Coastal Sunshine

The last of my university interviews was yesterday. I say interviews, but in reality this consists of a Test Day, an Activity Day and an Open day. The one yesterday was my activity day, which in my opinion is the best named of the three, and as presumed, was in fact the best. I mean, a Test Day doesn't really bode well for us undergraduate hopefuls that attended - The only time throughout the whole day I was relaxed was during lunch, and that could still be a lie, because our interviews/testers ate with us, meaning we couldn't completely resort to comfort zones just yet.

The activity day yesterday consisted of three different areas that we would be studying in our next three years - Radio, Broadcast and Print Journalism. I had the most experience in print journalism, and my newly created blog (thank you Blogger) helped immensely during our practical task. I was more fired up for the print aspect, as I am sometimes camera shy so wasn't looking forward to the broadcast side of the course, and in my opinion I do not have a voice for radio - often muffled, I have a tendency to mumble when I take less care with my pronunciation. However, print was actually the one I liked the least. Fair enough, I spend most of my life on a computer, and when I'm not at a computer I'm writing, so print journalism was hardly a new thing for me. But the radi and broadcast practical tasks were different, and this is was was so appealing for me.

The radio voice task went rather well - The one word I almost (but didn't) stumble on being Melontan, which, apparently, is a type of fake tan injection. Not to stereotype, but being male, and fake tan funnily enough not ever entering my to do list, I new little of this 'melontan'. After the voice test however, I quickly wished to swallow my words, as I told a friend that I had no idea such a word existed, to which five fellow hopeful students turned around and looked at me. All girls. All orange. Big mistake...
That said, I didn't stumble once. And all but one other person did. So a miniature firework display went off in my mind as I mini-celebrated.

In the broadcast activity, we all had to interview each other on camera about a certain talent or interesting fact about ourselves. My recollection of going half deaf for not equalizing my ears during scuba diving combined with running 7 miles for Sports Relief instead of the planned 1 mile because I thought the course was too short came second in our group. Out of 12 or so. Which again I was quite chuffed about.

Due to owning a laptop, and spending a large amount of my free time on it, I'm pretty good with computers. I can touch type, and this lead me to write - in my opinion - a little too much for the print aspect of our day. We had to write about the most important thing in the world that affects us. I wrote the recession. Not for the browine points, but because it is genuinely starting to affect me. And compared to the girl who constantly kept saying her horse had died, I think I did good enough to get in. I hope...

I'll hear from Bournemouth in a week... Until then, fingers crossed. Otherwise, Medway or Nottingham is my new home come September!

AA Child Prodigy

Flicking through the television channels briefly after surviving an extremely late and unnecessarily tight Carling Cup Semi-Final - with us Spurs being the lucky ones to survive the onslaught - I came across an advert for child prodigies. This led me onto YouTube, where I found this gem of a video.

Truly breathtaking I think you'll agree. Someone so young, virtually a baby to the ever-developing world around them, and they are already arguably one of the best in the world at something. Yes, it's another case of too much video gaming for a child quite possibly, but for now we'll let it slide. Watch. Gasp. Admire...

The only question I have to ask is.....
Why did this not get AAA?

First hand insight into Journalism

I'm usually an optimist when something different occurs at college - a day out to a local drama centre providing this option for me today.

With a potential career in Journalism hopefully on my doorstep come September this year, I need all the practice I can get in the subject...Like...News reading.
The construction of news and programmes are one of the attractions that journalism brings to me, with the satisfaction gained upon completion immense. Albeit, watching our finished product today was at times cringe-worthy, with several camera shots needing improvement or deletion, and we didn't quite manage the 15 minute time slot allocated for us - but the feeling gained when the live recording was in mid-flow is outstanding.
With the privilege of directing the whole piece, I had alot on my plate, and the first run I thought to myself that I will never be able to complete it to the high standards laid out by our 'guides'. However, by the fourth or fifth rehearsal the feeling of "we can do this" was beginning to echo in everyone's minds. Going from a 6 minute piece, to an 11 minute piece up to a 14 minute piece, gradually our production was going from strength to strength.
I have never been so close or involved with such a production, and the things I have learnt from this experience are sure to aid my hopefully near future career, as a multi-media journalist, the role of which I was very much a part of, through personal and group research for the presenters to announce.
Far from spotless I agree, but perfect was never the realistic objective - completion was. The first run, my 'guide' was constantly tutting and sighing - subtly at first until I noticed it, whereupon it seemed like a resounding groan. The final run, our production team was constantly bombarded with remarks of congratulations, confidence and morale boosting, and I believe this fairly showed in our production.

My eyes are in awe at the world of journalism. And I'm never going to look back. A world of switchboards, soundboards, microphones and research has encapsulated me.

Roll on September!

Great Expectations? - Archive - August 2008

N.B. Blog written on the second day of the Olympic Games, therefore views or comments made were held at the time of writing. Anything written may or mat not still be accurate!

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics 2008 at the Bird’s Nest National Stadium has certainly been a speculative and glamorous occasion, and the progressive events to follow have certainly lived up to the immense expectations of the worldwide spectator. Records are being made and broken within the blink of an eye and heroes are constantly being discovered. However, whispers are increasing regarding 2012, and how - or if - the Brits will conquer the Chinese on the world stage. Seemingly impossible to beat this year, the Chinese have certainly set the bar high with their majestic displays of fireworks, music and acrobatics accompanied by a two thousand strong beat of the drum.

However, cracks are already starting to show. Trickery has been officially admitted by the organisers of the opening ceremony. Only five days into the games and already two deceptive strategies have been discovered. Firstly, the fireworks designed to paint ‘footprints’ in the polluted Beijing air were in fact computer generated - fake. Speaking in The Beijing Times, Gao Xiaolong - head of visual effects - claimed "Seeing how it worked out, it was still a bit too bright compared to the actual fireworks," he said. "But most of the audience thought it was filmed live - so that was mission accomplished." The trick went unnoticed by the majority of the viewing public, but those who did notice the trick positively acknowledged it. It seems like Britain has a bit of breathing space to out perform the Chinese following another shock regarding the opening ceremony and the sham switching of a singer. The original singer, 7 year old Yang Peiyi, was switched for 9 year old Lin Miaoke, because Peiyi was too unattractive to be broadcasted - even though she had previously appeared in television advertisements. Miaoke lip-synched over a pre-recording of Peiyi at the opening ceremony and went down a tremendous success as a result. However, after news has emerged of this body trade, petitions have been set up to ‘Let Peiyi Sing’ at the closing ceremony. Another opportunity has opened up for the Brits to go one better, and the British dream of a mesmeric and faultless Games is still very much a possibility.

Ticket touting is ever-present in the Games, with handfuls of touts fearlessly and openly flogging tickets to the multiple events on show in Beijing; the police turning a blind eye to the subject even though imprisonment should accompany this illegal act. Furthermore, ticket holders aren’t even showing up to a large amount of events - volunteers are having to fill seats to make the Games appear more popular and pleasing to the millions of viewers who tune in daily from across the world.

Subconscious propaganda

Sure - There's a credit crisis, the country is in uproar and although the masses pretend to show little thought for it, recession is hitting the country like a long overdue hangover.
There are advantages to the recession - mortgages are falling for instance. Yet the cons heavily outweigh the pros - one of seemingly hundreds of hassle-free bills in the form of heating has risen by around 150% in households, the heating bill for my house topping £160 in December compared to a 'measly' £90 this time last year.
But, that said...

There's a local billboard poster promoting the Conservative Party, and like many of David Cameron's speeches describe his faultless and perfect plans for the country, most consist of "Gordon Brown believes..." followed by a negative viewpoint. Although fairly new to politics, I do possess sense. And this has aided me to become a left-wing citizen. Now old enough to vote I can, however small-scale, have some say into the running of the country, and am assured that I will vote for a party that have their OWN viewpoints, rather than opposing others.

"A child is born into this country with a £17,000 debt" was the message on the billboard. But what are the Conservatives doing to make this right? That is the question, that upon reading this form of propaganda, many overlook. Coming from an A-Level Media student, I often find myself subconsciously analysing such material. The last thing this country needs is pessimism, this coming in the form of Cameron.

Will Smith, the Samaritan?

Although originally dedicated to news reports, I often go off on a tangent whereupon I may talk about lesser important matters including personal issues.

For now though, I want to kick start this soon-to-be montage of my frame of mind with a review into Seven Pounds, the imminent blockbuster starring Will Smith. Like all big Hollywood stars, Smith is one of the attractive features of this heart-wrenching feature. Unlike many audience members however, I was attracted to it through the narrative. The development of which I must admit was slow at the best of times - this cannot be put at fault too much however, for Smith's character Ben Thomas is presented as simplistic and far from stable mentally.
Although unknown at the time, Thomas is the unlucky criminal throughout the film; a car crash being the heavy fine to pay for killing his wife, whilst in the process disabling to some extent seven innocent victims. Over two hours later, and the climax of the film reflects upon Thomas' evaluation of putting things right - the final sequence promises to be one of emotion and heartache, the heart strings in even the most faceless figures bound to be pulled in one way or another.

The thing that struck me most about this film is Smith's seemingly indestructible acting style. His choice of feature films ensure his resume to be one of prestigious measure. Since his almost-forgotten 1995 hit film Bad Boys, Smith has transformed into an impressive force; two of his latest films, Seven Pounds and The Pursuit of Happiness (2006) conveying Smith's characters as good-willed Samaritans. Often overcast by reviewers and journalists alike, Smith is one of the few famous actors who is fearless to voice opinions.

Found on www.digitalspy.com, an article titled "Smith:'Obama has changed the world forever'" reveals Smith's joy at Obama's recent successful presidential campaign, leading the way for future change worldwide as well as in the States. With this new rise of cultural challenge, slowly segregation will be a thing of the past. Different shower rooms for whites and blacks will fade into extinction as a new wave of Black icons pave the future.

Perhaps farfetched from my original intention of posting a blog, I realise I have wandered off track. However, as thoughts enter the mind, pen and paper are of vital importance (for the time being at least, whilst print is not yet a thing of the past). With a presentation in Film Studies almost presentable, focused on the representation of race and racism, and several difficult choices to make that affect my further education to a high degree, my mindset is often found wandering in several different directions.