Creative Work

A2 Communication & Culture Coursework

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Click to jump to• Topic• Format• How To Succeed

Topic

The subject material for your creative work is drawn from your Case Study. This doesn’t mean simply putting your CS into a different format, but developing the work you have done into a coherent, persuasive argument. This is the opportunity for you to use all of your creative and communicative abilities to make a powerful set of points to your audience

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Topic Key words: rhetorical, polemical, persuasive Examples of persuasive communication by film-

makers who want to get a message across such as Charlie Brooker or Michael Moore. Think about the techniques they use:

Dramatic recreation, emotional interview, statistics, expert witnesses, music, humour, selective information, loaded words, repetition, contrasts, personalisation, picture-telling, confrontation, shock, juxtaposition

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Format for your Creative Work

Should be ‘publishable to the web’. This means a digital format that is freestanding, ie doesn’t need you to present it or interpret it for your audience.

Must all be uploaded to new Blogger site Should require ten minutes of your audience’s

time to fully digest the piece. However, this doesn’t mean that a film (for example) must last ten minutes. It may be that several viewings are required

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Format for your Creative Work

Your target audience is your own peers, ie A2 Communication & Culture students. This means that you can use technical terms and subject specific concepts without having to explain them

Think about a register or mode of address that is suitable for your audience and your purpose. What is the right balance between formality and informality?

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Digital Formats A documentary-style film. A traditional presentation

to camera with voiced narration or a more edgy collage of still and moving images. You could also consider satire, drama or performance art as ways of getting your message over. Windows Moviemaker and Adobe Premiere Elements are available on the college network. Upload to Youtube and use the colleges AV equipment.

Powerpoint or website. Consider using interactive elements (eg hyperlink) and sound

Listen to this6

Digital Formats

A podcast (sound package). Download Audacity (free) on your home pc/laptop

Use music, sound effects, different voices, interviews to engage and persuade your audience. You may have to listen to speech-based radio or podcasts on the net (try i-Tunes) to get some ideas

Listen to the sample podcast

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How to Succeed

In a word: planning Your creative work needs to be carefully thought

out in advance. Use scripts and storyboards Try out your ideas in draft form Play with the software, make sure your ideas

work Team up with others in the class (especially if

you are filming) Help each other Don’t waste allocated class time

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Your Goal

A piece of work you are proud of; something to show your friends (or whoever)

A demonstration of your creative potential A message to yourself in 20 years’ time:

Remember – this is worth 25% of A2

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Blogger Format

Make a new blog titled first and last name Comms 4 Stratford upon avon 2010

This will be the central place for all your digitised work – videos, podcasts, Powerpoints, images, slideshows, music etc can be uploaded.

Files are not stored on blog sites, they need to be stored elsewhere online depending on what they are

The blog format itself can be used creatively.

Youtube Info Getting Started: How to upload Once you've finished editing your video, made sure that it's less than 10 minutes

long, smaller than 2 GB in size and in an acceptable format; you're ready to upload it.

Click the UPLOAD button in the upper right-hand corner of any YouTube page. Enter as much information about your video as possible, including Title,

Description, Tags and Category. The more information that you include, the easier it is for users to find your video!

Determine if you want your video set to Public or Private. Click the "Upload a Video..." button. In the next window, click the "Browse" button to browse for the video file. Select

the file that you want to upload. Click the "Upload Video" button. It can take from a couple of minutes to an hour for your video to upload to

YouTube. If you receive an error message when uploading, you should ensure that you're

attempting to upload a file type that's recognised by YouTube. YouTube accepts video files from most digital cameras, camcorders and mobile phones in the .OVI, .MOVE, .MOVE and .MPG file formats.

More Youtube info YouTube.com is designed to host and share videos only. Other types of media, including

music (MP3s, etc.), pictures (JPEGs, etc.) and flash files that don't contain a video stream can't be processed by our system and will be rejected. You can still have fun with these other types of media by turning your music into a music video or making a video slideshow out of your pictures

YouTube accepts a wide range of video file formats. The video files below are all accepted by YouTube. Some video formats work best and are most compatible with certain computers, software or devices.

Windows Media Video(.AVI) .3GP (mobile phones) .WMV (windows) .MOV (mac) .MP4 (iPod/PSP) .MPEG .FLV (Adobe Flash) .MKV (h.264) If you do not think that your current video file format is recognised by YouTube, you may get

the best uploading results from converting your file to MPEG4 video with MP3 audio.

Audacity Info Recording Audacity can record live audio through a microphone or mixer, or digitize recordings from cassette

tapes, vinyl records, or minidiscs. With some sound cards, it can also capture streaming audio. Record from microphone, line input, or other sources. Dub over existing tracks to create multi-track recordings. Record up to 16 channels at once (requires multi-channel hardware). Level meters can monitor volume levels before, during, and after recording. Import and Export Import sound files, edit them, and combine them with other files or new recordings. Export your

recordings in several common file formats. Import and export WAV, AIFF, AU, and Ogg Vorbis files. Import MPEG audio (including MP2 and MP3 files) with libmad. Export MP3s with the optional LAME encoder library. Create WAV or AIFF files suitable for burning to CD. Import and export all file formats supported by libsndfile. Open raw (headerless) audio files using the “Import Raw” command. Note: Audacity does not currently support WMA, AAC, or most other proprietary or restricted file

formats. Editing Easy editing with Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete. Use unlimited Undo (and Redo) to go back any number of steps. Very fast editing of large files. Edit and mix an unlimited number of tracks. Use the Drawing tool to alter individual sample points. Fade the volume up or down smoothly with the Envelope tool.

More Audacity info Effects Change the pitch without altering the tempo, or vice-versa. Remove static, hiss, hum, or other constant background noises. Alter frequencies with Equalization, FFT Filter, and Bass Boost effects. Adjust volumes with Compressor, Amplify, and Normalize effects. Other built-in effects include:

Echo Phaser Wahwah Reverse

Sound Quality Record and edit 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit (floating point) samples. Record at up to 96 kHz. Sample rates and formats are converted using high-quality resampling and

dithering. Mix tracks with different sample rates or formats, and Audacity will convert them

automatically in realtime.

Creating a Podcast Get Inspired and Make It Your Own. If you want to make a podcast then you obviously must

have some notion or idea about what you want it be about. Whether it’s cars, sports, fashion, politics, or even tech–use your interests to carry over and make a superior podcast. It’s usually a good idea to know what you want to say before going on the air so make an outline of the session’s topic and prep yourself before recording.

Keep a Schedule. Podcasts can be daily or weekly, or just whenever you want. Consider how much time you have and work out a schedule with yourself, and/or with who ever is doing the show with you, to allow enough time for this task.

Get Equipment. You will need some equipment like a microphone, a computer (with Internet connection) and some sort of audio recording software.

Record and Tag. Try using Audacity, which is free, to record your show, and don’t forget to label and save your information.

Save and Edit. Save your audio file (in MP3 format) to your computer desktop and edit out extra background noise or long periods of silence.

Make an Intro. You can spice up your podcasts by adding an intro like some “lead-in” music or something else that you think people will find appealing– or if you don’t care what people think then just put whatever you want, or don’t put an intro at all.

Go to OurMedia.org or box.net and chose the free package. Then go to your files, and upload your MP3 file. This will be the place where your files are stored online. The blog merely links to them.

Publish it. Post it on your blog or website -make the title of the post the title of that episode of the podcast and enter the URL for your audio file. Write a brief description under of the podcast’s content—make it clever and informative so people want to click on it and listen. At the end of the post, put a link directly to your media file.

Blogger Info Embedding music/audio from third-party sites If you'd like to embed a playlist or functionality from a third-party music

service such as Last.fm or Imeem, Blogger's layouts feature makes it easy.

Visit your Template | Page Elements tab. Create a new widget by clicking "Add a Page Element." Choose the "HTML/Javascript" widget. Enter the HTML code provided by your third-party music service into the

content window and click "Save Changes." If you can't find the necessary code, you may have to contact your third-

party music service. Feel free to position the page element wherever you'd like.

There are plenty of services to share and embed music available on the web. Here's a list of a few to get you started. Please keep in mind that these services aren't affiliated with Blogger, but we've heard good things about them.

Last.fm Seeqpod Imeem IODA Promonet Hypster Streampad Splashcast Project Playlist FineTune MyFlashFetish

More Blogger info