interviewees that gave spacial context to their sides, which was furthered by the use of intrusive cutaways. The cutaways were almost claustrophobic in execution - something i want to incorporate to add a little suspense to the piece. This was poorly executed on reflection, and i should have added more of them.
There was a little visual distraction in a few shots - particularly a sign next to one of the interviewees. I noticed this at the time of shooting and moved him, though I liked the piece i'd recorded with that particular interviewee and so left it in regardless. I feel it adds a little to the genuine feeling of the piece.
The piece was recorded with a particular humour in mind - I feel this suffered in the cutting room. I couldn't include all of the footage i wanted to, and so a lot of context surrounding the character was lost. I don't think i noticed this at the time of editing as I had the context in my head and so it made perfect sense in my head. A little more consideration for the understanding of audience was needed.
I do, however, like the finished product. It's fairly narrative, well presented and (I think) fairly original amongst the crop of other (though fantastically executed and a lot more professional than this) pieces i've seen. Time will tell if the grade i receive agrees with me.
Group Blog: An Evaluation
'Messi Music' was the title of our group blog - a risky (and perhaps ill-advised, going by the reputation of its counterpart 'Messi Music') play on the dreadful but essential Monday night party at the Undercroft bar. Though altogether cringe-worthy, it's a night familiar to every student on the Harrow campus, and so was an instantly recognisable name. Essentially, this was the staple for the original concept because, though a slightly shameful name in itself, we were writing to serve a Westminster audience and so establishing this through the name itself (without resorting to using the word 'Westminster') was a great idea.
As a group we quickly organised individual roles for the group - I was working on the aesthetic side of the blog. Though initially apprehensive to accept this role, I made creative decisions and set up the key stylistic features of the blog primarily. I stick by some of the decisions I made - for example the minimal structure, the black-on-white text and the eye-catching banner - a knock-up of an image I took of a local Cambridge band earlier in the year. I took criticism on board - for example making the banner smaller so the main headline was not below the browser fold as it initially was. There was, however, an issue with navigability. The banner itself, though bold, dominated the main space of the blog, removing emphasis from links and stories - something i'd change in future productions. There was a lack of consistency with back-tracking, something could have been solved with greater use of Tumblr's archive function. This wasn't made clear on the homepage though, and so I accept this as a creative failing on my part. I do stick by the strong visual concept though, I just feel that I may have held the aesthetic above the functionality - a definite development to take into consideration for the future.
The group was consistent with blogging - we all worked extremely well to pre-decided timetables and there was no issues regarding scheduling and content uploads. We consciously tried to link pieces together on specific days - for example a day dedicated to music festivals, which we felt was one of our strongest concepts. This consistency for corresponding posts on particular days was definitely one of our strongest points.
I felt the quality of writing was high - all of the writers were music fans with vastly different tastes. This was one of the concepts we brought to the table in our first meeting: how our different tastes would provide the blog with colour and introduce interesting ideas that weren't cliched. This worked well, though the writing styles differed greatly between the group - for example Ian went for a very conversational style - a great way to speak to the audience and encourage that community feeling for the blog, whereas I felt like my pieces were more in-depth features which seemed a little less accessible to the casual reader. I think this was simply a case of our differing tastes, which clearly extends to journalistic styles too! I didn't think this was a great problem at all, I feel it could have perhaps seemed a little more consistent however if we had provided a link system so that readers could access the type of story they wanted to read - i.e. features, top 5 lists, reviews etc. I didn't think this was a problem though, as the quality writing spoke for itself.
Overall i'd consider our blog a success - strong writing, consistency, a wealth of multimedia content and a hugely relevant subject matter. I'm extremely proud of a few of the pieces I produced for the blog, and so that's personally rewarding in itself. Working as a team was an exciting experiment - it was fantastic to throw ideas around with a dynamic group of people.
As a group we quickly organised individual roles for the group - I was working on the aesthetic side of the blog. Though initially apprehensive to accept this role, I made creative decisions and set up the key stylistic features of the blog primarily. I stick by some of the decisions I made - for example the minimal structure, the black-on-white text and the eye-catching banner - a knock-up of an image I took of a local Cambridge band earlier in the year. I took criticism on board - for example making the banner smaller so the main headline was not below the browser fold as it initially was. There was, however, an issue with navigability. The banner itself, though bold, dominated the main space of the blog, removing emphasis from links and stories - something i'd change in future productions. There was a lack of consistency with back-tracking, something could have been solved with greater use of Tumblr's archive function. This wasn't made clear on the homepage though, and so I accept this as a creative failing on my part. I do stick by the strong visual concept though, I just feel that I may have held the aesthetic above the functionality - a definite development to take into consideration for the future.
The group was consistent with blogging - we all worked extremely well to pre-decided timetables and there was no issues regarding scheduling and content uploads. We consciously tried to link pieces together on specific days - for example a day dedicated to music festivals, which we felt was one of our strongest concepts. This consistency for corresponding posts on particular days was definitely one of our strongest points.
I felt the quality of writing was high - all of the writers were music fans with vastly different tastes. This was one of the concepts we brought to the table in our first meeting: how our different tastes would provide the blog with colour and introduce interesting ideas that weren't cliched. This worked well, though the writing styles differed greatly between the group - for example Ian went for a very conversational style - a great way to speak to the audience and encourage that community feeling for the blog, whereas I felt like my pieces were more in-depth features which seemed a little less accessible to the casual reader. I think this was simply a case of our differing tastes, which clearly extends to journalistic styles too! I didn't think this was a great problem at all, I feel it could have perhaps seemed a little more consistent however if we had provided a link system so that readers could access the type of story they wanted to read - i.e. features, top 5 lists, reviews etc. I didn't think this was a problem though, as the quality writing spoke for itself.
Overall i'd consider our blog a success - strong writing, consistency, a wealth of multimedia content and a hugely relevant subject matter. I'm extremely proud of a few of the pieces I produced for the blog, and so that's personally rewarding in itself. Working as a team was an exciting experiment - it was fantastic to throw ideas around with a dynamic group of people.
Editorial, a bit of research.
I produced a music blog. Well, I produced a collaboration blog with three other students about the music scene at our dear old university. The art direction of said blog was left up to me, so I had a look around at how other music websites were laying their stuff out.
Making an executive decision from the offset to use Tumblr, I kept the URL pretty basic (wearemessimusic.tumblr.com) and the style minimal. Initially wanting to use Tumblr to exploit the easy yet interesting aesthetic values of the site, I also liked that it was seen as something of a wildcard by our tutor. I knew that the aesthetic and current "cool" surrounding Tumblr far out-weighed the safety found with standard blogging site for the class Wordpress.
Music news frontrunners like Pitchfork and Drowned in Sound employ a simplistic minimal design - an black-on-white aesthetic that feels authoritative and professional - a core design value i wanted the blog to have. Colourful visually overloading blogs seem like colouring books when compared to the professional minimal designs, so this principle was something i took from Pitchfork.
Simple, clean-cut and above all: professional.
Making an executive decision from the offset to use Tumblr, I kept the URL pretty basic (wearemessimusic.tumblr.com) and the style minimal. Initially wanting to use Tumblr to exploit the easy yet interesting aesthetic values of the site, I also liked that it was seen as something of a wildcard by our tutor. I knew that the aesthetic and current "cool" surrounding Tumblr far out-weighed the safety found with standard blogging site for the class Wordpress.
Music news frontrunners like Pitchfork and Drowned in Sound employ a simplistic minimal design - an black-on-white aesthetic that feels authoritative and professional - a core design value i wanted the blog to have. Colourful visually overloading blogs seem like colouring books when compared to the professional minimal designs, so this principle was something i took from Pitchfork.
Simple, clean-cut and above all: professional.
Got the RSS for that.
Google Reader is essentially an old, old concept with a pretty branded logo.
RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) is a concept with its roots back in 1995. Though not truly realised by Netscape until 1999, RSS is regardless a simple and very done concept. Aggregation software is one of the Internet's triumphs - the ability to bring up exactly what one wants to read, from the sources one desires without changing page. As if a newspaper dedicated to the interests of the reader, it's a truly fantastic concept and one that could only be achieved online.
So what is Google Reader bringing to the table?
Erm, well...not a whole lot.
Reader is a fairly capable RSS tool - accessible and fairly straight-forward for your seasoned RSS-er. Simple images and basic text layout are all that are retained from the original source material - something that has always deterred me from using RSS feeds religiously. It is, however, commonplace - so no marks lost on that one. It's an aggregator, and it does as aggregators do.
Subscribing to feeds is an uncomplicated affair, as one would expect. Reordering feeds in the menu is a no-no, as is further aggregating into sub-folders to folders for a more focused viewing experience. With marks for innovation dropping like flies, Reader is conceptually viable - bringing the world of RSS feeds to a wider market and making it accessible. The 'Google' stamp makes an audience feel comfortable and at home, but as a tool for users looking for a more professional aggregation experience Reader falls painfully short.
RSS (or Really Simple Syndication) is a concept with its roots back in 1995. Though not truly realised by Netscape until 1999, RSS is regardless a simple and very done concept. Aggregation software is one of the Internet's triumphs - the ability to bring up exactly what one wants to read, from the sources one desires without changing page. As if a newspaper dedicated to the interests of the reader, it's a truly fantastic concept and one that could only be achieved online.
So what is Google Reader bringing to the table?
Erm, well...not a whole lot.
Reader is a fairly capable RSS tool - accessible and fairly straight-forward for your seasoned RSS-er. Simple images and basic text layout are all that are retained from the original source material - something that has always deterred me from using RSS feeds religiously. It is, however, commonplace - so no marks lost on that one. It's an aggregator, and it does as aggregators do.
Subscribing to feeds is an uncomplicated affair, as one would expect. Reordering feeds in the menu is a no-no, as is further aggregating into sub-folders to folders for a more focused viewing experience. With marks for innovation dropping like flies, Reader is conceptually viable - bringing the world of RSS feeds to a wider market and making it accessible. The 'Google' stamp makes an audience feel comfortable and at home, but as a tool for users looking for a more professional aggregation experience Reader falls painfully short.
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