RCM Productions

Alien Swarm - First Impressions and Video

2012-09-01T20:13:00.001-07:00

Alien Swarm Is a Free to play game available to everyone now on the Steam platform for PC, Its a top-down-4-player-coop-action-shooter and offers a campaign with a variety of missions for you and your friends to run through.

One of the more common aliens you will encounter, The Drone

Borrowing heavily from Sci-fi alien films such as well, Aliens it has a good tense atmosphere and can deliver some pretty pulse pumping moments whether its the unsettling noise of the Motion tracker (ripped straight from the colonel marines) or being surrounded by the aliens and mashing the rightclick button to riflesmash your way out of there .

It also includes character progression, levels gained through killing monsters and completing missions as well as unlocking new more effective firepower, items and powerups to help you succeed in your fight against the swarm and its plethora of nasties ranging from the common drone to things much nastier.

Take a look at the gameplay and watch me and Leest attempt the first level.

Overall I enjoyed the time we spent playing it and cant wait to pick it back up and complete the main storyline. Although the number of missions do bother me with asofyet only having the main campaign comprise of about 8 levels. Heres hoping the community modding and tinkering could heed more suprises for this little free gem of a game. So to conclude.....

....TRY IT OUT NOW WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?, GO SHOOT STUFF!

Til' next time.

CS:GO - First Impressions and Video

2012-08-28T17:19:00.002-07:00


"OK, Lets GO"

I've recently been gifted the latest instalment in the famous n00bshooter Counter-strike, Having only played a few rounds I thought I would give my initial thoughts and feelings and also present you guys with a little video of what its like.

Although that may be the problem, if any of you have actually played a counterstrike game you will be right at home here. Why you ask?

It's pretty much the SAME GAME it's always been, and this isn't necessarily a criticism but so far I have been able to find one new game mechanic, apart from a small tazer zappy gun that now replaces knife rounds. (Don't taze me BRO).

Wait a minute...

Now this isn't me saying I don't like it, but I think me and a host of other fans were looking for something a little more modern, perhaps some new maps and some game play or animation refinements rather then just a few tweaks to the visuals and some guns like the Bizon. We still have the same old stiff hands while holding your weapon and the hostages still stand around like lemmings when the person leading them to safety dies.

"Hey, we'll you slow down and possibly get caught behind a corner or sumthin', LETS GO"

Anyways, enough babbling check it out for yourselves and watch me suck really quite hard.

So to close out, I feel that overall this isn't offensive to what came before In fact it almost seems that It's too afraid to change from what they know already works. There was a lot of potential for making this game a blockbuster, one to burn out the fire of respawn happy games like Call of Duty and Battlefield but at the moment its more of a homage and graphical update to the game they made in 2004.

Here's looking to the updates to give us veterans (even if they do suck at it right now) a new map or mode that isnt Gungame.

Catwoman Challenge Maps: Blind Justice

2012-08-25T09:29:00.001-07:00

Hey guys, I promised this blog a video and thought it was high time I put myself through It.

"LETS DO THIS"

So here it is, seeing as my blog feed has been rife with homages and reviews of Batmans on and off gurlfriend Catwoman I decided to play a bit of Arkham City, If this game isnt on your shelf, It NEEDS to be. You will not be dissapointed with much in this the game, the combat mechanics are swift and easy to learn, with enough strategy to keep those combo fiends in check. While also delivering one of the truest batman experiences I've been able to find in a while. From the voice acting talents of my main man Mark Hamill returning as his iconic Joker character to the bassy tones of Kevin Conroy this game has it all from the look to the feel to the sound. Truely its worth the investment

Here I play the Challenge map Blind Justice the first unlockable mission. How well do I do? Take a look.

Comment and let me know what you think I plan to do a few more. Maybe making them around the 10 minute mark.

League of Legends: Pwnage Update #3 Flawless Victory

2012-08-22T08:31:00.002-07:00

Hey guys, Its been a while since I posted my usual prattle on the Free to Play game League of Legends, while last time I promised more videos, personal commitment issues have meant that thus far the only recording of a game I got ended in it cutting out halfway through. (>.<)

Rengar

Diana

So there has been two major updates recently, one being the release of Diana the Scorn of the Moon and Rengar the Pridestalker. Both in my opinon excellent champions and I absolutely love the nods to the Predator films with the champion design of Rengar.(Infared vision, Stealth, Strikes from the jungle and Trophy collections). Meaning there will be alot of "GET TO DE CHOPPAH" quotes from myself while playing as him.

Look at Rengar's alternate skin and tell me it doesnt scream Predator the moment you look at him, remember if it bleeds. we can kill it.

So anyway on with the update.

Here instead is a quickly editted JPEG showing off my 100% win ratio in the past week or so :D

Knowing this game I'm sure I'll get put with a gimp team in my next match, but until then It's getting posted up here to be recorded for the rest of time.

I WILL TRY AND RECORD SOMETHING LATER, theres been alot of talk about DC's Catwoman on various peoples blogs lately so maybe I'll jump on Arkham City and record some Challenge Maps.

Man of Steel : My hopes for Big Blue

2012-08-15T10:17:00.004-07:00

THE MAN OF STEEL

2013, Its time for Superman to return (again) to the big screen for first time since Brandon Routh tried to don the cape and act like he was Christopher Reeves.

So far we only have two teaser trailers to whet our appetites both showing the same footage, but narrated by either Jor-El (Superman's daddy, played by Russell Crowe) and Johnathon Kent (played by another man in tights, Kevin Costner).


"It ain't easy bein' bluuee"

For me, these look like what I've always wanted to see in a Superman movie and something the comics hit on regularly, that semi-tragic tale of an orphan boy raised on a planet that is not his own, the yellow sun of earth gifting him these powers, the powers to save the world. The responsibility heaped upon him to be the hero the people need, to prevent disasters no mortal man could handle and be that beacon of hope for Truth, Justice and peace.

He has to accept he is the man to change the world, but will it be for the better, or for worse.

If these teaser trailers are letting us in on the tone of this film I say its a step in the right direction for making people understand that being the Big Blue Boyscout is harder then a lot of other people think.

This was the aspect I loved about superman comics growing up the demons and weight of his decisions bearing down on him as the world looks to him for inspiration...hope. Comics like Kingdom Come and Mark Millars' Red Son explore this to a degree but a film about the journey of Kal-El and his alter ego Clark as he tries to become the shield he so proudly wears on his chest, leaves me hanging on to believe that this could be the Superman Returns, that Superman Returns was not.

Be the man, you were born to be.

He may be able to withstand an atom bomb, fly around in outer space, lift cars and punch mountains apart, but he still feels. He can't be everywhere he isn't a god and doesn't want to be viewed that way. He can get sad, he can get scared, he can feel washed up no use and feel like its better if maybe he just stayed out of everything, run away, hide and let Mankind decide their own path.

If they hit even close to the mark on any of these, this should be a fantastic superhero film and in my opinion could be one of the best.

So please Zach Snyder and Christopher Nolan, Let him be the hero we've all been waiting for.

League of Legends: Pwnage Update #2

2012-08-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

VIDEOS AND SHINY THINGS :I

So yeah, heres my first recordings of my little league addiction. Here I am playing as Jayce one of the newest Champions to be added tothe league and definitely in my opinon one of the funnest to control.


"Daanaanernaanaa Naa Naa Naa"

He reminds me of superman for some reason, in his normal costume anyway. He is primarily a AD (attack damage) carry, but I play him as a bruiser toplane and have found that he can be a nasty counter to alot of toplane regulars.

Well without further adieu here it is...

Oh wait, the black box around the cursor has been fixed and hopefully shouldnt rear its ugly head again.

OH, AND! it is now in HD for all you resolution lovers. Sit back enjoy the awesome DaftPunk Reconfigured album and take a look!

SPOILERS!

I end up going 12/5/12, overall not bad! and against darius so go me!

The Problem With Diablo 3 - Part 1

2012-07-27T08:22:00.001-07:00

The problem with Diablo 3, shall be a returning segment on just how far the Diablo 3 apple fell from the beloved Diablo tree.

I know you're thinking this...

I shall return to these whenever I can muster the courage to talk about one of my favourite franchises of all time ( ALL TIME!! ) being bastardised and cut up to make Blizzard some more dough.

#1 - SKILL TREES AND STATS

Diablo 2, if any of you knew me, was one of my favourite games. The hours pumped into the online battle.net service was sickening and I played almost every other day for a good number of years. Constantly reinstalling to have one more crack and build up some new characters, make them my own,figure out how I would regain my riches and become a badass Summoning Necromancer or a Poision Necromancer OR BONE NECROMANCER. (yeah, I had a thing for the Necromancer class).


Ahhh the ole Posion Nova. nostalgia

It was a simple system, classic Blizzard you could say. When you level up you put points into a move and that move is more powerful, meaning that each person, could hone their character towards a certain playtype having some specialisation. Something to stand out from the crowd. Say you liked raising Skeletons from the dead, well pump it into your summoning skills and dont look back until level 80 by then you would have an army of little dudes running around and effectively doing your job for you.

This along with the easy to use Vitality, Engergy, Strength (required to wear items) and Dexterity (defence) stats page you could decide who you wanted to be, how you were going to do it and stuck by it. Actual progression with a sense of reward when you'd figure out "THAT BUILD".

Fastforward to Diablo 3, where they have dumped both of these systems completely. You no longer decide what powers you want to get, levelling them up as you go, choosing a favourite and developing your own way of playing your class.

Now you level up every other level, World of warcraft style and are handed preset skills, on preset levels. Unlocking a modifier that changes the skill, on preset skills, on preset levels.

"I WONDER WHAT ILL LEVEL UP NEXT, OH WAIT I ALREADY KNOW LOL"

Starting to sound a little boring? I hope so.

Now I can only think this measure was taken to try and make each class soloable and not being completely wasted if your skill tree can't match up to those champion mobs in the Inferno difficulties and having the option to switch your build around as you please. But from what I have seen, It has made all but a few moves completely unviable. Some just dont match up to the power of those you unlock at a later date, and using them makes you look like a fucking tool. I tried setting up for a Homing Rocket Build on my Demonhunter and that lasted all of about 3 seconds, when I could just swtich back to the tried and tested quickfire that every Demonhunter in the game uses. Had I the choice in later levels to pump skill points of a sort into homing rockets It COULD be Viable, but in this present system experimentation yeilds little reward.

So let me make my feelings on this change clear. When you do this. EVERYONE IS THE SAME. Demonhunter 1 is Demonhunter 2, except he has painted his hat blue!

This makes rolling another character of the same class pointless so effectievly the maximum number of characters you will ever have in Diablo 3 will be 5. Great.

I found this such a backwards step. Say you want to play with friends, both you and your pal are set on the Wizard class. You will level up, exactly the same, each level, unlocking the same skills. Only your items will define you.

Subject A is Subject B, Subject B is Subject C and Subject C is Subject D.

So to conclude rather then bang on about this point for the rest of my life.

They have taken away the things that made Diablo 2 a world beater and a genre setter. Diablo has been watered down and turned into another arm of Blizzards money making scheme at the expense of gamers everywhere. They had the time and the tools to make this game better, In every regard. Improve upon ALL the systems which they have used to great effect in other Blizzard games. Just not this one.

This of course falls in line and becomes alot clearer when next we will talk about problem number 2, Loot....

Steam summer sale, DRM, and Games for Windows Live

2012-07-14T12:21:00.004-07:00

As most PC gamers know the steam summer sale is now on providing most of us on the PC genre with a host of deals and goodies to take away. Me myself getting in on the action picking up the sequel to Bioshock (one of my all time favourite games).

This should be a tale of joy, me excitedly telling you of my joys of returning to that fabled place Rapture. But alas, all I have here for you is a tale of woe and Windows.

Hope you enjoy it....


Today was gunna be a good day

So after installing this puppy as soon as possible I sat down to play it, eager beaver status was achieved and I fired up Bioshock 2. Only to bear witness to one of the gaming worlds biggest nightmares rearing its ugly head once more...


Oh, shit...

DRM in singleplayer games on steam is bad enough, not being able to play any of the games I've paid for when my Virgin internet decides to shut down is already a punishment in itself. But nothing can truly compare to the horror of Games for Windows.

This client is something personally I cant stand, the clunkiness and the time spent literally going around in circles to do the simplest things such as trying to invite friends to a game or look at your achievements made me want to ram my face into a wall until the stupid stopped. But having not tangled with it since my Dawn of War 2 early days (before THANKFULLY, the franchise moved onto being hosted by steam) I thought.

"Ok, you wanna dance? Lets do this".

Knowing I have an account, I made sure to log in to the Windows live website first to check it was working and attempted to access my account through the ingame login screen only to first be met with. "Unable to download account, windows live service may be down".

"Ok, well its not, you know what nevermind. Run as administator!"

*log in again, same message*.

"Look Games for windows, I've just bought this please dont makes this Age of Empires: Online, hmmm, alright I've added your client to my firewall, and steam thus giving you both full access to my machine"

*Click, "Windows Live is unable to download your profile, please check the network status of Games for Windows Live".*

"SONOVA..., OK ok ok, I read somewhere that you can launch game for windows games through thier client marketplace program, I'll just download that mofo, launch it, log-in from there and hey presto!"

Easy.... or so I thought.

After fighting with the installation of the client and trying to boot it, only to be met with errors the first few times, I had managed to sell my soul to the devil to somehow help me and after some light swearing and a few admin rule changes we were back on track!

Your mine now BIOSHOCK 2, MINE!!

*tappity tap tap to login, and CLICK!*


..............

"FUCK YOU".

*Games for Windows Live: "TROLOLOLOL"*

League of Legends: Pwnage Update #1

2012-07-01T11:29:00.001-07:00

Yes, I play that free-to-play game League of Legends, hate me, ridicule me but frankly its fantastic. I shall now use this blog as platform to throw screenshots and in the future possibly videos of my merry jaunts throughout the world of DEMACCIAAA!

Here was lastnights clusterfuck I delivered unto the masses.


Play Yorick, Acquire women.

New post, could be alive again..

2012-07-01T11:23:00.003-07:00

This is the new Blogger poster ey, Its all very good and pretty. But im sure for those of you with crappy internet service providers *VIRGIN, COUGH* youve all stayed on the orginal Blogger as the load times for some pages now ARE HORRIBLE.

Jeez. Progress.

Unit 2 - 2.3 Part one

2012-03-02T07:24:00.001-08:00

2.3 - Present own creative ideas on a one to one basis; in a small group; to a large group.

1 on 1 - Attached here is some screenshots of a back and forth emailing regarding my scenes I chose for the creation of Actress Alexandra Roach (the Iron Lady, Being Human) in my workplace. This was well received and after I had presented it to him and gained a little feedback (with the added luck of me having anticipated the inclusion of a particular scene) it was finished and is now ready for uploading to the Troika website to be seen and downloaded by casting directors industry professionals and the general public alike.

Unit 2.2 - 2.1 to 2.3

2012-03-02T06:43:00.000-08:00

2.1 - Describe examples of effective presentation techniques
2.2 - Select and Justify appropriate presentation techniques for a specific creative Idea

Effective presentation techniques are essential in the media business a big part of the commissioning process is always to convince your possible financers that you are the right man/woman/team for the job at hand. So lets look at some examples of techniques you can use to have an all round more interesting and appealing presentation.

A big part of the presentation, is presentation. this sounds obvious but I am speaking more specifically about visual aids. The right image is everything. Remember Steve Jobs? he was a great example, when giving his big speechs on the direction of thier company or their newest product he would present himself always in a similar getup usually with a very prime and plain white or black background, being dressed in turtle neck black and being the only man on stage gave him a striking presence on stage. Lets take a look at the famous unveiling of a "specific creative idea" the I-pad later made reality and sold on the pre-tense and hype caused by this, at least in the technological world, MASSIVE presentation.

This shows precisely some of the techniques used in most presentations these days. the visual aids behind Steve Jobs punctuates his points either through pictures or text to illustrate and simplify what he is saying so everyone has a clear indication of the points he makes. This is rife in presentations as people like to use the visual side to either back their arguments or use researched facts/results to prove their point and make it all the more poignant to the watcher/audience.

He uses rhetorical questions that he poses to the audience to make them ask themselves the very question he's posing and forcing them consciously or sub-conciously to address that question. He keeps it light hearted and paces himself well when he's talking to keep the audience almost hanging on his every word. What the presentation also does well is give examples of existing products like mentioning that the Ipad can use existing websites of youtube, and Google maps to conceptualise some of the features in the audiences mind.

Another final thing Steve does towards the end of the video is sit down in a chair to, again visually, plant the idea of using the device in the comfort of ones own home. Little details like this raises the game of a average informational presentation, merely pointing at facts and figures to in a way "incepting" the audience with the idea that they too could be in that arm chair, wearing the black turtle neck and glasses combo, surfing on thier new I-pad. The audience is buying into an image..or the presentation if you will, rather than the product alone.

Everyone wants a bite of Steve

Good work Steve.

Unit 2.1, 1.4

2012-03-02T06:21:00.002-08:00

1.4 - Describe methods used to communicate technical and specialist issues within and across teams.

Communication in the workplace is important a subject spoken about, not just by me, but by all of our apprentices over this course. In the oft pressured environment of the media industry certain terms are shortened or abbreviated to save time when communicating verbally or digitally. Below is an example (used in jest in this case) of shortening a much used expression to determine if a client was "technically available" for a production. (I'm referring to the "tech avail" comment).

Another not so happy example is in the big wide world of Talent agencing (yes agencing) there are representation requests. these are basically an actors CV, showreel and their most recent headshot sent in for consideration for the agencies agents. In my work, I send these out if I receive and email back containing "a no" I know that this means its not just them turning them down, this means that I have to go back to the person who has emailed in and reply to them using the appropriate template, for example a "kid friendly no" means to reply with a slightly more supportive response than most.

One last example I can think of is the use of "Chop" when referring to the showreels I have made, when making a reel I collect several scenes from each popular programme the actor has been in, I then try to go for a range of emotions/monologues/cool scenes and select the best one in 10+ minutes reel. I then send it over the agent who has requested the reel and ask for feedback of both them and occasionally the actor on what should be "chopped" from the reel, I then get an email back saying "Scene 2 chop, Scene 5 chop" which when you watch the reel back tells you which pieces of footage they would like removed from the tape beofre we send the uploaded link to casting directors or actors around the world.

Unit 1.2.2

2012-02-24T04:34:00.000-08:00

2.2 - Explain how to choose an employer in terms of own personal interests, knowledge, skills and job requirements.

When choosing an employer one has to be careful and take certain things into consideration before just leaping into another bland CV addition. As taking a job someone is not interested in will severely hinder ones motivation. If you don't have the passion for the job the knowledge won't be there as you will never truly absorb what you learn and the skills will never be developed.

As we have learnt about things such as CPD (Continual Professional Development) you have to aim yourself towards your own life goals. Taking myself as an example I want to become (eventually) a filmmaker, this includes having the knowledge of film production, writing and editing (among countless others but bare with me). So me taking a job in say a packing warehouse would not be a good choice of employer to work towards my eventual targets.

As I am interested in creating my own original ideas perhaps a office job in corporate firms doing something like marketing would be right in one way but not fulfilling my creative needs.

In terms of what I want to do, employers would be chosen in their relevance to teaching me more about the aforementioned skills, So id be looking at things like editing suites or film production teams so I could gain more knowledge of working on a set.

So by thinking laterally about what someone wants to do you can narrow down the appropriate paths for your next job. This will allow you to find jobs that will develop your skills rather than find ones that merely make use of existing ones.

Unit 1 -1.2 Understand the Creative Media employment marketplace

2012-02-24T04:23:00.000-08:00

2.1 - Describe a range of Prospective employers and the profiles and products of these employers.

Here is a selection of employers that, hopefully, I will/can work for at some point in my professional media career as well as the products and profiles of said employers. Basically what they do, who they are and why I want to work for them.

1. VALVE - The profile of Valve is the computer game company that cares, they are the inventors of Genre defining FPS Half-life and have meticulously maintained and improved their public image through their creation of the Steam digital game distribution software, a format allowing games to be bought, played downloaded and installed from the internet and practically saving the PC gaming format from losing out to the console gamers. Their products range from PC games to merchandise of their popular franchises they have created several franchises of games Including Team Fortress and Portal which have won a string of awards due to their usual traits of snappy writing and interesting stories and characters.

One of the main reasons I would like to work with Valve is their support to their fans (evident through the releasing of award winning Portal for free on the steam platform in 2010) and attitude to work. here are few videos that will hopefully explain the creative but fun atmosphere they seem to have at Valve HQ.

2. ZEPPOTRON - An award winning comedy company that mainly produces TV shows for Channel four, with comedian/writer Charlie Brooker being one of the main players in this company it has consistently brought out hilarious shows such as Newswipe, Nathan Barley and 10'Clock News.

As well as more serious but still funny programs like Deadset and more recently Black Mirror.

The main reason for wanting to work here is the type of comedy they seem to want to produce in almost all of these shows seems to reflect quite well with me, as well as bring part of an award winning production team who knows the craft of analytical comedy and clever script writing.

http://www.zeppotron.com/

3. PINEWOOD STUDIOS - The biggest Film production site in england, who (with an interest in film) wouldn't want to work at this bustling hive of different media companies working together to reach many deadlines?

To me this is the pinnacle of british film production and television (they sometimes used to shoot the Weakest Link there) working here would be a prestigious as well as challenging experience.

The side of things here I would particularly like to work in would hopefully be on set with one of the productions. Past products of Pinewood studio productions have included such films as Christopher Nolans - The Dark Knight and more recently work on the new Lord of the rings film from Peter Jackson - The Hobbit.

http://www.pinewoodgroup.com/

Unit 5 Diploma

2012-02-17T07:56:00.000-08:00

Understand how to agree working arrangements

1.2 - In the workplace almost anyone will be faced with a situation that will require them to change the times they do their work. whether its a family emergency or something trivial like the trains being delayed, there will come a point you will have to change your arrangements.

Ways to do this tactfully and to ensure your working relationship is not damaged is a simple case of consideration for your colleges and those around you. for example:

If you have been delayed in transit to your workplace ensure that you call in, explaining the reason and possibly giving an estimated time for your arrival. This way you can let your team or colleagues work around your unfortunate delay.

Booking holiday is something we all enjoy doing. To ensure your not putting your team in a situation where they suddenly lose you for 2 weeks while you party in Malaga, it is advisable to book any holiday at least (I would say) 2 weeks in advance, this gives your colleagues time to work around your absence and for you to put in place measures for easing the increased workload they will encounter.

Calling in when sick rather then just taking the day off to lay in bed, at least informs the workplace of your

absence allowing them to workaround it while also simply letting them know you wont be in, as in some cases people are know not just take the day off and email. but often emails can go unnoticed and leaves the employer waiting on your arrival.

2.1 "Explain the importance of balancing the needs of tasks and people"

Often at work people can quickly become inundated at work by taking too much on. But work life is a balance you need to prioritize your own workload and keep in mind the workloads of other people. Just as you cannot draft up some contracts if your out at meetings all day other people cannot get on with their day without them, these situations are often finalised by negotiation and prioritization of tasks and even delegation. Making sure your not putting people out by being late with your work or not having certain things done in time for them can also work against you as when the tables are turned they may not take you as seriously as someone else who has consistently been able to liaise effectively with them.

2.2 "Explain the importance of sharing information with other people"

Communication is key, this is something that has been drilled into us apprentices over the course of this ....course and only now are we realising how true this fact is. Sharing information whether it be your progress on a project, an estimated date for your finish, ringing other colleagues to inform them of changes around your workplace. Communication is key to ensure that you are working effectively with those around you and making a contribution to the team effort, as an employee who doesn't let others know they're plans or progress can leave other members of the team in the dark or have them assume that they are further along then they are. It helps to communicate to not only manage expectations but provide a helpful and more effective working environment for all involved.

2.3 "Identify ways of tactfully requesting others to change working arrangements to improve own productivity"

There are ways of asking for things in life, and often the best way is the polite way. In the workplace there are ways of approaching people and asking for things, often called negotiation but I personally call it general manners. For example if you needed the person who dealt with the post each morning to go collect it 20 minutes earlier as your break for lunch starts before they give your post meaning you end up opening your post over your lunch break, you can approach that person with your dilemma and ask them if they could possibly arrange to pick it up slightly earlier than normal. the way not to ask for this is to talk to others around the office complaining of the fact your post is late and generally creating bad blood between you and the office postman. Tactfully basically implies that you are asking politely and considerately, if your request is within the realms of reason it should not be a problem as long as you are honest and come forward with a workable alternative to how things are made at the moment, often if you explain how getting this post would improve your workload and efficiency (even possibly helping with theirs as well), the problem can be quickly and effectively sorted out, but most importantly it will be sorted in a way that helps build your relationship with that person and help improve your productivity.

2.4 "Describe how to explain own decisions clearly and constructively"

When you have an idea in a meeting or discussion there are ways of going about it to not look like you are shooing down anyone you are speaking to, again tactfully is the word you need to keep in mind. If you have come with a criticism or a flaw in someones idea you can communicate it in a way that is better than "NO, YOUR WRONG THAT WONT WORK". You must approach these situations with consideration of who you are speaking to as often they will be someone you are working with on a day to day basis as well as giving clear and concise reasons as it wont work, otherwise you are offering criticism with no basis. Its more of a point of making sure that what you say isn't misinterpreted as you attacking the person directly but merely coming up with an alternative to their proposal. Often i find the best way to ensure that is to say things like "I understand you point, but have have we considered this..." its often a case of ensuring that you are wording yourself correctly and coming up with alternatives rather than creating bad blood by the constant shooting down of others.

When it comes to making decisions yourself you must always be able to explain the reasons behind them, for example when asked why you you have taken all the files on a computer and saved them on a hard drive rather than shrugging and saying something like "oh, it will help" consider giving the actual benefits of this exercise "I put the files on there to ensure that if we were to lose this computer to an electrical fault we have a backup, as well as allowing us to transfer files over easier. I hope thats OK" things like this can only help your relationships at the workplace.

2.5 "Describe how to resolve conflict situations or dissatisfaction"

Everyone hopes they can go through life without conflict, this unfortunately is not how things often pan out. So if the situation arises in the workplace where you find yourself in a conflict situation such as you have forgotten to post something important, or not finished uploading a file somewhere, rather than become insular and take whatever reprimand you will no doubt receive. Give active, helpful solutions of how you can begin to rectify the problem (if at all possible) or if not make sure you are telling the person of the measures and the steps you will implement to your work persona or workload to avoid another confrontation or dissatisfaction in the future.

2.6 "Explain the importance of liaison with colleagues to productivity"

Working as part of a team is essential in most media jobs, from an animation to a talent agency teams are reliant on each other to grow as a unit as well as individually. Liaising with your colleagues on a project can be a great way of cultivating your skills as well as using the strengths and skills of other professionals around your workplace to collaborate on a piece of work to ensure it is finished. With liaison you can delegate tasks, re negotiate certain parts of projects that could potentially not work as well as having people to bounce ideas for the future with. This as well as being able to learn from other peoples experience and by that method improve your own productivity. This can be done simply such as emailing your colleagues letting them know your thoughts on the project, giving them helpful tips. Holding meetings to see where you would like to go forward as a collective as well building the trust between yourselves that you are in contact with someone who will get back to you and is able to work with you on future productions. For as we all know...

....Collaboration is key.

Unit 5 Research techniques

2012-02-17T06:28:00.000-08:00

Research for any media production is important to ensure that the information, or references you are making are factual or hold some relevance. If you want to make make a film based around the second world war you need to have some knowledge of the times there and the events that took place to create that period in time, otherwise you will not be able to convey an accurate or believable production.

Techniques for research can be as basic as surfing the internets sites of google and all that it has to offer. Reading books on the history of said subject. listening to talks or watching videos explaining key facts to you. Actually going to historical places of interest (if your production is a historical take on something).

Another example of how I have used research techniques in my time on this course is when at work I was asked to research the pros and cons of file upload sites such as Megaupload. (although this website is no longer available due to them being issued a stop and desist order for some illegal activities that were made possible through the website, e.g Piracy).

I already apologize for the size of the text, but any bigger and you cant see the whole picture. Blogger how I love thee.

Unit 8: 3.2

2012-02-17T03:03:00.001-08:00

UNIT 8

3.2 - Describe how a specific Creative Media Organization is Funded, Governed and Regulated.

THE BBC - THE GOVERNMENTS TELEVISION CHANNEL FOR THE MASSES.

Sorry, I was just doing that to grab your attention, The BBC is a good example of how certain creative media organizations are funded, regulated, yadda yadda. The BBC is a government funded public service for members of the UK, this means essentially it is funded by the British Government and uses the annual television licensing fee that anyone who watches television in their home must contribute to (which is set by the British Government), this gives the BBC a constant cash-flow and allows them to fund the productions and the occasional original piece of television.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/what-does-your-licence-fee-pay-for-top13/

The Governance of the BBC is handled by a Royal Charter which binds them to their mission statement of
"Inform, Educate and Entertain" and states that they are bound to essentially serve the public. (seeing as their paying for everything this should be viewed as a good thing").

They also have their board of governors known as the BBC trust, they access the performance of the executive board at the beeb, how well their productions are doing and assign the Director General, this is in place to keep an organization outside of the BBC corporation that works to keep the members of the BBC in check and give them almost a power to answer to. Making the BBC Trust very important in the governance of this public funded corporation.

"Grr, we hate the beeb!"

This differs from rival channel ITV, thier funding is through sponsorships of programmes that are on the ITV channels, they offer theme packages for companies to pay to have thier messages shown over a number of series or to identfy with a certain programme. The other way they are funded is advertising (far too much advertising breaks, try watching something on ITV and not find yourself repeating the Go-compare lyrics or the final tagline from Aviva).

They don't get government money, does this give the BBC a monopoly on British Television? It's not my place to say. (Yes)

They are not bound to the Royal charter and are governed by regulatory company OFCOM who as well as giving them their license to broadcast keep checks on them much like the BBC trust does for the BBC corporation to ensure they are delivering quality programming.

http://www.itvmedia.co.uk/brand-activation/sponsorship

Unit 8: 3.1

2012-02-17T02:16:00.000-08:00

UNIT 8

3-1 Describe the Vision, Mission and Values of a specific Creative Media Organisation.

IM GOING TO TALK ABOUT DISNEY. (but the company this time).

Providing entertainment and information using brands apparently..

The vision or mission statement of a company is essentially their official statement of their specific views, goals and their promises of a sort to their consumers.

Most mission statements can be found on their official websites see below for the mission statement of the Walt Disney Company and should go someway to explain why they consistently try to deliver the same whimsical experience whether it be in a animated feature or a theme park:

"The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world's leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world."

http://corporate.disney.go.com/investors/index.html

This mission statement rings true with me from having been to their Theme park they do try and keep that brand recognition "magical" and give the name "Disney" real weight, from the enthusiastic greeters they employ at the parks, to ringing their customer services over here in the UK and getting the track "Hakuna Matatta" while your on hold, they do deliver a consistent image using their recognisiable brands.

This in comparison to the Mission Statement of Universal Studios:

MISSION STATEMENT

The Universal Studios Florida^® Production Group Pledge To You

As the premiere production facility on the East Coast, our focus is on attention and integrity toward exemplary production services. We remain constant in our commitment to insure our reputation of extending Universal Orlando support, vendors and alliances to exceed any and every expectation our client may have.

Their statement to me seems more of a focus on professionalism themselves and ensuring that their studios are delivering the best production services while reaching out and working on the networking side of the Media industry to ensure their lasting survival. Rather than relying on a consistent image of their company.

Unit 8.4

2012-02-03T06:52:00.000-08:00

Unit 8 - Describe examples of interdependence between team members.

Below is a video showing the production and interdependence of animators, directors, storywriters, storyboard artists and a host of other workers in the offices of the giants of animation PIXAR ANIMATION STUDIOS

This handy youtube video shows how a scene is built from the ground up of Storyboards to a layout, which is then animated and finished in post by their respective teams.

For a finished scene like this they need the vision of the storyboard to get the image in their head, the layout to render the groundwork of the shot. Animators step in to get the movement of the scene, before the said scene if finally touched up and finished in post production.

Research For a Creative Media Production - Michael Fassbender Bio Documentary

2012-02-03T04:12:00.000-08:00

To cover this Unit I will be researching an actor for a possible production of a documentary of thier rise to stardom ala the Bio Channel ( http://www.biography.com/videos ) Like this Natalie Portman video below.

Natalie Portman - Mini Bio - Natalie Portman Videos - Biography.com

Basically these videos give a very basic overview of the early beginnings and rise to stardom of a different star every week, The person I have chosen is one of the biggest stars of the 2011/12 period Michael Fassbender (also a client at my apprenticeship).

The Research methods I will use will mainly be internet based research using search engines such as google and bing as well as using past newspaper articles and interviews to ascertain where he came from and provide a factual timeline of his rise to be the darling of todays media. (also as this is not yet an episode on the Bio Channel I garentee there will be one made within a few weeks).

Research websites I will use to get the information I need:

And various interviews like the one above to ascertain his rise to popularity in 2011/12.

The Irish and German born Michael Fassbender learned his craft at both St Brendans (The Sem) and The Drama Centre, North London. After Appearing in many british and american films he has last year starred in no fewer than 4 releases over the past 5 months.

Although his first popular role was a small part as a reoccurring soldier Sgt. Burton 'Pat' Christenson
in Steven Spielberg's WW2 drama series "Band Of Brothers". (2001)

After a period of featuring as bit part characters in either drama series such as Holby City and starring as Guy Fawkes in "Gunpoweder Treason and Plot" the next notable series he took part in was as part of Sky's 10 part drama series "Hex" as Azazel, A lovestruck leader of the biblical Nephilim, fallen angels. (2004)

The Cast of Sky Ones's Hex, starring paedophile Michael Fassbender as Kiddy the Fiddler "Fiddles"

This arguably made way for his first big movie role in 2006 as part of the adaption of Frank Miller's Swords and Sandals Graphic Novel, 300 as Stellios.

Fassbender as "Stellios"

This movie as mentioned on previous college-mate Edun mentioned that this was the film (directed by action enthusiast and comic book fan Zac Snyder coming off the back of the Dawn of the Dead Remake he made earlier in '04 ) was a huge success that spawned hundreds of similar films using the style and similar disturbed fantasy setting as 300 giving all those involved, Fassbender, Gerard Butler a huge success.

2008 Off the back of this his first arguably "big" role he two years later would star in a film that would finally get people singing his praises across the board, working with now widely recognised director Steve Mcqueen in his directoral debut "Hunger". The film with its lingering shots and meticulously planned monologues won both the director and members of the cast great praise for their dedication to their roles.
Michael Fassbender plays Hunger Striker Bobby Sands, taking this role to its limit he famously shed over 2 stone, using a crash 600-calorie-a-day diet.

Follow this "Link" as he talks about the lengths he went to to give the performance what won him and Steve McQueen such exposure...

Some of the cast of "Inglorious Basterds" with director Quentin Tarantino.

Having been in such a critical success in Hunger, Michael Fassbender would team up for a role in well loved grind-house director Quentin Tarantino in his 2010 comeback WW2 film "Inglorious Basterds" Starring Hollywood heavyweight Brad Pitt and the soon-to-be oscar winner Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa.

I shall stop here as I feel I have demonstrated through using internet research techniques to begin writing a production piece, in this case a simple Bio documentary. Using the above internet research techniques I have found information I previously would have had no knowledge. I believe this post shows at least one way of researching an actors history with a view of making a production.

Unit 8.1 Creative Media Industries.

2012-02-03T02:59:00.000-08:00

Unit 8.1 -

OK, so apparently having not covered this unit at this point I shall have to describe the creative media Industries, Understandable as some people may not realise which industries fall into that lovely category.

The creative industries refers to an industry that actively has to think and create new media through artistic devices and means, It also covers the groundwork and pre-production in the build up to creating a final product. This includes things like the creation of movies, software, reporting on things - so journalism. IBasically as long as there is an artistic output in the industry it could be classed as such.

The current DMCS (A document that maps the number of "official" creative industries, as of 2006), which has scaled down the number to 11 :

Software, Computer Games and Electronic Publishing
Advertising
Arts and Antique Markets
Crafts
Design
Fashion
Television
Film, Video and Photography
Music and the Performing Arts
Publishing
Architecture

http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/creative_industries/default.aspx

Unit 3 Last Part!!!

2011-12-16T03:22:00.000-08:00

3.4 Be able to plan a research exercise to test an idea for exploiting converging technology.

So first I need to create an idea of converging technology, so the one i have chosen to talk about is a watch smartphone with a projector for showing your latest video or setting up impromptu cinematic experiences. I have named it the W-share.

Having researched the the lack of stylish watches that incorporated technology companies came up with a relatively simple idea of a strap that can hold an Ipod nano, allowing them to use it as a watch as well as a media device.

Rolling with this idea in mind I thought the restrictions that the Nano had (e.g not incorporating calls and wi-fi internet connection) and wanted to see if I could work in the idea of live projection to share your favourite movies (ala star wars, or old timey cinema projectors) and having smartphone technology. Seeing as the Ipod Nano has apps it cannot be beyond the realms of possibility.

Inspired by R2s projection in a "A New Hope"

Incorporating the HD projection features into the watch.

To research the market this item could appeal to, I checked the rise in popularity of searches on internet site Google to gauge possible interest in my converged product the W-share. the terms I searched for was Ipod Watch, Projector watch, Smartphone watch. This gives me a rough Idea of the kind of market popularity the product could tap into. As well as this I plan to create a quick survey questionnaire to send out to my peers who also do my college course to see if they think its a good idea.

2011-12-15T17:11:00.000-08:00

3.2 Describe examples of how ideas for multi-platform content have been used to reach new audiences and generate revenue.

The ways Ideas Multi-platform content have been used to reach new audiences is prevalent with companies such as apple releasing their i-Cloud, a piece of software that syncs your data and saves purchases across all your apple products, allowing you to keep your music on your i-pod, i-phone, i-Pad and iMac, It keeps all your settings and universally updates all your devices at the same timesaving a backup onto an Apple server.

This allows you to to always have the files on your computer with you in some shape or form. How this has generated revenue is through the validating of purchasing Digital downloads such as games and music, photos and movies (as well as important documents if you are...boring..) as now they are not restricted to keeping their purchases on one device encouraging users to purchase more as they suddenly become a lot more accessible and and having the time consuming task of updating your I-Calender on 5 pieces of equipment.

3.3 Describe examples of commissioning processes and funding opportunities in relation to converging technology.

Below is a video of something incredibly awesome,It is a video of the company Android who had commisioned the It not only is a public event attended by hundreds of people giving them joy and wonders though the use of this technological showcase, on the outside its wonderful, a lovely company doing a toatally random act for people to gawp at and talk about.

But from the companies perspective it is a carefully strategised and marketed ploy to create opportunities to market thier product through this amazing act and the word of mouth buzz that would follow it.

Now watch the video and be amazed...

I told you it was impressive....

This is an example of a company seeing the advantage of staging an event in this case using the mastery of 3d mapping team "Facade Mapping" they have created a funded event that will in turn help the returns when thier product is evnetually released (The LG Optimus, or a swanky Android smart phone to you and me).
The comminishing of said marketing event with a view that, using the converging medias of social media and networking to get people to attend (while also helping spread word of mouth after the event) as well as the video "trending" on websites such as youtube and twitter.

This as well as funding/commishioning smaller events like hired out to event management companies who are charged with handling the event carefully chosen at Canary Wharf, they work on things such as hiring people to work/advertise the phone, security and such, . As well as this they would have also had to hire the crew nescessary for filming the peoples reactions, thus creating another way to gague the publics reaction to thier product as well as to advertise online again via the social networking / word of mouth phenomenom with a mind to create a frenzy for the the device on its launch.

Converging Media Part 3

2011-12-09T05:20:00.000-08:00

3.1 Describe the changing expectations of audiences and consumers within a chosen Creative Media industry.

The Media industry I've chosen is Journalism, The arrival of file sharing, online uploading and ease of access to information via the internet and social media websites has caused a change in how we receive our news and journalism before only the scheduled televised programmes, and daily newspapers were the source of information for the general public.

The demand for online services and news on the go has necessitated the change from news at a specific times to round the clock access to the latest world events. No longer do people have time to physically go to the newsagents on route to their destination and pick up the daily paper, Or fund the time to plonk themselves infront of a television for an hour waiting perhaps the whole broadcast for the one news item they are interested in.

As well as this, news stories can often become stale as the day wears on and new developments happen every minute, having the new online services that include, Podcasts, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) Feeds that collect the latest posts on a chosen subject from a host of different websites and put the links in one handily clickable box, Mobile news sites (e.g accessing the BBC News website from your smartphone). Text/Phone Alerts letting you know when news is updated or the latest development happens on the move. As well as news which can be sent to you via email again notifying you of important updates as and when they happen.

RRS FEEDS COMIN' FO YOU.

This demand for news at all times has been necessitated by these examples and show quite distinctly the way the Journalism world has taken on the challenge of keeping up with the new technology available with the internet and the audiences feedback and demands for access and instant knowledge on almost any event.

Some of the new online services provided by the BBC and other news websites.

Now audiences need almost instant gratification, nowadays due to the rise and familiarity of social networking websites and their constant feeds of social activity and the rise in popularity of user News websites (such as reddit), sites that allow members of the public to post news and add to stories that are thumbed up and liked by other users to increase their notoriety *thus creating a trend or powerpost*.

We now have news feeds updating them with the latest on any "Big story" that crops up almost on a minute per minute basis. This was necessitated by the internets influence of bringing that "Instant" factor to the fore of the news world with many viewers of the broadcasted news shows not being as up to date with breaking news as those who would "follow" stories using the web. Another factor that has influenced these is the website twitter and the speed of which news can travel to create Twitter Feeds that allow users to see which specific subject (for e.g if you Twitter #OccupyLSX you will gain access to all the latest news on the london stock exchange occupation)

One only needs to think back to the press frenzy and updates of the most recent London Riots. Where the BBC urged viewers to follow the destruction of their city online taking them to a Twitter/blog/RSS newsfeed taking updates from journalists and members of the public "trending" the riots to see the fascination and need for constant updates.

Check out here for an example of the Reports on the BBCs coverage of the London Riots. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14449675

One of the new fangled news feeds that are available online around another "big" story.