Thursday, 13 February 2014

Peter Hennigan's Digital Portfolio for the Manchester Metropolitan University

Below is the requested Digital Portfolio for the Manchester Metropolitan University, I would like to also express my thanks to the Manchester Metropolitan University for considering my application, even if it fails its intentions:

Productions:




The first of the productions I will share with you in my digital portfolio is one I created in my first year, looking back at it is a bit embarrassing, reason for this is the difference of skills I had back then to the ones I have now, a variety of mistakes can be seen/heard throughout the whole video, one being the shoddy car screeching, however, it was the first production which I was proud of, and depicts itself as a great example to the changing of my production skills, my involvement in it was an actor and screenwriter.




This particular production was created last summer as part of a special project for Preston’s College where visitors from Kalisz in Poland took part in a videoed debate on the EU’s current unemployment scale, in which I filmed using a multi-camera production studio camera, this video however, is depicting the creation of the studios TV set, it remains the first time I have created a time-lapsed video, as well as solidifying itself as (in my view) one of my most successful productions, which is echoed on YouTube, as it is the most viewed of all my productions.



A more recent production, featuring myself, Preston’s College approached me and my production team, and asked us create a video which would promote the college to the general public, the department we focused upon was that of the I.C.T. department, this video is successful to me as it proves the growth of my production skills from the Road Safety advert to now, it is also the first time I have combined both single-camera and multi-camera shooting, within the production I acted, edited, scripted and participated in the multi-camerawork.


This video is actually the latest production in which I participated in, it's a music video for one of the music tutors (seen in video) songs, named God Only knows, due to me being ill for a majority of the pre-production and production process, I didn't have that much input on the production itself, however, this video is the first music video I have produced to this day, and is in my point of view, one of, if not the best production i have created, it also depicts the growth of my production skills, when compared to my early work.

Assignments:


When it comes to assignments I like to believe that I produce detailed, high-grade standard pieces of work, solidified more recently in my Film Studies unit of assignments, where I gained Merit-Distinction grades on first-try with all assignments thus far, examples of my best work can be viewed here:

Figure 1 - Page 1of 19 from Unit 64: Motion Graphics and Compositing Video, assignment P1, M1 and D1.
A more recent assignment which I received a high grade is the first assignment for P1, M1 and D1 (that's Pass 1, Merit 1 and Distinction 1) of Unit 64: Motion Graphics and Compositing Video, the whole completed assignment featured 19 detailed and illustrated pages of work, the first of which is shown in Figure 1 (above), which introduces the assignment and talks about Title Sequences.

Figure 2 - Page 2 of 19 from Unit 64: Motion Graphics and Compositing Video, assignment P1, M1 and D1.

Page 2 is the first page that talks about motion graphics with Catch Me If You Can as an example and a talking-point, within the page I go through the aspects of the title sequence, linking it's similarities to other films, for example, the fact that the CMIYC title sequence is a brief storyline of the actual movie, similar to the way James Bond movies recap their feature films.

Figure 3 - A magazine article for my Film Studies Unit, which gained a distinction grade.


Figure 3 is a recent piece of work for my Film Studies unit, it talks about the audiences of Skyfall, how men and women are portrayed both on and off the film, exploring the male and female gaze, as well as the general audience attraction, whether it's men going to see an all out action-blockbuster, or women for the eye-candy of James Bond himself. This particular article earned me a distinction grade.


Figure 4 - Another Distinction graded assignment for Film Studies, this time for my research into David Fincher being an Auteur.

Figure 4 is another example of detailed, distinction graded Film Studies assignment, this time exploring the theory of whether or not David Fincher is considered an auteur, within this assignment, I had to focus two examples of David Fincher's work, I chose his classic Seven (stylised as Se7en) and his recent The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In this page, I breakdown the first 10-12 minutes of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, picking up on traditional Fincher aspects, which include dark(ish) lighting and the mysterious depictions of characters, similar to that of Seven.

Figure 5 - The follow-up from the previous page, which delves into David Fincher's portrayal as an auteur.

Figure 5 follows the page from Figure 4, like Figure 4, Figure 5 again breakdowns the introduction to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, especially the characters of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander, I also continue to talk about the lighting, and how it remains, dark, gloomy and mysterious an aspect that is continued throughout Fincher's filmography.


Thank you for viewing my Digital Portfolio, I hope it's successful in it's intentions and I hopefully look forward to participating in your course and University.

Peter C. Hennigan, 2014.

Monday, 16 December 2013

Preston's College Promotional Video

Preston's College Promotional Video:









Thanks to the Production team: Louise Grimshaw, Dominic Grindrod and Sean Jordan who all participated in the creation of this video.

Special Thanks to: The IT students; Stefan, Tom, Thomas and Jay as well as the IT teachers; Andy Armstrong and Tony Gilles who all took the time out of their studying and teaching to help produce this video.

No copyright infringement intended towards Foster the People and Imagine Dragons, this video is not intended for financial success, all rights go to the respected labels which come under these two respected musicians.

Monday, 10 June 2013

Explaining Media Jobs

Editor for ITV's Daybreak.

http://www.mediauk.com/tv/jobs/15958/editor-part-time-11-mth-ftc


The role in this job is to edit the video files for ITV's Daybreak with Lorraine Kelly.

An editor in a job may not just mean a person that edits video clips. For example, there are magazine and newspaper editors who approve of the content that is published.
Taking this into consideration, a video editor could approve of the finished edit.
This means that the editors job for Daybreak is an Editorial job.

Journalist for TTCS Recruitment based in London.

http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/job/4649778/journalist/


This journalist job requires you to interview certain people that are associated within the news, which will then be either broadcasted on news channels, published in newspapers and magazines or posted online for worldwide use.
In the newspaper and magazine sector however, a journalist doesn't always mean a person who interviews, within the newspaper and magazine sectors, a journalist could mean a writer of an article.
This job though, asks the journalist to cover all aspects of a journalistic life that I have mentioned above as well as helping support mini conferences and " Attending, promoting and growing an established portfolio of award ceremonies ".
After overlooking the job role definitions, i have deduced that the Journalist job is either Technical or Marketing.
The most obvious job role definition to me that describes this Journalist job is Marketing, this is because Technical job roles are most likely to involve managing electrical appliances within the media sector, for example, cameras, computers, microphones etc...

Job requirements.

Looking at the Bournemouth University website, the only course I could find relating to Editing was a Post Production Editing MA course. According to the website, the course duration is 1 year full time.
This course will require a BA course passed, which is usually between 3-5 years.
Most students that will enroll onto this course will have come from some form of media subject that was passed in college, this is usually 2-3 years.

Education wise, the requirements of this job are already between 5 and 8 years.
2 of the years could be spent in education can be used for work education.
You are then most likely to start working from the ground, up.
This could take years to get the right amount of experience needed to be able to apply for this job.

Overall, we are talking between 10-12 years of education and experience combined to apply for this job.

This amount of time is most likely the same for the Journalist job.

Behavior.

For the editorial job, it is very likely, due to weekday shows, the attendance of the employed worker will have to be everyday (unless a valid and sound reason is given). If the editor is not present, the show will most likely be compromised, this can be said for punctuality.
The commitment to the job is necessary, the editing position of a show is make or break for view ratings.
Communication skills and contribution to team projects will be needed as the employee will be working with an editing team.

For the Journalistic job, attendance and punctuality will have to be near perfect, as magazines and newspaper are published each day, which means journalists will have to interview and write articles every day, failure in attendance and lateness will result in news not being written, broadcasted or published online.
The Journalists will also have to work within groups.





Wednesday, 22 May 2013

First Year Productions


The Game

LFRS Road Safety Advert (1 minute)

LFRS Road Safety (2 minute)



An Ambitious Boss



Highland Spring Gym



Highland Springs 2



The Game II








Monday, 13 May 2013

Who and What.

OfCom

OfCom (short abbreviation of the Office for Communications) is the main regulator within the United Kingdom.

(Definition of Regulate/or/ing - A company that controls/maintains/supervises the actions of an object i.e. OfCom regulates the broadcasting companies).

OfCom was set up to regulate TV/Film/Radio stations throughout the United Kingdom, they also regulate fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services and the airways over which wireless devices operate.

They were set up after the governments Communications Act 2003.

OfCom Research Reference: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/

ASA

The ASA (short for Advertising Standards Authority) are the regulators for advertisements across all media sectors within the United Kingdom.
They work within TV/Film/Radio sectors but are most likely mainly involved with Internet, as they deal with complaints from the United Kingdom general public concerning harmful/misleading/offensive  advertisements within media sectors, this could include spam and virus infected pop-up windows.

ASA Research Reference: http://www.asa.org.uk/About-ASA.aspx

The difference between OfCom and the ASA is that ASA cannot ban advertisements, whilst OfCom can.

VLV

VLV (short for Voice of the Listener and Viewer) allows the voice of the citizens and consumers of the United Kingdom be heard. They represent their (citizens and consumers) interests and queries surrounding broadcast-able material. They wholly support public service broadcasting as well as championing (support) quality and diversity within media sectors revolving around the public.

VLV Research Reference: http://www.vlv.org.uk

The difference between VLV and OfCom/ASA is that VLV deals and supports with the general public, whereas ASA and OfCom deal with the governments interests surrounding media. Also VLV have no legal constraints, whereas OfCom have total legal constraint surrounding media, ASA do have legal constraints but they have to consult OfCom first.

BFI

The BFI (short for British Film Institute) is a charity governed by the Royal Charter.
BFI award lottery funding to film productions, along with distribution, education, audience research and development and market intelligence and research.

BFI Research Reference: http://www.bfi.org.uk/about-bfi

The BFI

Monday, 22 April 2013

British Media Law

Brief Description of the Race Relations Act (1976).

As part of the Race Relations Act (1976), media sectors (film, TV, newspapers, magazines, internet etc...) are found unlawful to broadcast or publish offensive or discriminating material that effects different ethnicity within the public, which come under the grounds of discrimination of gender, race, religion, nationality or ethnic background. It is also clear that the media sectors must publicly promote racial equality.
This applies to foreign, ethnic and cultural authorities.

http://www.redgoldfish.co.uk/viewglossary.asp?gid=557


Brief Description of the Obscene Publications Acts (1959 & 1964)

The Obscene Publications Act states that no media sector can broadcast or publish any material that is found to be obscene throughout the public sector. It is also against the law, if a single person publishes or broadcasts any material, that is in ownership, possession or control.

http://www.uddingston.s-lanark.sch.uk/security/obscene.htm

The "Watershed" is the time of day (9pm - 5:30am) where broadcasters throughout the TV industry are allowed to broadcast "adult content", which may include, offensive language, gambling, violence etc...
This broadcast time is unsuitable for children.
The Watershed does not apply to radio.

http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/television/watershed

Brief Description of the Representation of People (1983)

The Representation of People Act (1983) are the guidelines of how much time is allowed per broadcaster to broadcast different political parties within a country.
The broadcaster are also not allowed to be biased towards a particular party.

Brief Description of the Public Order Act (1986)

The Public Order Act (1986) is a law which does not allow the broadcast of offensive material that effect ethical/national groups within a country.
Offensive material concerned include, drugs, sex, violence, language, racism, threats etc...

Brief Description of the Sex Discrimination Act (1975)


The Sex Discrimination Act '75 states that it is unlawful to discriminate an individual in a job/workplace/training program etc... surrounding the sexuality or marital status.
This means that you must not question (in a respectful way) or harass a work colleague into sexual harassment.

http://www.redgoldfish.co.uk/viewglossary.asp?gid=597



Brief Description of the Broadcasting Act (1990)

The Broadcasting Act '90 allowed the creation of Channel 5 and multichannel satellite television.

Saturday, 20 April 2013

Ofcom Legal and Ethical Broadcast Rules surrounding Gender.

Ofcom Legal and Ethical Broadcast Rules surrounding Gender.

2.3 In applying generally accepted standards broadcasters must ensure that material which may cause offence is justified by the context (see meaning of "context" below). Such material may include, but is not limited to, offensive language, violence, sex, sexual violence, humiliation, distress, violation of human dignity, discriminatory treatment or language (for example on the grounds of age, disability, gender, race, religion, beliefs and sexual orientation). Appropriate information should also be broadcast where it would assist in avoiding or minimising offence.
Meaning of "context":
Context includes (but is not limited to):

  • the editorial content of the programme, programmes or series;
  • the service on which the material is broadcast;
  • the time of broadcast;
  • what other programmes are scheduled before and after the programme or programmes concerned;
  • the degree of harm or offence likely to be caused by the inclusion of any particular sort of material in programmes generally or programmes of a particular description;
  • the likely size and composition of the potential audience and likely expectation of the audience;
  • the extent to which the nature of the content can be brought to the attention of the potential audience for example by giving information; and
  • the effect of the material on viewers or listeners who may come across it unawares.

- Taken from Section Two: Harm and Offence of The Ofcom Broadcasting Code 2011.

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http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code-february2011/harmoffence/