Author: Matthew Welsh

Concept

 

My concept for this semesters module has changed dramatically, the concept behind it will shift towards an environment focus rather than a focus on a revision application which I feel has been done so many times and has become quite stale and uninformed.

 

I have come up with an Eco-friendly animation/ Motion graphic. I feel that this will be more useful and more inspiring rather than a very niche app that would be very Pidgeon holed for a certain subset of people. The new concept would entail a lot more creative freedom and get a message out into the world and make people think about their actions and the consequences that are associated with said actions. I feel that this could be a good concept and goes along with the EYA Category of Go Green which is inspiring sustainable energy, biodiversity, Climate change and intelligent infrastructure.

 

The Motion Graphic will be based around this topic and help create awareness around the environment and how it is changing through human behaviour, and how switching the mind to think more compassionately. This motion graphic would hopefully be a more viral spreading around social media platforms such as, Instagram targeted advertisements, Youtube pre and postrolls, Facebook and Twitter embedded videos, this would mean that the most amount of perspective people would see the campaign and get the most clicks, engagements and impressions.

 

Audience

 

The audience could be generalised to all people but that would be too far stretching and would be to open ended. I feel that the market for this sort of motion graphic would be around 18-25, this demographic have the most influence, are more susceptible to change and are willing to make a change in the world.

 

Creative technical skills

 

As for creative skills needed for this project, I will undertake an ambitious motion graphic that will take all the skills from workshops and ones that I have developed as a designer to create a cohesive package that will be able to be implemented into different platforms and create a brand that would be easily recognised from brief snapshots.

 

Creating a moving motion graphic that plays upon emotion of both the motion graphic and the viewer. The technical side will be more informed and creating a brand identity which will be aesthetically pleasing and able to be used in more than just one marketing campaign. The skills needed to do this will call on my design module and digital media skills to work hand in hand.

 

Time Scale

 

The time scale will still be the same as before only slightly changed to go along with this new brief concept.

 

Researching Weeks 1-4

 

Researching viral campaigns o climate change

Researching the audience and learning how to target them better.

Research companies that deal with marketing on a viral scale and guerrilla marketing strategies.

 

Production Weeks 5-9

 

Create the branding and storyboarding the motion graphic, creating a visual style that is simple and cohesive.

Refine designs and asset creations, construct the motion graphic

 

Testing weeks 10-12

 

Testing the graphic and finalising the video.

Feedback from audience and showing how it would be implemented.

 

 

• What are they doing?

The app is a platform game by the company Nitrome who create lots of fun mini games that take you away for 5 – 10 minutes at a time. the premise of the games of the game is to get as far as possible.

• Are they doing anything really well?

The art style of the game is quite retro and more of the arcade era of games which is quite nice. I like the fact that the app is one of the addictive games which dominate the app market as of late. The game is simple and easy to learn and doesn’t take too much thinking. the way the app is built means that it could be re-skinned quite easily and still have the same game play mechanics which is quite interesting to think about the possibilities for it.

• Are they missing anything?

There is room for expansion to different modes which could be interesting to look into and other gameplay aspects but this could be put into another app that they make.

• How can you learn from any mistakes they made?

I could take the concept of the endless platformer and apply it to mine, creating something that is addictive and has potential to grow.

• How does their product look and what do you “feel” when you use it?

I feel fully immersed into the app and want to play more and more. the way that it is created means that the more you play the more you want to play and beat your score, giving it the addictive quality which makes games good.

I wanted to initially do an app that would help in the classroom, to help with revising for media studies A level, but after much thought and consideration I have decided to make the product entirely entertainment based, as this will be more fun and help me push this process forward further. Rather than be stuck. researching something that doesn’t please me and my vision thus causing creates stress, and lack of motivation to create something that is to my standard.

Blended learning

https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/enhancement/starter-tools/blended-learning

What is blended learning?
Blended approaches use multiple methods to deliver learning by combining face-to-face interactions with online activities.

Where did blended learning come from?
Blended learning (sometimes referred to as hybrid learning) has a complex heritage that has evolved from the distance and open education movements and the development of online or e-learning. The earliest references to the term ‘blended learning’ are from the late 1990s and, since that time, definitions of its meaning have varied according to particular combinations of pedagogy and technologies (Friesen 2012). The detail of the ‘blend’ is context specific influenced by institutional culture, learner need and is often bounded by the digital capabilities of teachers. Blended approaches which include ‘flipped learning’ and ‘self-blended learning’ are gaining in popularity as educators grapple with the rising tide of digital technologies, the increasing sophistication of online courses (e.g. MOOCs) and increased student expectation of flexible and differentiated learning provision. Blending synchronous face-to- face learning with synchronous and/or asynchronous online components provides a powerful response to this challenge; and used innovatively, can build a valuable bridge from formalised education to informal learning spaces.

How does blended learning work?
Blended learning combines face-to-face and online activities in a seamless and complementary flow of learning. For example, in the flipped classroom, online activity is introduced before a face-to-face class, in the form of reading materials and other artefacts. These resources provide a springboard for students to conduct further online research through personal learning networks (PLN) and digital curation activities. Subsequent classroom time is spent in small groups with the aim of deepening this learning through problem-based activities. This weaving together of different modes of delivery with a purposeful pedagogical underpinning is one example of a blended approach that combines synchronous and asynchronous elements. Other blends might be purely synchronous and take the form of a face-to-face class in which some learners join remotely via web conferencing tools. In short, there is a huge range of different blended approaches; the balance between online and face-to-face components, and the integration of other methods, depends on the needs of learners and the context within which the learning is implemented. The more innovative of these approaches increase student engagement by enabling learning, thinking and conversation across multiple spaces and over time.

 

 

            How will this help my project?

            Using techniques of blended learning in my project will help innovate the way that the student interacts with a tutor and vice versa. It will help inform me to get into the mind of a teacher as well as a student who would actively use this project. Ideas such as having an app that could be used to set homework or set up a classroom game which helps students understand concepts and find the ideas and key concepts that the tutor or teacher is trying to teach that seamlessly is implemented into the lesson plan.

 

 

( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2016/08/18/a-level-results-2016-which-subjects-did-students-do-the-best-and/ )

 

Just over a quarter (25.8%) of A Level students gained a A* or A grade in 2016.

The pass rate for the top grades follows a trend seen across this decade, with another drop on last year’s results to 25.8 per cent of students getting A or A* across all subjects.

Students have performed well in mathematics and foreign languages, while courses such as ICT and media studies have struggled to get their students achieving the top grades in 2016.

The worst performing A levels

The lowest pass rates in 2016 were seen in ICT and media, film and TV studies.

This has followed recent years, where these subjects have struggled to get their students to achieve the top A or A* grades.

One in 10 ICT students gained an A or A* in 2016 – down from 12 per cent in 2011. Some 8,700 students took the course this year, falling by 3,300 in five years,

 

2016 results : Media / film / TV Studies Number sat : 28140.

A*+ : 1.2%

A+ : 10.6%

C+: 80.4%

Mathematics Number sat 92163

A*+: 17.5%

A+: 41.8%

C+:80.2%

 

This shows that somewhere Media education is failing to produce the same amount of high passing grades that the likes of mathematics are producing. There is a missing link here that needs to be fixed. I think that this is highly down to people and other academics who teach a traditional path such as maths, sciences and English

Pushing through the notion that media film and tv studies are mickey mouse subjects that have no relevance to the world or a paid job. When the exact opposite is the case. A blog I found online that was published in 2014 states that ofqual the government office of qualifications and examinations regulations. Had mistakenly taken Film studies off of the list for examinations. He states in a letter to OFQUAL:

( http://failingtolearnbetter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/in-defence-of-media-and-film.html )

On an academic level, I would draw your attention to the already demanding nature of assessment: GCSE involves extended comparative writing which motivates many to improve their linguistic abilities; A level examinations are currently substantial essay-based examination papers. Both subjects include assessment of research skills, as well as analytical skills. These are the bedrock of the “traditional” curriculum we seem to be returning towards, so why would we withdraw subjects which reinforce such skills?

 

Second, there is a popular perception of Media and Film Studies as “soft” subjects, which I would disagree with fundamentally. The vast majority of my students will also tell you that Media and Film were far tougher courses than their “academic” counterparts. In part this is the fault of the mass media itself and its largely biased reporting of the subjects: The tabloids have no qualms about labelling our subjects as lesser subjects compared to the “traditional” subjects being pushed by the present government. The fact that the broadsheets put inverted commas around the word soft does not in any way absolve them of blame for reinforcing this perception, in my opinion. The message from the media is clear: Studying media or film is an easy option.

 

 

He later goes on to explain why he thinks media and film studies is a hard subject and how it is really an extension of English and how the two relate and how media and film takes in aspects of other more “academic” subjects.

 

However, I would argue that OFQUAL is equally to blame in this process for not countering this perception explicitly with evidence. I would contend that the level of demand at both GCSE and A level is very high: Students analyse film and media texts in exactly the same way as they do in English, except that they must take account of not only linguistic characteristics of texts, but also the way the layout, camera angles, editing and sound work in tandem with these linguistic features. This adds layers of meaning which are very subtle, additional to those studied in English, and indeed constitute an entire language of their own. And this only covers the textual analysis aspects of the courses. Film and Media Studies also require that students understand why texts are the way they are, by taking into account institutional, social, political, economic, historical and technological factors which may influence meaning and interpretations of texts. While this is a skill which is taught in English, I would argue that the up-to-date nature of film and media studies enquiries makes it much more challenging for students to interpret the influence of these contexts, as they are not doing so with the benefits of hindsight, or with the help of “expert voices” to guide them. Media and Film students learn a basic framework of analysis, but from there they are applying this to texts which are so new they are largely untouched by academic study. They have to apply their learning very subtly, often drawing in a range of material which benefits other subjects, such as History, English, Philosophy and Ethics, Sociology and Psychology.