Convergence Media Teamwork - Producing Content

As I mentioned in a previous post, as a group we divided all of the tasks that need to be done. So today I began designing an app that will be available with content and information about animal cruelty as well as links to other platforms and fun stuff too!
From last week we have decided to go down the positive route when talking about animal cruelty. We are going to focus on all of the positive things that organisations do to help these animals. So we want to enforce the positivity of animal shelters and the donation of money to these places.

I decided this week to design 4 fun characters that we can use throughout all of our platforms to maybe engage a younger audience and to also make the content more fun! So here is are the 4 characters I intend to make on Photoshop and implement throughout our transmedia work:

The characters will give tips and information throughout our campaign and will be the face of the advertisements and other content that we will create. I hand drawn these characters so I am going to scan them in and make them nice clean characters using Photoshop. If we have time as well I would love to make some short animations with them but we will see!

Our aim for the campaign is to encourage people to report animal abuse, to donate money to these amazing organisations such as RSPCA and to learn more about the cause. This is a simple aim and so we want our platforms to all corrospond with each other, flow together and be relatable.

After this morning lecture we decided to have a productive afternoon so we headed out to the RSPCA and Dogs Trust that were local to us. I live near by the RSPCA in Halewood so we went to this first. Here are a few photographs that I took with my phone whilst we were there.

 I found the experience a real eye opener because they take in as many cats and dogs as possible, which was a very large amount. The are rehabilitated and you can adopt them for a certain fee depending on the breed. They are very looked after and seem to have fun barking and playing, even when they do have a cone around there neck like that poor cat! But I think the RSPCA do a wonderful job there and I can't wait to make a short film with the footage we collected.

Next we visited the Dogs Trust in Huyton which isn't far at all from the RSPCA, here are a few photographs from there.

 Now the Dogs Trust was totally different to the RSPCA but just as postive. It was like a haven for dogs, each cage was huge and they all had things to play with. By the looks of things Dogs Trust receive a lot more funding that the RSPCA do which is a shame but at the same time the place was really something special. They have boards next to each cage explaining who the dog is and they even get fan mail from local children and sponsers. It was so nice to see the dogs being looked after like that.

My Reflection
Well today was a really productive day and was fun too! We got to visit these two amazing places and even speak to some of the workers there. I found both places very positive and it gives you an insight in to what these organisation do for the animals. They are really important in our society because unfortunately some dogs are abandoned and abused. They all seem to find a new home through these places, however, and so this is what we need to focus on for the campaign. We now have some content to use so we better get started on some film work and also putting these photographs on the website and blog that we have started!

You Learn Something New Everyday
I am a massive animal lover, and I would love to volunteer at somewhere like the Dogs Trust or RSPCA because animals need as much love as humans do. I've learned this from having a dog and he is my best friend and will never take him for granted!

Speak Soon!

Digital Media Cultures - Result

Well today we got the results for the assignment! I am pleased to say that the hard work paid off and me and Josie got a very high 2:1. I am happy with this result because we have both improved ourselves from our last assignment in the module. We have obviously improved our writing style and I think that is because we helped each other during this work together. I think this result is fitting with the rest of my results and the end of the year looks like its going to be very positive for me indeed!

Speak Soon!

Student Rep Meeting

Today I had the latest student representatives meeting to discuss everything on the course, all postives and negatives and to also give as much feedback as we can to our lecturers.
I really like bein a student rep because I find a lot more out from being one and it also allows me to have more of a say about my own course.
I have made A LOT of notes from this meeting so I won't bore you with them on here. But if anyone on the course wants to know anything please don't hesitate to contact me through the LJMU emails or Facebook!
There are a lot of exciting opportunities and trips happening soon so I am sure you will find out through Sarah Haynes :)

Speak Soon!

Personal Post - Superhero Night!

One of my close friends turned 20 this weekend and so she wanted to go out dressed a superheroes, in particular The Avengers. I really loved this idea and I am always up for fancy dress so this was my type of night out. I decided to go as Black Widow from The Avengers and I think my outfit was pretty damn good! Here are a few snaps from the night :)

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FACT Internship

I was delighted to hear that the FACT cinema in Liverpool City Centre were looking for interns to work in the next couple of months. So of course I was going to go to a chat from one of the digital content producers there; Carl Davies.

The idea of the chat was to tell people what the internship would entail, how to apply and also their preferences when looking for employees. I really love going to FACT and I do so regularly, in fact I am going tonight to see Clerks! But anyway, if I could get a job there that would be great because I know I will defintely like what they do. I have previously looked at FACT for jobs but as of yet haven't found any. It is great that LJMU has such connections because these sorts of internships are not always on the website!

The title of the job would be service production internship and if I got the job I would be classed as a digital content producer like Carl. The work would be 4 months of working 1 day a week for 8 hours. This could increase depending on the events that are happening at the FACT. I think that this sounds like a very good opportunity for me to apply for. The only problem is that Carl mentioned that they prefer to us Final Cut Pro and I can't say that I am familiar with this software at all as we don't use it in univeristy. However they would provide training if it was needed in the software and also on DSLR cameras and Z1 cameras. Luckily, I have experience with both types of camea so I am still in the runnings!

FACT work with many people around the country and so the networking opportunities would be invaluable. For instance, if I was to get the internship, the first job I would be doing is filming a Q&A session with Ken Loach. Amazing! So thats that. I am defintely applying for this internship, and even if I don't get in, I will keep looking for chances like this because they are second to none!

Speak Soon!

CV Workshop

Today everyone had the opportunity to attend a CV workshop in university to enhance our writing skills and to learn how to talk about ourselves in a formal matter. Having a really good CV is vital at the moment what with all of the work experience coming up that we need to do for third year. If I haven't mentioned it already, we need to log 80 hours of work experience before the next term starts in September. I personally am really looking forward to these opportunities that we are being given; however I won't get them without an amazing CV!

I have got a very good CV at the moment because I attended another workshop earlier on in the academic year but I thought I could learn a bit more by attending this different one. Here are the notes I made during the workshop that I found useful:

• Having a full UK drivers liscence can be very appealing to employers so always put this on your CV if you have one
• Business cards - very handy for giving out to anyone you meet when talking about jobs or just networking. Spread your name about!
• Give examples of when you have used the skills that you have listed in you CV
• Spelling and grammatical errors cannot happen - employers will spot these and dismiss your CV straight away
• Save you CV as a PDF file so that it is easier for employers to open and the layout will not chance
• Cover letter should show your personality and not be as formal as your CV
• Research in to the places you are applying for and use for your cover letter - butter them up!
• Always best to address a person by name - if you are emailing and don't know who to actually send your CV to then simply ring up and ask!
• Use power words - stay positive thoughout both CV and cover letter. Avoid starting sentences with I.
• Cover letter should not address anything that is on your CV, it is additional
• Be specific!
• Show your CV to as many people as possible so that you can get a lot of feedback on the content and layout, as well as spell checking!

My Reflection

I always find workshops usful because even if you think you know everything you always learn at least one new thing. With my CV I believe that if I didn't attend both of the CV workshops it would not be as good as it is right now! I have learned a lot today and I hope to improve my CV further before applying for any other work experience opportunities.

You Learn Something New Everyday

I should defintely get business cards! It would be so useful when meeting new people and leaving them with contact details! 

Speak Soon!

Convergence Media Teamwork - Starting Work

Today was the day we started working on our assigment in this module. I am happy with my group because both of my teammates work hard so I think we can really do well with this project.

We decided as a group to create a campaign instead of a story because this was just a preference we all shared. We wanted to start with researching in to transmedia acvitism that has happened in the past to see what works and what doesn't. With this information we started to develop ideas of what we wanted to do.
The subject that we are going to tackle is animal cruetly; we began with a spider diagram to just map out all of the ideas that we had, here is a photo:

From this exercise we realised the amount of work that needed to be started so we began dividing the work up evenly. We also decided that we need to experience for ourselves places such as the RSPCA and Dogs Trusts, so we planned a visit to both locations locally next week. This will allow all 3 of us to see what happens to dogs after they are abandoned or abused. This will be the positive side to animal cruelty; after the incidence occurs. We are not sure yet where we want to go with the campaign, until we see the locations I think it is best to leave this open.

We are going to visit RSPCA Halewood and Dogs Trust Huyton, both close locations, luckily Josie has a car so we can drive there no problem. We intend to get evidence of the trip with photographs, video and also leaflets from the sites. Until then we are all going to go away and find out more about animal cruelty and transmedia activism.

My Reflection
Today was a productive day because we began to realise the journey we want to take with this assignment. Having a solid, hardworking group really helps when working in teams, I know we will all work as a unit to get the presentation done and everything leading up to it should run smoothly. I think choosing this subject has helped as well because we are all animal lovers and so we feel passionately about the cause. This might give that edge we need to really make a great campaign on multiple platforms.

You Learn Something New Everyday
Campaigns take a lot of planning and work! It seems both transmedia activism and transmedia stroytelling are equally as hard as each other!

Speak Soon!

Digital Media Cultures - Meeting

Today we had a meeting with Keith as a group to discuss where we are up to and what articles we have chosen to use for the assignment. We needed to split in to 2 pairs for the task because there needs to be a literature review and a dissertation proposal. Josie and I decided that we would like to do the dissertation proposal because both of our dissertation writing skills need some work.

In the meeting Keith went through both aspects of the assigment in detail, explaining what we will need to include. Because the dissertation is small compared to a normal dissertation in university, there are some points that we need to follow and make sure we are definitely on point with. Here are some notes I made during the meeting:

• All 5 articles need to be relevant and connected
• Proof read - no simple errors because they are more noticable in a smaller text
• Have a simple title as to not complicate the outcome
• Use headings for the paragraphs to clearly seperate points being made
• Introduction should be 150 words and should set the scene
• There should be 3 main chapters for 3 major subject areas
• Conclusion should contain predictions for the future of the subject

In general for essays we all follow the Harvard Referencing Guide, but it seems sometimes mistakes are made by everyone just because of the layout of the bibliography. Of course it should always be in alphabetical order but here is an example of what one reference should look like:

Author. (year) Title of Book. Place of Publish

We went through this so that we are all on the same page when it comes to referencing the two seperate works. We agreed that we will all write the bibliography together so that everyones is the same when we submit our work.

After this official meeting with Keith, we decided to go away and have a meeting of our own so that we can start laying out the work that needs to be done.

We came up with a title for the disseration proposal which is 'How has social networking aided in the development of globalisation?' simply enough I think. It illustrates both subjects we are tackling and how the two are related.

We then moved on to laying out the disseration proposal itself. We needed to try and work out what paragraphs will talk about what subject and so on. Here is a rough layout that we created:

Introduction

• Introduce social networking
• Introduce globalisation
• How social networking and globalisation link together (how social networking aids globalisation)

Chapter 1

• Positives and negatives of Facebook
• Privacy, identity, etc

Chapter 2

• Self identity and representation
• Self promotion and business
• MySpace and music

Chapter 3 

• Social media and globalisation
• Why are they connected
• How social networking IS globalisation

Conclusion

• Answer question!!!
  Figure out after writing the rest
• Marshall McLuhans theories

As you can see this is a very brief overview just to get us started on the process because we don't have much time at all! However I think that with our workload at the moment we will do fine with this assignment.

Speak Soon!

Digital Media Cultures - Readings

To start with the research for the next assignment I got a couple of books out from the library to take a look at in relation to globalisation and social networking.

The first book I decided to look at was Tales From Facebook by Daniel Miller but particularly chapter 2, Community. I decided to make notes on everything that was important and useful from this chaper. Here are a few images of my notes and the book itself.

The second book I decided to look at was Digital Cultures: Understanding New Media by Glen Creeber and Royston Martin. In this book I looked at chapter 7 in particular - Case Study: Social Networking. Again, here are a few images of my notes and the book itself.

I found analysing both of these texts very useful as I was able to come out with some significant ideas related to the subject we have chosen. Doing social networking as a subject is interesting because we all use it so much in everyday life that it makes you blind to some of the globalisation aspects of Facebook and such. I think we will be successful in this assigment because we have a solid team and I am happy to work with them as I cannot see any difficulties arising.

Speak Soon!

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