Luke's Personal Development Blog

Barnsley BarCamp #bcbarnsley

2010-05-25T02:59:00.003+01:00

On Saturday the 22nd of May I attended another BarCamp, this time being held at the Barnsley Digital Media Centre

As always it was great to get to hear from a range of different people all who had different, but complimentary interests as to myself. All the talks gave me food for thought I particularly enjoyed the session on JQuery, How to get inspired for photography and A rant about looking for jobs and employment.

By far the thing I enjoy most about attending these events is meeting and talking to new people. On this particular occasion I got talking to Graham who makes beautiful Flash Websites I myself have used Flash, but I was complete astounded at the level of detail when Graham showed me his work!

I once again took my camera with me so I could capture a few images of my day

Created with flickr slideshow.

Images can be seen on Flickr

Flickr Slide show to demo to Leeds Art SU

2010-05-19T13:59:00.006+01:00

This is a Flickr slide show it is pulling images from my Flickr account. A slide show like this one can be embed online and something similar could be added to the side bar of a blog.

Each time someones comes to view the blog if new pictures have been added it provides fresh and interesting content for the viewer.

Created with flickr slideshow.

Find my Flickr Account here and follow me

3 Minute Wonder

2010-04-13T12:08:00.011+01:00

I have watched 3 Minute wonder on Channel 4 many times. Often finding the program very interesting, but never giving it any thought in terms of the format or how I could adapt the format to help me grow as someone who wishes to produce short videos.

Essentially I would some up 3 minute wonder as a short documentary (3 minutes) on a particular topic

I would like to use this format, to help me produce a number of short documentaries. From having only just watched the program and not as of yet fully analysed the techniques used, it appeared to me as though a lot of voice over is used about the given topic and video backing up what is being said is used as visuals to support the audio voice over. This is broken up with people speaking directly to the camera.

I plan to pick a topic, film some cut aways and then get someone to talk about it.

In my head I am picturing a short (possible a minute) documentary about video games. I plan on capturing disks being put in CD drives, fingers franticly pressing buttons, power switches being turned on.

Thinking as I type I can see there would be the possibility to take this idea and create an advert for a video games console. I would do this by creating a script that shows the benefits of gaming in a positive light. and highlight the gaming system as the machine that can help achieve the positive benefits being talk about.

This is just a small idea that I would like to execute

Creative Careers Fair

2010-03-11T12:20:00.005Z

On Wedesday 24th February, I attended the creatives careers fair in Bradford, hoping that I would be able to talk to a few businesses and swap business cards with people.

Previously when looking for a job I have talked with small business owners and offered to help out, or I have used social media to contact business owners directly and let them know who I am and what area I specialise in. The careers fair was in stark contrast to this.

As I entered The Atrium at Bradford University there seemed to be a distinct lack of 'buzz' about the room, and many of the stands were empty, which gave a negative feel to the careers fair.

As I walked round I identified a few businesses who appeared to work in the area of digital media. I approached them and talked to a few the relevant of the businesses, but the advice they were giving was very general, such as "when you have graduated send us your C.V." This left me feeling a little disconnected from these large corporations and I did not feel inspired that I would want to peruse things further.

To reflect on this day, I do not think that a careers fair would be my first avenue to use when looking for a job. However given the opportunity to go to another careers fair, if I was free on the day it was being held I would almost certainly attend, as you never know what opportunities are available or who you may meet.

If you are a university student, or someone who works in the area of digital media and you read this blog post, I would be very interested to hear from you in the comments. Please leave me any tips on strategies on gaining employment I am always looking for new and interesting way in which I can market myself.

On a side note I headed over to Bradford Media Museum after the creative careers fair and was pleasantly surprised to find they had a videos games exhibition that contained many retro arcade cabinets. As I had my dSLR camera with me I spent the rest of the afternoon practicing some photography. Pictures will be uploaded to my flickr page soon

Leeds Social Media Surgery

2010-02-06T14:04:00.005Z

It is important to note that I am writing this article from the perspective of a University student who wishes to develop a career in technology/web/digital/social media consultancy, and not that of a patient or surgeon at Leeds Social Media Surgery.

On the 2nd of February I attended the 2nd Leeds Social Media Surgery, located at The Round Foundry, with the intention of becoming a future surgeon.

I contacted John prior to the event asking if I could be a surgeon, having spent my time at university studying the practical uses of social media as a tool for communication, distribution of digital content (as well as having the personal experience, of using a wide range of social media tools for various purposes) I felt I would have some valuable knowledge that I could pass on to other people.

As the event approached I felt a little uncomfortable with being a surgeon as I have no prior experience in consultancy. This made me feel a little uneasy and I felt it would be better for me to watch and observe at my 1st session just so I could get a feel for how the surgeries worked.

From my observations I found the surgery to be a relaxed informal chat (as most social media events tend to be) where by patients had questions and surgeons talked through and demoed software / tech that could address the patients problems.

I sat in on a session where by a local community paper (Black & White News UK) wanted advise on re-establishing their paper, they wanted advice on how to take the content from the paper and publish it online, and if taking the content online was the right way to go.

Rick, (the surgeon who I sat in with) advised on how taking content online removes printing cost, there is no longer the need in investing time (and) or money in to physical distribution if the content is online. He also demoed how twitter can be used as a simple way to publish content up to a website and furthered this demo by showing that it is possible to interface with twitter from your mobile phone, thus allowing a website owner to publish fresh and engaging content to a website, while being on the move and away from a desktop computer.

When ever I attend any social media event I always find that I learn something new and inspiring and this was not an exception at the social media surgery. Rick talked about a concept I had not heard of before called 'reverse publishing' where by you take a selection of your best online content and then use this to generate a print article for distribution.

I know I have the knowledge and ability to advise people at future surgeries as I am often advising friends and family ways in which they can get leverage from social media to make their lives easier, talk and interact with people who have similar ideas and interests, or as a way to find prospective clients who would be interested in the services their business has to offer.

Although currently I do not feel I am fully equipped to take on the role of a consultant I do hope that with the right guidance and by further building my experience in this role I am able to rise to the challenge at the next surgery and advise my 1st patient.

Below I have included some images I took while at the Leeds Social Media Surgery, I am happy for other people to use them in their own blog posts, I just request you credit them to me and link back to my twitter page.

Multimedia Journalism - Audio Blogging

2010-01-08T22:41:00.011Z

I recently came across an article entitled "10 new years resolutions to make you a better multimedia journalist - by Adam Westbrook"

One thing that struck me was the mention of audio. I have previously considered making audio podcasts, but this is one area of journalism and reporting that I have the least experience in.

It also seems to be (at least in my mind) audio is one of the least developed areas of social media. The only audio site that springs to my mind is audioBoo when I think of social audio online.

With that said I wish to develop and become more competent in the area of audio. In the subsequent blog post I plan to post more audio content so I can become more familiar and confident in this area. Below is my 1st ever audio blog post for you to feast your ears upon! :)

1st Ever Audio Post (Originally posted on Tumblr)

I would love it if you could listen to this piece of audio then tell me your thoughts about audio blogging.

Have you ever tried creating or publishing an audio blog before?

Do you have a favourite place to up upload or host your audio blogs?

Do you think the audio blog an established niche?

Are you aware of any popular audio bloggers?

Do you think audio blogging will ever pick up enough interest to become as popular as the written blog or video blog?

Please leave me a comment on this post and let me know your thoughts.

iCaptureLeeds

2010-01-07T19:12:00.003Z

I am in the process of creating the photoblog iCaptureLeeds

Although I worry I will be diluting the brand by posting across multiple blog platforms and other social media sites. I do however hope by doing this I will reach the largest number of people possible

I have registered on various site and platforms and I am now in the stages of skinning and customising each one. I really need help with this as this is not one of my strong points and it is slowing me down from the launch. Having to create multiple skins is also a bit of a pain in the neck and is a slow and time consuming process

I am also in the process of writing a description on the blog to post as info for people who want to know more about the project.

This is what I have so far

iCaptureLeeds is the name of an iPhone Photograpy Blog created by Luke Beaumont.
Pictures are updated on a daily basis. Subscribe to see stunning pictures of Leeds taken through the lens of an iPhone.

I feel I am currently suffering a mental block and this description does not truly represent what the blog is about.

I also need to create an avatar to represent the project online I have downloaded a few images that I have identified have an association with this project.

Below is a 1st attempt at creating an avatar to represent the blog

Again I would appreciate any help with creating an avatar for this project.

I am thinking that it may be best to get posting on this blog before I have "missed the boat" and worry about skinning later

I won't "promote" the blog to people until I have skinned it and got it looking suitable for public consumption. However if you read this blog post you can consider yourself one of the beta testers for the blog.

So that is where iCapture Leeds currently stands,

You can find and subscribe to the blog in the following places

Blogger
Tumblr
Posterous
Twitter
FaceBook
Flickr

Please subscribe and follow the blog and help me with the testing process

I will be uploading the 1st batch of test pictures in the next couple of days

Many Thanks

-Luke

If you would like to help out with skinning or creating an avatar please e-mail lukeb3000 [at] gmail [dot] com

iPhoneography - Which blogging platform is best?

2009-12-31T14:09:00.001Z

So tomorrow I will be launching my new iPhoneography blog

My preference for a name is still iSeeLeeds however I have also thought if I want to establish myself as the 1st and premier iPhoneographer of Leeds perhaps the name theiphoneographerleeds would be a good name, but is it possible a little too long and wordy for a URL?

My next challenge is to decide on which blogging platform to use. I want as many people to be able to follow this blog in a way that is simple and easy for them. I need to select a platform that the majority of people use. From personal experience of people I have met in the Yorkshire Digital Community I believe this to be blogspot. However I think if I take the Yorkshire Digital Community out of the equation a larger number of (photographic / arts) people use tumblr.

There is always the possibility to cross posting using a desktop blogging application, but then this would make it harder for me to go back and respond to comments. (Would I be possibly be spreading myself (and my work) to thinly)

As previously mentioned I wish to bring this blog to the attention of people in Leeds and possible develop an iPhone Photography Community in the Leeds / West Yorkshire / Yorkshire area.

I am aware that on my own that I will not be able to reach many people, therefore a plan to approach other bloggers with interests in photography, digital media and technology to write about my project. I could also ask people who cover art projects with in the Leeds area to write about my project with the aim of gaining more publicity for the project.

If I want this project to be taken seriously by other media outlets I feel I will also need to work with other people to help me design and create skins for my chosen blogging platform. If you would like to help me out with this part of the project then please leave a comment below. In the bio of the iPhoneography project I will give you credit for your work and link back to you.

So that is where the project currently stands but ….

The question still remains, what is your favourite blogging platform? Let me know in the comments. Also suggest ways in which I can build up followers and a community around iPhoneography

Mobile Phone Photography Blog

2009-12-29T23:47:00.003Z

I am hoping to purchase a new phone before the 1st of January

This has presented me the opportunity to start a new Internet blog about my unique discoveries.

When considering a new mobile device, camera capabilities are the most prevalent player in my decision making process.

Previously I have owned a Nokia N80 (with a 3 megapixel camera) and a Nokia N95 (with a 5 megapixel camera). This time around I am considering the iPhone 3G S. The iPhone 3G S' camera is 3 megapixels, but people with a knowledge of digital cameras will know megapixels only equate to how big you can print the picture and not image quality. It is the camera sensor that that gives the image it's quality and with that said I believe the sensor in the iPhone 3GS's camera is very capable of producing good images for online distribution and sharing. [See images taken with iPhone 3GS]

I have previous dabble in mobile phone photography and more recently learnt how to competently use a digital SLR camera. With this in mind I am planning on setting up a blog around the subject of mobile phone photography.

Blog Outline

Initially I am going to aim to take one interesting or unique picture a day and post it on this new blog

Initial Goals

My aim for this blog is not only to interest and entertain people by documenting the world around me, I also wish to generate a steady flow of traffic to this new project.

Further Challenges that may be posed

A personal goal I wish to achieve is to use a service such as Ad-Sense to generate relevant adverts on the blog. I hope to make my 1st online revenue stream in 2010!

Finally

If I can find the time I may also write articles about camera phone photography. I would also like to invite users to submit their iPhone pictures to also be posted (just to add some variety to the blog)

An initial starting point with any new blog is coming up with a suitable name

Here are some initial thoughts I have had to help me formulate a name

Living in the city of Leeds the majority of pictures will taken in Leeds

I will be using an iPhone to take these pictures

My current favourite name I have generated is 'iseeleeds'

Other names I have come up with include iphotoleeds & iphoneographyleeds

I am not sure if these names are a little too specific as pictures may not always be taken in Leeds. My reasons for having such a specific name is that I envision the initial community for this blog will be built up around people in Leeds (as this is where the majority of pictures will be taken) then through social media and "word of mouth" more people will discover the blog.

If you can think of any further ideas or inspiration for the name of this blog then please leave them in the comments of this post.

Testing Microphones

2009-12-17T15:36:00.002Z

Having previous worked with video at a home / diy level I was aware that audio would be an important factor in giving this video a professional edge.

I wanted to test out the different microphones (directional, lapel and the built in camera microphone)

I shot some test footage using various microphones in locations of varying noise. One location was the college canteen at lunch time.

When watching the footage back I found that the built in camera microphone picked up noise from the whole canteen and my voice appeared muffled and somewhat in audible.

The directional microphone provided better results, but I found it some what inhibitive when presenting and talking to the camera.

The conclusion of this research was that a lapel mic would best suit my podcast I wished to create. The lapel mic gave me a freedom to not "fidget" while holding a directional microphone and was just a personal preference.

Unfortunately I accidently managed to destroy the video results of these microphone tests. All I have to evidence this work is a picture of myself in college with a lapel mic that I took to post on a social networking website.

LINK TO IMAGE

Location Development

2009-12-17T15:20:00.002Z

Feed back I got at the 1st crit was that my location was somewhat bland and not visually stimulating or engaging for my target audience.

I did some further research into alternative locations and recorded my results in to a power point file which I have embeded below

Alternative Locations

View more presentations from lukeb3000.

Geek Brief Credits

2009-12-17T14:57:00.002Z

After my initial test of recording in a studio environment I became highly aware of how difficult is to control each and every element of video production when working on my own.

Problems I incurred included

Set up your own lighting and make sure it is even on the subject

Focusing a camera on a subject

Recording and present to a camera at the same time

Moveingequipment such as lights, video camera, tripods, and microphones.

Making tiny adjustments to things and not have a second pair of eyes to verify that what you see is the same as other people may see or perceive something.

Previously I had thought that most 3-minute video podcasts were made by one person controlling and operating everything. Most video podcasts I watch do not contain any credits. However while watching GeekBrief I noticed there were credits at the end of the show, this made me aware that some of these podcasts are operating with a small team of people

GeekBrief.tv crew and cast is as follows

Producers, Writers, Editors Shooters, Janitors – Cali Lewis & Neal Campbell

Exectutive Producers – Adam Curry & Ron Bloom

Opening Graphics - Jude Ng

Back Ground Image – Trey Rattcliff

My immediate thoughts on the trial run of setting up my lighting was

“This would be a lot easier if I had a small crew / team to assist me. I found it hard to be able to evenly focus the light on myself.

To check the light was even I used a camera as my second pair of eyes (Pictures can be seen on my Flickr account http://www.flickr.com/photos/lukeb3000) and while this over came the problem it was a large time drain.

On reflection I know my work could have been better had I of had a small crew to assist me and in future projects I will look to assemble a small team of people to work with.

Pronunciation and Speech

2009-12-17T14:42:00.003Z

Once I had developed the script I had to think about the manor in which I would deliver it.

This video required me to verbalise my understanding of technology, I am aware that the Internet in its nature is global and therefore is watched by an extremely wide audience.
As well as having a comprehensive script. I also needed to deliver this in a way that could easily be understood aurally.
I am aware that I have a Yorkshire and that I sometimes drop my “H’s” when speaking.
To make the way I spoke in the video more understandable to a wider range of people I looked at pronunciation and speech
I also looked at speech having rhythm and fluency, similar that that of music.

I used YouTube as a tool to learn more speech and pronunciation.
I found these videos particularly useful.

Voice, Articulation & Fluency.

Vocal Warm Ups for Public Speaking : Articulation Drill for Public Speaking: Uh & Ah

http://www.youtube.com/user/English4All#p/u - Is a YouTube Channel that has a number of pronunciation and speech videos that I found useful.

Scripting – The use of powerful language.

2009-12-17T14:23:00.004Z

I am not a scriptwriter and therefore I had to teach myself how to convey the information I knew about technology in a verbal manor that would maintain peoples attention.

At this particular time I was reading the book “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs”

Side Note: At the time I was reading this book, as I am interested in doing consultancy work. I have been to a lot of conferences recently and have become aware that a lot of consultants give talks at conferences about their practice. In the future I would like to give a talk about the relevance of digital video on the web at a conference. I was using this book to educate myself on how to put a good presentation together. (I also used this book as a reference for putting together my presentation for crit)

It struck me that the ideas and concepts I was learning from this book, e.g. Creating a Story & Deliver an Experience could fundamentally be used in creating a script for my video.

Talking directly to a camera can be a nerve racking experience for some people. I related the experience of talking to a camera to that of public speaking (in some ways you can can consider your audience is at the other end of the camera and therefore this exercise was not to dissimilar to public speaking.)

As well as reading The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs and adapting the ideas in the book to create a script I also looked at other public speakers who I considered are influential at this current time.

I looked at Barack Obama and also more relevant to social media I studied how Tommy Fishback (a 14 year old) delivered a speech at izea fest. (Video can be seen here)

Crew Roles

2009-12-17T14:12:00.008Z

While undertaking this project I have been reading the book Directing The Documentary by Michael Rabiger (Read a description of Directing the Documentary).

As mentioned I struggled not having a crew. One section I found particularly interested in this book was the section that defined crew roles.

Having read this section I am a lot more clearer in my mind of what roles I would be able to delegate to people when making videos in the future. As well as helping me focus roles I am interested in filling and perusing as a career path.

This is my understanding of each role in my own words

Producer

The producer is involved more with the business aspects of the film. A producer manages budgets, hires equipment and people, and liaise with other people to market the film and get it to distribution

Director

A director’s role is to lead what the look and feel of the film will be. They must also be able direct any crew or actors with technical* and non technical aspects of creating the film

*technical – lighting, camera angles, lenses, set,

The director also has a role to play in post production, advising on colour grading and sound mixing.

Director of Photography and/or Camera Operator

The DP is responsible for ordering cameras and lenses, they would be expected to test all equipment before it arrives for the shoot to make sure that it is full operational. Camera operators are also often responsible for lighting, finding locations to access light and electricity supplies and supervising the set up of lighting equipment.

Sound Recordist

The sound recordist is responsible for hiring and testing any sound equipment that will be used on the shoot before it is on set. The sound recordist must liaise with the people in charge of cameras and lighting to find a suitable position to place microphones that will not interfere with the rest of the equipment.

Further 3 point lighting investigation and research

2009-12-17T14:06:00.003Z

I have previously mentioned I performed a 3 point lighting test run

(See pictures of my three point lighting test run)

As I researched into various lighting techniques I learnt about 3-point lighting. I choose to use this lighting, as I wanted to light my subject evenly while giving some definition from the background.

While researching in to lighting I became aware of variations of three point lighting, what effects can be achieved with these variations as well as how and where it may be used.

Below are Wikipedia links containing more information about high and low key lighting. I have chose not to reword Wikipedia’s description as I feel they have adequately described these two variations of three point lighting in a way which I understand and can not improve.

High Key

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-key_lighting

Low Key

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-key_lighting

Lyndia Tutorials (Learning to navigate the Final Cut Interface)

2009-12-17T13:57:00.006Z

For this project I wished to advance my editing skills. Previously I have worked in iMovie but I felt I was now being limited by this app as there were certain things I wished to achieve that I could not create or execute with this app.

Having an awareness of digital video I knew that I needed to progress to using Final Cut Pro (not only to achieve good results for this project but also to make employable as a video editor in the future.)

I had previously used final cut but felt somewhat unfimilair with it’s interface. I knew I need to improve if I wished to use this to edit my final piece of video.

The tool I used to help me learn to navigate and use the various features available in Final Cut was Lynda Final Cut Pro Training. After watching this video I felt much more comfortable with the interface and controlling various features.

Final Cut has now my editing tool of choice as it allows me to have great control creatively over any footage that I have shot

Self Reflection from last years feed back -

2009-12-17T13:36:00.002Z

It has previously been mentioned to me that when I have handed in work I have not provided enough documentation. On self-reflection this is because I have been under the false understanding that my final product demonstrates the knowledge I have learnt.

However on this occasion and I am aiming to divulge as much information as possible regarding various topics I have read into to help me create my final product.

They will appear in subsequent blog posts to this one.

Radio Plus (A new kind of interactive radio?)

2009-11-25T08:43:00.008Z

During research into making my video podcast I have also been investigating Internet Radio (somewhat of a dead / old format now) However I have been using services such as blogtv.com and ustream allowing listeners to interact with me as the show is broadcast (I guess you could call it Radio+ or Interactive Radio ?)

Hear are some screen shots

The challenge for me is to give the show a context.

One idea that I particularly like is to extend the communications between people that happen after conferences.

Recently I have been attending lots of BarCamps, Open Coffee and Tech conferences, perhaps a follow up Radio Plus show where people from the conference can come and meet up virtually, to further discuss their thoughts once they have digested ideas from the conference would be of use. (I think this is an idea I can develop further, I would need to speak to each speak at the event and ask them if they would like to be part of the Radio Plus show. Then it would just be a case of routing their audio into the stream (which I believe I could do via skype)) If any one would be interested in developing this idea with me then please get in touch with me. There is a link at the top of this page with my contact details

Bradford BarCamp

2009-11-14T21:15:00.009Z

On Saturday the 14th of November (2009) I attended Bradford BarCamp with the intentions to shoot a video to be edited in to content that would be put online

To shoot the video I took with me a Sony HDR-FX7

For those of you who have not been to a BarCamp before they tend to be quite small informal events, where speakers and presentations are give by people from the audience.

There is nothing discrete about pointing a Sony HDR-FX7 at someone, and I felt somewhat awkward, bustling in to a room wiith my large peli case

to then start unpacking the camera and point it at someone who perhaps hadn't had that much experience at public speak.

This is in stark contrast to when I attended PhotoCamp Bradford and took my Canon Mini DV MD205 with me

This camera seemed to provide the perfect balance of portability and discretion for filming. So although I captured no footage today I learnt the following

I need to use a camera that is appropriate to the event I will be filming.

A camera assistant would be a useful asset. While at BarCamp I found it awkward to have to move from room to room. After setting up the camera I then need to move the peli case somewhere where people would not trip over it. These required me to leave the camera on the tripod (another potential trip hazard for people) while I moved the case. Another problem I encounter was having to open large heavy doors. Not an easy task when you have a camera in one hand and a tripod in the other.

Working with video at this higher level (rather than just producing short clips from my bedroom) has made me realise that if I want to improve my work, I need to work with other people, I am now looking to use a noded network of people interested in creating video around similar topics and subjects as I wish to create video around.

2009-11-11T22:21:00.007Z

As I continue to teach myself to use video software at a much higher level than I have ever done before, I have now started to continue to build my knowledge of After Effects.

This is something small and rough I have put together just to help me get a feel and idea for a title sequence.

(At this inital stage there has been no thought put in to colour or typography, it was just a small exercise which enabled me to investigate the posibilities of using this software for creating titles)

Three Point Lighting Test Run

2009-11-09T18:59:00.002Z

I rented out some studio space in college. This video podcast project is the first time I have worked with a professional lighting setup and I wanted to get some experience before shooting the final piece.

Above is my view as I faced the camera to present my podcast. Even though the lights were not particularly close to me I could still feel the extreme heat they were giving off. After about 10 seconds of standing in font of the lights I quickly became blind, which help relieve my awkwardness of being in a large room talking to a camera

The Final Set Up

After adjusting the lights a number of times, I was able to evenly light the backdrop.

This was my 1st attempted at lighting myself and the background with 3 point lighting. After taking this picture and reviewing it was evident that I had created a harsh highlight on my right hand cheek. My initial thoughts was that this was from the Key Light

In the above picture I have moved the Key Light further away from myself and opened up the barn doors on the light. I still have a highlight on my right hand cheek, and have also lost a lot of detail on the rest of my face.

After reviewing the pictures again I realised the light creating the highlight on my face was coming from behind me and was caused by the back light. I fully opened the barn doors on the back light and opened up the barn doors on the other lights to create a nice even light on the whole set, as demonstrated in the picture above.

I am very pleased with the final result I achieved. Although I have always been aware that lighting is very important when using video, this exercise has made me realise what a vast difference lighting can make to the over look and feel to a piece of video. I think it is also important to note, when I imported the video into Final Cut, and attempted to white balance and colour correct the footage, I could not improve on what I had already created. This will be a big time saver for anyone who has limited time in post production.

LS:TV

2009-10-29T14:34:00.002Z

A lot of the research I am doing for my video podcast is to get myself hands on experience in the field of video production. I feel I learn best by partaking in practical work to see how things work in the really world.

Yesterday I went over to see the students at LS:TV

The LS:TV website describes the station as

"Leeds Student Television is a University society at the University of Leeds Students' Union.

Our members work together to produce television programmes for the students of the University of Leeds. These programmes are broadcast on screens around the Student Union and online."

I am going to be working with them on a regular basis to help produce shows for the station. I am hoping this will give me an opportunity to demonstrate my editing skills as well as get more experience as a camera operator and possible diversify in to vision mixing too should the opportunity arise.

AT the first meeting with LS:TV they asked me to camera operate which I now have pervious experience of after working at a BBC event with JayJay Media in Hull.

I have been working more with live video lately and my knowledge and confidence in this area has grown vastly.

I am now able to rig a talk back system and rig cameras into a vision mixer.

Working with live video has also made me question how I go about producing my video podcast for the DMD brief, Originally the plan was to use one camera and deliver my lines using a mid shot. However I am now thinking it would be beneficial to use two cameras. One at a mid shot and the other at a close up shot, this would give me more footage to work with in the final edit and would also all me to provide more entertainment and maintain the interest of the viewer.

I have a room booked out to work in I now need to check with Matt that I can hire two cameras at the same time. This will give me the opportunity to use the dual camera set up for some initial experimentation work.

Lighting considerations for video podcasts

2009-10-21T19:59:00.004+01:00

Three Point Lighting

Interview Lighting

Sourcing Some Kit

2009-10-19T12:58:00.006+01:00

I am hoping as part of the DMD brief I will be able to build some contacts and get my hands on some kit to review and test

One are of emerging tech that interests me is 3D. It currently seems we have pushed the limited of picture quality and sound and the next logical move is to take video in a 3d direction.

I have enjoyed watched a couple of 3D films recently and having the extra dimension did lend some extra interest to the film. It is particularly interesting to see that the PlayStation devision of Sony have also been investigating the possible use of 3D for future video games release.

As I continue to follow the use of 3D I would really enjoy finding out and experimenting with some consumer 3D product that all "the man on the street" to be able to produce his own 3D media

Cue the Fuji FinePix REAL 3D W1 (see below)

Today through the power of twitter I managed to speak to Tom Dunmore of Stuff Magazing

I am hoping that using my contacts within my social networks someone somewhere will be able to point me in the right direction with regards to getting my hands on test kit

Export Settings

2009-10-17T13:52:00.004+01:00

These are the export settings I have always used and to export video for web.

These are setting that I have found to be recommended by a number of video bloggers.

As I endeavor to give me work (and portfolio that I am building up) a professional edge I think it is high time I did some more research in to rendering video for the web.

*MENTAL NOTE* Use the college Library and photo copy relevant pages from a Final Cut book, on rendering video for web!

Subtitle Strip (Final Cut)

2009-10-17T13:36:00.002+01:00

Just found a great tutorial for creating a subtitle in Final Cut, which is perfect to introduce an audience to who is speaking on screen

For anyone wanting a basic on screen subtitle check out the link!

http://www.rippletraining.com/creating_subtitle_templates.html

Open Ended Questions

2009-10-17T11:51:00.004+01:00

I have just been refreshing my mind on what is and how to ask open ended questions, as I prepare to gather some primary research for my dissertation

I found this video from bnet

Asking good questions gets good answers

This information will also put me at an advantage as I prepare to film and interview more people at up and coming technology conferences.

iPhone supports growth of online video growth.

2009-10-05T11:16:00.002+01:00

I have been collecting research to support the fact online video is continuously growing

In part of my brief I have wrote

"I also believe as many phone networks upgrade to the 3G standard, a standard that has been designed “to allow simultaneous use of speech and data services” data services such as streaming video, coupled with the fact more people buying mobile phone handsets such as the iPhone and the Google Android based devices that come with access to the Internet as standard this will encourage more users to consume more video content"

I have just found some evidence to support this fact

"Following the launch of the iPhone 3G S, YouTube saw an increase in uploads of 400%"

Stuff.tv Accessed on 5th October 2009

http://stuff.tv/News/iPhone-3G-S-boosts-YouTube-uploads-by-400/12640/

Critical Analysis

2009-09-24T17:00:00.008+01:00

As I undertake my third year of a B.A Design for Digital Media degree a lot of the marks will be gained form critical analysis of other peoples and my own work. I found this video that examines what it means to be a critical student, which I thought was worth sharing and would make a very good first blog post.

I would be interested to hear what other people definition of being a critical student is, and what methods they use to analysis and be critical of their own and others work.

Evidence / Research FMP

2009-05-14T09:03:00.006+01:00

Before I could undertake this project I needed to teach myself to code in CSS, to do this I first borrowed the lynda DVD tutorials from the library

Using the lynda DVD's gave me a better understanding of what it is possible to achieve with CSS

I next need to put in to practice what I had learned in the lynda DVD's. Having never wrote any CSS before, I looked for some templates where I would be able to edit lines of code, to enable to learn, what the various parts of the code control.

I found a brilliant CSS layout template website named csseasy.com Using this website allowed be to configure certain design element of the code with out having to learn to script every thing

As I started editing code to change design elements it quickly became clear how a CSS website is structured.

From learning this I was able to put together some simple websites

By this point I was confident enough to try to skin a blog, after a failed attempt with both wordpress and tumblr, I decided to use blogger, as I have used this platform before.

Photography and Photoshop

2009-04-19T21:19:00.004+01:00

My friend is studying for a degree in Art and Design.

This weekend he requested my help in Photoshop. He wanted to mock up a design for a piece of clothing he is going to make for a project

I enjoyed getting to do the photography for the piece (photography is an area I would like to increase my skill in) While editing the piece I realized how much I have improved in Photoshop.

I would really enjoy a job in photo-retouching (I am actually starting to think post production is my kind of thing, I really enjoy Photoshop and I have started to use After Effects)

Basic in HTML and CSS Tutorial

2009-03-27T20:54:00.000Z

Samsung's Viral Sheep

2009-03-25T19:20:00.004Z

Over the last couple of days I have noticed people mentioning a viral advert that used sheep with LED's attached to them to recreate images of a fireworks display and retro Atari game pong.

I thought I would check the advert out to see what I had been missing, considering all the attention the advert had been getting.

These are my thoughts after watching the viral advert

The first thing I noticed is the duration of the piece is 2 minutes 44 seconds as general rule viral adverts should not be over 3 minutes (with 2 minutes being an optimal length) already this viral is a little on the long side

The opening titles of the piece introducing the viewer to each sheep hearder and their quirky job (Ermis The Electrcian, Gerry The Player, Rob The LED Master and Bernard, The General) In introducing each character this creates a sense of suspense and makes you want to find out about the characters and what they are about to do.

I did however find some of the time it is not clear what shapes and images the sheep are making.

I also find the ending scene of the video to be a weak point. It ends with the text "With thanks to Samsung Smart LED technology. Look at there LED TVs. Oh go on!" It would have been nice if the had of included a URL or even a search term.

Over all I felt the viral video did not relate to the product enough and did not inspire me to go check out Samsung Smart LED TVs

On the plus side I did find out that the advert was made by The Viral Factory and I will be adding them to my student wiki space of companies I would like to work for, as well as dropping them an e-mail to make them aware of who I am and asking for advice on how to get in to the viral video market

CSS Websites

2009-03-25T10:02:00.003Z

A few CSS websites that I want to remember for my final major project

http://css-tricks.com/

http://www.cssplay.co.uk/

http://www.csszengarden.com/

http://designshack.co.uk/

My initial idea is to set up a set up a WordPress blog

Create a number of static pages, each one contains a different tutorial on how to skin a WordPress blog.

By following all the tutorials on the blog you will be able to teach your self how to skin a WordPress blog

Milk Still Matters

2009-03-23T18:16:00.006Z

*N.B.* This blog has been wrote as a rough note of my thoughts.

I remember last year (I will add the link asap) writing about a stop motion Cravendale milk advert that caught my attention

Cravendale have done it again

The most striking elements of this advert are there brilliant sound design, and the simplistic approach of the animation

I watched this advert for a second time with out any sound, and discovered that it is actually the sound that it telling the story (try watching the advert with out any sound. It does not flow and makes little sense.)

Being interested in social media I furthered my investigation in to this advert by doing an immediate search on YouTube

I quickly found that the channels "MilkMatters", "CravenDale" and "CravenDaleMilk" were all ready being used by people who appeared not to be from the official Cravendale milk company

It would appear that the Official YouTube Channel for Cravendale milk is http://www.youtube.com/cravendaleUK All though for the casual Internet user it may not be apparent that this is their Official YouTube Channel

If I was doing some consultancy work with Cravendale I would advise them their channel needs to have some of their branding on it so people are easily able to instantly recognize it belongs to them

I have been teaching myself to make YouTube backgrounds in Photoshop so I will possible try to mock a Cravendale YouTube background to demonstrate this.

They should also use their YouTube channel to drive traffic to all the other places that they exist on the web. Providing links in their YouTube profile would be the most simple way to do this.

I notice in this video they have provided a link in the description to drive traffic to a related game on their website

To further my ideas on using social media to promote Cravendale milk if you have read my blog recently you will know I am using DailyBooth I would recommend CravenDale to start using DailyBooth, posting a picture of a milk based drink or product each day. The blub under the picture would be the recipe for the drink or product. They could then encourage people to post a picture comment after they have followed the recipe

Milk Still Matter

2009-03-23T18:16:00.001Z

Portfolio Development

2009-03-21T20:59:00.003Z

So I have a clear idea in my head how I want my portfolio to look/be.

I want graphical elements that represent each piece of software that I use. You will click the "icon" and this will take you through to examples of work I have created with each item of software with a short explanation of each piece of work

I will also include a short bio about myself as well as contact details

I have been putting together a very rough version of this portfolio. I need to tweek the code and source some more icons.

Or make my own icons. Tutorial >>HERE<<

One Month of Pictures

2009-03-20T09:08:00.002Z

I mentioned in a previous post that I have started using DailyBooth

I have succesfully managed to use this app for over a month now. On day 31 (after one month of use) I used the widget that allows you to put all your photographs in to a video

Below is the result. It would be great to get some comments and feedback let me know what you think

On reflection to this video; it is kind a surreal experience watching a month of your life pass before your eyes. Each picture has a unique meaning to me. In a years time I will be able to watch this video and know exactly what I did between February and March. I am really enjoying using this app, it allows me to interact with friends from other social networks in a new and interesting way. I plan on using DailyBooth for the foreseeable future and will be publishing videos at regular intervals.

Essay Research

2009-03-19T12:49:00.002Z

My initial thoughts when it came to writing the essay for critical studies was to look in to how broadcasting had changed since the internet has become a medium where news and information is instantly available

I was considering using the title, Broadcasting Past and Present: What Role has the Internet Played?

However I have not made a final decision and after loaning a number of books from the college library I found a couple of topics to that also caught my attention

Culture Jamming

This refers to the activities of challenging the imposition of marketing practices in our public spaces by parodying advertisements and hijacking billboards to seriously alter their messages

Adbusters (wiki page / website)

Improve anywhere (wiki page / website)

Flash-Mob (wiki page / website)

Trans-humanism / Post-humanism

Read about post-humanism >>>here<<<

Read about trans-humanism >>>here<<<

Over the weekend I shall further my research in to these topics and draw a conclusion on which one I shall write an essay on.

Animation Development

2009-03-11T09:50:00.008Z

I not have the roughly lip-synced version of my Animation for the Feel Good Breif

It still needs tidying up a little and the lip syncing still needs some attention but I just wanted to put this online as I like how the fruit characters have developed since I last posted.

Evaluation

Just to evaluate a little bit, one problem I found when lip syncing was the my untrained audio actors dropped certain letters and did not fully pronounce of annunciate words. This lead to some trouble making the animation look as convincing as possible e.g the word "can't" the letter T is not pronounced harsh enough and the word "round" the letter D is pronounced too soft.

In future projects where the spoken word plays such an important role I will pay more attention to the pronunciation. A draft audio will be recorded first. I will listen back to it and see where the actors are dropping letters or not prounouncing things in a way that will let me animate to what they are saying. By creating a rough audio draft and analysing it before going on to create a finial piece it should allow me to achieve a more realistic degree of animation

Blog Analytics

2009-03-11T09:24:00.004Z

Just thought I would post up some analytics of my two blogs

Blogger Analytics

Tumblr Analytics

Both these results are over a period of one month

I have generated these views by being an active member of various social media websites. On most social media website there is a space to add the web communities you belong to. This is how I have generated some of the views on both my blogs

At easter I will have been actively blogging for a year. If I maintain 50 views on my blog each month I would find that to be an acceptable achievement.

Summarising Text

2009-03-04T09:15:00.005Z

Just found an excellent article on summarise text.

I just wanted to keep a copy of this on my blog so next time I need to summarise anything (such as a text for critical studies) I have something to refer back to.

What Is Summarizing?
Summarizing is how we take larger selections of text and reduce them to their bare essentials: the gist, the key ideas, the main points that are worth noting and remembering. Webster's calls a summary the "general idea in brief form"; it's the distillation, condensation, or reduction of a larger work into its primary notions.

What Are We Doing When We Summarize?
We strip away the extra verbiage and extraneous examples. We focus on the heart of the matter. We try to find the key words and phrases that, when uttered later, still manage to capture the gist of what we've read. We are trying to capture the main ideas and the crucial details necessary for supporting them.

When You Ask People to Summarize, What Usually Happens?
they write down everything
they write down next to nothing
they give me complete sentences
they write way too much
they don't write enough
they copy word for word

What Did You Want Them To Do?
pull out main ideas
focus on key details
use key words and phrases
break down the larger ideas
write only enough to convey the gist
take succinct but complete notes

How Can I Teach My Students to Summarize?
Please be warned: teaching summarizing is no small undertaking. It's one of the hardest strategies for students to grasp, and one of the hardest strategies for you to teach. You have to repeatedly model it and give your students ample time and opportunities to practice it. But it is such a valuable strategy and competency. Can you imagine your students succeeding in school without being able to break down content into manageable small succinct pieces? We ask students to summarize all the time, but we're terrible about teaching them good ways to do this!

Here are a few ideas; try one...try them all. But keep plugging away at summarizing. This strategy is truly about equipping your students to be lifelong learners.

After students have used selective underlining on a selection, have them turn the sheet over or close the handout packet and attempt to create a summary paragraph of what they can remember of the key ideas in the piece. They should only look back at their underlining when they reach a point of being stumped. They can go back and forth between writing the summary and checking their underlining several times until they have captured the important ideas in the article in the single paragraph.

Have students write successively shorter summaries, constantly refining and reducing their written piece until only the most essential and relevant information remains. They can start off with half a page; then try to get it down to two paragraphs; then one paragraph; then two or three sentences; and ultimately a single sentence.

Teach students to go with the newspaper mantra: have them use the key words or phrases to identify only Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

Take articles from the newspaper, and cut off their headlines. Have students practice writing headlines for (or matching the severed headlines to) the "headless" stories.

Sum It Up: Pat Widdowson of Surry County Schools in North Carolina shared this very cool strategy with me. How's it work? You have students imagine they are placing a classified ad or sending a telegram, where every word used costs them money. Tell them each word costs 10 cents, and then tell them they can spend "so much." For instance, if you say they have $2.00 to spend, then that means they have to write a summary that has no more than 20 words. You can adjust the amount they have to spend, and therefore the length of the summary, according to the text they are summarizing. Consider setting this up as a learning station, with articles in a folder that they can practice on whenever they finish their work early or have time when other students are still working.

The original article can be found >>HERE<<

Business Card Development

2009-03-04T00:32:00.005Z

Today I work on the design of my business cards as I ant to order them asap

I have decide that I will define myself as an Online Content Creator as I enjoy creating video, audio, graphics, writing blogs, and creating animation that can be viewed online.

I can't decide which of the 3 designs below to use. My gut feeling is to go with "Online Content Creation" as it just seems to look tidier and looks better presentation wise.

But feel free to leave me your feedback in the comments!

Lip Syncing in Flash

2009-02-26T15:56:00.003Z

Undertook a lip sync tutorial today to help me further myself with the Feel Good Brief

Below are the results

All I need to do now is find a couple of fruit related jokes and lip sync them

If you know any good fruit jokes that I can use PLEASE leave them as a comment to this post!

The Snow

2009-02-10T09:17:00.001Z

Google Search is King!

2009-02-05T15:10:00.000Z

It seems it is becoming more common place for people to use "Search Terms" rather than entering a direct url.

I have been aware of this concept for a few years and know that this is common practice in Japan, but the fact I saw this concept being used by a small business this weekend suggest to me that soon urls will be completely replace by "Search Terms" and that soon this practice will hit the main stream

The image used when indicating someone to use search terms in a search engine is a magnifying glass

I have mocked up an image below showing how you would indicate to someone to search my screen name (lukeb3000)

Social Media

2009-02-04T14:30:00.002Z

What The F**K is Social Media?

View more presentations from Marta Kagan. (tags: socialmediamarketing marketing)

Courtesy of http://www.freshnetworks.com/learn/social-media

How Twitter Changed My Life

View more presentations from Minxuan Lee. (tags: live casting)

Courtesy of http://www.nlabnetworks.com/

Digital Hand Shake

2009-02-01T19:42:00.002Z

I am a big fan of Gary Vaynerchuk. He speaks a lot of sense when it comes to the online world. He is very respected in online marketing and branding.

This particular video caught my attention

Viral Video Research

2009-01-29T14:10:00.006Z

ITV's Best Ever Ads (TV Program)

2009-01-25T17:00:00.003Z

As I have (probably) mentioned many times before I think a career in advertising would be very interesting. I would love to work creating, producing or in post production of the advertising industry. I think there is something brilliant about an advert that captures your attention and gets you talking about it with your friends!

Tonight on ITV2 is a program covering ITV's Best Ever Ads, I would recommend anyone interested in the advertising industry to watch this program as I am sure it will be highlighting and show casing what goes in to making a good advert!

Below is tvguide.co.uk/ synopsis of the program

"Phillip Schofield and a host of celebrities remember the adverts that have become as popular as the programmes. Commercial clips include the Smash Martians, the Milky Bar Kid, the Guinness surfers and the saucy instalments of the Gold Blend campaign. With contributions from the stars of the ads and celebrities including Simon Cowell, Lorraine Kelly, Les Dennis, Michael Aspel and crisp-crunching Gary Lineker
Category General Show/Game Show
Director Stuart Ramsay
Executive Producer Mark Robinson
Producer Stuart Ramsay
ITV2 4:30pm-5:30pm (1 hour ) Sun 25 Jan"

tvguide.co.uk/

YouTube Gathering Sheffield

2009-01-18T00:05:00.003Z

Today I went to a YouTube gathering in Sheffield if I wasn't so tired right now I would write up a proper blog post ... Thank goodness for twitter!

I will try to write a more in depth blog post about the gathering at some point!

Stash Magazine

2009-01-13T10:35:00.003Z

This morning we had stash magazine playing in the studio

As the videos played I took note of some of the websites that came up

I thought this would be useful for Mike's brief

http://www.the-mill.com/

http://www.moving-picture.com

http://www.shythesun.tv

http://www.glassworks.co.uk

http://zeitguised.wordpress.com/

http://www.resin.com.au/

Citizen Journalist

2009-01-11T18:54:00.005Z

This Saturday while in town I came across group of people marching being escorted by the police. Many people had stopped to watch and find out what was going on. I pulled out my mobile phone and began to record what was happening in front of me. As a gentleman approached me to hand me a leaflet, I managed to conduct a quick interview to ask him what was happening.

Below is the raw unedited footage I captured

Since making this video (and working with ITV local, who also handed out Nokia N95's as well as hand-held Hi-Def cameras to interview the crowd) I have become aware that most people are very open to being interviewed. My previous perception was that people would shy away from a camera (I think mobile phones are a very unobtrusive type of camera that people are comfortable to talk in front of)

Personal Development 2

2008-12-17T20:43:00.007Z

Getting a Job in the area of Digital Media / Social Media is something I have been thinking a lot about recently. How will I "break in" is the question I constantly find I keep ask myself.

Getting my first job in Digital Media is something I greatly desire. Although I have been trying to network a lot, and over the course of this month I have spoken to many people who are involved in areas that I have a specialist interest in, I still feel confused as to what it takes to gain your first job.

While networking this has allowed me to gather lots of info for Personal Development.

Here are a list of companies I would love to work for

MGImedia

MGImedia is owned by Amber MacArthur host of CommandN

MGImedia specialize in

Web Usability and User Experience Consulting

Video Production & Post-Production

Web Design & Branding

Social Media Consulting & Web 2.0 Technologies

Smash Face

SmashFace was founded by Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf

SmashFace describe them selves as a "production company 2.0." We develop original online video content, create co-productions with traditional media, build and cultivate online communities, and provide interactive consulting services. We build singular brands and execute large-scale immersive entertainment experiences that cross multiple forms of media.

Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf, say "We know the web and we know how to use the technology available to craft new kinds of storytelling experiences that shatter the boundaries between audience and filmmaker."

For Your Imagination

For Your Imagination is a leading online media studio which develops, markets and distributes high-quality original Internet TV and web video series The studio works with brands and content creators to develop their online video content, offering them the opportunity to reach a targeted advertiser-friendly audience effectively and monetizing quickly.

For Your Imagination’s talented team writes, produces and markets entertaining videos for online distribution and monetization through advertising, sponsorships, merchandising and licensing

The team at For Your Imagination is built upon the experience of industry veterans whose combined expertise include web development, major television and movie production, national marketing campaigns and technology.

Bright Young Things

Bright Young Things are a communications consultancy, who produce low cost video content for social networks.

Looking at these four companies has helped me identify that I really want to work creating video for the web, but I also want to be able to create and manage online communities, as well as having the skills to communicate with these communities

I already believe I have the skills to communicate with a large number of people in a wide range of locations using the many web 2.0 tools that are freely accessible.

I also have the physical tools (computer, video camera, video editing software) (I need to invest some of my money in to a good microphone) to be able to make and produce video content

The only thing left for me to do is develop my production skills. Anyone who works in the online world will know that Content is King

Naming Your Web Start-Up

2008-12-08T21:38:00.004Z

I recently found this video and thought I would share it

Being interested in the Internet and all of the current start ups that are appearing I found this video to be of great interest

I have recently started to collaborate regularly with 6 other bloggers and deciding upon our name was the hardest part

I am also interested in starting a regular screen-cast reviewing up and coming web 2.0 apps, I am currently finding it really difficult to think of a name

I need to find a name for the screen-cast that is emotional rather than descriptive, this will allow me to be felxable with what I review. I am currently struggling to find something that fits the bill

If you have any ideas or thoughts please leave me some feedback

.tel Domains

2008-12-03T15:12:00.002Z

On Wednesday, companies and organizations can register Web addresses with a new top-level domain, .tel

A .tel domain name links to the contact information of businesses, organizations and individuals. Information can include telephone numbers; links to Web sites, including a Facebook or MySpace page; e-mail addresses; instant messaging names, and, if you wish, identities for virtual games such as Xbox Live or Second Life.

nytimes.com/2008/12/02

I would really like to register a .tel domain and put all my contact details online. If .tel becomes a standard in finding peoples contact details I would rather be part of it now rather than later (In the last year or so I have come to find being at the cutting edge is what gets you noticed in the online / digital world)

I currently agree with web transparency, using your really name etc. In the grand scheme of things I am quite happy to put my contact details online.

I am sure there will be many people who read this with shock horror! As we are often told not put any information such as contact details online

I believe I am web-savy enough to put my details online in a way that does not put me at "risk"

I have never put my phone number online, but if at some point I chose to do that I would almost certainly use a second phone, with a completely different number to my personal phone number.

The Internet Generation / Grown up Digital

2008-12-03T12:51:00.010Z

I have recently started to watch RocketBoom (and plan to add it to my iTunes podcast library)

The episode below looks at how technology to young people is just a part of their daily lives, and how this is affecting their development

Although when I was born there was no public access to the Internet and mobile phones were not widely owned by the general public, I do identify myself as one of these "technology kids"

I can often be found at home

TV on

Sending text messages

E-mailing

IM-ing

Consuming News (Video or On screen text)

Creating digital content

all at the same time.

I have heard this practice referred to as media stacking. I guess this means growing up using the Internet has given me really good switching abilities!

I can relate really well to "Dilbert INC" I much prefer working in a collaborative group of people, especially when I am using collaboration tools that are freely available online. I find working in a collaborative group allows me to pool resources ideas and information.

Happy Birthday Gary Vaynerchuck

2008-11-17T23:30:00.004Z

As you may or may not know the November 14 marked Gary Vaynerchuck's Birthday

Gary is well know on the Internet for his high energy style used when presenting his show, Wine Library TV

I was invited this weekend by Derek who is the Community Leader at Viddler to be part of a collabrative video to celebrate Garys birthday

My Perfect University

2008-11-17T01:32:00.001Z

I really wish I could embed this video but the option is currently disabled

I think we all have periods of time where we visit certain website.

My current website addiction is YouTube

CLICK THE LINK http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MAsI7mmM4eQ

Interactive Pathway

2008-11-11T02:13:00.003Z

I am still a little undecided about which brief I am going to choose

If I had to make a decision on the spot I would opt for the Viral Flash brief,

How ever I am still very interested in learning HTML and CSS as I want to be able to create websites so I can show case any viral content that I do create!

As I write this and think further about the briefs, I don't really know a lot about Blues & Jazz music or the culture that surounds it, perhaps I will opt to make make a Flash space-invaders space style game as mentioned in the previous post, and embed it in to an elegantly created CSS website.

That way I get the best of both worlds, I can use skills that I am confident in (using flash software) as well as improving my abilities that I am not so good at (CSS and HTML)

I would also like to learn about using API's so maybe a could feature that in to my website some how. (Google map API showing local Stores that sell tomato ketchup)

I am not sure how acceptable it is blending two briefs together. I will consult Mike and Annabeth before I develop this idea any further.

Optional Path Way

2008-11-06T14:06:00.004Z

Today is the first lesson of our "Optional Pathway" Module

We can either specialise in Interactive Media or Moving Image

Being a massive Internet nerd! I thought it only appropriate to take the interactive media pathway.

(However Mike did mention that there is a cross over between the two and that creating video that can be streamed, broadcast and uploaded online can be part of the interactive module which pleased me quite a lot, as recently I have become less interested in creating websites and more interested in webisodes and web-series)

Here are the briefs that I am able to chose from for the interactive pathway

Flash Banners -

"To create a range of interactive / animated Flash banners" to promote "In Game," an online games magazine"

"To create a range of interactive / animated Flash banners to promote " 'In Game' a new online games magazine that will use to targeted marketing on Facebook, Myspace and other Social Networking sites"

I feel I have the skills to easily be able to produce a range of flash banners. If I were to undertake this brief, I would put all my efforts in to making the banners have a professional edge. Spending time giving it the polish I often feel my work sometimes lacks

HTML / CSS -

"To create a website template layout and CSS stylesheet for Coltrane and Hancock's Music Emporium, a specialist jazz and blues music on Brick Lane, London"

I would really like to undertake this project as website design is a career path I would be interested in pursuing.

The idea of using the GoogleMap API I also like. I do not have a full understanding of API's. I do however know there are a whole host of useful API's out there that can be embeded and manipulated into websites

Although recently I am starting to find other areas in digital media that interest me. There are often times when I require a website. Currently my skills in HTML and CSS are somewhat lack luster and I feel developing these skills would benefit me somewhat.

However I feel my lack of knowledge in HTML and CSS may hinder me from producing a profesional product.

If I was to under take this brief it would be for the experience of leaning HTML and CSS. I would hope that I can make up marks that I may not gain in the construction of the website in the evaluation.

I would hope to clearly evaluate all that I have learnt and achieved.

Interactive Flash -

"Produce an interactive flash website that promotes Heinz Ketchups"

"To create an exciting flash-based web experience promoting awareness of the HEINZ Tomato Ketchup and the different varieties avalible

This is an Open Brief in terms of online deliverables, so feel free to be as left field as you want. This could be a flash game, viral advert or fun fact site"

This brief I feel has the right mix of elements that I am interested in. I know I am capable of producing a flash web site. I would be able to develop my skills in action script. (Something I want and need to do to make me a better flash designer/developer)

I also have an interest in creating viral video. So creating a viral video that is supported by a flash website would be quite and interesting avenue to take. I could also throw in a couple of Flash games. Maybe a Space Invaders style game with a selection of tomato sauce bottles as your space craft. Instead of lazers as your weapons the "space craft" bottle fires tomatos. It could be quite a graphical game, with images created in illustrator or photoshop and imported in to flash to be animated.

I now need to further evaluate which brief to tackle, and carefully consider what I can gain and learn from each brief

Wednesday: Day Three

2008-10-30T18:12:00.010Z

Today was slightly more entertaining than the last couple of days, While waiting for my girlfriend to get back from lectures I surfed youtube and last.fm to keep myself occupied. When she got back it was time to watch a little O.C again, (I am atually starting to get in to the O.C now!)

Then we had to go out to do a little halloween shopping, as this friday everyone at her house is having a halloween party. I'm not a big fan of shopping with girls it takes too long :( Eventually when everyone had finally chosen their outfits we went to Coffee Trader for hot chocolate

Then it was back home for a nap (It had to be done all these early dark nights are making me sleepy)

Later that evening we went for our dinner at Lau's Buffet King

I finished the meal with my absolute favourite of all time (I only discovered how much I love this when my girlfriend first took me to eat at a Chinese Restaurant a few years ago)

Nothing beats ice cream and jelly FACT! Especially chocolate ice cream!!!

The Student Life Style Continues

2008-10-29T00:40:00.002Z

Today was pretty similar to yesterday nothing of great importance to report

I went to town this morning, and picked up a few clothes from every students favourite, Primark

Had lunch in Northumbria Student Union bar named Habita, then caught up on some O.C and One Tree Hill (I don't ordinarily watch these programs but felt obliged as everyone here seems to LOVE them!)

It was fish and chips for tea. My friend who lives here too opted for donna meat and garlic sauce! I genuinely can't think of anything more disgusting

The night was rounded of with a few pints down the local pub where we watched Newcastle United beat West Brom 2 - 1

Rather Uneventful

2008-10-28T00:39:00.004Z

Today was rather uneventful had a typical student day of sitting in and watching TV

Managed to catch all the student favorites, OC, One Tree Hill, blah blah blah!!!! I was meant to be going to The Baltic I am hoping I will get to do that later in the week!

One thing I did notice was the size of the GIANT Plasma TV that sits in my girlfriends front living room, aren't student meant to be poor? I know I certainly am!!!!

Look it it sat there with two GIANT floor standing speakers sat next to it!!!

This picture does it no justice, I promise it is sooo much bigger in real life!

This week ......

2008-10-26T23:47:00.004Z

This week I am going to try to update this blog once a day. I will be using it as a digital scrap book

I am spending the week visiting my girlfriend in Newcastle and I just thought it would be a fun to chronicle what I have done with the week.

I am not sure how appropriate it is to use this blog to post things that I do out side of college, but I don't want to set up a forth blog as I don't think I would post regularly enough to it.

Again I don't think what I post on here over the next week will be of great interest to anyone, so I am sorry if you find it boring :(

I just want to test out how good I am at taking out my phone capturing some media (photos and videos) and editing it together into a blog post

It will all be back to college and technology posts after the half term

So with out further a do

My first day of half term .......

I set of mid evening to Leeds city train station.

Once I had board the train. I whipped out my MacBook and killed the time of the hour and a half journey watching Children of Men

My journey took me through York, Darlington, Durham

I caught a couple of pictures of The Yorkshire Wheel as I passed through York

Arriving at my final destination Newcastle

As I said not the most interesting of post! :)

The Miracle that is Adobe After Effects

2008-10-15T21:44:00.004+01:00

I think Adobe After Effect may be my new favourite program.

I followed a tutorial on youtube to produce the video below

It was very simple to make once I got over a few hick-ups of working out which side to mask and which video each layer was on.

I plan on following some more youtube tutorials to develop my skills in after effects look out for more videos

More Advertising Uncut

2008-10-03T18:19:00.006+01:00

(Nice after effects opening titles :)

Another day off from college and I mannaged to catch another Episode of Adverting Uncut on Channel Four

The was the last episode in the series and looked at what tactics advertisers use to make an advert successful, and it seems making people laugh is the best way to get them to like your product

They showed a whole host of clips on the show

Budweiser - Wazzzz up;
Was a very successful ad campaign, it even appealed to people (teenagers) who were not legal allowed to buy the product. The term "Wazzzz Up" even out lived the advert it self with people still using Waaaaz Up even when the advert was no longer running

Virgin Media - Wyclef
Another successful (and funny) ad campaign this time highlighting that Virgin Mobile do not tie you to a contract.

Virgin Media - Kate Moss
Virgin ran this ad at the time Kate Moss had been dropped from some of her high profile contracts. The advert was only ran for a very short amount of time, but it brought Virgin a lot of press.

Sony Bravia - Paint
The Sony Bravia ad was a another very popular and thus successful advert. This advert was produced using no special effects or post production. All the exploding paint you see actually happened. Some one who worked creating the advert commented that it used more semtex than the film Saving Private Ryan

The Honda Hate advert took a complete new approach to advertising a car. While most car advert used shots of beautiful cars cruising down wide open roads, this advert appeals more to the Internet savvy consumer who is looking to see something new and fresh. While most advertiser are wanting you to love their product this advert dares to use the word hate! Something very rarely seen in the advertising world

This advert aims to make the diesel engine seem as though it is fluffy and cuddle, almost something you would be happy to give to your family

A "Brand Vampire" was something I had never heard of till watching this program. I learnt that a brand vampire is something that becomes bigger than the brand its self. A great example of this is Monkey from the ITV Digital Campaign. The monkey became more popular than the ITV Digital brand. A brand vampire is damaging to a brand!

Also featured was the banned Xbox - Cradle to Grave advert

Some one on the program commented they were surprised this advert made it passed the advertising board. People had complained about it as the thought the baby crashing out of the window and the man crashing in to the grave was to violent, however these type of adverts gain cult status and once band people will go out of there way to see them, which in this day and age with video sharing website it is easy to view them if you so wish

Some further research has led me to believe that maybe getting adverts is just a tactic Xbox use to gain them further press. This is another of Xbox's banned adverts

I hope at some point I get to see the rest of this series.

Advertising and Viral Marketing

2008-10-01T13:13:00.011+01:00

This morning I woke up and flicked on the TV only to be greeted by a program called "Advertising Uncut"

Advertising and marketing has always interested me (it's another reason why i am studying digital media, I would love to be part of a high profile successful advert campaign)

"A revealing, informative and entertaining anatomy of the world of marketing and advertising. This episode goes behind the scenes to reveal the astonishing attention to detail that lies behind the glamour of an advertising shoot. The programme also discovers the tricks of the trade from computer technology to photoshopping."

http://uk-tv-guide.com/programme-details/Channel+4/2+October+2008/09%3A00/Advertising+Uncut/Documentary/

The episode I watched was episode 3

PROGRAMME 3: THE CAMPAIGN

"This programme focuses on the techniques used by advertisers when developing a campaign. We learn tricks for getting the media and the public interested in a new product, and we see new and exciting ways of advertising, both on the streets and via the computer.

PROGRAMME AIMS

This programme aims to give an overview of advertising campaigns including:

the money involved in buying advertising space
Public Relations (PR)
product placement
the future of advertising (including viral and buzz advertising)"

http://www.4learning.co.uk/support/programmenotes/micro/advertisinguncut/prog3.html

I found the program to be interesting and engaging. I learnt

how advertise pay more money for an advert on the right hand page of a magazine as that is where peoples eyes tend to fall first
Advertisers pay more money to feature a advert next to a article that may relate to its product i.e a skin care product advert next to a skin care article
How advertisers use the allure of "celebrity" to give the products an image and "cool" factor
How advertisers can use product placement with in a TV program. The example they used was Hyunda had give one of their cars to the character of a wealthy business man in the TV program Emmerdale in the hope that people would associate that car with success and luxury living (a very clever technique i thought!)

I also learnt about some non orthodox methods of advertising.

Student brand managers are something I had never heard of until watching this program. In Advertising Uncut the example they showed involved a Sheffield student getting local bands to come and play gigs outside the Three Mobile Phone Store, then he had to invite as many people down to the gig as he could. Three hoped that this would link them to being promoters of new music and would therefore attract the young trendy crowd of people who like to listen to new music to buy there products

CLICK HERE for more on studnet brand managers

I would really like to have a go at being a student brand manager and with the giant list of social networks I belong to i'm sure I could generate quite a big crowd or reach a vast number of people world wide, electronically via the internet. (If you read this and have any openings as a student brand manager or know some one who does please leave me a comment or click my e-mail link at the top of this blog)

The program also covered buzz marketing. This is the kind of thing that creates a buzz and makes the advertisers message get passed on via word of mouth.

Examples included

Sending out actors into the street dressed as 118 charecters.
Locking two graffiti artist in a glass box with a Nissan car for 48 hours while they decorated the box.

But my personal favourite was a viral video created for a swivel mobile phone that was released on youtube. The people who made the advert discussed the video saying that the video looks as though it could have been crearted by a genuine youtube user which is part of what makes it so successful.

Word of mouth success for this video can been seen in this forum HERE where people are discussing the video as a piece of user generated content rather than an advert

They also commented that you need to be careful with this kind of thing as much as they are using youtube to there advantage, if the users of youtube did not like it they have exactly the same power (of using the internet) to express that view and it could be very damaging to the brand or product!

Just to prove that buzz marketing does work and is successful I have embed the clip below for you. Leave me some comments and let me know what you think to it

As I am at college for the rest of the week I don't think I will be able to catch any more episodes in this series, but if any one knows where I can find them online, or if it is possible to order them from Channel 4 as an education piece let me know I would really really like to see the rest of them!

iDent Research

2008-09-29T12:17:00.009+01:00

**I NEED TO ADJUST IMAGE SIZES OF THIS BLOG POST**

Last Friday (26th Sept 08) I took a trip down Rossington Street Library to pick up a few books on the recommended reading list.

I could not find "Motion Design: Moving Graphics for Television, Music Video, Cinema and Digital Interfaces"

But I did find a very similar book "Motion Gaphics: Graphic Design for Broadcast and Film"

I also went to pick "Type in Motion 2" which I was unable to locate. I opted to take out a similar book "Type for the Internet and other Digital Media"

This weekend I have been looking through "Motion Graphics: Graphic Design for Broadcast and Film. The book has provide me with a lot of inspiration for avenues I could take when developing this idea

The image above is from the "Motion Graphics: Graphic Design for Broadcast and Film"

It particularly caught my attention due to the bright colours and 3D lettering something that I believe would engage my target audience if making an iDent for "Custard"

The image above is again form"Motion Graphics; Graphic Design for Broadcast and Film"

This particular image caught my eye and interest. Colours could be adapted to make it more suite able for a "Custard" iDent. The third squares from the left with the red circles in inspired me to think that the circles could be animated to follow a path and finally spelling out the word Custard

I still need to research in to typography. I also need to further research in to my target market, I have already collected some links here that will help me do that

Round Up of Today's Events

2008-09-27T19:53:00.002+01:00

Well unfortunately our 3G usb dongles had been forgot so I must apologize to anyone who was hoping to follow me throughout the day.

But here is a brief run down of my day

After arriving at the stadium I met with my host and fellow bloggers. They were David Poole who owns and writes http://thegroundhog.wordpress.com and Stuart Moss a lecturer of entertainment management at Leeds Met University who owns and writes http://entplanet.blogspot.com

We were given a quick briefing, our job was to be citizen journalists for the day. We were required to capture footage that an ordinary TV crew may not capture

We were handed miniDV cameras and Nokia N95 mobile phones and told to go off and capture the game as well as fans, players and managers reactions

We had unlimited access and could go anywhere within the ground

The Journey Begins

2008-09-27T12:10:00.002+01:00

If you follow any of my other blogs you will know I today I am blogging with ITV-Local covering the FA Cup 1st Round ......

Just about to catch the bus in to Leeds City Centre. Then get the train to Guiseley (Nevermoor Park)

I meet my hosts for the day at 1.30pm and from there we get our briefing on sports journalism and reporting tips (I am hoping to be able to live cast that meeting on blogtv.com/people/lukeb3000)

From there we are handed over the cameras and start to capture the match

More updates through out the day

Blogging With The Big Boys!

2008-09-23T19:37:00.012+01:00

I am proud to announce that I have been selected by ITV-Local to go and cover the FA Cup 1st round. Guiseley vs Garforth

How did this come about I am sure you are asking.

Well a chain of events led to this fantastic opportunity

You may remember me posting the iJustine Apple Store Tour 2008 video on a multitude of blogs I own.

Jack who writes for http://blogs.itvlocal.com/yorkshire saw this video and got in contact with via e-mail

So here is what I will be doing on Saturday 27th September (This coming Saturday)

13.30 Meet at the ground for meet and greet.

13.45 Introduction to sports journalism, reporting tips, and other good practices. Creation of the reporting teams and quick reporting briefing. Handover of camera.

15:00 Kick off

15:45 Half time: refreshments (Food & Drink) and first opportunity to capture the reaction of fans

16:00 2nd half kick off

16:45 Full time: capture of fans post game reactions

17:00 Interviews with players and managers

18:00 Drinks at a local pub: Discussions and final thoughts.

19:00 End

I have been told that I should bring my laptop and a camera so I am going to be packing my MacBook (wish it was a MacBook Air now) and My N95 as I can take both Pictures and Video's to capture what I get up to.

I am tempted to take my MiniDV camera too just so I can capture a bit of video to edit up and put online at a later date

I have also been told that at appropriate times throughout the day (or whenever desired) I will be provided with a broadband dongle so I can get online.

I am not sure if there is a limit on how much bandwidth I can use but I have a few ideas on what I may use it for but I need your help

What would you like to see my cover when I am there?

I should imagine if I am only provide with a broadband dongle at certain times Twittering wont be very effective.

I am tempted to use my blogTV.com account to stream some live video. (But this depends on how much bandwidth and time I have)

I am going to try and upload pictures as they day progresses (They will be going on my Blogger Account, and any written work will be posted on my Tumblr Account)

But what do you want to see me do. What would be the most effective way for me to communicate to you what I am doing. It's times like these I wish I had an iPhone as I would use the qik app to stream the whole day! That would be the most ultimate way for me to blog my whole day!

So leave me comments and tell me how you want me to communicate my day. Live stream? Upload photos? Write things up as I go along. If i do live stream I will try to twitter when I am casting

One More Thing

Post match I get the opportunity to interview the players and manager. If you have anything you want me to ask them, again I ask you to leave your questions in the comments and I will do my very best to get you some answers

Keep an eye on this blog and I will try to keep you updated with my preparations for covering the match!

Proudly Introducing ....

2008-09-23T17:56:00.004+01:00

For a while I have been trying to encourage my brother to start blogging

He is in year 13 (upper 6th) and is wanting to study for a degree in journalism.

For about 6 months or so I have been trying to tell him that blogging would be a good way to practice writing for an audience, as well as a way to show people at interviews that he is taking an active interest in journalism.

You can visit his blog at joelbeaumont.blogspot.com I am sure he would appreciate some comments too

Leeds Photography

2008-09-17T16:40:00.005+01:00

7am starts are not something I usually enjoy but as I walked to work at 6.45 there was a beautiful sunrise to cheer up my morning

Being the technology g33k that I am I had my N95 in my pocket and managed to capture these shots for you to enjoy

iJustine Apple Store Tour 2008 MashUp

2008-09-12T00:49:00.004+01:00

It is believed iJustine is embarking on an Apple Store Tour.
She likes to visit these stores and say the magic words "Apple Store".

Here is the stores she has visited so far.
I hope you enjoy watching this video as much as I enjoyed making it

If you enjoyed this video please digg it

A Video Project

2008-08-05T20:29:00.002+01:00

Kate Nash, Foundations - Parody from lukeb3000 on Vimeo.

As much as I enjoy creating graphics and interactive stuff, I also have an interest in internet video, this is my 1st attempt at creating an internet video.

Please feel free to comment!

Hi From Work!

2008-07-29T18:55:00.003+01:00

Before the summer break from college i submitted a picture of myself to hifromwork.com

As my work is studing; the picture is taken in the quite study rooms at Leeds College of Art and Design

The picture was taken using PhotoBooth on my MacBook

I submitted it in hope that it would drive more people (from across the world) to read my blog posts

Here is a link to me on the hifromwork.com blog

Lost Phone Update

2008-07-14T15:25:00.000+01:00

I want to start by saying thanks to everyone who helped out by texting and spreading the word.

Special Thanks go to

RoCkBiGdAvE - who posted on the digimods forum the response from there was huge

and also a BIG Thank You to

Sarah Austin of Pop17 who spread the word to over 300 people world wide and let me broadcast my problem on her lifecast channel

To update you all; Unfortunately I did not get the phone back and it is now been blacked listed from being used on all networks, so if anyone offers to sell you an LG Viewty down t'market for £5.99 dont buy it :)

Here are a few pictures to show you how bigger response i got

The spike in the graph is the day I 1st posted and then the decline :(

This map shows hits from across the globe I am pleasantly surprised how densely populated the map is and very surprised that my message reached places such as India Turkey and Thailand

The current hit total stands at 282 visitors and this is still slowly rising as i write this blog post.

THANKS EVERYONE and as always comments are welcome below :)

Help Me Find My Lost Mobile Phone

2008-07-10T15:54:00.008+01:00

Using the power of the internet you can help me locate my lost mobile phone.

Back Ground Info

I lost my phone on Saturday, looking at my online account I can see that the phone made a number of calls on Tuesday (this is not a problem I have free minutes and text)

This morning i called the handset and it was answered by “Jeff” who said he had bought the phone “from a lad” Jeff said he was in town and I should call him back to arrange to pick it up.

I have called back and the phone is now switched off

To get my fone back I need your help

Here is a list of the dates times and numbers that my phone has called since it was lost

08/07/08 12:34 Talk 07796067681 00:00:01 0.000

08/07/08 12:34 Talk 07796067681 00:00:46 0.000

08/07/08 18:30 Talk 07796067681 00:01:43 0.000

08/07/08 18:38 Talk 07527269497 00:01:48 0.000

08/07/08 19:39 Text 447765513019 - 0.000

08/07/08 19:47 Talk 07765513019 00:00:13 0.000

08/07/08 19:59 Talk 07767376869 00:00:57 0.000

08/07/08 19:59 Talk 07767376869 00:01:09 0.000

08/07/08 20:52 Talk 07796067681 00:00:55 0.000

08/07/08 21:05 Talk 07796067681 00:00:12 0.000

08/07/08 21:25 Talk 07516867094 00:00:10 0.000

The Plan

Here are the four numbers in order of frequency phoned, the top number has been phoned the most so target that number if you like

+447796067681

+447767376869

+447527269497

+447516867094

To help me find my phone I need you to bombard these phone numbers with calls and text and voice mail messages

Simply call, text and leave voice mail to the above numbers. There is no need to be offensive if everybody just leaves the message below

“Your friend has called this phone with a stolen number. Luke would like his LG Viewty back please tell you friend to get in contact with him”

Ultimately calling these numbers would be most effective, if you dont want to do that just use this fee text service and send them a message for me

FREE TEXT MESSAGES HERE

Get More People Involved

For this idea to truly work as many people as possible need to contact these numbers. You can make more people aware of my problem in the following ways

The best thing you could do is E-Mail this link to all your contacts

http://lukeb3000.tumblr.com/post/41754566

and ask them to forward it to all their contacts

Second best thing would be join my facebook group and get as many people to join as you can to join too

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=18935782127&ref=mf

Update your status on facebook to

“Help Luke Find His Mobile Phone http://lukeb3000.tumblr.com/post/41754566”

Post a bulletin on Myspace sending people to

“Help Luke Find His Mobile Phone http://lukeb3000.tumblr.com/post/41754566”

Post a Twitter message telling people

If you do one thing today PLEASE READ THIS http://lukeb3000.tumblr.com/post/41754566

Post this link on any forums you visit

http://lukeb3000.tumblr.com/post/41754566

Make a funny video about my problem and post it on video sharing sites such as youtube. Make sure you tell them to visit this blog post for more info

Post on your blog about my problem and link it to here

The more people that phone and text these people the more chance I have of getting my phone back.

LETS MAKE THIS THING GLOBAL

You will now either do two things, think this is a funny story and go visit another website

or

Click this link FREE TEXT MESSAGES HERE and text these numbers

+447796067681

+447767376869

+447527269497

+447516867094

I will leave it up to you which you wish to do

One Final Thing

If you phone, text or leave voice mail to these numbers leave a comment on the bottom of this post

If you link to this post again leave a comment telling me when you have posted it

Thank You and with a little bit of luck i will be getting my phone back in no time

:)

GeekUp Leeds

2008-06-23T19:36:00.006+01:00

Last week (Wednesday the 18th June) I went to a social meet up of local leeds people who had an interest in all things digital and Internet related.

There were two short presentations

Colin May talked on "Scaling your site - things to consider now and in the future that'll make your life a lot easier when your site takes off"

Next was Tim Waters talking about "Alternate Reality Games".

After the Alternative Reality Gaming talk we went out side and played a mini ARG which was quite fun and entertaining (I think there is a video of it floating about the Internet as someone was filming us on a Nokia N95 but don't know if it was upload to the internet or not. If i find the video I will post it up on one of my blogs)

The video above I will explain as you are probably just confused after watching it. The idea was to create a human maze, to guide the person in the middle you had to hum and they were meant to follow the humming noise. CLICK HERE for a little help understanding what I am talking about

Afterwards there was beer and cake (it was GeekUp's 1st Birthday) while talking to people afterwards I learnt about Open Mapping and Geo caching all things that sounded interesting but I have never heard of before, no doubt be reading up on them

Also found out there is a PhotoCamp due to be held in Leeds that I am hoping to attend.

I managed to live blog the event via the use of twitter and my iPod touch, (live blogging the event just makes me want a 3G iphone even more. I mean you can't always have a wifi connection with an iPod touch I just got lucky that time but what happens next time if im at an event with out a wifi connection and i want to live blog?)

All in all it was good to get involved with and speak to other people who are interested and work in the same field that I am interested in.

Hopefully I will be attending next month :)

In the mean time there are some pictures of me over on my other blog at this Junes GeekUp

CLICK HERE to see the pictures

Animation Resubmission

2008-06-17T13:13:00.000+01:00

New scene to show shock on charecters face when he realisese a block is about to fall on him

to create blinking effect >>> motion tween a circle covering eyes >>> selected animated frames >>> right click on timeline >>> copy fames >>> right click on timeline paste frames >>> right click on timeline reverse frames

Ideally i would of made this a movie clip and dragged both eyes from the library, but i am not 100% confident with movie clips, i understand how they work and how to utilize them but I dont have time to fiddle around with them so stuck to what i know (tween animation) but i am fully aware a movie clip would have been better and more efficent.

Leeds Skylines

2008-06-04T00:44:00.005+01:00

As i was walking home from the shops this evening (around 8.30pm - 9.00pm) the sun was casting some beautiful shadows on the clouds.

Its was really striking so i took the opportunity to whip out my camera phone. After a little messing about with the settings i captured the images below

I would recommend you to click on the images to see them full size

I have a trail at being a pro blogger

2008-05-26T21:58:00.004+01:00

Ever since starting my college blog I feel compelled to try and take things further and further. I think blogging is an amazing platform to get your name out there, not only as a way for industry professionals to see your work, but also it seems a great way of building your work into a brand

I have also been lucky enough to talk to many influential people who are well know through out the blogosphere such as ijustine, Brookers, DJSteen, Myles Dyer, and Sarah Meyers

Blogging has just become something that I love. Recently I have wanted to take my blogging and writing to a more professional level (and use it as a way to earn a bit of extra cash over the summer) Recently I sent off a few e-mails to some technology websites to see if they had any spaces for someone to blog for them.

Here is the e-mail i sent

"I am a student studing for a BA (Hons) Design for Digital Media at Leeds College of Art and Design

If you look at my personal blog you will www.lukeb3000.blogspot.com you will see that it is my university blog but there are also a lot of technology related post.

Technology is something i have had an interest in since being very young.

Growing up I was really into games consoles and was always blown away when the next gen consoles were released.

As i have become older (and now have my own income to spend) my interest in technology has not diminished. As well as buying and reading technology on a regular basis I am also a regular reader of many technology sites such as digg.com, ars technica,the register, reg hardware, infosyncworld and many more.

Since buying both a MacBook and iPod touch last year i have also started listening to both technology video and pod casts on a regular basis.

Friends often consider me to be the technology geek of the group,they are sometimes perplexed by the terms i use and the things i talk about, which is often the latest piece of technology yet to hit the stores.

I have been an avid fan of mobile phone technology since the 90's. My first phone was a Nokia 5110, and have enjoyed watching the industries advances over the years

Since then i have owned a vast array of different handsets many of them Nokia's and Sony Ericssons. All my recent handsets have been smartphones, as being a technology enthusiast i love the extra features they have to offer

Not to jump on the iPhones bandwagon but i think that the touch screen interface is the future and thought this when i owned a Sony Ericsson P900

My current mobile phone is a Nokia N80 I had my eyes firmly on this phone well before Nokia had officially announced it. I decided to get this phone as at the time 3 megapixel was the highest avalible on any mobile phone, i also loved the fact that wi-fi was built right in (i didn't have an ipod touch back then,) so having a mobile device that i could take round the house to browse the internet was a big factor in buying this phone

I am soon due to upgrade and realistically i am considering two phones either;

the LG Viewty for its 5.1 Megapixel camera
flash with Schneider-Kreuznach lens and ability to shoot video at 120 fps and touchscreen interface

or the Nokia N95 for its GPS abilities and 5 megapixel camera.

I am most likely going to opt for the LG viewty as although it crams in less technology my experience of the Nokia N80 was that it needed to be charged everyday, and when a phones battery is dead (which after a long phone call was often the case with the N80) the technology residing inside that phone can no longer be utilized. Also i am mostly a texter and a full screen touch keyboard is a big draw for me i am also able to dispense of needing wifi built into my phone as i now use my ipod touch as my primary mobile internet device

unrealistically i would opt for an iPhone (i cant afford one of these at the moment) or the Nokia N96, simply for the amount of technology packed into it

or my current favorite of my unrealistic wish list would be the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. This phone looks to be shaping up to be a very nice device for some who likes who is likes technology packed phones. The keypad would be great for me with all the texts i like to send. Although i like to have the best camera possible on my mobile phone of choice i know that the 3.1 megapixels that the Xperia X1 has to offer will be adequate for achieving a presentable picture.

I would also like this phone as my experience with Sony Ericssons has always been positive and i find the user interfaces on their phones to be more, friendly and intuitive to use.

I will no doubt be following what Sony Ericsson do with the Xperia range with avid interest.

You can find out more about what other Digital Media projects i am involved in by visiting http://www.lukebeaumont.co.uk

I hope to hear back from you soon

Regards

Luke Beaumont"

For over a month i did not hear anything back, but just thought to myself, the idea of blogging as a professional is a nice idea and blogging on a topic i like would be amazing, but just thought who is going to employ a uni student, who can not prove they have a track record of being able to post on a regular basis

Today I got a reply from one of the companies I e-mailed offering me a trail blogging for them

See the pictures below

So i am really REALLY happy about being given this opportunity, i'm also really nervous writing for your self is easy, as you can just say what is on your mind, where as with this I have to produce a certain amount of post by a certain time. Im sure once i get into the swing of things i will be fine and hopefully it will fine tune my skills to improve my personal blog posts.

Im also secretly hoping that i can climb the blogging ladder, to the point that I can develop my name into my brand, and people will send me new tech to review, but no doubt that will be in the very distant future, if at all. Its a nice thought and i think its good to have goals.

Registering this blog with technorati

2008-05-24T23:07:00.002+01:00

you may have seen this post over on my other blog

Well i am now registering this blog with technorati in the hope of attracting new visitors

Technorati Profile

I wish i knew more HTML

2008-05-24T20:53:00.004+01:00

For a long while now, i have had some hyperlinked text at the top of my page named Link1 Link2 Link3 Link4

I first made them hyper link to various search engines, this was just a way of testing that it was possible to have hyperlink able text at the top of my page

I next went on to make them link to pages of my blog that i have back dated

Today i final decided to full integrate them into my blog by giving them the appropriate titles, however I have come across a problem

THEY ARE NOT SPACED OUT ENOUGH, and therefore are are totally unreadable, thus rendering them useless!

I was at one point using this piece of HTML code & n b s p ; which acts as a tab, however this leave and unsightly line between the words ( i still have it attached to "Link 4" at the top as a demo, go hover your mouse curse over "Link 4" to see what i mean)

I should imagine it is achievable to have these links spaced maybe by the way of using cell spacing or some kind of table

While writing this post I have now discovered the HTML code which allows for pre formated text "Link 4" no longer has & n b s p ; attached to it so you can not demo it,

However as you can see now the font has gone wrong

This blog post is a plea for any HTML geniuses to help me out, if you know how have the links at the top spaced out, with ordinary text formating them please drop me a comment on this post

if this helps this is the HTML code that they use

<pre>

<center><h3><a href="http://lukeb3000.blogspot.com/2005/01/contact-me.html">Contact Me</a> <a href="http://lukeb3000.blogspot.com/2005/01/work-with-me.html">Work With Me</a> <a href="http://lukeb3000.blogspot.com/2005/01/hire-me.html">Hire Me</a> <a href="http://www.google.com/">Link 4</a>

</h3></center>

</pre>

Aesop's Fable : Video Content Capture

2008-05-18T19:19:00.006+01:00

For my fable i used video as part of the interactive content.

When I started this project, i had intentions of using college HD cameras and booking out a studio, unfortunately I was given notice to quit my current property while doing this project, and finding somewhere else to live took main priority.

This left me with less time than I had originally anticipated to complete the project, meaning I had to work around some of my original intentions.

Capturing video using one of colleges cameras is one things i ran out of time to do. In order to work around this I used my mini dv video camera, hooked it up to my MacBook and used PhotoBooth as the capture program.

Not the most professional way to do things, but under the circumstances it was the only way I could get things done, also goes to show with the right tools and knowledge most things are possible

Take a look at the pictures below to see my set-up

Free Sat Launched Today

2008-05-06T23:00:00.004+01:00

You may or may not remember that in February I posted about a free-view non subscription High-Definition Satellite service that was due to launch in the U.K

You can see that blog post by clicking HERE

Well today the service launched.

"The new Service will carry 80 digital TV and radio channels, including free high definition programmes, with that number due to rise to 200 by the end of 2008.

Users will make a one-off payment for a dish, set-top box and installation, but will not pay a monthly subscription.
The price of a box will start at £49, rising to £120 for a high-definition (HD) version. The cost of installation, including the satellite dish, will be a further £80."

bbc.co.uk

£200 compared to a normal freeview box (which can be picked up for around £30, such as HERE) seems to be a little expensive, however if you consider what you are actually getting and bearing in mind that by 2009 you will be getting around 200 HD channels it seems a pretty reasonable offer.

If I had £200 laying around spare I would be off to by myself a free sat box

Lets just hope it doesnt go the same way as British Satellite Broadcasting

Come to think of it does anyone remeber the "Sqarials"

I can just remember being quite young and seeing these things bolted to the sides of houses, but i had no clue what they did, i just thought they looked cool and wanted my house to have one!

You can read more about free-sat by clicking HERE

And keep checking back to my blog for more announcements of future up and coming tech

Thank You

2008-05-06T22:37:00.005+01:00

As you may have noticed I have added a donation button to my blog, as a way for people to support my blogging endeavors

I recently received my first donation

I would like to say a big thank you to iphelim who is a fellow blogger, you can check out his blog by clicking HERE

If anyone else wishes to support this blog in the way of a small donation, you can click the Donate button over in the right hand column, all donations are gratefully received.

As way of saying thanks I will post a thank you, screen shot and link to your blog or website.

Aesop's Fable : Video Up Date

2008-05-06T22:04:00.005+01:00

I like documenting the progression of my work. I always find it interesting when finished to look back and see how the piece progressed.

I have used an app called ScreenFlow in order to record the videos below. The video below details me creating my audio button and my next scene button

Audio Button Creation

Next Scene Button Creation

I was mentioned on Pop17

2008-04-23T18:40:00.004+01:00

One of my blog posts over on my Tumblr blog has been reposted and linked back to me

I am hoping that this re-post will drive more traffic to my blog and in turn give me more exposure as a digital designer

Pop17 are also following me on various other 2.0 social sites, I would encourage them if they are reading this to get in-contact with me as I would be happy to work with them in any way, shape or form.

Maybe this is the start of a very bright future (or maybe not lol :) )

Mobile Phone Upgrade

2008-04-23T01:06:00.004+01:00

I just upgraded my mobile phone. Im up grading from a Nokia N80 (great phone awful battery life) to a LG Viewty (I have no experience of LG Phones, I hope i havent picked a heap of junk)

I opted for the LG Viewty for a few reasons

1. I am a technology g33k and this phone fits the bill with lots of cool features, touchscreen UI, 5 MP camera, 120fps video recording and more

2. I can afford an iPhone (as much as I would like one)

3. I always buy mobile phones with the best camera available for 2 reasons

I cant justify buying a new digital camera

If i was to buy a digital camera i would not take it everywhere with me where as a mobile phone i will, meaning i am able to capture more with the mobile phone camera

4. Being someone who text quite alot I like the touch screen qwerty keyboad it has to offer

Here are some links to video i chopped up from youtube videos

Keyboard Mode

Handwriting Mode

Customization

The above videos were edited from this source

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GkuOC1kSQ-o

Now i know with iPhones (once they are jail broken) are capable of mobile blogging through the likes of twitter clients, being able to upload pictures and being able to surf the internet.

I also opted take advantage of a months free trial of the mobile internet, I opted to trial as I want to evaluate wether it will facilitate me to be able to blog on the move. I am considering setting new youtube blogger and flickr test accounts so i can see how good the Viewty is at blogging on the move.

There have been situations in the past when something has caught my eye and i have wanted to blog it there and then, (like when the flight were playing a free gig in the middle of Newcastle city centre, i had my N80 with me at the time so shot some video, by the time i had uploaded it to my mac and edited it (24 hours later) it seemed a bit pointless posting it as the moment had passed

(A bit of topic but HERE is that video)

Perhaps another good point to make about that video is it was recorded on my Nokia N80 as i hadn't taken my Mini DV camera out with me as I really wasn't expecting to see this.

Anyway I looking forward to receiving my new phone, and will be hoping to write up a follow up post detailing what i think to the handset and also commenting on if I found mobile internet for the use of blogging on the move ne use

Aesops Fable Further Research : Brainstorming and Ideas Development

2008-04-16T15:18:00.013+01:00

Today i decided that to push my work forward with the Aesop's Fable Brief

I need to have a solid idea of what direction I was planning on taking the interactive book.

For weeks (since we got the breif,) I have been racking my brain trying to think of a good idea of how and why i may create an interactive book

The only think that keeps springing in to my brain is; to create an iteractive reading aid (not very imaginative i know, but i know i will be able to work with that idea)

Working along the lines of "interactive reading aid" i began to brain storm what interactive elements i could include

Taking the three ideas of Video, Sound, and Animation I began to further investigate how i could include these elements into an "interactive reading aid"

1.) Story teller mode (Video)

The "Story Teller Mode" utilizes video. The picture below explains what I am aiming for in more detail

2.) Read With Me (Audio)

The "Read With Me Mode" utilizes audio. The picture below explains what I am aiming for in more detail

3.) Unassisted (Animation)

The "Unassisted Mode" utilizes animation. The picture below explains what I am aiming for in more detail

After quickly making the above notes in my sketchbook/notepad I knew I had a solid idea that would meet the criteria for the brief. I liked the idea so to develop it further i created a PowerPoint demo to enable me to get a better feel of what i am thinking about achiveing

Below is the PowerPoint Presentation I created

_{*Note Clicking the square in the top right hand corner of the embedded powerpoint will take you into fullscreen mode so you can see more clearly*,}

Finally I talked to Annabeth, showing her my PowerPoint presentation and talking her through the direction in which i plan on taking this brief.

She told me that taking the brief in this direction is a good approach to take. Annabeth told me to see more examples of this kind of work I should head over to the Cbeebies Website

While on the cbeebies website i noted a few web addresses that i plan on revisiting or that maybe useful for me to learn from

My aims for the next time I approach this breif are;

Short Term Goal

1) Continue researching how the Cbeebies website present there interactive stories what interactive elements are they using to engage the user with the stories being told?

Mid Term Goals

2) Create some characters in illustrator that I can import into flash

3. Create a "test" Scene in Flash using the characters created in illustrator. Make sure they are suitable for animating

Aesops Fable Flash Tutorials Fundamentals of Interactive Design

2008-04-14T17:40:00.005+01:00

Today at uni we had a flash tutorial

I have used Flash quite a lot before (but would not consider my self to be a pro by an means) so some of the stuff we covered was just a refresher for me, which was good as I havent used flash extensivly since june last year.

We covered how to motion tween something i am very familiar with (for a very simple guide to tweening CLICK HERE)

We also looked at animating to a path, this again was something I have done prviously in flash. I find being able to animate to a path a useful technique, and was defiantly in need of a refresher to remember how to do it.

Below is my example of my path animation

For a simple guide to path animation CLICK HERE

The final and most important thing that i learnt to day was how to animate a walk cycle (something i have not done before)

As you can see below I have the very basics of a walk cycle begining to take shape, I know if i take what i have learnt to day, with more time and attention to detail i would be able to create a more realistic looking walk cycle

I have often thought about making small animations in flash before (generally for my own and friends entertainment) Not knowing how to create a walking character often prevented me from doing so. Now I have this skill under my belt i feel it will open new avenues for me and help me to take my ideas and flash creations in many different directions :)

Aesops Fable Intial Reseach for Fundamentals of Interactive Design

2008-04-11T22:15:00.005+01:00

I commented on my tumblr that i was going to try and work 1 or two hours a day on the Aesops Fables brief.

Unfortunately i haven't quite stuck to that plan, but tonight i have commenced researching.

In this brief i am hoping to concentrate a lot of the work in to researching and prototyping, as from previous briefs i have found that if i research, then prototype, i provide loads of work that contributes to the marking scheme, if i just set out and create something i have less work to hand in at then end of the brief. Also in previous briefs where i have research then prototyped i have been happy with the final piece of work and i also think it has been of a better standard. So for this brief i am hoping to get a lot of research done, then blog my findings

Tonight I looked on wikipedia to refresh my memory about each fable. wikipedia only had brief outlines of each story so i am planning on visiting my local library to get out a book of Aesop Fables as although i know the outline of each fable when i am creating my piece of work i went something i can reference back to to make sure i am on the right track.

I have used flash before and am aware that you can create a page turning effect where the user, use's there mouse pointer to 'grab' the edge of the page and turn it over to reveal the next page.

Having not used flash for a while i set out to look at some examples of this, and came across this

In the above video* you can see an interactive book made in flash where as well as being text and pictures there is also video embedded (see 24 seconds in) also on one page you can choose the characters to view in more detail all on one page (see 1 minute in)

For this brief (this is not set in concrete and is just an initial idea) i am considering using the flip page method using The Tortoise and The Hare story. I am considering telling the story from the perspective of the hare and from the perspective of the tortoise. I am considering Using the dual character selection method shown in the video above, to let the user select who's perspective they wish to read from.

To achieve this method i would use externally loading pictures so when the user chose the tortoise it would external load a jpeg and clicking a next button would take the user to the story starting from the tortoise perspective

I would use the action script event handler

On (press)
{
Goto and play;

or take it to a new scene using

on(release){
gotoAndPlay("Scene 2", 1);
}

My aims for my next pieces of research are to

1) Get out the book Aseops Fables from the library
2) use youtube to look at video's of Aseops fables
3) Continue to gather and research flash techniques which may be useful for this brief

* Just a quick note regarding the video above. It is showing a .swf embedded on a web page. I used the screen capture program ScreenFlow. ScreenFlow is a powerful screen capturing program that lets you resize and edit the video aswell as using various techniques and methods of highlighting what you are doing. For my video above after capturing i have zoomed the video in two areas that I wanted to highlight to people reading this blog. The first is at 24 seconds I have zoomed in to show that there is video embedded into the page. The second zoom is at 1m 10sec to show the selecting of different characters from multiple pages. This is my first time using a screen capture program, and it proved to be very useful, as it was not possible to place the .swf into the blog (i couldn't find the url in the source code to embed, nor could i download it and upload it to my blog page)

I feel the video makes the page more media rich with out having to click an external link to go and view another page. I hope i will get more use from ScreenFlow as it seems to be a very neat and handy program

Another tweak to my blog

2008-04-11T17:36:00.003+01:00

I have been editing the design of this blog again and have now added a fav icon

I have added it as another useful way to build my blog brand.

I am hoping if my blog has lots of recognizable features, that people are able to easily recognize and relate to it will keep them coming back

I came across THIS website that details the benefits of using fav icons on your websites

I made this fav icon using an online editor, so at some point (in the near future) i am hoping to use Photoshop to create somthing a little more profesional

Editing Blogger

2008-04-04T17:07:00.008+01:00

Yesterday i experimented with editing the look of my blog using these tools

Mac Digital Colour Meter

Adobe Kuler

colorschemer.com

I used Adobe kuler to find colour schemes, then using the Apple Mac utility Digital Colour Meter I measured the RGB values. I then feed the RGB values in to colorschemer.com to get the hex value of the colour. Once i had the hex value of the colour, I then placed it into the HTML template of blogger.

This is probably the most convoluted way to this but it is the only way i know how to get my colour from kuler to hex value.

Getting to look at the HTML in the template has really helped me understand what all the elements in the template do. At some point i am wishing to edit the template (maybe adding an extra column, exclusively for links of tech websites and blogs that i enjoy reading)

Here are some of the colours I experimented with

Above is a picture of the blog with the original colours, i picked this template as i really liked the two column layout, but i was never a big fan of the colours

I then experimented with making things a bit brighter (more friendly and web 2.0-ish) I though i liked the brighter feel, i didn't think the colours suited each other, so i decided not to stick with this.

I next used Adobe Kuler and found a NES related colour scheme, (red, white, black and grey) at the time this colour scheme didn't appeal to me i thought i was a bit boring and not very exciting. Looking back now, i quite like it the colours they seem to fit well together and all though they are dark, i feel they lend a professional feel to the blog

I final choose to use the colour scheme shown in the picture above, again i feel it has a slightly web 2.0 feel, and the colours seem to compliment each other quite well

I would encourage anyone reading this post to comment it and let me know which colour scheme they thinks works best

OS X Anyone ?

2008-04-02T20:57:00.003+01:00

Whilst on the bus home from uni today, the license plate of this car caught my eye

I quickly whipped out my mobile phone and took a quick picture (i would of tried to get a better picture but the bus got caught at the traffic lights and the car infront got through so I didnt get the chance)

Yet another OS X (iTunes) Discovery

2008-04-02T20:49:00.003+01:00

Earlier today I was writing something up in TextEdit and was feeling a little uninspired, so i thought i would look through my iTunes library, as i went to click at the music icon to have a flick through my music, the radio icon caught my attention, with out thinking i clicked on it and saw different genres listed.
Still without really thinking. I clicked on one of them (i thought it would be empty and you would need to download your own content, like you you choose your podcast content) to my suprised each genre has a number of channels listed

I didnt even realize the the radio feature existed until now !!! Yet another nice touch from apple.

I would also imagine that you can add radio feeds. If any one knows if this is possible and if the larger stations such as The BBC and local stations such as 96.3 Radio Aire have feeds please let me know by leaving a comment

I would also be interested to here what feed people have added and what there favourite station feeds are