Multimedia Module :: Documentary Evaluation

Multimedia Module :: Documentary Evaluation

With the documentary part of the multimedia module, we were introduced to an editing software called Final Cut Pro. This part of the module I felt I would enjoy the most as one was required to make video footage and small clips that would then be editing into a short news documentary. To begin with the programming seemed quite difficult to get the grasp of as there were very specific ways of editing down the clips to make them right. We were introduced and shown various documentary clips on YouTube in order to help us find a path we wanted to go down for our final project.

My initial idea was to do a documentary type piece, but realised that what I really wanted to focus on was a short news piece that was made up of short vox pops. I had become very interested in the phone hacking scandal since it started and recently read an article about the cost of the Leveson Inquiry and the investigations involved with it. This made me want to do a short news documentary on the subject and decided to interview various students from the University of Westminster on their opinion of the phone hacking scandal. I feel that this was the most effective way of creating a news piece as it would give the public opinion on the topic and most of the students are from media based courses where it would be expected for them to have some knowledge on the topic.

Through the editing process I began to become more confident with the programming which made the whole process much more enjoyable as one could see the final project coming together. The recording was very interesting as I got to see everyone’s opinion on the phone hacking scandal. I wanted to give the audience a bit of background information on the phone hacking scandal and News International therefore I created a short briefing on the story to help the justification of the video. I feel that the short summary of the story really helped to improve the impact of the video which is what I intended on doing. Over all I feel that this part of the multimedia module was more successful than the audio section as the content was perhaps more interesting as well as the final resolving turning out how I planned it to, without having any issues during the editing process.

Multimedia Module :: Audio Evaluation

Multimedia Module :: Audio Evaluation

During the audio part of the multimedia module, we were introduced to Audacity and various forms of recording equipment. Over five weeks we were taught how to edit and record interviews and podcasts that we would be using as our final submission at the end. I found this very interesting as I have not had any experience with recording equipment prior to this module.

The editing was the most difficult but interesting part of the process. One was required to really specify which parts of the recording were worth keeping. When starting with the interview it has hard to edit my recordings down to the limited time for the briefing.  It was important to capture all of the most effective information that was given during the interview.

I was inspired by a friend of mine who is part of the British forces. This made me want to document his experiences in the military over the past five years. The interview went well and I managed to get the information that I wanted. I had set a few questions up in order to let the interview run more smoothly but edited them out with the final version. This added to the more personal and story like reporting that I wanted to achieve through this interview. When it came to the podcast I had issues transferring the files from my laptop to the main Mac which made editing a lot more challenging but pieced together what I could. Unfortunately this left me with a result that I was not hoping for as a lot of the audio clips did not line up perfectly.

On the whole the audio section of the multimedia module was very interesting and I enjoyed learning different ways of documenting news stories. By this it was not just about writing the story it was researching and conducting interviews. It seems like a more hands on way of working which I enjoyed a lot.It was interesting to learn how to use different equipment and the editing process once one had finishing recording. This section of the module was interesting and I found I learnt a lot from the five weeks. Although my final recordings were not exactly what I expected and hoped for, I enjoyed the process of interviewing and editing to then finally piece together a whole piece that could be submitted.

Multimedia Module :: Documenting Audio Work

Interview

As part of the audio module are required to record an interview and a podcast. To begin with my idea was to document various different people involved in military work for the podcast. This would have worked well to a certain extent but I feel that by conducting an interview with one individual of their personal experiences in the military it would have more of an impact on the listener. I feel that military life is important to document as often we do not take into consideration the lives of those who are part of the forces.

Podcast

Since being at University I have realised that a lot of students drink to excessive amounts and would not consider it binge drinking. It is true that having more than four drinks in one night is considered binge drinking so I wanted to speak to students to see whether they felt their drinking habits were within the boundaries of not binge drinking. This lead me to think of further questions such as if they felt more inclined to drink or take drugs since joining university. I spoken to students from a variety of courses and each of them came up with different answers regarding the question.

Multimedia Module :: Documenting Video Work

At the beginning of semester one at University we were introduced to a Law and Ethics module that immediately took to my interest. It could not have been better timing with News International and phone hacking scandal all coming to the surface as well as the beginning of the Leveson Inquiry. This module triggered my initial interest in the topic and I decided that six months after the Leveson Inquiry first started up to do a vox pop on what people thought of the situation now. For my multimedia module in the second semester I wanted to take this interest further and document the process using University students to voice their opinions.

I followed the Leveson Inquiry closely as it developed to the extent in which six months down the line the expenses of the investigation have now reached £40million. This information was released at the end of March after Helene Mullholand from the Guardian Newspaper looked at the investigation further. When first starting out with this assignment my intention was to find out whether the public saw the hacking scandal as a threat to the British press.

As a news story I feel that this would be an important topic to cover as it is a continuing issue. Speaking to various students at the Media, Arts and Design campus at the University of Westminster, I began to realise that a lot of people had opinions on the phone hacking scandals. Not everyone was completely against it and I thought as a vox pop such a topic would be really interesting to cover as there are so many different views.

University of Westminster’s Opinions On :: The phone hacking scandal

The hacking scandal is a continuous controversy that has come about through the News of the World and Britain’s tabloid newspapers that have been published by News International. Those who are involved with the company such as journalists and editors have been accused of taking part in phone hacking and bribery to legal forces such as police. It got to the point where the bribery was taken out of control in oder to find a story worth publishing. This signifies the first step towards  break down in trust with the British press as it shows that there have been unlawful way of getting information in some cases. The investigations into the phone hacking were conducted over several years between 2005 and 2007 where it was clear that the victims of the phone hacking were politicians and celebrities. This lead to an outrage from the public against the News International and the head of the corporation Rupert Murdoch. It was at the end of July 2011 that boycotts left Rupert Murdoch with no other choice than to step down from his position as head of News International. This ended the publication of the News of the World after 168 years

I ask students at the University of Westminster whether the phone hacking scandal signifies a real crisis in British press and whether it is a real threat.

Anorexia Nervosa :: Signs, Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

Anorexia Nervosa: Signs, Symptoms, Causes and Treatment

It is in our instinct to always desire to look different and there always seems to be something that we could change about ourselves. This is where the border line between normal habits and preoccupation of being that size smaller takes control over your life and your eating habits. Anorexia Nervosa will change your eating habits, thoughts and life to great levels and becomes destructive not just physically and mentally. In many cases with Anorexia Nervosa the ability to see ones self as they are in everyone else’s eyes has vanished. The mind is often fixated on becoming something else and you lose the perception of who you really are.

Anorexia is not an illness that should be taken lightly and is a very serious eating disorder. Not only is it a threat to your general health, it can be taken to far and get out of control that it can become a huge threat to your life. It is finding the courage within to seek help that is widely available. The moment that you decide to make a change and lose that demon that lives inside your mind and that control your every day life the help will be there. The key is to become comfortable within your own skin, which is the first struggle anyone who is suffering from Anorexia has to go through. It is important to value yourself and your life and with treatment one can rekindle that love for life that you lose when suffering such a life consuming illness.

What is Anorexia Nervosa

There are three different features to complex illness Anorexia Nervosa:

• THE RELUCTANCY TO MAINTAIN A HEALTHY BODY WEIGHT
• THE CONSTANT FEAR OF PUTTING ON WEIGHT
• AN ABILITY TO HAVE A DISTORTED BODY IMAGE

The constant thought of what you can and cannot eat is always on your mind especially during meal times, which can make them even more stressful and hard to get through. This is due to the continuous fear of becoming fat, or how your body looks. There is never an ideal weight or size and often people will go to any length to reach what they perceive to be the ideal deal weight.

Anorexia Nervosa will take over the majority of your life the majority. The mind is constantly thinking about dieting, food (that you wont want to eat) and the way your body is perceived. This will take up the most of your life. It is often the case that those suffering from Anorexia Nervosa feel the need to isolate themselves from friends and family as well as other activities that they might once have enjoyed, as they want their illness to be kept a secret. Often they will seek extremes to get to what they perceive to be an ideal weight and will do anything to reach it. The demon inside their minds is constantly guiding them through what they need to be doing, and despite the dramatic weight loss, it is never enough, and the battle continues to reach this ideal self-image.

For those suffering from the eating disorder, it is the most challenging thing to admit to having it; therefore they often deny having an illness. Although those suffering find it hard to admit it, those around them must support them. Anorexia is an illness and disorder that can threaten the lives of those who are suffering from the eating disorder. A lot of research into the illness has been done and there is a lot of help available for those with Anorexia Nervosa. It is important for them to have support around them in order for them to regain a healthy life style and self-confidence, as well as breaking through the barrier that the eating disorder is holding up for them.

Different types of Anorexia Nervosa

With Anorexia Nervosa, there are two different categories the sufferer could fall in to: restricting type or purging type. The restricting type the loss of weight is done through the restriction of calories, excessive exercising and limitless diets. When looking at the purging type, the loss of weight comes from vomiting and the use of laxatives and diuretics. Often those suffering with Anorexia Nervosa will completely alter their eating pattern in order to lose weight even if the food they are eating is not something they enjoy.

Food- is it the main issue for those who are suffering Anorexia Nervosa

 

Anorexia Nervosa is not only about the consistent need to lose weight and become thinner. The illness comes from something that not everyone would consider when looking at the illness. It is related to issues such as loneliness, insecurity and depression; the feeling of having no self-control and seeking the ideal self. When suffering from Anorexia Nervosa, people do not realise that regardless of the amount of weight they lose it will not cure those inner issues that has triggered the illness.

One needs to understand that the power that you feel when you are able to say no to eating a certain food, does not reflect in the powerless state that you might feel in reality. In some ways, you may start to feel successful and enjoy the ways that you have been making yourself suffer but because you feel in control it doesn’t seem to matter. One needs to be careful, Anorexia can take your focus off of more difficult emotions. The issues lie in the obsessive want to lose weight; it will take your might off real things in your life and when spending most of the time thinking about diets, weight loss and food.

For most suffering there are many ups and downs in their diets. When you manage to escape from the demon for one day and let yourself eat properly, one quickly falls back into the same routine again. Gaining the smallest amount of weight can be a good feeling but it is very short-lived. Before long things will fall back to the excessive exercising and constant weight watch. This is the point where most people suffering from Anorexia Nervosa struggle to get past.

Healthy eating and Anorexia- the difference

eThere is a huge difference between healthy eating and Anorexia. The idea of healthy eating is to take control of weight loss.  Weight loss and body image is not just the key focus of your self-esteem. The attitude towards weight loss is to always gain better health and appearance in moderation and in a healthy way. In contrast the way in which those suffering from Anorexia Nervosa tend to see weight loss is a way to control ones life and emotions. Self-esteem is low, and to gain more self-esteem it seems that loosing weight is the only way. It is a way reach out and grabs hold of a small particle of happiness but only for a brief moment. Health is not an issue that is considered by those who are suffering from the illness in most cases and the control of weight loss seems to take over their minds most of the time.

 

Symptoms and Signs of Anorexia

 

When living with an illness such as Anorexia Nervosa, one is always finding ways to hide the habits that you have picked up. For those around you like friends and family this makes it more of a challenge to find the warning signs of someone suffering from Anorexia. As the illness continues, it becomes more of a struggle for those around you to work out what is happening as the hiding of the illness becomes more obsessive. Confrontation is one of the biggest fears for those who have Anorexia Nervosa and they will avoid it at all costs.

For those who are suffering from Anorexia or think someone close to you is suffering, it is important to support them and be there for them, regardless of how hard they push you away. If help is what you seek but are not prepared to find professional treatment, there are so many books published to help those who have Anorexia Nervosa or those around them. I would recommend Anorexia: A stranger in the family by Katie Metcalfe, as it gives a very good overview on each side of the story when it comes to the illness. It is important to find help and it is a very long process to escape the illness but with support from those around you, one can gradually conquer it and gain the life you once had back.

Invisible Children :: Kony 2012

Waking up to see this all over my Facebook news feed I didnt really pay much attention to it before going to my classes. What really caught my attention was that 5 hours later, after being to the gym for 2 hours this video was still being circled all over the internet so I decided to watch it. Not knowing who Kony was or what he did this video really woke me up to certain things that are hidden from us.

Immediately I wanted to get involved as I think it is so wrong what he is doing. Luckily there is an event on April 20th in London that already hundreds have signed up to participating in. I think it is so important that we raise awareness of this issue and by the end of 2012 this will have all ended.

 

Student Podcast :: Do students feel more inclined to take illegal substances since joining university

Since joining university I have wondered what people’s opinions are towards taking illegal substances. Being on an arts campus, it seems that the expectation is there for us to be drinking, taking drugs and partying more than any other campus. Is that why they put us on the out skirts of London? Speaking to three Westminster University students, they talk to me about their experiences of partying at university so far and their view on drugs. I can only say that we are media, art and design students, we need inspiration from somewhere. Writing an article may not be the best idea whilst high but in the summer “we will all be out on the law smoking a joint” that is probably true for the most of the students here.

Don’t get me wrong, we are not all drug addicts, but perhaps an arts based campus is more likely to be consuming drugs and drinking especially in the first year than perhaps the more intellectual subjects on other campuses.

Military Interview :: Final Edit

Troops have been sent world wide on military tours and with younger people joining the military forces, it is hard to tell what people are going to think of them. At the age of 15 and a half one soldier joined the army and four years later now a 2nd Lieutenant speaks to me about his experiences so far.