Practical

Practical:

In Week 5, you interviewed someone and wrote a short article using their speech. Return to this interview, and write that speech as a very short 30 second audio/visual script
(ie. When you read the script, it takes 30 seconds from start to finish).

You can use a single or two column format.

Find a template on line and use this as the basis of your formatting (ensure you reference or link this so we can see what you are using).

Post your script to your blog.

Here is my template: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/30_08_06worksheet3.2.pdf

And here is my Script"

"The things most important to me are my Mother, Halloween and acting.  I love my mother because she is kind, sweet and she reads to me every night. Each year we go to the Heritage village for Halloween. I love Dressing up and putting on make-up the most.  I also love acting.  Recently I helped my mother with a movie segment.  I dressed up and acted scared while running and jumping, with only voices for cues.  It was fun.  I hurt my knee, but it was worth it." 

I used the 3 column template and the above is exactly 90 words. It is based on the interview that can be found here.



When I read this week's task, I thought it was to ensure that the words took only 30 seconds, but covered the all topics discussed. 

 Since then I have discovered that this is more like what Digital Media students covered in their first term in Audio and Visual. 

So I have redone this weeks task but instead of using the interview from week 5, I am going to use the interview that I did for my event because there is more to work with.

Note: I have made up my own template for this task.

Audio	Visual
“Today we will be deputising 70 candidates becoming citizens of Australia. It is a special occasion for not only those candidates, but their families.	Deputy Mayor speaking with only me: Visual: Image of him speaking
“The day is just about sharing different cultures.  The cultural diversity that we have in our region something that the community embraces.	Shot change to a pan of the cultural festival and the stalls showing the different cultures and traditions
“Teys meatworks have come on board they’re sponsoring part of the day with $10,000 going towards the costs of today and as a major employer of a lot multicultural staff they came on board to assist council with the day."	Continuing on from above but place the TEYS Logo on the bottom corner of the screen.
“Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests.  The personal significance of your decision to become an Australian Citizen…	Deputy Mayor addressing the crowd: Shot change to visual of Tony Williams delivering his speech at the podium.
“…is certainly not underestimated.  And we recognise, that for some of you, it may not have been an easy journey that brought you to your new citizenship.   I commend you for your courage, in leaving behind your loved ones to make a new life in Australia."	Shot change to slowly pan the crowd as the last words are being spoken.
NOTE after this other speakers address the crowd but I have not included them in this because it is supposed to only take 30 seconds.	NOTE: I realise that this speech is longer than 30 seconds however I was going off the video produced by Kate and wanted to ensure finality to this sequence.

During the readings, Ames (2014) discussed the power behind a speech and mentioned a number of famous speeches over the years; Hitler, Martin Luther King and the Kennedys to name a few.  I would like to leave everyone with a speech that moved me.  It is not one that many would have heard of because this speech was only delivered this week.

It is powerful.  And I hope will go down in history as the speech that moved the world.

#HeForShe

  

References:

Ames, K., 2014. Study Guide Lesson 11 - Writing for Speech and Vision, Course notes, COMM11007 Media Writing: CQUniversity e-courses, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/.

BBC, 2014. BBC Worksheet. [Online] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/30_08_06worksheet3.2.pdf [Accessed 19 September 2014].

Whitaker, W. R., Ramsey, J. E. & Smith, R. D., 2012. Meda Writing, print broadcast and public relations. 4th ed. New York: Routledge pp. 335-346.

Inquiry

Inquiry:
Review
Chapter 11 of your Media Writing text
(Whitaker, Ramsey & Smith).

Summarise the key points of this chapter, and answer the question

: What are the key differences between writing for broadcast and print or writing - based media?




Broadcast writing must be written conversationally; like you are talking to a friend.  It is written for the ear, not for the eye (Whitaker, et al., 2012, p. 229).

It must be written to suit the time available. A broadcast writer must tell in 30 seconds what a newspaper writer can relate in ten column inches (Whitaker, et al., 2012, p. 230).
  
Be careful using words that are hard to pronounce and  avoid words that end in S or TH because they have a hissing sound when on air.  Similarly, words ending in ING can disrupt the rhythm of sentences (Whitaker, et al., 2012, p. 232).

A broadcast lead differs in that it is not looking for the complete picture like a news story has the who, what, when where why and how; instead it has more of a “grab” to ensure they have the attention of the viewers or listeners (Whitaker, et al., 2012, p. 229).

• Single Act Lead – Who did something, what happened or when something occurred.
• Umbrella or Comprehensive Lead – These tie together related events or incidents.
• Chronological Narrative Leads – These tell a story either as it unfolded from beginning to end or, from the most recent event going back in time (Whitaker, et al., 2012, p. 233).

Don’t:
• Crowd a lead with too much information.
• Give long and complex introductions.
• Begin with an “impersonal who” unless the person has prominence.
• Lead with a question (people expect an advertisement).
• Begin with numbers or figures because audiences wont remember them so they will have to be repeated later (Whitaker, et al., 2012, p. 233,235,240).

Do:
• Use strong active words.
• Use subject-verb-subject sentences.
• Make the newscaste interesting.
• Use active voice (things are happening now) (Whitaker, et al., 2012, p. 235,241,242 ).


An example of a lead that is both written and spoken:

WRITTEN LEAD: Judge finds Pistorius not guilty of murder
Judge Thokozile Masipa has found Oscar Pistorius not guilty of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. But he still faces judgment on a lesser culpable homicide charge.

BROADCAST LEAD:

• News reporter 1: The judge in the trial of Oscar Pistorious has found the Paralympian not guilty of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

• News reporter 2: The athlete wept in court as the verdict was read out with the judge ruling there is insufficient evidence to prove he is guilty of premeditated or intentional murder.

• News reporter 1: A ruling on the charge of manslaughter is expected later today.

This took exactly 20 seconds to speak then the footage switched from the reporters at the desk to a video of outside the courthouse.

References:

Ames, K., 2014. Week 10 - Impact of design, Course notes, COMM 11007 Media Writing: CQUniversity e-courses, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/.

Couriermail, 2014, Judge finds Pistorius not guilty of murder, http://www.couriermail.com.au/video viewed 21 September.

Whitaker, W. R., Ramsey, J. E. & Smith, R. D., 2012. Media Writing, print broadcast and public relations. 4th ed. New York: Routledge.

Inquiry

 Consider yourself as a visual consumer. Find a website/brochure/magazine you like and reflect on what it appeals to you. Write a short review of the site/product on your blog, making reference to points addressed in this week’s study materials.

• Words
• Logos
• Trademarks
• Colour
• Font
• Photos/Graphics
• File size of photos and graphics
• White space
• Balance
• Use of sound

Using the full spectrum of colours over a simple image, the company “Apple” has one of the most recognised trademarks in the world.  

With just three words and an image, visitors to the Apple website know that the new iPhone 6 is the largest mobile phone created so far.  

The most prominent part of the design of their current website is the literal use of white space.  This enables the simple words, written in easy to read font, and simple images, to stand out to the visitor.  

Clicking on the first image of the iPhone 6 the visitor is taken to another page that displays more information. 

A series of photos with short grabs gives the visitor a more in depth look than the very first page of the site, but still does not bombard the user with paragraphs of information. 

More information is available with the click of a link.

In keeping with the theme of the site I am reviewing (Apple), I have used concrete words and made use of the KISS principal to explain the qualities of this website.

References

Ames, K., 2014. Week 10 - Impact of design, Course notes, COMM 11007 Media Writing: CQUniversity e-courses, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/.

Apple, 2014. Apple. [Online] Available at: https://www.apple.com/au/ [Accessed 11 September 2014].

Practical

 Review your blog and your Storify for visual impact. Is the layout clean and easy to read? Have you
used headings in a way that attracts attention to key points? Is white space used appropriately? Reflect on this on your blog.

• Words - I have tried to use simple and easy to understand language on this blog.
• Logos - While I have not incorporated a LOGO (this blog does not call for that type of standard) I have included a favicon that replaces the standard blogger favicon (B).  I did this so that readers could distinguish between my blog, and another's.  The symbol represents a spirit breaking free.

 

• Trademarks
• Colour - I have used simple colours so as not to distract the reader.
• Font - Described below are the struggles I had with Fonts and Headings and the solution deployed.
• Photos/Graphics - are used when necessary to help make a point.
• File size of photos and graphics - I understand these need to be kept to a minimum when uploading to servers to keep the amount of space used down.  Blogger helps with this by adjusting the sizes for you.  The Photo Essay on this blog demonstrates my knowledge of file and image size because as you can see, the image fits perfectly across the blog.  When I created this in Photoshop I designed it based on the pixel dimensions of the blog.  
• White space - has been used throughout this blog to give the eye a break and aid in reading.
• Balance - Considering this is an academic blog, and because of this it is somewhat text heavy, there is still good use of images where necessary.
• Use of sound - There is only one sound file on this blog.  I only added it to lighten the mood of the post.  It can be found here (Ames, 2014).

Headings - Kind of a sore point with this template.  I started off using headings to differentiate text but the headings were in different sizes and fonts and instead of enhancing my writing, they made it look amateurish.

This is a heading

This is a sub heading

This is a minor heading

This is normal text

As you can see, the main heading is the smallest while the minor heading is the largest with the different coloured font.  However, when I am typing in the draft mode, this is what it looks like to me:

Then when it is published it looks like this:

Confusing and frustrating.  So what I did to combat this was not use the formatting provided by the blogger template and instead made bold what I wanted to bring attention to.

I believe I have used white space effectively.  There is a clear distinction between my blog posts and they are laid out in so the reader can easily find each week (Ames, 2014).

Photos and graphics are essential to enticing an internet following.  It is the graphic and the heading that draws the reader to a blog in the first place.  Use of images are a valuable tool (Ames, 2014).

A good example of this is in the blog I used to make some money on a year or so ago.   I was creating in-game coins for a game on Facebook and offering them free to the players. Yes, with the game owners permission.  So each day when these were posted, the same image would be used, and the title would be similar:

$10,000 FREE COINS

Bubble Witch Saga, All Coins 

Click here to claim >>> 

(Here would be a bitly link to the blog post that housed the coins)

The balloons and the text may change colour, and sometimes there may be a different game character embossed into the coin but basically the image would be the same so that users could quickly know that these were the free coins.  This ensures familiarity (Ames 2014).

Keywords, search descriptions and tagging were used heavily on that blog so users who had not found our Facebook page or group could still find us using a Google search.  I have since closed this blog but there are still over 1000 visitors to it per day, just from Google searches alone, thanks to the tools that were incorporated when the site was designed (Kritzinger & Weideman, 2013).

This blog incorporated ADSENSE and this, I believe, helped me to know what works and what doesn't when it comes to font choices and layout.  Because, without readership I would not have made the money I did from the blog.

References

Ames, K., 2014. Week 10 - Impact of design, Course notes, COMM 11007 Media Writing: CQUniversity e-courses, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/.

Google Adsense, 2011, Make Money on Blogger with Google AdSense, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32VknlEnYgc

Kritzinger, W. & Weideman, M., 2013. Search engine optimization and pay-per-click marketing strategies. Journal of organizational computing and electronic commerce, III(23), pp. 273-286.

Technical

Complete Quiz 10 – Style

• a. Read Chapter 8 of Hicks, English for Journalists (Punctuation) to prepare for this quiz.
• b. Complete the quiz so that you get 100% correct (you will be able to make numerous attempts).
• c. Reflect on this briefly on your blog – Did you find the questions difficult? Did you have any problems in specific areas? 

There really is nothing to say about this week's quiz.  I answered all the questions correctly and while I did refer to the text on occasion, most were common sense.  Either this was an easy week or I am finally getting the hang of things.  I would like to think it is the latter.



References:

Hicks, W., 2013. English for journalists. 4th ed. New York: Routledge pp 99-107.