Photography 3.1 (formally 3.2)

Photo

Same as audio sessions, 0.1 is now 0.2 and vice versa. I still have Matt and Frankie as my lecturer. In Matt’s seminar today, we will be looking at photographic composition and how to improve upon the design elements of my photography. We will look at the following:

  • composition
  • subject placement
  • the rule of thirds
  • leading lines (lines and paths)
  • balance
  • creative focus
  • framing

Things that makes a successful photograph:

  • simplicity
  • composition
  • lighting
  • PRATICE!!

To compose a photograph, I need to focus on:

  • subject
  • context
  • subject placement

Composition: the rules of third

Picture1

Lines and paths (visible lines):

  • create impact by using lines to lead the viewers eyes around the picture.
  • lines have subtle effects but can make a dramatic impact.

Picture2

Your eyes should naturally follow the stairs handrail.

Lines and Paths: implied lines

Picture3

Balance:

  • By balancing our images we can create a visually pleasing result.
  • This should help the view’s eyes move freely around the image.

Type 1: symmetrical balance

Picture4.jpg

Type 2: asymmetrical balance

Picture5.png

Selective focus:

Picture6

Framing: a frame within a frame

Picture7

Avoid distraction:

Can you spot the differences between those two images above?

Choose a format (for Matt):

Which one is better?

Consider variety:

Having more is better than none.

Audio 3.2 (formally 3.1)

Audio

For this week we went through assessment brief again. I am not going to repeat myself so go have a look in my Audio 1.1.

What do I know about Radio Sonar? It’s our university radio society. Where student gets to practice and run a show for 1 hour. Guess who is running a show every Wednesday at 7pm. That’s right, you know who it is… Me!

Next week, I am going to listen to a radio sonar show. Write down at least 4 elements that I think were successful and 3 things that it could have been improved.

We then have to interview each other on our table:

  • What societies have you joined?
  • What society surprised you?
  • Why do you think it is important that universities have societies?
  • What society would you start?

James said he joined tennis society and the other two still haven’t join any society. UFO society was the most surprising one. However, little bird told me that this society has been folded (wonder why?). We all came up with a conclusion, societies were created to build up networking with people who has the same interests, socialising, and to get better at something. Last but not least, I’d love to create an Asian society because I do feel like I am the only Asian guy in the university even though there are plenty of us.

For group Dynamics:

Few issues that might arise:

  • Poor discipline.
  • Uneven workload.
  • Conflict with each other opinions.

Few benefits of  working in a group:

  • Prepare for the real world teamworking.
  • Shared workload.
  • Adaptability.

Scenario 1:

A few group members seem to be doing a lot of the same kind of activities and you are worried the outcome is going to sound repetitive.

Solution: have a group meeting and go through it together. Make sure it doesn’t sound repetitive. Next time, set up a clear direction on who is doing what.

Scenario 2:

Someone else in your group has done an interview but it’s not very good. The sound quality is poor and they haven’t used the questions that you wrote together.

Solution: Make sure there is a sound engineer to listen to the zoom recorder whilst interviewing, set the recorder at a mature volume. After interview listen through it. Repeat the interview (if needed). Also, write down a quick note for the interviewer and sound engineer to remind themselves not to miss a question.

Scenario 3:

The leader in the group is not attending sessions and is not responding to messages on the group chat.

Solution: Try get in contact with the leader via phone. If that person is not responding, then elect a temporary leader or a new one (depending on the situation).

Scenario 4:

There are loads of great ideas but the group can’t come to any decision.

Solution: Everyone move to a corner of the room not allow to see each other paper. Write down who has the best idea. Also, their name on it to make sure they’re not voting for themselves. If the results are very even get an alternative vote from your big boss or lecturer (in our case).

We need to complete our group contract on roles, attitudes, behaviour and communication.

So I will be taking part in producing, presenter and sound engineer. Attitude? Obviously 110%. Behaviour, c’mon we’re adults here. Communication? Facebook group created and everyone has my phone number so it’s cool beans.

Reflection time:

To be honest, I don’t really know about the threats within our group because I just got move to this class. Positively, there is Ali who was foundation student from last year and we have experience on this. I believe doing this assignment would help me improve my radio and presenter skills, which is one of the things I want to get into after graduation. Let’s think about it! How cool would it be to get paid for interviewing interesting people.

 

 

 

 

 

Audio 3.1 (formally 3.2)

Audio

So this is kind of confusing because 0.2 Audio session with Steve/Paul is now 0.1, and Audio with Frankie is now with Ani and it is 0.2. Get it? It’s cool you don’t have to get it. But at least my time table is sorted though!

In this session, we get to do a linear editing using Adobe Audition. For me, I am quite lucky because last year I have already done this but it’s good to do a quick recap. All we have to do was make sure the volume from each tape is similar to each other (should have the consistency in the orange area), as they all have different volume. This is also an opportunity to work out which is tape should stay and which one should be deleted. Also, we can crop out the silent, “um” and “errr”. Then we need to save it as WAV. and there you go! Kaboom!

 

Production 3.1

Producing I

Last week I’ve been given a task of finding a story and turn it into a programme idea. Give it a read and tell me what you think.

This week is about content research and understanding the needs of your target commissioner, platform or channel. Our target commissioner is BBC THREE.

According to Kathryn Ballard, whom is our information librarian for Media and Culture. She advises us to use Solent Portal page > Library > LibGuide by subject > Media and Culture. We can get access to useful resources like:

  • C21 (subscribe only)
  • Statista
  • Mintel

I have partnered up with our student rep (as I have now step down from being one of them because we only need one not two) Andrew Menhennet. He interests in doing a documentary, whilst drama is my personal interest.

BBC Three commissioning:

  • Target audience 16-34 year-olds.
  • Tackling subject that matter to them.
  • They back original voices and unique ideas.
  • To provoke reaction and stimulate emotion.
  • ‘Make me laugh’ and ‘make me think.’
  • Recently, expanded they remit to factual entertainment and entertainment formats.

As I wanted to Drama:

Now we can take advantage of BBC Three digital platform, we can be flexible in terms of form, content and tone by commissioning shows with shorter episode lengths, or even episodes of varying lengths with a series (i.e. Overshadows).

The show should speak directly to younger audiences and representing what it means to be young person in Britain today (i.e. Normal People).

BBC Three will likely to publish the short-from on BBC Three, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat and other (where audiences are more likely to interact with). They will commission:

  • one-offs that compliment seasons or long-form programmes.
  • pilots with a view to a longer run.
  • strands exclusively for social media.
  • compelling series of multi-platform shorts that can be stripped or serialised across platforms with clever scheduling and activation strategies around them.
  • Also, they are open to discussing form and volume and looking for the most innovative ideas with fresh and distinctive execution.

In pairs, we have to select a programming strand for analysis. We could either go to BBC THREE website or to its iPlayer. So we choose https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree (23/10/2019), as it has clear link to social media than iPlayer.

Then we had to make a index for channel content in strand. So, we decided I will research the top part and Andrew do the bottom half of Editor’s pick.

We should be considering:

  1. Key features: content, structure and narrative.
  2. How is the show presented by the channel?
  3. How is social media used to enhance the digital offer?
  4. Who is the target audience for the programmes?
  5. What are the typical characteristics?
  6. What does BBC 3 brand look like?
  7. What does it feel like?
  8. Market characteristics?
  9. Audience demographics?
  10. Viewing figures?

We should summarise BBC 3 programme style in a few sentences.

In conclusion section we need to focus on BBC 3’s gap in the market. What new ideas could we come up with?

Hopefully, I can answer all these questions in week 7.

Thank you.

Photography 2.2

Photo

As I was saying in my previous blog post, I couldn’t attend today’s lecture because I went to the one that I meant to be going to. However, now that we have had a session on digital workflow, we are going to look at the different file formats that are used including JPGs, TIFFs and shooting in RAW.

Check out this website for a better understanding on JPGs, TIFFs and RAW.

In summary, JPGs is better to use when you want to publish on social media or print it out. Whereas, TIFFs and RAW is better for editing on various photo editing programmes (e.g. Bridge or Photoshop).

Geoff Petty’s creative process (ICEDIP):

  • Inspiration
  • Clarification
  • Distillation
  • Perspiration
  • Evaluation
  • Incubation

My creative process is “f*** it, just go out there and start shooting!” Then, I’d look through the images and I will pick the one that I like and just need to give good reasons why I want to develop this, and move it forward, and why I’ve chosen this above everything else. From there, I would just go with the flow but with good intentions and reasons. In addition, getting feedbacks from your lecturer(s), colleagues and friends is a great way to develop your work because it’s allowing you to see other people’s perspectives. Coming to a dead end? Just go with your second best option. Again, give a good reason why. One of the beautiful thing about being a creative student, there is never a dead end, if there is you’re not being creative enough!

I have been thinking of doing a collaboration with either a film or a fashion student. Positively, I have been working with fashion students before last year. So, I have the experience of knowing what they want. However, it would be good as well to go for a film student, as I have basic understanding of film because I am a media student. Also, it’s good to start working on different type of project. Therefore, I can show my potential clients that I am specialised on various fields. However, I can’t put any words around my final products because I am getting mark on the photography only. Therefore, I can go for an alternative route like architecture photography (discovering the unknown) or working for a client (modelling). These two are something that I need to consider for the future.

To be continue…

Thank you.