Reflection on the experience of FMS live

There was a number of different elements that made up Unit X. At the beginning of the unit we had lectures twice a week, within these lectures we would have guest speakers such as Noel Mellor. The lectures were very useful because they gave me tips for how to make my blog stand out and write posts that are interesting and unique.  I also enjoyed the lecture about superheroes which we had just before the film Batman vs Superman, as I was not a huge superhero fan this lecture helped me get an insight into the comic world and allowed me to have a better understanding before I went to watch the film.

My favourite part of the unit was definitely the two visits a week to the cinema, this allowed me to explore new films that I would never normally go to watch. I also enjoyed setting up a blog and sharing my experience of the films and my thoughts of the media I engaged in. The group work projects were also a useful task and I enjoyed meeting up with my group weekly to make eye catching infographics. It was also very useful to attend to talks about InDesign and I feel I can use the skills I acquired from the talks in the future. I did find the seminars tended to drag slightly, I feel this may have just been because people were not willing to show each other their work so there was not much to discuss and reflect on in them.

I found the Facebook group very useful and I thought it was very clever using ‘likes’ to vote on what films we wanted to watch. I found it interesting to see other people’s comments on how they felt about the films and it was also a great way to keep up to date with the timetable. I thought keeping a media diary was very interesting as it made me become aware of my media intake. It was also good having the reflection blogs as I could express what I had learnt about myself through the process.

I feel I did commit to all aspects of the unit, I found myself putting a lot of effort into my blogs and I think my hard work was worthwhile as I found myself really enjoying the course. I could have possibly brought more material to the seminars to allow me to have more of a discussion with my peers and I could have researched more blogs for inspiration.

I found myself discussing a variety of media within my blogs, I began with reviewing the films of that week however I started to realise that would not make my blog very unique. I went on to use the weekly films as a catalyst for my blog posts,  ‘moral messages in children’s films’ was inspired by going to see Zootopia. I also blogged about the media I found myself engaging in like reality television and social media. I think there was certain areas where I left my comfort zone, I went to watch a horror film which I didn’t enjoy but it allowed me to be able to create a blog post about why I didn’t like them.  

I mainly communicated my ideas through my blog posts and the group infrographics. When we showed the infographics in the seminars it allowed us to show the group our views and opinions. Although many people were vocal on the Facebook page, I did not tend to comment. I would like people’s comments but I found that I didn’t have enough confidence to post my own views on the page, as I didn’t want people to disagree or argue with my view. If I was to do the unit again I would try to build the confidence to comment on the Facebook page and have a useful discussion with my peers.

The unit has taught me a lot of different skills, I have learnt how to use a blog and also how to create infrographics. I think the unit has improved my writing skills and has allowed me to develop more of an opinion within my writing. I think it has also opened my eyes to a lot more online resources based on media. I never thought I would be one to write about films, however this unit has changed my opinion and it could be a possibly be a future job for me.

Reflection of group work

At the start of Unit X we were put into groups of three, we were told that from week 3 of the unit we would have to work within those groups to create weekly infographics. As soon as I found out who was in my group I created a Facebook group chat for us to contact and arrange a suitable day to meet. We decided the best day for us to meet would be a Thursday morning before our seminar. We all took an equal share in terms of roles and duties, we all had an input into the design and information put on the infographic. We were also each able to contribute things we had learnt from the talks we had attended, as I was number 3 of the group I had to attend an InDesign workshop. The workshop gave me an insight into how to create posters and flyers, I felt this allowed me to help contribute to how we could lay out our infrographics.

We decided to create the first infographic based on the lecture about superheroes and the film of the week, which was Batman vs Superman. We then decided for the second infographic to do the evolution of Disney, as we were going to watch a new Disney film that week and we were interested by the change of stories over time. However the last two infrographics were a more random choice and seemed to be more celebrity based as we did the top award show moments and the other about the met ball. We were lucky as we had very little disagreements in regards to picking a topic, however we did have some when choosing how to layout the infrographic and what information to put onto it. We overcame this problem by trying everyone’s suggestions and making a group decision on what looked best.

I do enjoy working as a group as long as everyone gives an equal contribution, it can allow you to do a lot more work within a smaller amount of time. I do however find it is sometimes more difficult than individual work, in terms of agreeing on shared ideas and finding a suitable time to meet up. There was a week when we could not make the designated Thursday which meant we had to send each other different things to add to the overall infographic, this made the task a lot more tedious as we had to wait for each other to send things and it would have probably been easier to do it individually.

I think group work can offer you different insights and approaches to things, I ended up researching about superheroes and actually found myself enjoying it, I probably would not have done that topic if I was working individually. I also found that I was able to learn new skills from my group as we each helped each other understand how to use PiktoChart, if I wasn’t in a group I may have struggled to use it. If I was to think of some improvements for our group I would suggest we could have put more time into the infographics rather than just a couple of hours a week, however we still managed to produce professional looking work. I think on a personal level I could have possibly made some templates and gathered more information and pictures to help make our work even better.

Overall however the group work aspect of the unit has been very enjoyable and I intend to use infographics within the future.

Infographic 4: The Met Ball

Why do we love reality televsion?

A reality television program is supposed to be an unscripted real life situation. As an audience we seem to be getting more obsessed with reality television, from early reality programmes like Big Brother and Pop Idol, their success and other shows of that nature have become a lot more popular.

There are now even certain television channels that focus purely on reality television such as ITVBe and Really. Many of the most watched programmes on television are reality ones such as Britain’s Got Talent, Xfactor, Geordie Shore and The Only Way is Essex.

The reality programmes I tend to watch more are The Real Housewives of Cheshire and Made in Chelsea, the thing I most enjoy is following their lavish lifestyles. I am drawn into the programmes by wanting to see what they will wear and where they will eat and party. These types of programmes are classed as popular culture as they are easy to follow and I and many others watch the programmes hoping one day we can have such a great lifestyle.

It seems as an audience we also love programmes following the lives of celebrities, I could sit for hours watching a camera follow around Kim Kardashian and feel I have a closer insight to her celebrity lifestyle. We also love a bit of drama and cattiness, we love watching people arguing and talking about one another. As an audience we are often given ‘confessionals’, which allows us to know someone’s thoughts and feelings before they go and confront another person in the programme. This makes us feel part of the situation and allows us to guess what the outcome will be.  

We also love getting involved in reality television, we love calling up Xfactor and voting for someone who will be forgotten by next year. Reality show owners have now picked up on this a lot more and use social media to their advantage, before advert breaks they tell us to tweet about our favourite stars and vote for them using their program apps. All of these different techniques allow an audience to feel more involved within the stars lives and make us feel we can change their future.

Cooking programmes have often been popular on television, however we now have programmes such as Come Dine With Me. This program gives you the opportunity to learn new recipes like a traditional cooking show, however it has the reality element of people looking around the hosts house, they also give ‘confessionals’ telling the audience what they thought of the host, the night and they then score it. The reality element makes the show a lot more interesting and seems to be the future for cooking programmes.

Although I find most reality shows very entertaining, I do often feel slightly more stupid after watching some of them. I sometimes sit there and wonder why I am so obsessed with finding out what they have been doing with their exciting lives and it makes my own life seem pretty boring. However I know I am just one of millions who love reality television and it seems it’s going to keep growing in popularity.

Infographic 3: 8 Worst Award Show Moments

Why I hate horror films

This week I decided I would give horror films another chance and went to watch Friend Request. As soon as the lights went to black and the trailers for new horror films were played, I instantly regretted my decision. Throughout the whole film I sat with my hands over my eyes giving myself a tiny hole to peep through, the only time I dared to look at the screen was when it was daytime in the film.

I have never been able to watch horrors, at sleepovers if they decided to play a horror I would try to go to sleep, if my family put one on in the living room I would leave when it got scary. I have always been annoyed at myself for not being able to handle a horror film, so I would always try to push myself into watching one and then regret it. If I do attempt to watch a horror film or sometimes even just a thriller, they play on my mind for days meaning I can’t sleep, every light in the house must be on and I cannot be on my own.

Although I have always avoided watching them, at certain times in my life I trick myself into believing I can handle it, so I have managed to watch quite a lot of horror films even if I did cover my eyes for the majority of the films. I feel they are very predictable, I know to look away when the tense music rises or the main character is walking around on their own in the dark.

I’ve also found new horror films tend to be very similar and the idea of ghosts contacting us through computers and phones seems slightly ridiculous and boring. However films such as Sinister and Insidious are actually terrifying as they rely on making an audience jump and feel extremely tense, they are the type of horrors I would completely avoid.

I also find films like Saw and Human Centipede cross the line and rather than having an in-depth story and making the audience think, they use extremely graphic footage to repulse and scare an audience, I don’t think films of this nature should exist.

I think some of the most shocking and nerve wrecking horror films are those that have a sense of reality like Paranormal Activity or ones that claim to be based on a true story. I think they unsettle an audience even more because they fear that it could actually happen to them. Although I have my hate of horror films, they are one of the most popular genres of film and also tend to make a huge profit. Paranormal Activity was made for $15,000 and managed to make $161,830,890 at the box office.

Horror seems to be a very popular and profitable genre, it seems people will pay to be scared and have sleepless nights, however I do not think I will ever be one of them.