Manipulating media reflection

I have now completed all four assignments across two semesters which marks the end of the Manipulating Media module. As someone who hasn’t studied media before at GCSE nor A-level, this module proved to be extremely beneficial as I have learnt not only new skills, but also adapted and improved those I learnt in other modules this year.

In the first assignment I was assigned the role of Project Manager which, whilst appearing daunting at first, proved to be helpful as I got to see the other roles first-hand and work with them closely to ensure the work was completed at a satisfactory level. Seeing these roles in action impacted how I undertook my role in the other projects, for instance, whilst I was the leader of the group, I also learnt how valuable it is to be a team player and complete your stage of the project so that the others can start there’s. I soon realised a pattern in the order of work, from research to content creation and then finally to production and dissemination, but there was also more to this. I didn’t limit myself to just my one role, I was happy to help others particularly if they were less confident with software or had personal issues, which was the case for the infographic project, in which as content creator, I actively played a large role in production and dissemination and as a group we managed each other in the absence of our project manager for a week. I also learnt throughout that even if you think your role is done, there is always more you can do or go back to, to ensure your work is of the highest quality.

 

The second project was a podcast in which we talked about a topical international issue. This was one of the more challenging tasks as under the role of production and dissemination I was tasked to edit the podcast and make it to an industry standard. This was where my previous experience with audio editing in Media Skills became key. Looking back however I was still naïve and assumed the editing would have been easier than it was due to the project just being audio. Listening to it again now I can appreciate that it isn’t my best possible work. My confidence in working as a team had improved by this point however when compared to the first project. I personally prefer working on my own and given that university was a new setting with new people I didn’t know, I felt by the second project I had adapted well and was comfortable working with others in my group.

 

The third project, the infographic, was where my experience from the previous projects came into play. We, as a group, quickly decided on investigating the growth of music streaming as it was all something we did and so had a personal investment into the topic. This project was arguably the least smooth as our project manager fell ill and was at home for the majority of the project. This coincided with the fact that we only had three weeks instead of four to make a finished product. Personally, as well, I was assigned content creator yet also took on a lot of the responsibilities of production and dissemination due to our P+D member lacking experience on Adobe Illustrator. Thankfully, I already knew what both roles entailed due to my previous experience of working alongside the content creator in project two and carrying out the role of P+D as well. As previously noted, we took over project manager duties as a team, as we updated our PM through Facebook, as we sent pictures of what the infographic looked like and what could be changed. I originally felt like the infographic looked too much like a poster, but looking back now and at other’s work, I was happy with the final product.

 

Finally, project four saw us develop, market and lead a stall on an issue of our choice. Whilst the initial workload seemed to be much more than anything I had faced in previous projects, it actually proved to be one of the most competent and successful projects I had done. Whilst I was assigned the role of researcher, my role within the group took me much further than this, as it did for all members of the group. I feel like this was the project that taught me to not be confined to a certain area and instead help others if they needed it. Whilst previous projects felt more like solo projects or just me on my own, project four was a team effort that required, and I feel showcased our various talents and strengths. All our previous experiences with equipment, software, work skills and research culminated into this final task which I feel we were very competent in completing, as shown by the fact we finished a week early and had time to reflect and change our work.

 

In conclusion, the manipulating media module has not only given but also developed my skills that are ever so important in the media industry. The wide range of formats and software explored, from podcasts to graphic design, to short films/documentaries gave me new problems to solve and ideas to think about. It’s taught me that not everything can be completed on your own and that effective team work relies on communication and understanding. These are important qualities to have and be made self-aware of as many jobs in the industry will require working in teams. I enjoyed the practice of being given shorter jobs to do in a set time parameter because it not only allowed me to be methodical and plan what needs to be completed using a Gantt chart, but it was also a more accurate representation of the kinds of tasks I will be prescribed in a future career.

Fourth blog- Researcher

This was our final project and I was given my final role of researcher. We were tasked to think of a workshop/event, promote it and then run it. I knew from working with previous researchers that the role is heavily work orientated from the start and that as a team, we couldn’t progress without my research being completed punctually.

We quickly decided on healthy eating, before homing in on gluten and dairy free food, this decision was taken because a member of our group already had experience in gluten and dairy free baking due to a family member, but also because other groups were also interested in healthy eating, so we wanted to separate ourselves to an extent.

 

During my research I worked closely with the team, as previously stated the production and dissemination member of our group had experience with gluten and dairy free baking so I was able to find the recipes she used online and thus make the recipe cards. I was also aware the information I found would be put onto a poster by our content creator, so it was important for us to establish a mix of both serious and more humorous facts and images. I personally wasn’t very knowledgeable about Coeliac disease nor the difference between an allergy and an intolerance so as I learnt more, my research became more in depth about the issue.

 

We decided that as the posters would be around campus and that most wouldn’t know about the issue, we would stick to basic facts and definitions which everyone can understand. Specialist statistics and terminology-based research was instead implemented into the video, as it would be assumed that our target audience for the video would have been following the campaign and therefore would already be comfortable with the language used.

It soon became clear that for this project my role needed extending. I was made responsible for advertising the event online, in the form of a Facebook event but also on the Intranet.

 

As a team we worked well, one of our members commuted which I had prior experience with in my last project. This meant we made the most of the time after our tutorials as well as utilising a group chat which allowed us to keep on track of our work and make necessary changes. For instance, we originally planned our event to be on a Wednesday, but we realised that no lectures take place in the afternoon, so this would have limited our audience. We then regularly checked the weather and decided online that the event should be held on a Tuesday instead, one of the only dry days that week.

 

Given that this was our last assignment, I felt that our experience from our previous three tasks shone through. I was comfortable finding relevant and accurate information, as well as making a bibliography that was to the Harvard referencing standard. I feel our video also has high production value, as it incorporated everyone’s role in the film, even my research, as shown through the facts and statistics that pop up.

 

Overall, I would argue that this was my best piece of work on this module. When we were first given this project, we knew we would have to be punctual in order to meet deadlines due to the sheer scope of the project, but the fact we managed to have the research completed, marketing done and the video published just under a week before the deadline shows how competent and experienced we were throughout.

 

Third blog- Content Creator

In the role of Content Creator me and my group were given the task of creating an infographic on Adobe Illustrator, a tool I first used this semester in my Media Skills Two class. The challenge with this project was that we were given only three weeks to make our finished project. Knowing this, we quickly decided that our infographic should be music based, originally on the history of physical music to digital, our lecturer informed us however that this could be too broad a topic to sufficiently cover in this format. After a short rethink we decided on just streaming music and how it has developed.

 

Our researcher was extremely punctual and found relevant sources within the first three days of our project. My previous experience as Production and Dissemination allowed me to work with and understand the role of Content Creator so I knew the importance of me making a draft of the final product was pivotal for the project to progress. I independently researched infographics and found some examples of colour schemes and visual imagery that I liked and brought to the group meeting. This was then shown by me to the group and we decided on what we liked, didn’t like and I got to draw a rough concept piece of the graphic. Unlike in my previous groups, we had a member who commuted, which meant the group chat and group meetings were more important than before as we had to make sure we covered everything as the possibility of a spontaneous meet up wasn’t available.

 

I took the initial sketch and transferred it to a word document, this was to show the essential shapes and typography to our Production and Dissemination member more clearly. I knew I would be working closely with the P+D role so it was convenient that I held this position in the last project and when it came to actually making the final product we were able to help each other in re-creating the original vision of our project. Our Project Manager fell ill, this meant he couldn’t make the final meetings, thankfully however, we sent pictures of our progress and received immediate feedback on what he liked and didn’t like. For example, our original design was a combination of pink hues, after sending it to our PM he informed us to change it to blue instead, a change we all approved of.

 

Overall, I am somewhat happy with our final product. Our collective limited knowledge of Illustrator let us down and I feel like the final product doesn’t accurately represent an infographic, but rather a poster. Some elements of the original also had to be removed, for instance we originally anticipated implementing a graph along the body of the silhouette, however this made the graphic too busy and difficult to follow, the opposite of an effective infographic. This was a running theme throughout, our lack of knowledge of Illustrator meant we overestimated just how much information could be put on screen and so we had to opt for the sub headings of ‘Five Facts’ and ‘A history’ to make the graphic easier to follow. Personally, my main gain from this project was learning that the switch from paper to online graphic isn’t as easy as it seems, and that we perhaps should of incorporated Illustrator more in my Content Creator stage to build the foundations of the final piece.

Second blog- Production and Dissemination

During the first week back of semester two we were given the task of producing a three-minute podcast on an international issue of our choice. I was given the Production and Dissemination role which immediately made this project feel different from before. Not being as actively involved in all stages of the production process was difficult to adjust to.

 

Our group itself remained very committed throughout, upon first being put into our group we engaged in discussion about what our topic should be. We were in unanimous agreement that we should cover Net Neutrality, because as media students, we felt this issue would directly impact us should it come to Europe. Similar to before, we made a group chat and met up for around an hour every week. Deciding our topic so early allowed our researcher, Tabitha, to accumulate a plethora of articles from both sides of the argument. The fact we chose such a topical issue also meant there was practically new sources everyday so finding factual content wasn’t an issue.

 

We encountered our first real issue on our first recording day, we had issues renting the equipment online as none of us had any experience in this before, by the time we did successfully book it out the loans counter was closed until 2:00pm. We overcame this however by recording parts of the script on a mobile phone as we thought this would provide a sense of realism, distinguishing the ‘studio’ audio from the external audio. We also took the time to collectively search and agree for the backing track as well as the jingle track we would use, this was carried out by me.

 

My main task as Production and Dissemination arose after the audio was complete, it was my role to edit our podcast. Whilst I had editing experience during previous modules last year, this was the first time I had worked with audio only which presented new challenges. Not all of the audio was at the same volume meaning my first issue to overcome was making sure the podcast could be played at one audio level without the need for the volume to be turned up and down as different people talked. This also had to accommodate the backing track which had a tendency to change pitch as it progressed. To fix these issues I cut the audio into separate pieces and manually altered their audio so they all sounded the same. Another issue was that the audio was only playing out of one channel (ear) this meant I had to undertake additional research online as to how to fix this issue. Because I had previously split the audio into separate sections, this meant manually changing the audio on those as well which was easily the most time-consuming part of the project for me personally.

 

Overall, I am extremely happy with the final project and particularly my role within it. I felt the podcast sounded professional with the transitions between speakers being unnoticeable. If I was taking this project again there would be certain things I would change, for instance I felt the podcast wasn’t conversational enough and came across as too much like a news broadcast instead. Learning to edit just audio, which I first assumed to be easier than both audio and visuals, also came with its own set of challenges, with it just being a sound file there is greater possibility for scrutiny and for errors to be heard so there was an added sense of pressure of ensuring no audio issues persisted in the final product. From this project however I have learnt valuable editing skills which I can use in the future of my university and professional tasks.

First blog- Project Manager

This week marked the end of my first semester at university, but also the end of my first Manipulating Media assignment. I played the pivotal role of Project Manager. At first, I was sceptical about how I would fit into this role, I’m not the most confident person nor a natural leader, especially to a group of fellow students I have never worked with before, but now after finishing the project, I feel more than satisfied with how I carried out my role.

There were initially some issues that had to be overcome, our Content Creator Jack, wasn’t present during the brief for the project so he had to be caught up on what our task was. Thankfully, social media allowed us to create a ‘group chat’ so we were quickly able to fill Jack in. When our group was first given the brief, we were shown examples of student’s work from previous years, from this, we knew from the start that we wanted our video to be a mixture of fun and information.

Another issue for me personally, was that our first meeting with our leader Jane was at the same time as a journalism trip to Southampton. Whilst I initially felt I was letting the team down by not being able to turn up (as I was the Project Manager after all), I overcame this by creating a Gantt chart that acted as a timetable for when we wanted to finish each stage of production. I emailed this to the Production and Dissemination member of our team, so she could show Jane during our meeting.

 

After this there were no major issues that arose, we quickly agreed that it made most sense to have weekly meetings two hours before our meeting with Jane, and anything that needed to be sorted immediately, was done through the online group chat. For me personally, as Project Manager, I would often message each member of the group during the first few weeks to ensure the information and content they were finding was relevant. I felt it was best to keep tabs on all stages of production to make sure progress was smooth. I made sure I was present during every shooting day as well as editing.

There were still slight issues we ran into during filming, we had originally storyboarded us writing on a whiteboard, but on camera the board was either too dark, or when using artificial light, was too reflective. We adapted our original plan, and wrote on plain white paper instead.

Day one of editing also didn’t start as positively as we hoped, as we had issues incorporating the mobile phone footage, it resulted in a large black border being around the screen. We solved this on day two however by putting all three separate clips side by side which fixed the screen ratio.

 

Overall, as a first project, I think the team did really well, everyone contributed to the project and the fact we had finished the video two days before due date, leaving us a whole day to do the write up shows just how organised we were, which I feel means I accomplished my role as Project Manager.