Obligations of Writers

Social and Cultural Awareness

Social and cultural awareness is important so that you understand society that you are talking about and presenting your blog towards, this is so that people can understand where you are coming from and the reader and audience can relate to each other. Understanding today’s society will prevent a feeling arrogance from the writer as he/she cannot sympathize from another’s perspective in an event such as criminal action. For example, the riots in London, Manchester and across Britain in August, someone who does not know enough about today’s society could say something like, “lock them up and throw away the key”. The writer does not have sympathy for the situations of working class people today who have to deal with the current economic meltdown, this is proved with the word ‘them’, which suggests a ‘then versus us’ situation, and the only solution is to throw them out of this society altogether instead of dealing with the problem. However, a writer who did realize current social problems would probably say “I think people should be punished for this, but remember the route of the problem stems from the values and lifestyle which is taught by their parents, but this obviously hasn’t worked. This means they should be taught in school, it’s all about education”. This writer has shown that he know about today’s society because of his depth of understanding and offer a long term solution. This is what I will have to incorporate into my blog if I want people to value my opinions highly and take my blogs seriously. Anyone can have an opinion, so I need to show why mine is different and worthy of a quick read. Understanding society is not just a responsibility, it is a priority for a successful blog. Representing a particular demographic is important bearing in mind people within the age, race, sexuality etc may be reading. These people may be offended by the posts so it is the writer’s responsibility to make sure that anything that may seem offensive towards anyone that is part of a minority group or anything that is offensive in general. This includes opinions or words with bad connotations. The writer must also be aware that the blog will be a reflection of his/her personality and must be careful that the posts are honest and well thought out. If people think that this is not the case, then they will automatically assume that the writer does not know what he/she is talking about and will not value the writer’s opinion which is the whole purpose of the blog. If the blog is supposed to be suitable for children then it is vital to use any bad language or things suitable for people of that age including text, images or videos. It is important to get your target audiences right.

Readability

Readability is the style in which the content is presented towards the audience. Examples of these would be the length of sentences, this is because to be able to form a detailed and respected perspective of something, it is important to go into depth and explain your point. If not, then the view is not taken as a serious one because your point may come across to the reader, but not the reasons behind it. Long sentences show that you have a lot to say on the matter and thought about it. Paragraphing is important because it gives structure to the blog, shows that you understand how to set out writing in big chunks, and also makes it formal. Paragraphing is something that literally anyone should know and failure to do so shows that despite them may not even reading the posts, may already have decided not to read it. Paragraphs indicate that there is a change of topic and breaks up what would be one large chunk and prevents it looking ‘long and boring’. Another thing that helps the audience read the blog more freely is clarity. Clarity is how clear something is by the depth and the detail. This is important because an opinion has no value what so ever if the reader does not understand what is being said because the content is vague. It is important to think about the choice of vocabulary when writing so that the reader is not misled and to go into detail. Eliminate all possible variables that will mean that the content is unclear and read through it again, these are all techniques that I will use whilst writing my blog. Another way is to give an example of what you are explaining so the reader can convert this to other examples, proving the point. It is also important that vocabulary is spread instead of using the same words, change them but so that it still means the same. A change in vocabulary can also make it sound more interesting and give a better description with the use of powerful adjectives to get the point across more dramatically. This also shows that you are educated; sometimes the source is more important than the content. If the reader thinks that you are intelligent then he will value your opinion higher. Spelling is also something that shows that you are intelligent and take pride and care in your work and that you want it to look presentable and formal instead of ‘text speak’ where everything is shortened. If a word is spelt wrong then the meaning of the word will be changed as will the point.  This will also be the same for grammar; this is the way in which the words are put together to make a sentence make sense. Sometimes these are easy mistakes and so work must be checked to make sure that there are no mistakes. Readers will again doubt your intelligence if you fail to used decent grammar and will effect audience perception of you. Syntax is the formation in which the words are in a sentence similar to grammar which is something that I am going to have to acknowledge so that no mistakes are made. Moreover, punctuation, like paragraphs, provides a structure towards a text.  But punctuation is the structure within the actual paragraph. This shows that the text is formal and can be easily read, intelligence is shown if more complex forms of punctuations are given and shows that the writer takes care of what he has written as if to say to the reader that you are desperate to get the message across in the most clear and intelligent way possible. In conclusion, readability is vital to get across your message in the most simplistic but intelligent way possible. It is significant that the writing makes sense, the writer may have a great point, but if the reader does not know what you mean then it is useless. Readability also gives an impression to the audience, the writer must remember that the blog is on show to the rest of the world and so must make it look presentable to the public. The reader will suggest that the blog will correlate, in terms of content and style; towards the writer meaning his/her personality is on show to everybody. To avoid obvious mistakes in terms of grammar, spelling etc, I will check and double check my work meaning it is perfect and presentable.

Credibility

Another thing that is vital for making a blog is credibility. This is the objectivity, accuracy, truth, fairness and balance. It is the information that is presented in order to form an opinion and the quality of the information. Objectivity is the quality of the information; this can mean the amount of information that has been gathered or how in depth it is. It is better to have less reliable information than a lot of less reliable because the latter may mean that an opinion can be mislead or people can be mislead by potentially wrong information. If the information is into depth and precise this has more chance of being correct and people can make a much better idea of something because of it. The information given must also be accurate otherwise this can lead to people being disillusioned by something. This information could also mean that particular demographics being scrutinizes by this wrong information. You should not talk about something unless you know the full facts. Anything that is posted should be the truth, the spread of false information will mean that people reading will believe the blog to be the truth and will form their own opinion from that. Posts could even be about particular people who are false creating fake accusations and maybe even rumors. People could also instantly believe something to be untrue and will deem the blog as false and assume that the rest of the blog is the same. It is important to be fair and not form an opinion with no or little knowledge about something; it would not be fair to priorities a motive over reasoning.  Another way of being unfair would be to over exaggerate situations in order satisfy your view, it is better to be honest instead of stretching the truth. Statistics can also be misleading as well. For example, “200 people were arrested in a riot”. It’s all about what the statistic doesn’t say, we don’t know how many people were actually in the riot, we have no time period to base this on meaning this example is actually very vague. Those methods can be used to change or reinforce the opinion of the readers in order to make the writer think what he likes which is wrong. The blog should be truthful and balanced. If the blog is balanced then it is a more reliable view, readers would know that there is no motive and therefore no reason to lie about anything. Giving both sides to the story is fair and also giving a more interesting read as it would give a different perspective e.g. Robbery were a writer would look at the perspective of the victim and the robber meaning this is balanced. Good quality information, a balance and fair view all contribute to the blog’s credibility.

Law and Ethics

There are certain laws that are in place that a writer should be aware of. The law of copyright is one of them; this is for the use of images, music and videos mainly. Copyright is the use of media that is not your own but you are using it without owning rights to it which is illegal. This is illegal because for example, TV companies would pay a lot of money to buy rights to film a football match, when people can just put them online for free which isn’t fair. Moreover, taking pictures of people in public is unacceptable without permission. People may not want to be shown on your blog; this means that if you want to take pictures in public then you try not to show people’s faces clearly. It is also wrong to intrude and harass people through blogs; this is because people deserve an element of privacy. Defamation means that a claim is made which may give a person, nation, group, minority etc a negative image, such claims are false and can affect people’s lives. Confidentiality is when something is kept a secret by a company or government for a particular purpose. This can be related to law cases or could be medical. Moreover, super injunctions mean that it is against the law to reveal information that has been agreed by a person or company and the courts, to the public. All this will be taken into consideration when doing my blog.

In conclusion, to make sure that my blog is successful I will be aware of social and cultural factors so that the audience and be has a mutual understanding about situations. My blog will be readable so that it is properly set out, formal and professional. My blog will also be Credible with reliable information and a balance view from a neutral perspective so that my opinion can be valued. Finally, I will make sure that no laws are broken and it is morally correct.

The Monster Film

This is the film that my group created which was made for sexual health NHS to try and make people aware about the dangers of STI's. The disease was portrayed as a monster so that it would be easier to understand and would also help with the humorous element of the film.

My Imagination Film

This is my film,'low budget news' which was based on the theme of imagination. The film is based on a news program which a crew of deluded and crazy personas will present silly news stories in the most humorous way possible. I am happy with the film as I find it very funny (as do others) and I have included as many conventions of a news programme as possible in order to make it as authentic as possible.

My Channel Ident

This is my ident that I created which was for the channel 'Sky Sports'. It was made by converting every frame into the programme 'Adobe Flash' meaning that they could be edited. This was done by drawing over each object with the use of the paint brush. Everything has been drewn from the kits to the ball in order to make it as colourful as possible and imaginative. I also used the song 'Charlie Brown' by Coldplay for the soundtrack to make it more dramatic and effective.

Here is the origional footage that I used for the creation of my ident.

In conclusion, I am very happy with my ident because I tink that it portrays a lot of colour and imagination because of the method that I have used.

My Logo

This is my logo for my blog which I have improved from the previous design. I think that my design looks a lot more dynamic, modern and stylish compared to the old one. This is based around a sphere which symbolises the earth which is where all information that I could use on the blog will come from. My influences and inspirations will go beyond the borders of our country. The use of the circle shows unity also, it shows an instinct to work together and to respect each other. I have also used red and blue for the text so that the desighn looks slighlty more colourful. Despite this, the use of grey and black means that it is very formal almost, suggesting that I take my work seriously and that I am very organised.

I created this image using Adobe Illustrator by creating lives as a base, editing them sso that the depths are changed, change the direction and also make sure that they are organised so that it makes the spere-looking shape. After this I would create two circles for the the text to go in between. This text would be typed in and also curved so that it would fit around the sphere. If I had to change one thing about my design then I would add more colour to it which would make it look more eye catching for the viewer.

My Hannah Hoch Photo Montage

A Hannah Hoch photo montage is a picture with many different features and objects associated with a person, place or things that have been edited on a main image. This would tell viewers more about the likes and interests of a person, and show aspects of their personality. It allowsan artist to be felexible and creative because their are many different ways in which you can portray yourself and also so many things that you can include depending on what you want your audience to know. I enjoy looking at this type of art because they normally contain an extremely large amount of things and there is lots to study and analyse as appossed to other types of art we are detailed pictures of different objects. This type of art also looks visually stricking, the eye is naturally drewn to these types of pictures and instantly makes the audience want to know more.

Firstly, for my Hannah Hoch picture I hhave taken a picture of my face which will be the base. All the pictures that I use will be based around this one and the theme for my picture will be Liverpool Football Club, this is because of the fact that this is the team that I support. Moreover, I will be using photoshop and I will grab images from elsewhere and select the part of the image that I require and then paste this over my main image.This is my self portrait image that I will be using as the base:

Now you can see that my image is partially edited with the inclusion of a liverpool shirt and a scarf. The sarf and shirt were both edited so that the background of them would be transparent so that it would look like I am wearing them. This would be done by the selection tool, part of the image that i didn't want I would select and then press 'delete' so that it disappears.

Now I have changed the background so that it looks like I am at Anfield. I did this by selecting the background of the previous image and deleting it, I would then replace this by a picture of Anfield making it look effective. The picture of Anfield is significant as it is the stadium where Liverpool FC play their football.



After this you can see that I have also pasted in footballs to replace my eyes and my glasses drawn in with the use of the paint brush. I have also dyed my hair red also.

Finally, you can see that I have added in two liverbirds on either side of myself. This is because it is to symbolise thefootball club further. I am very happy about the image I have created because of the amount of imageray, imagionation and colour used. I have also learnt more about how I can use photoshop.

Evaluation

With the graphics lesson that I have had, I have been able to extend my knowledge on programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator. I now know that there is a difference between the two, photoshop is about changing images and Illustrators is about designing images. Now I find it easier to use these two programs so that I can use this in later tasks meaning it has been very benefitial. I have learnt how to present my work, that it should be annotated and evaluated, and what could be changed in order to make an image better. I have developed skills which will mean that in other tasks which would require that I make things like logos, gifs etc. 

I have also learnt that things such as logos have reasons for everything. This is that things such as colour, style and presentation would matter in trying to attract a target audience. e.g. red or blue would mean that the goods may be low in price and high in quality, whereas the use of green and brown would be the opposite, it would show reliability, class, quality and that it is expensive.

I have learnt that I should show every stage of documentation by the use of annotation and screenshots. This is so that I can show how I produced a piece of work and then justify it.

The finished product for my projects normally do not fit the original intentions. This shows that my ideas and thoughts develop more and more in order to improve. I also have concentrated in the general look of the images as well as the reason for having different parts. My pictures must look colourful, meaningful and presentable. Comments from others mean that my work can be changed slightly in order to change something or reinforce a good idea, this would give me confidence because I wold have a second opinion. Advice has also been helpful in order to carry out a particular task incase I do not understand. I also think that my creative ability means that I am able to come up with many different ideas so that there are more to choose from and I would pick depending on which was most suitable and effective.

Football bias illustration

Here is an illustration for my investigative feature on the topic of football bias among fans. It shows a fan of an undisclosed football team only recognised by the fan wearing the hat saying "my team FC". This would suggest that regardless of what happens, fans would always see things from their perpective. He is sitting on a chair saying "football bias", this is to show that the topic that I am going to look at and also that this person represent a person who is biased towards their football team. We can clearly see that the person is looking at the TV and we would know that this is a football match because of the topic and the outline of the pitch along with the goal. We see a large pen on the pitch in the area as the fan shouts "how is that a pen?!?". The message of the cartoon is that it doesn't matter what the fans will see at a football game or on TV, they will ignore this and represent their team meaning that they are biased.

File formats

File Formats

File formats are used in computing, it is used so that a particular program can encode information depending on the type of file. There are many different types of file formats, each with their own specific use. Formats will decode things such as images, videos and text. Here are some examples of some image formats:

JPEG- this is the most common use of file format mostly used for printing and emailing, this is because it can give the smallest size. Moreover, this type of file can be used in all photos editing software. This image will however, degrade every time you save it meaning that image quality will become worse over time.

GIFs- GIFs are files which are a cross between an image and a video file. It is a number of images which are clumped together. This format has a limited amount of colours meaning that the file sizes of them are relatively small. This has a limit of 256 colours meaning that it is a much lower quality. This means that it is not taken seriously or regularly used in the photographic world.

BMPs- This is normally known as a Bitmap image file which can store digital images. It is usually small and compact, images can go up to 24 bit and is used to windows.

PNG-  This stands for portable network graphics. This is a lossless Bitmap version which is portable and allows more colour so that images seem better quality and aren’t dull and bland. PNG uses ZIP compression which is slightly more effective than LZW compression which are slightly smaller files. This format versitile because it is a newer version.

Tiff- Most programs for Tiff allow no compresion unless LZW compression. This format is lossless but is not as effective for 24 bit colour images. JPG and ZIP compression is provided by Adobe Photoshop also but this greatly reduces third party compitibility of the TIF files.

Illustrator apple

 

This is how I created my apple on Illustrator. First I created a circle using the shape tool. This created a block outline which would act as the base for my apple.

I then created a gradient which would give the apple another dimension. The graan would be the colour of my apple because it is conventional and the white would show light reflection.

I was then able to use a gradient mesh so I could move different part of the shape and so would be skewed and change direction. This was so I could move the reflection of the light so that it is facing a particular direction. This makes the look of the apple more effective as apples would also shine when light is on them and it would normally be on this part of the fruit. The stalk was also created using the brush tool and selected a brown colour.

Finally, I then was able to create a shadow in the same way that I created the base for my apple, by using the shape to to create a circle. The gradient tool meant that the further you would see into the circle, the more dark it would be and there further out, the more transparent. This would the be arranged so that it is placed behind the apple.

My sky sports logo

This is the logo that I will be using for my channel ident for sky sports. I think that this is suitable because the house colours are red white and black which I think are colours that will attract my target audience. It looks very similar to the current logo of Sky sports, this is because i thought it would be a good template for this one of my own. I used red because this is one of the standard sports colours along with blue and green. I wanted to make my logo dynamic, bright and simple and I think that i have achieved these things. this logo will be used at the end of my ident above the slogan for the channel. This was created on Adobe Photoshop by making a number of similar size rectangles, one will be an outline of anotther which will be black and the main rectangle is red. There is also an effect that I have used which makes one side brighter than the other, this is to make it less boring and dull. The use of red is relevant to sports in general e.g. Football clubs: Liverpool, Arsenal, Man United etc. also the use of red also makes it stand out. I have also used different effects on the fonts to make it more dynamic. one has a shadow, but the other doesn't and also is leaning to one side.

In conclusion, I think that this is a suitable logo for the channel because of the effects and styles that I have used in order to attract my target audience.

Investigative feature: Football bias

Investigative Feature: Football Bias

For my interview I will be studying bias in football among how fans who would be biased towards their particular teams. To do this will study past examples of incidents, which have happened on and off the pitch between clubs, which means that the interpretation can be ambiguous.

Bias is when a situation is interpreted dies-honestly from a perspective, which is support of their own thing. For example a football team. A football team is more typical because it is competitive and contains a lot of passion because of supporters standing by their team. An example of this would be that if a Liverpool player were to tackle an Everton player It is not a coincidence that supporters of Liverpool will stand by their player and say that it was not a film, the Everton supporters will say that it is a foul despite both sets of fans seeing the same incident.

The theory is that fans will stick up for their team despite evidence going against them, they will find any reason to back up why they are right and will not admit that they are wrong. They will do this as a sign of passion and support for in some cases the only thing that they have got, their club. This is also cause by the fact that football fans are positive, admitting that ‘a goal should have stood’ or ‘the tackle was not a foul’ is a sign of negativity as they will see it as their club doing something wrong.

In many cases supporters will know that their club is in the wrong, but will still be biased, even if it is un-defendable. This is why people will bring up past incidents to make it seem even. ‘That wasn’t a red card’, “the same thing happened to us last season and he was sent off’. This shows that people will never cease to support their club. In other times, people genuinely believe that their club is in the right. There is a theory that, for example a fan will look at a situation from their own player’s perspective. If a Liverpool went into a tackle, the Liverpool fans would say that ‘it was a reasonable challenge, wereas other supporters would say ‘the tackle was too harsh’. In this case bias may not be applied consciously because there is reason and justification towards the argument, and the supporter would be honest. However, this may provoke the cliché: ‘You would say that, you support them’. This means that football fans are conventionally dis-honest.

These are the questions I asked and the responses I got.

Do you think the challenge was a worthy of a red card?

(Relevant to the Kompany foul against Manchester United on Nani in the FA Cup)

Manchester City fan: ’It was not a red, 10-15 years ago this would not have been a red card, he didn’t even touch him”

Manchester United fan: ’Football has changed, he did not touch the player but if he did he would have broken his leg. We need to eradicate this from the game.

These responses are from passionate supporters defending their team with reasonable perspectives, but these are more generalised opinions meaning despite a decent response there is still bias.

This is also relevant in other things in football in terms of teams as a whole.

Who do you think will win the premier league this season?

Manchester City fan: “We have the best team, we are top of the league. Its simple, Man City will win”

Manchester United fan: “We may not be top but we are close behind. Our team has more experience of winning the league than city”.

This is a sign of people showing support for their team. Singing, and shouting support from the stands are other ways of showing optimism and hope that they can win the match. But whether a team will win the league is a different question because it requires more than a team just ‘doing well’.

How do you think Fernando Torres has done this season?

Chelsea fan: “It has taken him a long time, but in recent weeks he has shown signs of improvement”

Other football fan: “Look at the statistics, under five goals in 12 months at Chelsea. He will never reach his past form again”.

The Chelsea fan will stick up for Torres because in his opinion sees potential. Chelsea fans have a better opinion in some ways because they see him play every week and have a more assessed view. Fans do not necessarily always stick up for their own players. For example

How do you think Henderson has played for Liverpool this season?

Liverpool fan: Terribly, he has a lot of potential but not £20 million worth of potential.

Liverpool fan: “He may be young and fast, but he has no skill and no footballing brain”

This shows that fans can turn against their own players and have their own opinions and that not all fans are dillusional.

My interviewees were just ordinary football fans. In some ways due to the expansionism of football they have become experts in the subject. This is down to the fact that fans can watch football games from the comfort of their own home. Moreover, the amount of coverage is extreme. During live games there are a large amount of cameras around the stadium meaning that many replays can be shown from different angles and in slow motion. This means that fans can give a clear opinion rather that seeing the incident one and in real time.

My Snowman

This is my christmas card that I created on Adobe Illustrator. i thought that this is relevant because the connotations of christmas are Xmas trees, crackers presents, turkeys and snowmen. When people see a snowman they would instantly think of the winter time and also of christmas. Whenever we see christmas being portrayed in film or on television we would normally see children running out on a christmas afternoon in the snow, trying to create huge spheres in order to make snowmen. This is why i thought it was relevant to use for my christmas card. Firstly, I creates three circles which would act as the bottom, body and head of the snowman. the circles would be created by the use of the pen tool which means that lines can be skewed in order to make a shape. I was then able to put a tint along the outline of the circle in the colour blue. This is so that you can clearly distinguish between the snowman and the background, the use of blue is to make it look cold, although snow is not blue, it is definately cold. Also people will instantly think that it is cold when they see this colour. The three circles where then sized and put in the centre. The shadow of the man would be made using the same method as the body but the outline is white and the inside is black. The body has buttons which is also relative to a conventional snowman, this was used by the paint brush because it is so small. I had three buttons in three different colours to make it look more visually attractive. I create the branches also as twigs are normally used for the arms of the man, I wanted it to look authentic hence the use of the colour brown. More very small sots were used at the head of the snowman to create a clear smiley face and eyes. The orange shape is the apple, this is because conventionally a carrot acts a a nose.

My Blog Logo

This is the logo to my blog. I aimed to create a logo which was simple in design and relevant to the topic of media.I created this logo in Adobe Photoshop which I thought was very quick and easy to use. to create this im made 4 different boxes using the shape tool. One would be black for the outline which would work as a base; another one would white which is smaller than the previous which will go over it; then there will be two more which will also be smaller than the previous and go side by side. This is where the two initials of my name will be which will be in a white  army font. Underneath is the word "productions" so they know that we are producing something.

If i did my logo again then i would make the following changes:

1. Add more colour, this would make the logo more visually effective and would attract the viewers to the blog. i would have probably used red or blue and used effects so that they would not just be block colours. This would make the logo more dynamic and better to look at.
2. I would probably change the font of the logo so that it is more reflective of the blog I am doing. 
3. I would also make the logo more relevant to media by the use of small pictures or base my logo around things such as cameras, actors, film reels etc. This will be so that people would instantly know what my blog will focus on visually.

Sky Sports Ident

Click here to Play My Ident!

This is a channel ident that I made for creative and media in  southport college. I converted original footage into separate frames on Flash. After this I could use the brush tool to colour in details on the frame including the players and the ground. This was used to fit in with the theme of 'animation' and also looks imaginative. Hope you enjoy!

Wanted Poster

This is my wanted poster which I created in photoshop...

This is the wanted poster I made for creative and media, it was created using photoshop. The poster used simple methods with an image of myself, text and the creation of the background.

Firstly, I used the selection tool in order highlight me holding the message, this would get rid of the background. For the background, I searched on google images and then used the burn tool to make it look more authentic and disorganised like a stereotypical 'wanted' poster would be. the use of a brown texture would make it look old and used, which would happen if paper was outside for a long time. The text 'wanted' is large so that it is one of the first things that you would see and would stress to any passers by a simple message that they want to capture this criminal.  The font i used looked stereotypical of a western movie which is the house style throughout the poster. The text is also bold to reinforce the fact that it stands out. the name of the criminal is in between the large 'wanted' text and the photograph of me. this is to show that this particular person is wanted by the government and also attaches to the picture, giving him an identity.

Moreover, the use of a nickname is stereotypical of a wanted criminal in a western film. For example, Billy 'the kid'. This makes the criminal more easy to identify and also in many ways glorifys the villain, making him sound more cool. The second larges piece of text is the use of the reward, which is also conventional of a typical wanted poster. It is written slightly larger than the other text because it is telling the viewers of the poster that there is something in it for them, this will make the motive for finding the criminal more neccarsary towards people. beneath this text tells the viewers the reason for the need to capture this criminal in terms of his crimes. This shows the level of criminal that the police are dealing with, if the crimes are things such as murder or rape, then if someone has information on this person then they may be more willing to give the police more information so that they can get justice and also make sure that this does not happen again. however, someone may be less likely to tell the police in some ways, this would be because they do not want to put their own lives in danger. If the criminal, or allies of a criminal know that you told the police about his whereabouts then they could want revenge. The text and picture is in the centre of the poster so that it is organised. the use of the colour black makes the poster more formal and yet again is typical of a wanted poster because back in the 19th century only black ink was ever used, there was no colour.