ASSIGNMENTS

Clovis

TASK 2

7.1 Understanding The Creative Media Sector

By Charlie Simpson

There are many media sectors within different industries. The main sectors are Radio, Animation, Film, Interactive media, Computer games, publishing, Television, the press, photo imaging, as well as Advertising and Marketing. I will be focussing on the interactive media sector. 

Interactive media is the sector that is associated with social media, such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and is the one that I will be focussing on throughout this essay. There are also many different types of ownerships within a sector, for example, Instagram is a conglomerate of Facebook, which means that it is a smaller company owned by a larger one. However, there is also private ownership, which is a way for social media within the creative media sectors to make money; they use advertising to fund their company; rather than sponsorships or funding from other companies.

There are also different types of ownership, by different companies. Private ownership is when an organisation is owned only by itself, and not by anyone else, such as the public. An example of Private ownership is Sky. They fund themselves by selling their own products and hosting a platform to air adverts. The public service media is a different type of ownership. This tends to be council funded and is used to notify the public of events and news, the BBC is a form of public service media. Disney is a type of multinational ownership, it takes funding from all over the world through a variety of forms. Although, it is mostly associated by an American company. 

An independent ownership is very similar to a privately owned company, as in that it gets its funding by things like adverts or inside sources. However, the difference is that it is free from outside control. This includes not having shares within the stock market. For example, IKEA.

A company is associated with being a conglomerate if it has many different, smaller, companies, in many different industries. For example, Samsung makes fridges, phones, and even sells phone parts to other services, such as Apple.

Sky is a form of private ownership. It has a very complex structure to be able to run effectively as a company. It has an extremely wide product diversity, with products like their sky boxes, sky news, sky movies as well as their own channel. This is an extremely effective way of producing enough income as a privately owned company.

The BBC is a public service media company. It has organisational objectives, from making people aware of current affairs, to hosting live chat shows, radio shows, films and television dramas. 

Disney also has a very complex structure. From franchises, their films being made into toys and theme park rides, to vertical integration, which sees disney taking over other industries to produce their toys, parks and other media networks. 

brianaford.info. (2019). Walt disney company organizational chart - Lenscrafters online bill payment. [online] Available at: http://brianaford.info/lllt/walt-disney-company-organizational-chart-qyja.php [Accessed 4 Nov. 2019].

Samsung, a conglomerate merges and works in synergy with other companies to produce parts and grow as a company. It trades with Apple, another large tech company to produce computer and phone chips. It also has a wide diversity of products. This leads to it having a lot of national, and global, competition; with many other companies that work in the same horizontal integration as Samsung.

IKEA has a strong profitability of product range, as it has such a large variety of products which profit the company extremely well, due to its diversity. However, Ikea only works within the furniture industry, and more recently, the food industry, which is where it gets its funding from, making it an independently owned company.

Bibliography:

En.wikipedia.org. (2019). List of largest private non-governmental companies by revenue. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_private_non-governmental_companies_by_revenue [Accessed 4 Nov. 2019].

Film, C., Film, C., Film, C., Film, C., Film, C., Film, C. and profile, V. (2019). Unit 7 - Understanding the creative media sector. [online] Unit7coulsdonmedia.blogspot.com. Available at: https://unit7coulsdonmedia.blogspot.com/ [Accessed 4 Nov. 2019].

TASK 1

Rebeccas Assignment 2

5.1 Working to a brief

By Charlie Simpson

Briefs are extremely useful throughout many parts of the media industry. Especially when working with clients, such as Freelancers or other companies to produce a product. This can range from visual effects or sound design in a movie, to videos campaigns or adverts, that require multiple teams, with the expertise, to complete. Working to a brief is also extremely important; it ensures that the client gets what they want, and that there is no disagreements with the production. They can also outline important information, such as deadlines, specific requirements, or how the product should be saved, ready for the next client.

There are many different types of briefs that are used throughout the media industry. A contractual brief can easily be identified, as the employee would have to sign it. There is a lot of description in this brief, and is written formally. This may be used for a visual effects team, where the effects need to be perfect, to be able to blend in with the film. As well as an important deadline that will have to be met, as it may need to go to a colourist, or sound design. If their deadline is late, it may delay the rest of the production, and can be followed up by legal action, as the employee has signed the document.

However, there is also negotiable briefs. This is commonly used when a client isn’t sure about what exactly they want, leaving some creative flow to the employee. This may be used for a print based campaign, where the finer, creative, details haven’t been decided. This document doesn’t have to be signed, but will still include deadlines, specific details and other information that is relevant for the employee to create the print.

A Formal brief is used for a client and employee that may not have worked with each other before. It is laid out neatly, with formal language. It will outline everything that is required, clearly and easily, so that the employee can work with it. It may also have a logo and contact information, so that any problems can be quickly and easily communicated with the client.

An Informal brief is used for clients and employees who may know each other well, or for friends and family. This brief is usually quite short, and includes slang and spelling mistakes. It is usually used to quickly communicate information or problems, and is very easy to understand. It is more likely to be a verbal agreement, then an official document like other briefs.

Commission briefs are used when a company and client already have an established relationship. This type of brief is extremely useful and time efficient, as it saves the company time in finding someone to fulfill the brief to the standard that they would like. For example, a client may have a desired company of choice to create game graphics, so the commission brief would get sent directly to the company, without much discussion. This saves a significant amount of time.

Competition briefs, unlike commission briefs, are distributed to the public. This has many benefits. It allows for many different creative inputs, that can lead to an extremely good campaign. It is also less expensive, as the public suggest the ideas for free, and only the victor will get the prize, which is usually money. The company then also has hundreds or thousands of different ideas to choose from, as well as small ideas that can be taken from different entries. However, this can take a very long time, and be a very lengthy process.

A Tender brief is very similar to the competition brief, in that the brief is sent out to many different companies. Yet only the best idea is vouched for, giving the chosen company the ability to work on the brief, which could prove to be extremely useful in learning more skills, or developing new relations with clients.

Co-operative briefs are used for two or more companies working on the same production for a client. They can be used if there is a tight deadline, that would only be completed if two companies worked on it at the same time. Although, they are also very useful if one company has specific expertise and the other has another expertise, for example, one may be good at producing car models, and another may be good at interpreting them, and developing the designs for it.

Once an employee or company has received any type of brief, it must be read extremely well and understood. The company must understand exactly what type of brief it is, so that it is not misinterpreted, for example, knowing whether they have to sign it, or what legal consequences may be in place for not reaching deadlines. They must also understand the whole brief, and what is required of them, if they do not, they must contact the client as quickly as possible to ensure no confusion.

The company needs to also understand whether the deadlines that have been suggested are plausible, if not, they must negotiate with the client. Once the brief has been cleared and finalised, the company must begin work to it.

The company also needs to know how to correctly negotiate with the client. This could be about deadlines, or even the ability of being able to complete the tasks, because or profiting or physicality; for example, wanting a certain weather that isn’t there. The company or employee would need to email or contact the client at the earliest point, to leave enough time to sort out new deadlines or information. It is then up to the client whether they want to choose a different company, or negotiate to create a production. Once the negotiation has taken place, it is a good idea to write a follow up email to the client, ensuring you are both sure on the new agreements. This saves any mis-communication or confusion between the client and employee.

There are also many opportunities when working with different briefs. Some may bring the employee in direct contact with the company, giving them the chance to show off their skills, to be hired for other productions. The company or employee may also gain new skills and experience, by tackling a difficult task, or even a difficult client, they’ll know how to deal with it better for next time. They can also gain new contacts, as clients often share the contact details of the company to other potential clients. Not to mention, it looks good for the employee or companies CV or portfolio.

It is also very important for a company or employee to try and follow the deadlines. As this will help them stay on time with tasks, as well as keeping the client happy. It will also save getting bad reviews, which won’t look good if other clients would like to use the company.

However, as well as missing deadlines not looking good. It also makes a production go for longer, which can get annoying, as they may be working on the same brief for too long. It also delays any other work for other clients.

Bibliography:

prezi.com. (2019). Copy of Unit 5: Working to a Brief in the. [online] Available at: https://prezi.com/m9qn6-cjmur2/copy-of-unit-5-working-to-a-brief-in-the/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy [Accessed 4 Nov. 2019].

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David's Assignment

38 Soundtrack

Production

By Charlie Simpson

Throughout this analysis, I will be demonstrating the knowledge that I have gained of sound production in a variety of different content, and how it is used for different effect on the audience.

The first scene that I will be analysing, is the opening of Children Of Men, which begins with a black screen, and non-diegetic news readings, with a mixture of diegetic and hyper-realistic sound effects and foliage to accompany what’s on -screen. This immediately sets the mood for the narrative of the film, as it talks about certain events; saying "Day 1000 of the siege of Seattle". This focusses the audience on what's being said. It then proceeds to talk about the death of baby Diego, before cutting to a scene of a small cramped coffee shop, where the audio becomes diegetic. The news now has a slightly tinny sound, suggesting it is coming through the TV, which adds to the realism of the scene. 

However, the News story is used to explain the outline of the narrative to the audience. By using this as a form of voice-over, the audience can use visual and audible clues, as to what has happened, and what might happen. If the director didn’t use the news story to portray the narrative to the audience, it may have taken longer for the audience to understand what was happening, leading the film to take different turns, potentially slowing down the pace of the film.

The news is then broken up by the main character, who says "Excuse me', showing that he's not as engrossed as everyone else, as he is getting on with his daily life. To add to the realism, as the main character walks out, the news audio echo’s, as the character would hear audio from both TV’s; this makes the scene much more realistic, and contributes to the Point Of View style of the film.

The diegetic musical score then takes over, suggesting it might become non-diegetic, but once he walks outside, the score is drowned out by the sound of a busy London. The outside sounds, appear, as the objects appear. For example, the footsteps of the police officers, the beeping and the sound of the Tuk-Tuk on the right-hand side of the scene.

The scene is then followed by an explosion, with diegetic fire bells and shouting. However, there is also a, hyper-realistic, high pitch ringing that comes a short while after the explosion, mimicking the sound of tinnitus after the incredibly loud noise. This drowns out the other sounds and also leads the scene onto the title sequence, suggesting that the film is going to be full of violence and ‘modern’ war and similar settings. The screaming also stops exactly as the title shows, which makes it far more horrifying and provokes the scene into its emotional realism.

Interestingly, there is no conversational dialogue within this scene. This would normally be useful in understanding what's going on. However, the news readers are used to suggest that the world has fallen into anarchy via the use of functional dialogue. The titles and dates also suggest what time period the film is shot in.

The combination of sound, effects, little dialogue, and musical scores, creates a dull mood, and sets the tone for the rest of the film, suggesting that it is shot in a dystopian future, where many different cultures have mixed.

The next production that I will analyse is a documentary by Stacey Dooley, as she investigates the teenage drug dealing, online.

Stacey Dooley's interviews can be very difficult to retrieve sound from, especially in rushed, live situations, such as when she is talking to the child dealers. By including spoken word that is live, and harder to get, gives a more realistic sense of the documentary, as the lighting hasn't been set up and audio hasn't been attached for clear speaking. This kind of style can be seen throughout the episode, which suggests to the audience that it is supposed to be like this. The words printed on screen help the audience understand what is being said. However, this also enhances the audience’s experience.

The producers have realised that the audio may not be the best, so not only have they subtitled the interviews, but Stacey also speaks to the camera, which is functional dialogue, whilst in the van, giving an overview of the interview, as well as her actual feelings about the encounter. An example of this is at 23:15. Stacey also does a, non-diegetic, voice over during the interview, where there is space. This creates a hyper-realistic sense, as this acts as her thoughts and what she was thinking during the moment, again showing her insight to the drug deal.

There is a small amount of non-diegetic musical scores used to direct the tone of the scene to the audience. This helps them predict what's going to happen next; for example, if she's going to meet a dealer that may turn to be difficult. It also helps create tension for certain scenes or interviews that need it. Although, not only is the score used for creating tensions, but for calming the audience down after a tense scene. Stacey Dooley also uses a technique called dramatic dialogue, which helps make the scenes feel tenser, combined with the musical score. An example of this is at the time 06.28.

The use of background ambience also adds to the realism of the documentary, because it matches the raw feeling of the actual interviews. Although most documentary directors want the it completely quiet, and sounding perfectly, by including the actual background ambience of cars, traffic, and talking, it adds an extra element of sound.

Although there is not many non-diegetic sound effects, as there is no need... this is a real life documentary, not fake; the use of the hyper-realistic, synchronous sound effects for the texts that are popping up on screen, makes it more realistic, and catches the eye of the audience, as it is different, and also accompanies an on screen action.

Another element of Stacey Dooley's documentary is her accent and dialect. She is from Luton.

Although, most presenters are from a middleclass background, with a strong British accent. However, hers is broken and much different to the conventional British presenter.

There are also many difficulties with recording live sound, especially when undercover. Not only does the sound device have to be hidden amongst the other recording equipment, the clothing; it also needs to be able to capture clear audio... even when it is not directly in front, facing or above the subject that is speaking.

The third scene that I will be analysing is the Opening sequence of the Cars film. The sound is extremely crucial in this scene, as the mixture of voice-over, live action and diegetic sound effects, help build the idea as to where the film starts off. The dialogue throughout this scene is functional, as it signifies key information back to the audience. 

Visually the audience sees a black screen, which is then accompanied by a male character talking. They then see a blurred shot of NASCARs racing, which is also accompanied by an incredible, overwhelming diegetic sound of the cars, which quickly echoes out, back to a black screen. This then repeats, with a black screen, small sentence and then another shot of the cars, with another sound of the engines. This allows the audience to understand what the setting is, and the importance of the cars to the story line, as the sounds are the main reason we are aware that they are racing.

After the small introduction, where Lightning is talking to himself; the, for now, non-diegetic song, which is Real Gone by Sheryl Crow, plays as small amounts of the car is revealed. As more of the setting is shown, the audience also begins to hear the naturalistic crowd, and ambience of a race track. Most of the sound effects used throughout this animation are diegetic, as the film is laid out to be, almost, a documentary. However, there are some non-diegetic sound effects… such as the hyper-realistic whooshing, as the camera pans down to Lightning quickly. 

Throughout the first few minutes of the opening, there is no diegetic dialogue, other than the beginning. The audience is left to enjoy the intense realism, that the sounds bring to them. For example, at 1.28, where the sound of the concrete hitting the wall is faintly audible. The sound can also be used to direct the audience in understanding the main character. Just after the previous shot, almost all of the other cars have a lower volume, other than Lightning, where we can hear his acceleration and, which are synchronous to his movements; compared to when the other cars are in shot, the sounds are non-synchronous, as there are so many of them in shot. 

Interestingly, at 1.31, the song that has been playing appears to have been diegetic, as one of the camper vans, who looks like a singer, synchronising with the song, does the same mouth movement, as if they’ve been singing at the event.  

As the audience has had quite a long sequence with no dialogue, they are introduced to the two hosts of the race, who offer a large amount of functional dialogue. They explain the situation that the racers are in, as well as the main ones, that the film follows throughout the narrative. They also give a background of the racers, more so the persona, Lightning McQueen. This is extremely important in the understanding of the narrative, and why those three cars, in particular, are the highlight.

The description of the cars is also done whilst being presented to the camera, the audio is clear and crisp and the two cars interrupt each other as if it was shot live. This makes it feel more like a show, than a film, as it is mimicking the feel of a live NASCAR event.

Bibliography:

YouTube. (2019). Kids Selling Drugs Online. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDHf1D4XKUQ [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

YouTube. (2019). children of men opening. [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/wCTgUq6hzUk [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

YouTube. (2019). Cars: First Race. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuYOeFDuBmg [Accessed 17 Oct. 2019].

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REBECCA - UNIT 31 - Social Action Documentaries

31.1 Social Action Documentary

By Charlie Simpson

Throughout this essay, I will be investigating the purposes of different forms of social action and community media productions, and analysing the impact that they have on society and their target audiences. The three that I will be talking about are, Moped crimes in London, data protection and the drug trade.

There are many purposes of this documentary, about moped crimes in London. The documentary was released by the BBC last year, during the heightened popularity of Moped Crimes in the streets of London. The main focal point of this documentary is to raise awareness of the crime, but also challenges stereotypes and dominant representations of the actual thieves. 

This documentary is Local as it only targets a specific area; London. However, this type of crime happens all over the UK, and the world. Although, most commonly in London; hence why Livvy Haydock, who produced and reported this story, used this city to create the documentary.

The documentary is extremely useful, and almost vital, for the audience. It had a massive impact on Londoners and the public. It raised awareness of the rising problem that is moped crime, as well as the different forms they come in. From phone stealers, to Jewelry and the acid attacks. Livvy put herself in some extremely scary situations whilst talking to the thieves, who were covered in masks, in order to impact the public the most. The documentary has a positive impact on the audience, as it ensures that they are aware of how the criminals work, as well as using shock factors like, how often it happens, and how little they care about the damage they are causing.

There are many techniques that the producer has used to create an impact on the audience. She used a variety of facts, shock factors and personal accounts, as well as providing an extremely unique view from the criminals perspective and creating a storyline throughout. There are also a handful of technical aspects that helped create an impact. For example, the sound, and musical scores throughout, help signify to the audience the tone at which the scene should be interpreted at, an example of this is the opening sequence, which uses a dark tone, to suggest how dark and scary that the events are. 

The facts a placed equally throughout the documentary, this is to provide a break for the audience, splitting the documentary into relevant sections; for instance, the fact will be relevant to the next part of the documentary. 

However, the most important element of the documentary that keeps the audience intrigued, is the extremely unique perspective on the crimes. Livvy travels around with the criminals, sits in cars with them and also witnesses a real phone selling. The audience watching this, has never seen the way criminals work, like this before.

There is also, however, a persona of the narrative of this documentary which creates a different type of impact on the audience. Whereas the shock factors and scary masked thieves shock and impact the audience into watching the documentary, Livvy follows a thief called ‘MR X’, who, throughout the narrative reveals more and more about the reason he does it, which makes the audience, almost, feel bad that he has to partake in these crimes. 

The major turning point for the audience, is towards the end, where Livvy brings MR X to a race car facility, as earlier he had revealed that he loves online racing. He goes on to beat the lap record of silverstone on a simulator. This impacts the audience into understanding that the criminals are simply trying to earn a living, and would rather have normal jobs. I believe this is an extremely important viewpoint in this social action documentary, as it reveals a lot about how the criminals work.

Combined with the useful tips that MR X provides. He shows the audience what he would look for, and what he wouldn’t try and steal. This allows the audience to not do those things, and be aware of how to prevent s theft. This is the purpose of a social action documentary; not only to make a demographic aware of the problem, but also how to help the situation.

The purpose of the next documentary is to not only change attitudes of social media, but to also raise awareness of the dark side of the internet. The documentary desperately tries to highlight the vast amount of information that is available to almost anyone, as well as the ethical issues behind companies keeping this kind of information.

Whilst the documentary is mostly about general data held by companies, they delve deeper into a scandal from 2018, whereby a group of individuals, called cambridge analytica, ran polls through facebook to create a ‘map’ of US Citizens, to then target those demographics with ads that support trump. 

The documentary is reaching a global audience. Although mostly concentrating on the US election scandal, there are also talks about the UK, as cambridge analytica is a british company, as well as rumours that they helped stage the brexit campaign. However, the data that is held by Facebook and other large companies is relevant to almost everyone in the world that has ever brought anything, gone on the internet or use social media.

The major impact happens at the closing of the documentary, where the narrator, who has been trying to retrieve his data from facebook and cambridge analytica throughout the ‘documentary’, says that he was unable to get his data back, although it was going to court. This impacts the audience, to show just how serious the holding of personal data is, making them think more consciously about the way they project themselves online, as well as to watch out for some of the scandals that cambridge analytica used, such as polls on facebook.

However, there are also many technical aspects used, that create an impact on the audience. For example, the use of direct address, where the narrator is talking, almost, to the camera and the audience. The clever use of angles, and different focal lengths also helps draw attention to certain things. For example, a shallow focus of an interviewee could show the importance, as they are isolated from the rest of the scene; much like the screenshots above.

Although the documentary doesn’t show the audience how to protect themselves, they do interview members of cambridge analytica, who say how they did it, which makes it very clear what to watch out for when online.

There were many techniques used. The one that caught my eye the most, was at the very beginning, where there are animated, ‘modern’, text boxes appearing tracked to every mobile device and internet transaction. Even from using contactless in a coffee shop, and combining it with a facebook post. This technique, not only sets the scene for this very electronic based documentary, but also shocks the audience into realising how much is put onto the internet in a single moment.

The narrator also included talking about his children, whilst also visiting their school. He describes to the audience, that his young children most likely have millions of data tracking points associated to them. Which definitely impacts the audience, as it shows how little control humans have of this data, as well as children being so vulnerable.

The next documentary that I will be analysing is about the drug runners in the UK, that work their way from London and the countryside, delivery drugs.The purpose of this documentary is to raise the awareness of how vast the drug trade is in the UK, and show the audience that it is also in rural areas, as well as urban. The documentary also aims to convey just how complex the dealing is.

 This social action documentary targets a national audience, as this is relevant throughout Great Britain. Although it targets London and the surrounding countryside, the documentary says that there is a variety of other locations; that are used as a hub for drugs. For example, Birmingham or Bristol, and their surrounding countryside. This makes the documentary relevant to everyone, throughout the UK. 

The documentary causes a large impact on the audience; using different shock factors, such as the sheer complexity of the smugglers, or the incredible danger that the young children are put through. However, much like other BBC Three documentaries, there are also facts that are used throughout. For example, the number of children that went missing, that are suspected of being in the trade; which is shocking in itself.

Another form the documentary uses to shock the audience, and create an impact, is by taking an in depth look at how the trade runs, even explaining how the system works. It also delves into smaller sub topics, such as how the drugs are stored, at which the camera’s follow different police forces, who are checking the houses that were previously used as drug cartels. 

This shows the audience what to look out for, as well as teaching the public about what their children, or friends, may be doing. Which creates a good impact on the country, as it may help reduce the amount of country running around the UK.

The producer also uses many techniques to cause an impact on the audience. For example, the use of animation to easily link the visuals to the audio narration. Visually, the documentary also has a very unique style of filming and music, that can be seen throughout BBC Three’s other documentaries. For example, the Point Of View style camera, that is used to follow the police; as well as the still, ‘professionally’ shot interviews of people. 

Bibliography:

YouTube. (2019). Look Inside Britain's Moped Crime Gangs. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LECDo0Lk02c [Accessed 30 Sep. 2019].

Netflix.com. (2019). The Great Hack | Netflix Official Site. [online] Available at: https://www.netflix.com/Title/80117542 [Accessed 30 Sep. 2019].

YouTube. (2019). The Great Hack | Official Trailer | Netflix. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX8GxLP1FHo [Accessed 30 Sep. 2019].

YouTube. (2019). Britain’s Teenage Drug Runners: Gangs In The Countryside. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qINrg5oG4Lg [Accessed 7 Oct. 2019].

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