I can’t believe the last 2 years have come and gone so quickly. There are 7 MONTHS, just 7, left of my degree!! This year is going to be a busy one. I have so many things I need to do and quite a few things I would really like to get involved in… It could turn out to be rather hectic!
For me, last academic year turned out to be the most beneficial so far. I had the privilege of working with some of the most exciting and forward thinking lecturers on the #ELVSS12 project which required G+ hangouts at crazy times due to timezones, working to create films using mobile phones and portable devices to show just how easy it is to be creative on the fly. I’ve already volunteered to take part again this year in order to pass on the knowledge and skills I gained from being a part of the group last year… even though I have my #FYP to be getting on with. – Talk about dedicated!! I am also writing music for the 24 Frames 24 hours project AND putting the finishing touches to my album (“Information Age” ) which I will be releasing soon via iTunes so as you can see, it’s all go go go!!
I know my fellow students will all have their own things going on and have some brilliant ideas for their projects this year so I would like to wish everyone all the best and good luck!
This was a short hangout discussing the ELVSS12 project. We used mobile devices – Ipads, Iphones, Ipods etc; to create a film highlighting sustainability. It was created collaboratively between students in France, NZ and the UK.
– It was recorded at 1am which is why I look worn out.
Over the last few weeks, I have been involved in a project aimed at creating movies for the small screen using mobile devices which combined the efforts of 3 schools from across the globe. These were: Salford University,UK; Unitec, Auckland (NZ) and the university of Strasbourg, France. The brief was to create a short film using mobile devices ( iphones, ipads, Android handsets etc) that highlighted the issue of sustainability. Here is the final edit of the film our team came up with –
It was a very exciting project to be a part of and I hope that I can do more of this kind of thing in the future. I have gained some valuable skills whilst being a part of the project including elements of leadership, communication and technical skills. Things I can definitely use in any role I may undertake in future employment. As a team leader on this project I was required to be involved in regular meetings via Google Hangouts with lecturers from each university to make sure the project was on track for our deadline as each team was comprised of members from all 3 countries, each with different tasks to complete in order for the video to be a success. In our team, New Zealand did the first part of production, filming and editing the first half of the narrative, my colleagues and I in the UK organised the second half -filming and editing shots then writing the soundtrack and our colleagues in France created the title sequence and soundtrack. It was then uploaded to dropbox where we could access the clips, download them and complete the final edit. – This is what you can see in the video above.
Having been part of such an innovative project , I feel, has been a huge privilege and it is a credit to the tutors from each university and them being such forward thinkers that this was so successful.
I know I have already posted about the ELVSS12 project in terms of reflections but I felt that I wanted to conclude my work tying up loose ends so to speak.
As part of our Social Technologies module on the BSc Professional Sound and Video Technologies course I’m currently studying, We were asked to take part in an international collaboration between students from UK, New Zealand and France. The brief was to create a video using portable media (i.e Iphones, Ipads, Android devices) in order to highlight the issues of sustainability/recycling.
As a team, Team 1 (MOBILEXHIBITIONISTS) came up with the simple idea of a plastic bottle being thrown away by someone in NZ and it travelling all around the world ending up in Salford Quays, UK where it would be picked up by someone who cared about the environment and taken to the nearest recycling point.
This project was interesting to be part of as I feel I have gained quite a few new and important skills. As part of the team I took on the role of team leader which required me to take part in Google + Hangouts in order to communicate with lecturers and fellow students so that everyone was aware on both sides of the world as to what was happening and how the project was progressing.
In my role as team leader, I made sure the other team members knew what areas we needed to work on and when which gave me experience of time management and gave me the confidence to delegate tasks to make sure it was possible to succeed in the set task.
As you may have noticed, I am quite an active blogger which is helpful as it means I don’t mind looking after the teams blog site as well as organising other students.
During the project there were a few difficulties in terms of coordination across time zones and so, because I am the most active team member online, I made a conscious effort to liase with our lecturers and the NZ students in order to make sure things progressed. I replied to posts as quickly as I could and if I didn’t have the relevant information, I would contact the other team members to find out whatever information was needed.
On the final day of the project the team gathered at MCUK and we spent the day tying up loose ends. We shot the final scenes of the film on Salford Quays and then edited the footage, wrote the music and uploaded it. We also recorded our reflections video giving our thoughts on the project and how successful we thought it had been. Our team conversations that had been posted on Facebook were exported to a Google document using a piece of code written by our very own Stas and then compiled in a Storify document by me.
All of the footage and transcripts are available here:
After much deliberation, minor disagreements and time spent sifting through all the footage, we decided to create a video using the musical aspects of the footage and come up with a video promoting the remix, re-use, recycle mantra. We are in the process of editing the footage and should have the video up soon.
We have been given some footage by the BBC which they’ve asked us to use to create something ‘new’ with. I downloaded all 60gb of the footage at a very slow pace totalling 4 hours! With the footage we aim to create something both interesting AND entertaining.
We’re currently taking part in an inter-continental collaborative learning event as part of our degree at Salford University, Media CityUK. We have been asked to use our mobile phones to create film. I ride a motorcycle and thought I would film my ride from Old Trafford (the area – not the football ground) to Salford. To do this, I used a mobile phone bracket with a clip and attached it to my jacket. Using the forward facing camera (normally used for face-time calls) I recorded my journey. Please check out the footage here:
So, my inability to be creative was making me feel bad… I got some pritt-stick, some crape paper and some gold stars… this is what happened. Not my best, but I kinda like it. It was just a bit of a brain vom… what do you think?
The idea has been expanding over the last few weeks to a point where I’m wondering if I will actually be able to pull this off… ? After a lecture from Tony Churnside and Ian Forrester, members of BBC’s R&D department covering the importance of social media, connecting with people and using Microsoft Kinect to create a unique musical experience in cooperation with the BBC Philharmonic, my brain began working at double speed. I began thinking how I could incorporate these ideas in to my final year project. I have already planned to use touch screen synthesizers, video footage and social media in order to create this project but the lecture has added another dimension to an already ambitious idea.
Since the last post on the subject, I have contacted blip interactive via email and have had several conversations regarding the use of their Nano Studio and how or if it is possible to use multiple instances of it over several touch screen tables and also contacted Chesca Miles via Twitter to ask if she would be interested in taking part in the filming aspect, performing motorcycle stunt riding at one of her training spots in London. The next big step to take is to figure out how to control video using the touchscreen tables via MIDI….
This is something I am going to have to research.
I will post more on the subject as things progress.
If you haven’t checked out our podcast on why and how we did this project please do before reading the following article. You can find it on the following link
My blog has had over 600 hits in the few weeks since I created it, this to me seems like quite a big achievement.
I have had over 100 plays on Soundcloud, one of my tracks remixed and communicated with companies regarding complexed projects. All this from social media. A module in my timetable that I thought would be a pointless exercise. I have since found it to be one of the most useful classes in my schedule. I have even been considering employment within the social media industry which is a world away from the reasons for me coming to uni in the first place.
I started the course with the goal of getting my degree and then working my way up to becoming a video tech for live events instead of being one of the guys at the bottom never working on a touring show, only being a local…. It’s something I’ve wanted since the age of 14 when I started going to gigs and made friends with (now) one of my oldest friends. Harassing him at every show to let me help move boxes, carry amps and other equipment. Now though, I’m older, I’ve been there, done that. I want to get technical. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good load out but it would be nice to travel and earn more money… anyway, as much as I love that stuff, social media pays waaaay better!
I made the mistake of looking online the other day and found an entry level position with a starting wage of £20,000!! – may not seem like a lot but when you’ve worked as many jobs as I have and never earned more than £15k it’s like being rich! (I say mistake because it made me reconsider whether or not to stay at uni) So, as you can see, this seems like it may be a good choice of career? I’m not getting any younger and when I graduate, I’ll be 30!! so, I definitely need to make sure I have some security. I said that before I was 30 I wanted to have a stable job and be settled. Why? you may ask… (you may not even care but then, why would you still be reading? ) – because, the sooner I get teh boring stuff out of the way, the sooner I’ll be comfortable enough to afford the fun stuff!! plus, I’ve already done so much. Skydiving, riding motorcycles, played gigs, built stages, been married, become a dad, got divorced… all in the space of about 5 years….
I have been interested in web building for about 10 years but never really did much with it. STEC12 has given me the kick up the backside to make use of my skills. This is definitely a career path worth following….
Yesterdays studio session was spent re-acquainting ourselves with protools and becoming familiar with the C24 control surface. – A brilliant piece of kit that is essentially a hardware realisation of the software DAW screen. – This is great for people like me who use software based products continually to write, record and mix tracks. So, we had a couple of hours trawling through sounds in Protools (FM8/Absynth plugins) and experimenting, trying out various ideas… although quite uneventful, the session did give us an idea of sounds and was useful to get us back in the swing of recording.
After the lecture, Sam had to go home so I met up with Nathan and we went to mine to get creative! Nathan had an idea for a melody so we found some sounds we liked and began playing. When we began playing, the music began to flow, we soon had a main melody, drum track and bass line. We spent a few hours arranging the track and had a few problems getting the various melodies structured correctly due to timing issues we decided to call it quits after about 5 hours, Nathan had to go home. I however was determined to get the track sounding right. I re-played each part and arranged the track then uploaded the track and emailed it to Nathan.
The basic idea has now been laid down and the plan is to go in to the studio next week to record live drums, bass and guitars which the three of us are looking forward to…. this particular project is something we all share an interest in and hopefully we will do well due to all sharing a similar vision.
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