Break On Through (To The Other Side)

So since I last blogged about WINOL, I have become Sports Editor (yes this was a while back now).
So far it has been an interesting challenge, a pressured role which has caused me an awful lot of stress, but one I have thoroughly enjoyed nonetheless. This week, however, Chris and Brian upped the ante.

A few years back, Sportsweek (my pet project as Sports Ed) saw views of 1000+ on a regular basis. It has slipped a long way since then, now more regularly reaching 100-200 views per bulletin. In our de-brief this week, I was questioned as to why we no longer get such viewing figures. I took this as a personal challenge, to revive the viewing figures of old for this weeks bulletin, to prove that we as a sports team are still capable of producing a high quality broadcast and capturing a large audience. I tasked the team with getting the viewing figures for this weeks bulletin to 1000 by Monday morning. No mean feat by any means, but certainly achievable given the potential audience we have.

To help with this project, I contacted Will Cooper, the Sports Editor when Sportsweek was regularly hitting views of 1000+. His advice was very helpful and has given us a fighting chance of reaching our target. The main suggestions he made were to post links to Sportsweek on the surprisingly popular forums for the non-league sides we cover, as well as their opponents, pointing out that at the non-league level, football fans rarely get any coverage, and so the opportunity to see highlights of their matches is a rarity. Forums, it is already clear, are a great source of views, and we have taken to posting the highlights not simply on the respective club's forums, but on general non-league forums. Will also recommended developing good relationships with the clubs we cover, and see if they will promote it on their website, in the matchday programme etc, which is something we are working on. Finally there is the all important world of social media promotion, with the clubs and fan groups often having facebook pages, twitter profiles etc, which we can promote Sportsweek on.

When I set down this challenge to the team on Monday, we still had to worry ourselves with creating a high quality bulletin, which I feel we certainly achieved. It went online yesterday (Wednesday) at roughly 4pm, and the team went into promotion mode. So far our active promotion is having a noticeable impact on viewing figures. Less than 24 hours after the video went online, we have already overtaken the viewing figures for last weeks show, and at the time of writing we have managed 223 views. With continued promotion over the weekend I am confident we can reach our target of 1000 by Monday morning.

The show itself this week was reasonably good, although there were some small issues.
Kirsty's package on Winton was very good, although I do feel it went on longer than necessary. This was, however, a conscious decision in an attempt to feature as many of the Sports from across the weekend as possible. The scripting was good, however the tone of voice could use work, as it lacked enthusiasm. Overall though, it was a good package, neatly summarising what Winton is and what went on.
Liam's package on Basingstoke was strong, the camerawork was good, as was the scripting and voiceover work, however the tone of the piece felt somewhat melodramatic, perhaps we could have used less music?
Tom's piece on Eastleigh was an improvement on last week, and it benefited from great deliberation over the scripting. There are still some problems to be ironed out with the length of certain shots, but overall I felt it was a solid highlights package.
Lewis' first shot at presenting, it would be fair to say, did not go all that smoothly, although there is clearly potential there. With a little more practice and clearer direction from the gallery I'm sure the next attempt will be a great improvement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps51BNqxBPI&list=UUyAYQNkBBdilSgiQpLiNCEA&index=2

I'll let you know when we hit 1000 ;)

The COJO route to Self Improvement

In preparation for this weeks guest editor (as well as to help us improve as journalists) we have been asked to take a look at a few of the how to videos on the BBC College of Journalism website and do a brief write up, so here it is. 

The first video I watched was on how to extract simple, honest answers from interviewees by asking simple questions. The video was a series of examples of Jeremy Paxman's interviews, accompanied by a short piece of text explaining the benefits of asking simple questions. Paxman is famous for is simple, often blunt interview style, and so his work was a great example of the point being made. By asking simple questions, you easily avoid confusing both the interviewee and the audience, a basic, but hugely important point, especially if the subject is complicated. This also helps prevent evasive answers from the interviewee, as simple questions invite simple answers. This was well demonstrated by examples of Paxman interviewing various politicians, including Gordon Brown. 

A further example, where Paxman was interviewing Christopher Hitchins about his cancer, illustrated that simple questions also help to avoid patronising guests when it comes to sensitive issues. 

The video and accompanying text made its point, appropriately, in a simple, easy to understand way, and was very beneficial when considering interview methods. 

As Sports Editor for this semester I also felt that it would be useful for me to watch some of the videos related to editing.

The first I watched was a video on how to edit TV bulletins. This was particularly helpful as we predominantly deal in this media for WINOL. 

The overwhelming message of this video appeared to be the importance of being well prepared, but ready to adapt. It highlighted the need to have a provisional running order from early on, so that the bulletin is well structured. It also emphasised the need to be prepared to change the running order and adapt if breaking news arrives or if certain stories do not perhaps meet the requisite standard. With this being my first week as sports editor, one of the key issues I have faced is structuring the bulletin and prioritising stories. This video therefore helped to an extent, however I felt there could have been more on how to structure a running order if there are stories of similar importance or a similar standard. Overall, however, the video gave good, constructive advice on how to edit a TV bulletin, and provided insights that I can take into my work.

I also watched a video on how to construct an OOV, as this is an area which I have struggled with before. This video for me was the most helpful, as it was a step by step guide to constructing an OOV, with relevant examples. The previous two videos did not have such a structure, and as such were less instructive, whereas I felt this video was incredibly thorough. The video not only showed exactly how to create a high quality OOV, but also emphasised the importance and potential of OOV stories.

Overall I felt the content on the BBC COJO site was, as expected, very helpful and of a very high quality, and will be a good reference point throughout the rest of my degree to assist with my work.

Can't wait to put some of it into practice on my debut sportsweek as editor tomorrow. Therefore, it's probably time for bed. 

Critical Review - WINOL Semester One

Critical Review – Sam Sheard

WINOL OVERVIEW

This semester can be considered a successful one for WINOL after a number of challenging projects were completed, alongside our weekly news and sports bulletins.

The aspect of WINOL which has seen the most progress over the course of this semester is undoubtedly the website, which has seen a complete overhaul in the space of the past twelve weeks. We have changed platforms from Joomla to Wordpress, which, despite somewhat restricting the website’s functionality, has created a more structured site. The front page has been made to resemble a modern broadsheet, reminiscent to some extent of the ‘i’ newspaper, with a strong focus on high quality pictures and our most recent stories. The latest bulletin no longer features permanently on the front page, it now only appears on the front page on the day of broadcast. A team has been assembled to continually update the website with news stories throughout the week, so that the website is as up to date as possible. This change in design and approach to our website has improved it dramatically, creating a more professional site and ensuring that the content of the site is always relevant, to increase circulation throughout the whole week. We have also experimented with hosting a twitter feed on the front page, to integrate the site with social media, keeping WINOL as modern as possible.

The Features department has also seen great improvements, with many high quality pieces being submitted throughout the term. This has contributed to a rise in the average visit time on the site, which is now roughly six minutes per user. As a wise man once said, they come for the news and they stay for the features. The quality of work by the features team this semester has ensured that our site has many interesting pieces to grab the attention of the reader, and keep them on the site.

Another of the great successes of this semester has been the special events and programs produced and coordinated by the team. This year’s BJTC awards were hosted at the university, and were filmed and photographed by the WINOL team. The footage featured in that week’s bulletin, as well as a highlights package on the website and a written article. The event was a huge success and the coverage was of a very high quality, giving the team a strong piece very early on in the semester. We also produced a multi camera live stream of the Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner debate, which was hosted at the University, and organised, filmed and edited by members of the WINOL team. This event demonstrated the ambitions and capabilities of the team, and gave us another high profile piece with which to attract people to the site. Arguably the most ambitious special production of the year was America Decides, our US election program which aired live on the site. This piece brought together pre prepared packages assessing the two candidates, footage from the US embassy Election Night Party, live in studio discussion with a variety of guests, and a live transatlantic Skype conversation with University students in Illinois. The program was incredibly challenging, and we came across a number of problems throughout the preceding weeks, but these problems were overcome and we were able to produce a live, three hour program with a variety of good quality content.

Such ambitious projects undoubtedly benefited the team and the site, creating a high pressure environment in which to work and teaching us a lot about how to produce such programs. The content also was of great public interest, and was always audience focused. This, along with the high quality weekly bulletins and an impressive website, helped to improve our Alexa ranking greatly.

Our ranking is now significantly better than any other student journalism, with us well within the top 500,000 worldwide and narrowly outside the top 10,000 in the UK, beating our nearest student competitor, eastlondonlines, by 15,000 places in the UK at the time of writing.  We have also significantly outperformed the website of the Hampshire Chronicle in Alexa rankings. The Daily Echo, however, remains far ahead of us, both in the UK and worldwide. Our Alexa position, comparative to our direct competition, underscores the success that WINOL has seen this semester.

My personal role on WINOL this semester was as a sports reporter, specifically covering the home matches of Winchester City FC.

My first package was on the game between Winchester and Yate Town. The footage of the match was average; there were no glaring errors, but a lot of room for improvement. At times I zoomed in too close to the players and so found myself losing the ball in shots, as the play moved quickly. I also framed my post match interview with the manager poorly, centring him in the frame and speaking to him from too close to the camera, so at times he was speaking directly into the lens. Henry showed me how I could edit the footage of the interview on Final Cut to improve the positioning, but also taught me how to correctly frame and conduct interviews to get the best possible footage.

My next package was a profile of the University Rugby team, in which I filmed shots of the players training, held an interview with the captain and did two pieces to camera. As I was filming alone I had trouble filming the PTC’s as I could not be sure where I was positioned in shot, whether the gun mic I was using was visible, and whether the sound was being picked up. As a result I learnt that PTC’s are far more successful when there is someone behind the camera, to ensure everything is working correctly. Fortunately, I managed takes that I could use for the package, where I was framed correctly and the sound quality was good. I also failed to conduct the interview at the same time as I filmed the training footage, and so had to conduct the interview at the next training session. This made the package feel inconsistent as the footage of the training session was at night, while the interview was conducted in broad daylight. I had trouble with the brightness of the interview, and was shown how to edit colour and brightness on Final Cut, which improved the footage greatly, however it was still of a lower quality than I had hoped it would be. The sound quality on the interview also suffered, as the sound of wind was picked up by the microphone. I was advised to attempt to conduct future interviews somewhere more sheltered if the sound was being affected by wind. I

My next involvement was to film second camera for an AFC Totton match, where I was asked to zoom in on players and stay tight. This was challenging, but from the previous Winchester match I had attended I had learnt how to keep tight to players while not losing track of the ball. The footage I got was much improved from the Winchester game. I also framed Liam’s PTC’s for his package, which were also much improved on my previous efforts, obeying the rule of thirds.

I filmed two further Winchester matches during the semester. The camerawork was much improved, however in both I had some issues.

In Winchester’s match against Mangotsfield United I had accidentally left the camera on automatic settings, which caused the camera to fail to focus in time for one of the goals as I zoomed on the player. This was very disappointing, as other than focus I felt the shot was good and it also meant I had to leave out a goal from my package, which I felt made it incomplete. My footage of Winchester vs Didcot Town was very dark as it was an evening kick off, and the floodlights at Winchester’s ground are not strong enough. I managed to brighten the footage in final cut, however this negatively affected the quality, and it was not as sharp as I would have liked.

With each package of football highlights I struggled with my voiceovers. The quality of the track was consistently good, but I found myself describing the action too much, the words simply showing exactly what the footage did. Angus advised me that I need to be less descriptive, and could afford to speak less, with the commentary being sparser to allow the pictures to tell the story. For each game I submitted a written match report, which overall I was pleased with, however I lacked still photos to compliment the words.

As well as sport, I got involved in a variety of other areas and projects. On multiple occasions I helped in the gallery filming the bulletin on Wednesdays, predominantly working on the sound desk, but also behind the camera and on the autocue. I initially struggled with keeping the autocue moving at the right speed; however with Graham’s assistance I quickly mastered this. I felt comfortable behind the camera and on the sound desk, and was pleased with the job I did in those roles.

I was also involved in the US election program that we produced, both scripting a package and filming at the US Embassy Election Party. The lessons I had learnt from my sports coverage meant that my framing of interviews and pieces to camera was much improved, with the subject well focussed and framed, and the sound quality was strong in a difficult room. I was disappointed not to have managed to get a better shot of Russell Watson singing The Star Spangled Banner however, as I failed to get a spot on the raised podium in the room, and so the quality of the footage is weak. The package I scripted for the program eventually got divided into four separate packages, and as such my script was edited by others. I felt that my original script was fairly strong, however I was told that it was slightly too complicated, and that it would be better if I simplified the wording. This helped me with future script writing, as I developed a different style when writing for video, as opposed to purely written work.

Aside from this I also presented the Sportsweek show on Sound Radio, helped film a feature with Ben Hatton, and worked on production for the WINOL super bulletin. 

ECONOMICS - HCJ YEAR TWO SEMESTER ONE

So the catch up continues... Economics!


The first real economic text was Adam Smith's 'The Wealth of Nations'. In this, Smith claimed that too much state intervention caused Nations to become poorer, and claimed "the hidden hand of the market will make everybody richer". Smith believed that free trade and free individuals boost the economy.

David Ricardo - claimed that natural resources or objects have no intrinsic value, but that value arises when humans apply conscious effort towards an object. For example, a diamond attracts far more value than a matchstick, as it requires significantly greater human endeavour to create a diamond than a matchstick.

Thomas Malthus - The iron law of population - claimed that humans will always starve to death, and that civilised society is permanently on the brink of starvation. Claimed that marriage and chastity were solutions to this problem.

Karl Marx - Marx believed that the only source of value was labour, and that wages would decrease as the population increased, as a higher population leads to a higher demand for each job. This leads to the iron law of wages, which states that as this happens, workers wages will become lower than the price of the item they create. For example, if a 'widget' is sold for £10, then £5 will be taken as profit by the factory owner, and £5 will be given to the worker as wages. The worker then cannot afford to purchase the 'widget', and if the price is reduced, the wages must also be reduced to account for profit. If this is allowed to continue on a grand scale, it can result in over production and under consumption.

Keynes - Keynes' solution to Marx problem of the iron law of wages was to simply print more money. Doing so allows greater investment, and companies to pay higher wages. This of course meant moving away from the gold standard, the system by which the amount of money in the economy was directly proportionate to the amount of gold the country possessed.
However, printing more money is not a risk-free solution. It can lead to inflation and stagflation, as well as an increased role of the state, which by Smith's theory would cause the nation to become poorer.

Of course if everyone just keeps spending, no-one has a problem...

ETHICS AND AESTHETICS - HCJ YEAR TWO SEMESTER ONE

Now, this particular topic was my seminar paper. It was also slightly baffling. So here is my attempt to make sense of it all, hold on tight.

ETHICS

"The greatest happiness of the greatest number"

BENTHAM

Happiness is commonly seen as the key motive behind human behaviour, and an incredibly important concept in moral philosophy, from Plato and Aristotle onwards. Bentham considered pleasure to be the most important motive.

Bentham aligned pleasure with happiness, whereas Aristotle had drawn a distinction between them. Bentham regarded pleasure as simply a sensation, that could be accessed in a number of ways, and believed the relationship between an action and pleasure was one of cause and effect. 

From a Utilitarian point of view, quantity of pleasure/pain must be considered before any actions or decisions are taken. 

Bentham was aware that quantification was not easy, and made suggestions of how to quantify pleasure, relating to duration, certainty and immediacy, to decide what makes one pleasure greater than another.

When making personal decisions we must consider whether the decision will trigger further occurrences of pleasure or pain. When deciding public policy, it must be considered how widely the pleasure or pain will be spread.  This is the principle of greatest happiness of greatest number.

This is a very ambiguous phrase however, not specifying what is meant by the greatest number.

It is likely that Bentham mean the greatest number of PEOPLE, however others have extended it to sentient beings, as they are also capable of experiencing pleasure and pain.

This also raised further questions, such as should we try and increase the population so a greater number may benefit? When measuring happiness, do we consider the total or average happiness.

Bentham is a  consequentialist, believing that morality is based on consequence and that no action cannot be justified. This is the opposite of the absolutist view, where some actions are completely unjustifiable.

MILL

Mill was also a consequentialist, but he somewhat toned down Bentham's work.

Mill distinguishes between pleasure not only in quantity but in quality also.

He claims that universal happiness is the ultimate moral standard, but need not be the motive force behind each and every action. Also acknowledges that all moral systems leave room to justify evildoing to some extent, no moral system is completely flawless. 

SCHOPENHAUER

Schopenhauers ethics are tied to his metaphysics, that the true reality is the universal will, and that human nature is dictated by necessity, that motives arise out of individual character through necessity. Believes if the character and motives of a person are completely known, his decisions can be calculated and predicted, as it is character and motive that influences all a man does. 

Schopenhauer suggests that no person can ever be truly content, as the will is never satisfied, and can never be truly overcome. This is because the only way to overcome the will is through complete renunciation, however renunciation is a gesture of will.

Schopenhauer's ideal is an ascetic perspective; “he compels himself to refrain from doing all that he would like to do, and to do all that he would like not to do”.

NIETZSCHE

Nietzsche believed that the values of Christianity needed to be overturned, essentially believing in a sort of philosophical survival of the fittest, where the weakest are brushed aside.

He believed that we are progressing towards the highest form of life, the Superman (not the comic book hero). To reach this we must have a will and desire for power. He claimed “humanity must be surpassed, it is a bridge not a goal”

Condemns traditional virtues believing they hinder rather than help progress towards the superman, which must come through seeking increased power, not promoting the weak.

AESTHETICS

Baumgarten is seen by many as the father of aesthetics. He believed that beauty exists to give pleasure, and that the highest form of beauty is nature, therefore art aims to replicate nature.

Burke suggested that achieving the sublime can also be the aim of art, as well as achieving beauty.

Hume claimed that beauty is interpreted by each individual, it is what satisfies our souls, dependent on our mood, nature and social conventions. Essentially, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. However, here 'satisfaction' is a term that needs some clarification. 

Kant describes two kinds of satisfaction – sensual delight as gratification, and enjoyment of beauty as pleasure. Sensual delight is personal, whereas beauty is considered universal by Kant.

Kant went on to describe two kinds of beauty, free beauty and derivative beauty. Free beauty is beauty without purpose, it may not have a function but is still beautiful, derivative beauty is based on its purpose, it cannot be beautiful without fulfilling its purpose.

SCHOPENHAUER

Schopenhauer believed that beauty must be admired without desire influencing our opinion. A desire to possess the beautiful object or letting others convince us of its beauty corrupts our opinion. 

He considered art to be representations of beauty, attempts to recreate beauty, to capture something perfect, and holds poetry and drama as highest form of art, because it comes the closest to perfectly representing beauty. 

Got that?

HCJ YEAR TWO, SEMESTER ONE - FREUD

I am well aware that this blog has been cruelly neglected. Now is the time for that to end.
ALL of this years HCJ lecture notes will be along shortly, working in reverse order (apologies) from my most recent and well remembered lecture, all the way to the first week of the year, way back in September. Wish me luck.


SIGMUND FREUD

Brian chose not to hold a banana for the whole of this lecture. I found that marginally disappointing. On the plus side, I was reminded just how good a film 'A Dangerous Method' is, and will be watching it again once this blog is fully updated.

Freud attempted to create an all encompassing theory, based on his observation of the misery of the human condition. Freud sought to understand why people are essentially miserable beings, and the method he devised to answer this question was psychoanalysis.
Through psychoanalysis, Freud believed he had uncovered the archaeology of the mind.
Freud claimed that the reason behind our misery is that we are at war with ourselves, that our mind is divided into three different parts. This theory draws some slight parallels with Plato and Marx, both of whom had stated that the mind consists of three parts, however, Freud's remarkably pessimistic view is very different from either of their views.
Freud believed the three parts of the mind were as follows:
- The Id
- The Ego
- The Super Ego

Id
Freud described the Id as "a cauldron of seething excitations". A wonderful phrase, but what does that mean?
Well in essence, Freud considered the Id to be the our core, where all our desires lie. According to Freud, these desires revolve largely around Sex and Violence, a point more recently supported by well respected East London rapper, Dizzee Rascal.
The Id can be compared to a spoiled brat, an irrational toddler who knows only what it wants, and is likely to lash out if it does not get its way. The key word there is 'irrational', the Id is unreasonable and passionate.

The Ego
The Ego is the voice of reason, the part of our mind that engages with reality. The part of your mind that stops you pushing that pregnant lady in front of the train, a sentiment echoed by a young comedian by the name of Eric Lampaert.
The Ego, while the voice of reason within our minds, is also the weakest by Freud's reckoning. He described the Ego as constantly "embattled and beseiged", almost as though the Ego is the perennial victim of the school bully.

The Super Ego
While the prior two elements of the human psyche are ever-present, the Super Ego develops after birth, it is nurtured by its surroundings.
The Super Ego is the internalised rules of your parents, teachers, law enforcement and society at large. The rules, laws and social conventions that you absorb as you develop. The Super Ego is an irrational aspect of your mind, it seeks perfection, and punishes you with guilt, not unlike Religion.


This vision of a three part mind draws sharp contrast with Plato's tripartite self, where reason is the strongest in the eyes of Plato, but clearly considered the weakest by Freud.
Freud's views are far more similar to those held by Hobbes and Machiavelli, we are violent beings, ruled by desire.

Freud observed that society is full of pain, that we are a decaying species that is constantly suffering. He believed that the greatest pain was other people, that others are the greatest root of suffering for an individual. Freud's answer to all of this was psychoanalysis, a solution that he openly admitted was not for everyone, as it was incredibly pricey. With the benefit of hindsight we can also safely say it lacked any scientific merit. Not a bad get rich quick scheme though I suppose, when you're a cocaine addicted celebrity psychoanalyst, but that is an aside.

For those not blessed with the required riches to indulge in psychoanalysis, Freud outlined a number of other, temporary solutions, to help control your Id.
Intoxication - Obviously not a permanent solution, and also relatively costly depending on your tolerance to alcohol/other substances.
Isolation - Again, only temporary, staying isolated for extended periods of time can do far more harm than good.
Religion - Essentially for Freud this is a mass delusion, but one that may help in calming your Id.
Sublimation - By which Freud meant socially acceptable ways of releasing the pent up aggression of your Id, such as sport and work.

If you could afford psychoanalysis however, Freud believed it was a means to deal directly with the Id. Freud did this a variety of ways, including hypnosis, dream analysis and free association. Free association is essentially the patient talking continually in a stream of consciousness, until they eventually reveal their inner desires.

Freud also stated that Civilisation is a collective Super Ego, imposing moral limits and expectations on the masses. Freud considered such phrases as "Love your neighbour" and "Love your enemy" as completely unrealistic expectations, claiming "man is a wolf to man".

Freud's theories contrasted greatly with a number of other philosophers, particularly Karl Marx.
Marx believed in humanities ability to progress and develop, and that eventually a change in system would change society and humanity. Freud had no faith in the ability of humankind to develop and progress, believing the Id is far too strong for us to overcome. Freud believed that regardless of changes in society and structure, we will always be ourselves, we cannot escape our own minds, a belief supported by Russell Brand in his stand up show 'Doing Life'.

In the end of course, Freud's theories have been largely discredited, with no evidence or scientific suggestion that psychoanalysis works, and proof that Freud did not, as he claimed, discover the unconscious mind, a concept which had actually been discussed in academic circles far before Freud. This aside, however, Freud's impact on modern society and thought cannot be denied, as illustrated by the occasional comparisons to modern day entertainers. Even Dizzee Rascal has a little Freud in him.

OH NO!

I have abandoned this blog like some despised offspring! Shortly, very shortly, there will be many, many updates. Time to get to work.