Working in the creative media Learning Aim D

Events/Activities 

Tyneside Cinema Trip

Work Experience 

Spark FM

Hatton and Westoe Boxing Club

All of my class had been asked to attend a day at Tyneside Cinema film Studios, which we had to work in different groups to create a short film. My group created a short trailer for horror film. By working in groups and teams it meant I could work on my communication and team leading skills. Each person in in the group got assigned different job roles and everyone had to do that role to the best of their ability. For example their were roles like, director, camera man, a person on sound and then in the end we needed an editor. I took the role of being the sound person and I had to make sure I ha ether microphone in the right place at the right time to capture the sound we needed for the final edit. My group got to network with 3 Tyneside cinema staff who helped each group throughout the day and they also helped us understand how to work the equipment and how different editing softwares worked. I introduced myself to the staff to show them I was confident and to find out more about their roles and what they do on a normal day.

In my second year of college my class had to take part in work experience, everyone got a chance to choose where they would like to go. After much thought I decided I would like to go to the British Heart Foundation. I chose here because it is always doing good for the public and helping the vulnerable people. When I arrived here I got the job of becoming the marketer so I designed posters and leaflets for them. I also took photos of different furniture and sold them on GumTree and eBay for them. Whilst I was doing work experience here I developed many of skills because I went alone so I had to talk to different people and work with different people. The skills I developed were communication and team working, I found this really helpful because it boosted my confidence for the outside world. It boosted my confidence because I knew I had to talk to people I have never spoke before because I was by myself and I had to work with strangers. However while I was working here I got to network with lots of different people with different job roles so I found this interesting because I found out what it was really like becoming a charity worker. 

When my class went to Spark FM we found out how the radio works and everything that needs to happen before they can go live on the radio. My class and I went here in out first year of college, it was on a trip to Sunderland University because Spark FM is based in the University. We went to the University to see how the different media courses work and how they get taught. When we were at the radio we got told we could have a go of talking on the radio and playing songs. So straightaway this boosted people’s confidence because we were talking to different people and we were talking on the radio. We found out how all the controls work and how the production of the radio all works. I introduced myself to one of the presenters to find out a bit more about his job role and he was a really interesting person to talk to because he knew everything you needed to know about the radio. 

In my first year of college someone from the boxing club came into our class and spoke to us about producing something to promote his company. So my class and I had to work in groups or individually to produce a short film, posters and a social media site for his boxing company. We had to travel to South Shields to go to the boxing club to record the centre and people boxing for our short film, we also had to take pictures of different equipment in the boxing club such as the boxing ring and boxing bags and many more fitness equipment. By going to the boxing club and speaking to the client it made me much more confident for a first year student. Throughout producing these products I gained skills such as responsibility, creativity and motivation. 

I have many social media techniques, I used Blogger quite a lot to put all of my work onto so my lecturers will be able to access my work easily. Over my time in college I have became much more used to it now because at the beginning I didn’t really know what it was, however now I use it all the time because it’s just easy to use.

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1476331985164789897#allposts/src=sidebar

This is a link to my showreel blog, this is where I keep all my digital work, such as photoshop and my short film. I have a different blog for my showreel because it makes everything easier to find when my digital work and completed work is in a different file and when I need it I know where it is. 

Pre production evaluation log Radio

When I first got handed the script I had to go through all of my scenes and take out any musical songs and change them into dialogue that can be spoken by the voice actors. After I had changed all the musical sings into dialogue I then continued to look through the script to see if I needed to use sound effects and if so what sound effects I was going to need to use. When I was looking for sounds I decided I would create sounds by using foley to make sure I made the sound realistic as possible. I realised a lot of the sounds were footsteps and people walking so I decided I needed to record them myself. So I got a microphone and one of my class mates and went to a quiet classroom, where I recorded my class mate walking towards the microphone and away from it. It took us a couple of takes to get the perfect sound for my scenes because I knew what I need to record so when the sound was in the scene it helped create perspective for the audience. This helps the audience engage more with the drama and it entices them in as listeners. Once I created my foley sounds I knew I needed more sounds so I searched the internet looking for other sounds that would suit the specific scenes. I knew I had to use different sounds to bring my radio drama to life and make it feel realistic and professional for the audience to listen to. Once I found the right sound effect I used a mp3 converter online to save them into my files and documents. After I gathered all of my foley sounds and different sound effects I then put them into Logic Pro and made sure there was no strange audio attached or in my clip, and if there was I removed it. I made sure I only had the sounds I needed. However, pre production taught me that anything can go wrong when you are using different softwares and different apps, but it also taught me if anything goes wrong how to fix the problem and get round it. For example making sure I had the same sound effects duplicated in case the first one went missing or got deleted, or when I was nearly finished my work always make sure I had the full thing backed up incase the original got deleted. Another thing it taught me is how to organise people and their time wisely so no ones time was wasted in the process. 

When I started to record me and my cast and crew went into the recording studio to start. We started by turning on the Mac, speakers and plugging the mic’s into the software. The microphone we used was a Rode NT1000, we used this mic to get a crisp and clear sound of the voice actors voice. Another reason we used this microphone is because it’s a large diaphragm condenser microphone which is excellent for recording people talking. Once everything was plugged in to the correct places and we connected the microphone to Logic Pro we did a practise run through a couple of lines to make sure everything sounded great. Whilst we were recording we bumped into some problems because some the voice actors were closer than others and the sound was all over the place so we had to retake some lines cause it didn’t sound very good. Sometimes the voice actors were either to close or to far away and then sometimes they were to quiet or to loud so a lot of lines had to be redone because of this. I did realise that some of the voice actors were nervous and felt pressured because they were trying to do different accents and voices in front of people that they have just met so this was understandable. However, by doing many retakes this meant that we had a lot of material and sound clips to work with and I guess more is better than less. Once we had finished recording the voice actors we saved it in multiple places such as, on a SD card, usb stick and into many different files on the computer, so if anything happened we always had a backup. By saving it onto a usb stick we were able to transfer what we recorded in the recording studio to the computer in our editing room. The computer what we used in our editing room was a Mac and it got the job done. When transferring files and audio files we had problems moving them onto the computer and we lost a few, however because we had saved them all multiple times this was fine because we just used one of the backup files.

When I began to edit the audio clips of our voice actors, I decided to trim them all first so there wasn’t a long pause at the beginning and end of each clip. I trimmed them down to make sure they all ran smoothly without any pauses between each character. I trimmed each audio clip by using the scissors tool and then I dragged the audio clip into the correct place. Whilst I was doing this I tired a couple of the, out and put them together but some of  the audio clips of the characters talking sounded to close together so I had to extend some of them to make sure they had a little pause in before the next character spoke. After I had cut everything down to where it needed to be I then decided that I needed to remove the background noises because you could hear the air conditioning and people in the background either talking or giggling. I knew I needed to remove the background noises to make sure I had the clearest audio possible. I then realised that some of the audio was different volumes so I had to go through and change the audio gain so the final product flowed nicely. Some of the dialogue I needed to sound quieter than others because I had to create perspective for the audience so it seemed realistic. For example if some was shouting I would have to make that clip louder than someone just talking. Another is if someone is standing in the distance I would have to make them sound quieter and further away than the rest of the clips. I knew that creating a perspective for the audience was vital because to allows them to visualise and escape reality and make them focus on my drama. When most of the radio drama was completed and edited I added the sound effects I gathered previously, when I added to sound effects I realised that they were much louder than the actors speaking so I had to adjust the audio gain to make them quieter. When the radio drama was at the final stages I found a few mistakes with the voice actors audio files I either used the wrong file or I mixed them up so I had to go back to all the audio files I saved and replace and edit them so they fitted straight into the gap where I took one out. I had to make sure I edited it perfectly so the scene and the talking flowed smoothly without any interruptions. Finally some audio clips had to have a dramatic effect so I had to fade certain audio files to create suspense and an atmosphere to keep the audience enticed.  

Working In The Creative Media Learning Aim C

Specific Media Role

There are many roles in the media industry that I find interesting such as, radio production, film and television and many more. The reason I find Radio production interesting is because so many people use and listen to the radio day in and day out and to some people it’s like an essential in their everyday life. However radio gets broadcasted either locally or nationally to grip a wider audience. I have no experience of radio production however I visited a University and seen how other people work the radio and all the different functions that goes into making a radio show and it’s very interesting how it all works. There’s so much time and effort that goes into making a radio show so that is up to a high standard for the public to tune into and listen. 

I have been doing work experience at a charity shop and I have been doing the marketing side of their company such as, making posters, making a website, and selling different items on eBay and Gumtree. I have really enjoyed doing the marketing for the company because it shows me what to expect in the future. I have gained many skills from this such as, communication skills, team working skills and working alone. This has showed me what different skills I will have to use in the future.



Curriculum Vitae

Cv from JakeRose8


Electronic Show reel

https://www.blogger.com/u/1/blogger.g?blogID=1476331985164789897#allposts/src=sidebar

Radio Drama 2

Jakes work 1 from JakeRose8

Working In The Creative Media Industry

Working in the creative media industry

Learning Aim A: Understand employment and career opportunities in the media sectors 


The Media Industries


The media and entertainment industry contains of film print, radio, and television. These segments include movies, TV shows, radio shows, news, music, newspapers, magazines, and books. Everyday we wake up and there is different news in the media that has been reported by false Journalists and published by the press and then into all the top newspapers. Most of the media and reported stories aren’t true but us the public are brain washed into thinking they are. When people see stories in the newspapers or online they automatically think they are true because they have been published to look and sound true. Some of these stories and news that are published are true and help us keep up to date with all of the latest news and what is happening in the world. To keep ourselves entertained we may watch the TV or put a film on to watch. These are both made by a big team that is apart of a big company. In these company’s to make TV or film they are many different roles from directing it to creating the sound and graphics for the film. In the past 5 to 10 years social interaction has sky rocketed with the younger generation because now you have apps such as: Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and there are many more. These are all ways for people to share their opinions on each other and comment on different things. Some people especially the older generation like to read a book which has to be written by an author and then published by different book labels. The majority of the younger generation have some sort of video game they like to play to just block out of the real world and forget about all their worries. I think different types of media is crucial in out everyday life and I think this sector and industry will only get bigger over time.


The television industry 


In the first paragraph I have mentioned apple important the TV industry is to people. This is important to people because this is how different people relax and enjoy their free time. To make television programmes there are a lot of different roles such as: being the director, cameraman, being on sound, the producer, the runner and there are many, many more roles into making a programme. Once the programme has been made and produced the next stage would be to broadcast it onto everyone’s television, there are different broadcasters such as: BBC, ITV, Chanel 5, MTV and there are hundreds more broadcasters but these are some of the main ones.


Job roles in the media sector 


Director - A TV director controls a programmes artistic and dramatic aspects and visualises the screenplay (or script) while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, production design, and the creative aspects of TV making.
Screenwriter - A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter), scriptwriter or scenarist is a writer who practise the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
Cameraman - A cameraman is responsible for recording shots of a variety of film and broadcast purposes. They use technical aspects of lenses, filters, zooms and other camera settings to capture the scenes to the liking of clients and film directors. Cameramen also clean, test and maintain camera equipment.
Marketing - The marketing department of any enterprise is responsible for promoting the products, ideas and mission of the enterprise, finding new customers, and reminding existing customers that you are in business. It organises all the activities that are concerned with marketing and promotion.
Editors - An editor is a critical reader and lover of words, whose job is to polish and refine a story or an article. Editors are used in various industries and for many types of products, such as magazines, newspapers, blogs, and books. Editors are responsible for checking facts, spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Recruitment in the sector

In this sector there are many different job roles, so the sector needs to find employees that are professionals in their subject. There different ways to becoming an employer for companies some could be word of mouth or personal contacts. You may even work for one company but another company has seen your work and what you have achieved and that might make them want you to work for them. they are many different ways people get hired for big companies such as people upload their work to YouTube, LinkedIn and some other apps and social media platforms. For example if someone uploads their work to YouTube millions of people have the opportunity to view that work and criticise it. However, LinkedIn is more of a professional website where you can find more genuine, professional people. LinkedIn is mainly used for people who are looking for work and jobs to upload their work so that employers can view it. LinkedIn is a website used by the employer who is looking to recruit people to their company, because the employer can upload the job description and then people who would like to or are interested in working that specific job can send in their CV with all their personal details so that the employer can contact them if they want to take it any further. In the media sector when you first start working in the industry a lot of the work is volunteering work because you will have no experience so to get experience you will have to volunteer to show other people what you are capable of.

Contracts of Employment

Different types of people and companies will have different contracts for different jobs in the media industry. The contracts can range from full time jobs to voluntary jobs. Full time jobs include editors and journalists. the reason for this is because if you are an editor and work for a TV company its not just a one off editing job because the company will want you to edit different TV shows and you will be expected to meet deadlines and if you don't, you will have someone on your back until you meet them. Also if you are a journalist you will probably be working for some TV company or a newspaper company so each week these companies will expect you to have the new on different stories ready to publish either on the TV or in their latest newspaper. Temporary work could include directors or marketing. The reason directing could be a temporary job is that a film company will only need the director for how long it will take to shoot the film or TV show, so directing can be temporary but for a long time it depends on how long the schedule will be. Marketing can also be a temporary job, its a bit like being a director because a company might only want to hire you for so long until the thing you are set out to market has came out or launched, so the company might only want to employ you for a set amount of time. Another contract of employment is freelancing, freelancing is when you are good in a specific area and you work alone and other people can hire you to do work for them. However, with freelancing you are never guaranteed a job on a specific date you kind of just have to see what each week brings you because one month you might be really busy then the next you might have no work on or no money coming in.

Finding employment opportunities 

For finding employment opportunities you can do many thing such as having a show reel on social media or a website. Show reels are a blog or a presentation showing your work and what you have achieved in that area of work. Show reels are good having them on different platforms because other people nationally and internationally can view them and see your best pieces of work. People viewing your show real can lead to employment and working for big companies. So there are many bonuses by having a show reel on different platforms. Another good way is to have a website dedicated to you and your work this will show that you are passionate about your chosen area and that you are well driven and know exactly what job you want. Another one is a CV, if you have a CV just upload or send it to different companies that offer the job you want and hopefully they get back to you with good news. On your CV you should include what previous experience do you have, the skills you have and what qualifications you have that would good towards that specific job. Another good way is by writing a letter to the employer applying for the job, however when writing a letter you have to make sure you are using the correct terminology and the correct language because if you dont the letter wont look very professional and serious.

Interview Techniques

When going for an interview you have to look like you want to be there and you have to look proffesional otherwise the employer won’t take you seriously and they will cut the interview short. The most important thing is to look smart and well dressed so I suggest a plain suit and tie or even a shirt and smart trousers, the employer won’t want you walking in with jogging bottoms on because they won’t think your being serious. Another big thing is manners and good communication between you and the interviewer because this will show them that your are confident and ready to work in a busy environment with other people. You must have good eye contact to show that you aren’t nervous and vulnerable you must present yourself being confident and ready to work. When sitting down in the interview never slouch down in your chair always sit straight up, because if you slouch down you will look like you don’t want to be there and lazy. 


Increasing Job Opportunities 

Employees can make themselves more employable by updating your CV with what training and qualifications you have because an employer will want to see what you already have behind you. Another good thing is to volunteer for work experience working in different sectors and helping different people and companies out because when coming to looking for a job the employer will be able to see you are determined and focused on that certain area you want to work in. Developing new skills is a good way to get recognised because this shows that you are learnt in new skills to become the best you can possibly be at your chosen profession. If you want to increase your job opportunities it’s all about keeping everything up to date such as; your CV, your showreel, your LinkedIn account exc. If you keep everything updated this will show employers that you are keen and job focused on what you want to do. 

Professional Behaviour 

When working in a serious environment with serious people it is very important to be professional at all times from time keeping to personal appearance. The reason it is important to be able to manage your time is because if you’re employer wants you to meet a deadline and you don’t meet it this could delay the whole project in what your working on. So it is vital you have good time management, even from turning up to work on time in the morning because if you don’t turn up on time this is not being professional and then it looks like you aren’t taking your job seriously. You will be expected to manage your own activities so keeping an updated diary on you and maintaining a calendar with different things you need done on specific days or dates. By having a diary on you will make sure you always know what is expected in the next few days or weeks from you. If you are working on a laptop/computer all day working with different types or software and apps you will be expected to keep updating your teachings skills and understanding the technology you are working with. When you are being involved in a team project you have to make sure you have an input in the team discussion so your employer can see you are confident and that you can work well with groups of people. Always contribute to team projects to show that you can come up with different ideas. Also hvaing manners in the work place with your colleugues and other staff is vital becuse you should treat no one with disrespect.

Learning Aim B: Understand the structure and job roles in the media sector 

The media sector that I have chose to understand the structure of is Television. Many people think that the Television sector is declining because of things such as: YouTube, Netflix and many more streaming apps. Some people prefer these apps over television because these are more efficient and easily accessible. On television there are many different broadcasting channels such as ITV, BBC, MTV and many more and each broadcasting channel has a production team made up of directors, producers, sound management, location scouts there are tons of jobs that need to take place for the television sector to run smoothly. As television like anything else needs money to survive and broadcast this depends on how many people view different shows because the broadcasting channel gets commission from the amount of people that watch that specific show. 
Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. In many countries of the world, funding comes from governments, especially via annual fees charged on receivers. In the United States, public broadcasters may receive some funding from both federal and state sources, but generally most of their financial support comes from underwriting by foundations and businesses (ranging from small shops to corporations), along with audience contributions via pledge drivers. The great majority operate as private not for profit corporationsPublic broadcasting may be nationally or locally operated, depending on the country and the station. In some countries a single organisation runs public broadcasting. Other countries have multiple public-broadcasting organisations operating regionally or in different languages. Historically, public broadcasting was once the dominant or only form of broadcasting in many countries (with the notable exception of the United States).

The media industry itself is incredibly large and it’s only going to get bigger in the future. Some of the top film companies such as: Disney, Pixar, Universal and many more are worth millions of dollars each. Disney itself posted revenue of 70 million dollars which should show how big the industry is and that is just one of the tops companies. Large companies can turn normal people with dreams and normal careers into stars overnight. A lot of people look up to the media industry to try and compete with different companies this alone shows how influential the industry actually is.

Disney is the biggest company in the media industry because there is a lot of companies that Disney have bought from people such as: Marvel, Star Wars and ESPN. ESPN is arguably one of the biggest sporting channels in America and made Disney around 15.2 billion last year which shows how much money the industry makes. Marvel is also arguably one of the biggest film franchise in history which has also made Disney and uncountable amount of money. Star Wars is the same, it has made a ridiculous amount of money for Disney. However, the most recent films for Star Wars and Marvel have been criticised by fans and many of them thought that they were only made to make more money for Disney, which I can see why people might think that. Everything in the media industry that is made or produced will always be made to make more money. 

Media ethics is the best division of applied ethics dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast media, film, theatre, the arts, print media and the internet. The field covers many varied and highly controversial topics, ranging from war journalism to campaigns. Media ethics promotes and defends values such as a universal respect for life and the rule of law and legality. Media Ethics defines and deals with ethical questions about how media should use texts and pictures provided by the citizens. Literature regarding the ways in which specifically the Internet impacts media ethics in journalism online is scarce, thereby complicating the idea for a universal code of media ethics.

Copyright is a big issue the media industry faces. Legal protection is advised so that their original material can’t be used in somebody else’s name. However copyright can only be applied on the application of the idea, not the idea itself. National security is another legal issue filmmakers face. Filmmakers and producers must be aware of certain laws such as the official secrets act 1911 and the prevention of terrorism act. 

The importance of sound editing

The importance of sound editing from JakeRose8

Storyboard / Pre Production Year 2

4 sheets from JakeRose8