Reversing Levels

A brand new track is played on the radio and within a few weeks someone has done a remix of it that's also being played. Well, who'd have thought that if you just reverse the music on a track it could sound so good? George Monev certainly did when he reversed Avicii's 'Levels'.

I love this track the right way round but I have to say, I definitely prefer the reversed version - it sound's like Summer's finally here!

Meet Bobby Charles

Over the last few weeks for the Contemporary Media Issues module we've all had to maintain some fake profiles online. Sounds strange but it's all to do with creating a character presence online. I'll just introduce you to Bobby Charles and then you can see what I'm talking about for yourself.

Bobby is a 19 year old student from Manchester who is currently living in Liverpool as he's studying Media at LJMU. He's got a passion for photography, drives a red Ford Fiesta Zetec S, loves football, works behind the bar in Revolution, oh, and he's single. You can add Bobby on Facebook, follow him on Twitter and Pinterest and check out his photos on Flickr.

Please note: The profile pictures have either been removed or changed at the request of our model.

Avid

By editing together 3 production assignments using Avid I have managed to piece together the ins and outs of this software over the time. However, I'm not a fan of it. I would happily choose Final Cut over Avid any day, but because I have to, I'm persevering with it -  often with a huge Avid book of 'basics' close by now that I've discovered one.

Anyhow, today, for the first time since starting uni, I got the chance to edit on my own. It may sound strange but that's something that I quite enjoy - sitting on my own, preferably in a corner, with an editing suite. Editing is the part that I've often enjoyed most in production work, regardless of the fact that I usually hit brick walls throughout, so getting my hands on the editing on my own is something that I relish.

Sometimes it's easier to get to know how to use a piece of software when you're on your own as well. No-one's watching you or looking over your shoulder and you can take as long as you want or need to get to grips with it.

Filming on Derby Day at Anfield

Pinterest

Pinterest is a fairly new social network and after having a look at it I decided to request an invite to it. I didn't know anyone who actually had one before I got on there but thought I'd try it out anyway. I'm actually really getting into it now and I think it's a really good site and I'm definitely going to keep at it. It's a place where I can 'pin' photos of absolutely anything and everything and you discover so much stuff once you're on there. You can check out my 'boards' at www.pinterest.com/ceriynwa and if you want an invitation to join then just let me know (it'd be quicker than waiting for them to send you one!).

Whitechapel

So, Whitechapel has now finished for another series, but during the final episode I couldn't help but realise something - the killer always ends up dead.

Series 1 - the Jack the Ripper copycat committed suicide by drowning himself in the Thames.

Series 2 - the supposed Kray twins were both assassinated whilst in Police custody.

Series 3 - case 1 - the murder falls to his death.

Series 3 - case 2 - the murder's alter-ego kills himself.

Series 3 - case 3 - the murderer dies from his injury's after jumping off a roof.

All except one that is - in the last episode of series 3 the mother of the murderer is arrested when she kills the psychologist in the Police witness room.

With series 1 it was obvious why the killer was never caught as the case of Jack the Ripper is one of the most famous murder mysteries in history. Then with series 2 it took quite a dramatic turn of events. In series 3, with each case they knew who the killer was and always became very close to catching them, but never did. In some ways this is quite fitting as many of the cases that have emerged from history were never solved or fully proven, but then again, this could be a comment on justice - but that's a whole other debate in itself!

Weavrs that Tweet & Blog

First of all, what is a Weavr? A Weavrs is like a little robot that likes online as a person that blog and tweet about things that they find interesting or they like depending on what attributes you give them.

We each had to create our own Weavrs and set them up a Twitter account for the module Contemporary Media Issues. I decided to call my Weavr TJ McQueen and she was from Liverpool. You can see what see says about herself here www.tj-mcqueen.weavrs.info/about and view the things she's been blogging about here www.tj-mcqueen.weavrs.info/#/view/grid. After being suspended from Twitter for about a week, you can now view TJ's Twitter feed on @TJ_McQ.

To begin with I wasn't too sure about Weavrs but after checking back with mine today, I've been quite impressed by some of the things that have been posted, especially the music. I've also been able to interact with my Weavr by asking her questions and leaving her comments on her posts and then she has replied...that is kind of weird though.

Revisiting Wikis

For our latest assignment for Contemporary Media Issues we had to create another group wiki using Wetpaint Central. This time, each group was given a topic and we had to choose one of the five options and write a thread about how social networking has effected our topic. We were given 'Capitalism in Crisis' and I toke the thread 'social networking as a market/distribution mechanism'. Our wiki can be found here: http://contemporarymediaissues.wetpaint.com/page/Capitalism+in+Crisis

Personal Profile

For our Production Practise module we had to film a personal profile about someone who had an interesting story. This assignment was linked to the previous location profile (it's liverpool) which we did. Our profile is of a woman who has a love for Whippets.

One Last Con

Scary, tense and very emotional, that sums up the very last episode of Hustle. Oh, and Pure Brilliance!!

The production crew for Hustle are just great, from the amazing writers and researchers to the incredible editors and if I'd have been in the media industry at the right time then I'd have loved to have been apart of that team. This is one of the programmes that makes me want to go into editing, it really makes the show what it is.

One thing that surprised me, however, in the final episode was the breaking of the fourth wall. Although I do think this was used to great effect, especially for the grifting masterclass from Mickey Stone. Breaking the fourth wall isn't something which you'd expect from a programme like this but when it's done well, it works regardless of the fact that it isn't the norm.

Having only seen series 7 and 8, I really do think I've been missing out on something, so if anyone wants to buy me all 8 box sets...

Goodbye Hustle - I still want to be a grifter though!