“If you couldn’t rise to the highest level of enthusiasm, passion and professionalism and grasp this task as if it was the most important thing that you had ever taken on in your life, you weren’t worthy of the task” Richard Taylor – Co-founder and Co-director of Weta companies in wellington New-Zealand.

Group 7 Team Members – Baker Mbelizi, Jason Kurmoo, Nic Urmston, Chris Thornton, Rares Stoica, Sabina Pasaniuc, Danielle Cook,

 I’ll try and keep this reflection sort and sweet for now as i haven’t started the essay yet so any academic reflection i could attempt would be redundant but this module has to be so far the most fun i feel like i have taken a lot of what has been said in. On top of this I’m starting to make connections between theories that may not necessarily be directly linked to the topic at hand (with help from colleagues)

The projects although stressful have also been a highlight for me this term, being a welcome break from quantitative research projects. These 4 projects in total put into practice every thing i have been developing over the last few years from working in teams, putting theories in to practice and using my technical abilities when it comes to editing the final cut of project, this final point is something i have been desperate to improve upon since i began CCM. I’m writing this the day before we present our final projects and can not honestly wait to see what kind of reception our projects gets but more importantly what the other groups have done them selves. Good Luck.

Task 1 -  Radio Commercial

finished radio advert

In this task we choose to advertise Rebound (Deodorant) using our Unique Selling Point (USP) being that it contained a new discovered chemical known as “Sexstract” found deep in the amazon jungle, the advert plays on sexual anxieties and anxieties of confidence leading me on to the line of appeal that it will give you confidence, the connotations of this advertisement suggesting you will smell aromatically appealing. The Tag-line and Slogan are quite simple, Tag-line – Now With Added Sexstract and Slogan – Bounce Back With Rebound.

This was the first task to be set and the first to be completed, there is much i like about this advert, the idea to use a rewind noise i feel is a nice touch and using the deodorant spray sound to signify the deodorant work really well. the back ground at the start work really well to establish the setting of a busy bar however the few changes i would make would be to completely drop out all of the sound at the point of the rewind and the voice over and do exactly the same at the end where the “hero” is talking to the “princess” as this is where the background noise is not needed and only has a negative impact.

Task 2 – NGO Film Trailer (Non-Govermental Organisation)

Task 2 was to make a movie trailer for a charity organisation called “Global Care” the brief being simple create a movie trailer targeted at students that will get the audience going and checking out their web site, the task was not to make a charity video to encourage students to support the specific charity. This Movie trailer follows the codes and conventionsof a sub genre of action movies this being the action movie parody we slipped in a few jokes at the expense of this genre it’s self with specific reference to one of Propp’s characters. The jokes in this parodyare those that we, as a group thought were funny, however we are not comedians or writers so if you don’t laugh out loud i would be surprised. Of course with Propp’s characters in the mix Todorov was soon to follow and so he has, we hit every point, equilibrium, disruption, recognition and attempt. However enhanced equilibrium was missing this being purposely done as it was trailer and what good movie trailer shows you the end, just every other part ….

This is a personal favourite of mine, i spent a lot of time working on this in the small basement, lacking natural light and it was great to see it on the big screen in front of friends and colleagues. I was not the only member of the group to spend a lot of time on this in fact this project was the last to receive our final mark and be uploaded on to Youtube. I am most impressed with what our group was able to accomplish in such as short space of time.

 Task 3 – Artistic Artifact (Music Video/Poetry)

 Task 3’s brief was again like the rest quite simple, design a music video using any song or piece of music copy righted or not and attempt to fit the images, music and dialogue or reading of a poem to enhance the meaning of entire artifact. This is the artifact i am most worried about out of the 4 as although it has a number aspects embedded which were discussed in the lectures, theoretically it is the weaker of the piece the main point of twist being that the poem was being read backwards because of the references to time in the body of the poem it’s self as well of this we did our best to portray the distance in tiem with the picture of a young couple being held by the old man. However this is pretty much all that is there, so i have a feeling this section of the essay is going to be the most tricky.

Task 4 – Popular Film (Silent Movie)

Task 4 was the last task set and the brief was as follows,  Show a woman meeting a man. She then kills him and leaves the scene rapidly. Her actions have been witnessed. This is a Silent movie, Follow the Codes and Conventions as such. Our idea was quick and simple, this was necessary given the amount of time we had to produce this artifact. The idea was to depict an electoral campaign, one candidate hires a female assassin to kill his rival and he witnesses the act.

This was the task i had the least amount of contact with, which is why it was most exciting to see this one on the big screen. Although not involved the production aspect i was of course help developed the idea on paper, this was an interesting process as i often found my self saying “and then they say this” or “then you hear this” quickly being reminded that this was silent movie. It has long been a dream of mine to be involved in a silent as the genre from is beginning to it’s contemporary relatives fascinate me.

123MC Critical Analysis 1

This sadly, was my lowest mark to present date receiving only 60% where as others had been in a good middle ground between 60% and 70%. Although this essay was the lowest mark of course this does not mean that the essay was bad in fact far from it. The essay title for this module was “How Stable is the Nature/Culture Boundary?”

The feedback I received was mix and detailed “It is an interesting essay deals with the complicated issue of the boundary between nature and culture” and “the student demonstrates sophisticated understanding of the whole issue” and “the whole process of deploying argument is quite persuasive”. However the assessor also suggested that I had a tendency to over simplify certain concepts and continuing without proper definition of terms or explanation.

These problems regarding lack of definition and over simplify is something that I have come across a number of times when discussing essay feedback, and my proposed solution is quite simply the same as the rest. Do the reading, understand the reading and ask questions if I do not understand so that when I am discussing these concepts I can demonstrate my knowledge and understanding.

This module was defiantly one of the hardest so far, this may clear from the mark and feedback from the essay however this does not mean I did not enjoy it. This module is again one of the most challenging so far.  And now with what I have learnt from this module I will be much more prepared for Critical Analysis 2.

A copy of my essay with original feedback will be here shortly.

122MC Media and Cultural Fields

I’ll try and keep this reflection sort and sweet for now as i haven’t started the essay yet so any academic reflection i could attempt would be redundant but this module has to be so far the most fun i feel like i have taken a lot of what has been said in. On top of this I’m starting to make connections between theories that may not necessarily be directly linked to the topic at hand (with help from colleagues)

The projects although stressful have also been a highlight for me this term, being a welcome break from quantitative research projects. These 4 projects in total put into practice every thing i have been developing over the last few years from working in teams, putting theories in to practice and using my technical abilities when it comes to editing the final cut of project, this final point is something i have been desperate to improve upon since i began CCM. I’m writing this the day before we present our final projects and can not honestly wait to see what kind of reception our projects gets but more importantly what the other groups have done them selves. Good Luck.

121MC Researching CCM

When looking back over this module I feel I learnt a few lessons, one main lesson being do the reading set. I spent a lot of time at the end of the module trying to catch up on the background reading which I believe had a significant negative impact on not only the presentation (receiving 67%) as well as the essay (receiving 67%).

This module has been the hardest so far between the amount of group work and the amount of compromising that goes with that, the choice to make our project primarily quantitative in its nature all be it good that we committed to this however it may have been more interesting to attempt to mix the methodologies. The best way to describe my feelings about doing Researching CCM 2 in the 2nd year would be nervous and terrified it the best possible way.

A copy of my essay with original feedback will be here shortly.

120MC Contemporary Theories

First I would like to express how much I enjoyed this module with special regards for the discussions that would often take over the majority of seminar and photography project was especially fun and interesting to dive into, my two favourite digital photographs can be found in the Photography Project page of this blog.

I achieved 63% for my essay in Contemporary Theories the essay title was “To what extent do you consider Adorno and the other members of the Frankfurt School accurately detail and analyse the character of contemporary popular culture?” I very much enjoyed working on this essay I found the views of the Frankfurt School interesting if not slightly cynical and was very impressed with my mark is this was the first essay I had done in over 3 years.

The feedback on this essay was more than positive “This is a very good piece of work Nicholas” and the assessor also explained how I “summarise some often complex and difficult ideas” Although the feedback was positive I feel that i could have discussed Karl Marx, the inspiration for the Frankfurt School of thought, in much more detail putting the Frankfurt School further into context and as with other essays I was reluctant to do so for a lack of detailed knowledge of the individual and his original thoughts.

A copy of my essay with original feedback will be here shortly.

100MC Key Concepts

The reflection for 100MC Key Concepts will be mainly based around the essay grade feedback I got many months ago as I have already reflected on the artefact it’s self in the essay and on this page.

I received 65% for essay which revolved around the theories that which our group, 3c attempted to encoded to our artefact. The feedback from the assessor detailed that this was a well structured and well written essay, cover all the bases. However lacking when it came to defining the genre of PSAs further discussion could have been useful and also a discussion on how different audiences can read media texts.

What I gleamed from this feedback was simply I had missed a number of key concepts that were not only be pivotal to any essay regarding the critical analysis of media texts but also missing thing out that were specific to the media text that group 3c had created. The lack of certain key concepts honestly came down to the lack of understanding of these concepts this may have been apparent when reading the essay.

I am more than happy with the mark and feedback on this essay; especially given that it was one the 1^st essays I had written in over 3 years. Moving on from the feedback I will attempt to not let my lack of understanding of topic scare me into any further reading or research but instead attack, make sure I understanding and that I can demonstrate that understanding through essays and discussions.

A copy of my essay with original feedback will be here shortly.

Add+Vantage Module

I have to admit I went into this module with a certain amount of scepticism about it, assuming it was going to be sinfully boring power point presentations. This scepticism was only heighted because I was unable to get onto the module I wanted, this being Team Leadership.

My scepticisms were however quickly silence when I realised what we would be doing, we studied teams both successful and failures to study what the differences were besides that obvious. The study of different manage styles and techniques was especially interesting to me as I was able to ad my own experience with in realm of manage from my part time job and I felt I was able to make a significant contribution to these lectures.

I found that given how much it related to what was going in term 2 such as the amount of group work that was required of me and my part time job that it really had a positive impact on my professional and academic work. Moving on from this I am now enrolled on a level 2 Add+Vantage on of Team Leader ship in which I hope to take what I have already learnt from University

I will hopefully be able to get a copy of the presentation and essay I completed for this module. I am unsure of the exact grade I received however I believe it lies some in the high 60% to low 70% bracket.

What I have sarcastically entitled The “Part Time” Job is something my old manager suggested I create, now, he never suggested I should make a blog surrounding my working life, what he did suggest that I should put together is a portfolio so finally after over year from when he suggested this I have finally decided to take it to the next level.

From early march in 2009 I started working full time as Food and Beverage Supervisor at Warwick Castle, Warwick Castle now being part of the growing commercial group Merlin Entertainments. I had applied and had numerous interviews for the job and believe it was 4^thor 5^th attempt that finally got me the job.

The first few months and honest the first year was amazingly difficult, looking back now, thinking how easy it would be criticising those who had come before me for their minor errors  just reminds how naive I was. Managing people could possibly be to me one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, whether these members of staff are younger, older or the same age they all pose their unique challenges as age groups and of course as individuals. Trying to decipher who is trying to take you for a ride and who honestly needs your help and attention is extremely difficult. It is very easy to treat them all the same and do not care about the same things you care about but the second you make assumption of your staff, the people in which you are responsible for not only coaching but also their well being then you have lots and should pack up your bags and leave. This is why I do my very best to believe and trust in my team and be the best teacher I possibly can be.

My horribly sarcastic title is there to explain something, something that many don’t understand, the responsibilities that I have on my shoulders are heavy and numerous, being responsible for the well being of both staff, colleagues and customers is something that I take very seriously and then adding other responsibilities which I hope to discuss at a later date turns a part time supervisor job into something a lot more. Of course if this sounds like I’m complaining I should make clear that I am not, I relish the opportunity that not all have available to them I do this because I feel it is natural progression in my working life and because university students are often criticised and hampered but lack practical and managerial skills which I hope to develop with my time at Warwick Castle.

This is where I will leave it for after a brief insight into how I go about and why I do my job I hope soon to come back to this page and add other things such as how I have progressed from my last post but also since I started, my official job role, a few visual aids to show what achieved, extra responsibilities that have been added to my job and hopefully much more.

As I have mentioned many times when writing in this blog or as I’ve been told to say “blogging” although I do my best to not use this term as it sounds ridiculous, this will be odd, as I have often seem my academic life  separate to everything else I do. Whether this was once the case and my personal, academic and working life are now merge or they have always been this way and I just never noticed I’m still not sure but they are all off them intertwined.

The main aspects that I feel I have taken from this year on Communication, Culture and Media (CCM) is honestly in found sense of purpose, not insinuating that everything else I do brings little consequence, if anything the opposite the insight found from studying these numerous approaches to media has made it easier keep an open mind in every aspect of life although I tend lean towards more cynical views on life however in realising this I am able to do my best to as fair as possible.

What I just discussed is much more personal aspect of my university course; however it is not the only impact that is has had on my life. CCM definitely inspires me more than most things as of late but what is unclear is which has had a dominant impact was it CCM over my Part Time job or vice versa? One thing I can say for sure is that doing both of these things simultaneously has been hard but worth it.

The organisational skills I have been taught and taught myself since I have been in supervisor position at Warwick Castle have given me the tools to stay on top of the work that has been task during this last academic year. As well as this the leader ship abilities I have gained allowed me to be a very effective part of team, not as leader myself as some may assume but with the insight into the difficulties of leading teams I was able to sympathise with my leaders and do my best to make their job as easy as possible.

This is how I feel my Part Time job has effect CCM however it has to be said it wasn’t all one way, in fact all be it not the start of my organisational skills or my ability to work effectively in teams they both built on as the majority of work which is part of CCM utilise team work and organisational skill at the base level. This allowed me to build on these in a different professional environment. This allowed me to actually take back a much more professional manner to my Part Time job direct befitting from CCM.

At the end of it all it is tricky to say which has impact on each other more or which will have dominance in the long term but at the moment it is clear that when used in conjuncture with each other they have very powerful and positive effect. Although holding down a part time job and a full time university course may look great on a CV and allow you to gain great experience in both the academic and professional work environment, it is not recommend for a good night’s sleep.

In this Digital Photograph i was trying to convey the drudgery labour but also a form of comradery of the working class and a juxapostion between the binary oppostions of the classes 

 This Photograph was taken of three, for lack of better term, street cleaners on what one would assume is there daily break. the poster in the far right although it is a commercial advertisement it depicts a beautiful summer scene behind one street cleaner with the other two apparently staring at the advertisement, this could lead to viewer of this photograph to believe that these gentlemen are longing for for something different are change from the daily lives possibly. This is backed up given their current surroundings being a stereo typical city centre without a single aspect of anything “natural”

However with this being said  the faces of two of these individuals are not completely visible to the viewer leaving a lot open for interpretation. This point leads me on to my second thought, this being that there may be some longing for a change of scenery all three of them are together instead going there separate ways eating their lunch lock away in a office. They are together, suggesting these men are friends and are extremely comfortable spending time with each other.

The title “Working Lunch” was a group effort when discussing the photographs taken. We decided on this because it uses juxtaposition with our subjects or hero’s having their lunch on the street drinking bottles of coke and possible other “unhealthy” food and drink as they are always on go the juxtaposition come in when using the title “Working Lunch” this has connotation linked with higher classes in which they would have expensive lunches with business partners as they too are very busy. The only difference being the price of the food or more correctly the salary the different classes receive.

Well hello Nic, what have you got yourself in for. Your predictions regarding storm were right, somewhat out of nowhere a flood of work came rolling in around term 2, although you struggled to keep your head above water, you stuck with it this time, fought the ergs to jump ship and now it’s paying off in the last term of year.

When again looking at your predictions I believe you have at least a foot hold or jumping off point from which to continue although I would suggest that you do you very best to not go further down the road of cynical media hating bastard as that will do no good for any instead focus on what the potential for true greatness there is within the world of media.

It’s great to see that however cynical you may have become you have not lost what drives you which is apparent within you Inspiration page as well as this you manage to dive write into aspects of production you never thought possible most specifically editing and actually enjoyed it more then you thought possible, considering in essence your sat in a basement with no natural light staring at an computer screen.

And hey you found that you have a lot more confidence and patience with people from amount of group work you’ve been doing which is great, definitely if you intend on staying in this profession both of which are virtues, so there’s 2 in the win column.

In answer to the last question of the previous letter, yes, yes you still crack yourself up whether anyone else laughs or not. Ultimately do your best to be open minded, find the truth in any situation and continue to surround yourself with good friends and you can’t go wrong.

Bring on Year 2

I have to dive straight in, yell “comedians!” from the rooftops but then remember that although this is something I have discussed many times in my life something that only a hand full know is that I want to be a stand up comedian, so instead I will whisper it through a blog. That number will probably stay the same depending on how many people read this.

This passion of comedy of course does not mean I laugh at every comedian in fact the opposite I enjoy looking deep into how they make their audience laugh and smile, but more importantly comedians have a massive influence on the world almost to point which might scare myself if I had a nervous disposition. A great example of this is a brilliant comedian, Bill Hicks, which is probably not a massive shock given the fact that I am a young student at the point in his life where he feels he can change the world, but won’t. Bill Hicks is a perfect example of this, getting reactions from his audience by most controversial thoughts and opinions and yet still getting laughs that comedians live for, which I believe is what comedians do best, taking every day normal situations and challenging the social normality of it.

The next inspiration I really want to talk about is my love, and it is definitely a love of Science Fiction. Science Fiction of course was once a realm only occupied by the “geek” or “nerd” those which society deemed to be unusual. Now whether or not the world recognises this, but science fiction has taken its place in the most popular forms of media being consumed in modern society.

I often wonder why I was so interested in this particular genre and it only very recently came to me while watching an episode of Stargate: SG1 (a personal favourite) in which a character quotes Isaac Asimov “Science fiction is an existential metaphor, it allows us to tell stories about the human condition. Isaac Asimov once said: Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all” - Herbert Duncanson, Stargate SG-1. I must admit I have never read anything of Isaac Asimov’s work but upon stumbling over this statement it sort of made sense, the idea that you can tell stories that could be even more relevant to people’s everyday lives than the average soap opera is a beautiful idea realised.

Once this was realised I found I enjoyed science fiction even more and has inspired me not necessarily to make great science fiction but make everything relate to what makes us human, to do this we must find truth in everything we do. However how I first became interested in science fiction was because it is a beautiful escape from reality at its simplest which is an interesting contrast to how I feel about it now.

The last of my inspirations is a tricky one to explain, especially through the written word so be patient and I’ll do what I can explain what I mean by inspirational collaboration. I apologise for my attempt to explain this if you do not understand, but I do not apologise if you believe this “cop out” or a feeble attempt to simply write something.

My passion for collaboration can be seen to come quite simply from the fact that being human (if we are such a thing) means we are social beings and need interaction to live. The feeling of talking to someone who thinks that same way as you and then putting those ideas in practice to great something that may not have been possible on your is a most exciting experience. This something can range from a piece of music to a Hollywood block buster and both of these examples require collaboration to bring the ideas to fruition.

Of course I will not always be lucky enough to find people who think in the same way as I do; in fact it is often the opposite. These interactions with people of different beliefs, backgrounds and opinions is just as exhilarating as the opposite, having a back and forth discussion about the best way to accomplish the task at hand can change a thought or an idea into something great. Both of these approaches to collaboration are ever present within realm of media which is why I choose this path and I hope you can see examples of this within the work present on my blog.

Thank you for this opportunity to discuss the things that shape me and are still shaping me. I hope to add to my inspirations and passions in this section as what I have put across so far does not give all of inspirations justice. I have many more inspirations to discuss but I hope this give you a brief insight into what drives me and of course if you want to know more please feel free to talk to me about this any time in any manner you would like as there is nothing I enjoy talking more about then my self.

“Now if I walk past a group of youths I find myself holding my keys in my pocket, then I find myself putting each key in between my clenched fist, so if I have to hit him I’ll fucking kill him.” – Dylan Moran