So this is my last post .. I left it for today .. the very last day .. its been real .. i learnt an awful lot this year and a lot more blogging about the work i have been doing ...
I must say after this blog .. this is not the end of me and blogs .. In fact this is just the beginning ..
I will keep this blog open after its been marked. Oh yes thats the golden part i forgot to say i Do get marked for this so do be kind and remember constructive criticism is the best build for anyones confidence or work .. its the boost they need to improve and make the best out of who they are ..
not forever ? yeah .. not forever this was just the start im sure next term there will be more educational blogs coming .. but for now I am going to start my own blog .. just blogging about ME . :D and another with a good friend of mine .. that is top secret till take off !!
remember to be the best at being you !! I Live by that .. it annoys many but thats how its going to be ..
Bye first year I have learnt a lot and got to document a snippet of it ..
bye bye .. I know I've made footprints in your life ..
Finally .. I bring good news.. we had a breakthrough.. I am not going to lie, I am a first timer at filming and editing .. it really put me through a lot .. too many emotions for one project, but well worth it ..
I have the biggest smile on my face because even though i missed the chance to show our video campaign to the class, the sleepless nights me and Niki endured paid off handsomely.. Just as we wanted ..
Park was full of students .. some were playing football & some were reading.. Everyone we interviewed was quite eager to have their say.. with some even rapping their feelings about the way the sun makes them feel ..
Where is the passion ?? It lies in the happiness . Ever wanted to capture an image that embodies happiness.. freeness and just the will to be alive .. I hope we did ..
From this i learnt that no matter how bad a day you are having if someone passes a smile at you its sure to change your day.. even if its for a millisecond ..
students stressed from assignments and exam preparation were taking the day to loosen up and just relax ..
Laughter and full on enjoyment .. captured in the moment
you can never go wrong nandos =]
sunshine brings friendships together .. there's more to do outside .. Less wallowing in our uni sorrows .. remember that if you are stressed.
no better way to end the day .. than capturing a picture of your friends waiting at the traffic lights (oops now they will know i took this photo) and the sun is shining so bright although it should really be sun down ..
with me asking questions and photographing & Niki filming the day went swiftly .. Editing was a slight pain after trying four different software and finding it difficult we decided to download something that looked easy .. We used videopad, its as easy as they say but cripples the picture quality. sob sob .. I still think its perfect ..
Niki we make a great team =]
The pictures were taken during the filming of the campaign .. now its time to watch the very much anticipated .. sunshine campaign video ..
due to tweaking and perfection I took a lot longer to put it up than I expected .. but enjoy
I'm a trooper but my heart is not strong enough, can you believe i actually cried at one point working on the other campaign..
I know that that is where passion derives from but that took it all out of me..
I do apologize if you were looking forward to the outcome .. its a heavy topic.. i'll save it for my personal blog.
change of plans ..
Think happy happy .. Joy joy !! I want to put a smile on your face .. I want you to dance along to the tune of my melody .. hopefully u will be on the same page as me after I tantalize your happy bugs =]
Im thinking, the sun is out and people are happy .. it looks like its going to be a great one..
University students love sunshine, everyone is out in their brightest best.
picture this ..
Bede Park .. scattered massively with happy students .. screaming and laughing .. bbqs in the park, loud music and just that sense of togetherness..
Its real and its happening right here at DMU..
Let the sun sine ..
I have a partner now .. group work it is now =] finally
Me and Niki are going to interview students around the campus.. just asking the question .. HOW DOES THE SUN MAKE YOU FEEL ?
As well as getting answers to that question, we want to capture the essense of fun when the sun comes out ..
The reality that is .. the sun makes you happy, lazy , crazy, energetic ... full intentions of capturing that and sharing it with you .
ice-lollies and water fights that would be total bliss !!
fresh faced students .. less stressed about assignments and exams .. just enjoying life .. even if its for an hour ..
you know the saying ..
THIS LIFE .. EHHH
Students just take take take . so we will take take take what the sun brings us ..
Yes, I already had a campaign plan and draft in process.. but .. I was 16 when I wrote that and Pandoras box was opened and came flooding with lots more memories that inspired me to change the campaign..
The risk in me doing these topics is the attachment i get to the cause .. its something i think about all the time. young people and some older go through it too but trust me , that horrible experience in some peoples lives .. is a lifestyle for others & its not always by choice.
thinspiration ? really ..
Pro Ana .. Beware!! the internet world is just as cruel as the real world .. how many times do we hear that and never listen ..
to bullys out there.. get hobbies, the topic i am about to touch on involves everything ib the light of thin .. whether or not it was by choice it still counts. some are bullied into their state.. some are pressured into it .. inspired or just feel like that is the norm so they do it .
Pro-ana refers to the promotion of the eating disorderanorexia nervosa as a lifestyle choice. It is often referred to simply as "ana" and is sometimes affectionately personified by anorexics as a girl named Ana. The lesser-used term pro-mia refers likewise to bulimia nervosa and is sometimes used interchangeably with pro-ana.
Pro-ana organizations differ widely in their stances. Most claim that they exist mainly as a non-judgmental environment for anorexics; a place to turn to discuss their illness, and to support those who choose to enter recovery. Others deny anorexia nervosa is a mental illness and claim instead that it is a "lifestyle choice" that should be respected by doctors and family.
there are hundreds and possibly thousands of pro ana, thinspo & thinspiration websites on the net .. I have known about these since i ventured into the fashion industry but their meaning never really attracted me .. If you type the words in red into google.. unbelievable amounts of pages will show up, anyone and everyone has access to them as they have not been privatized.
On many a site .. celebrities have been put on a pedestal as thinspo .. the pictures that inspire young girls to eat fruit shavings and vomit their insides to gain that LOOK!!
even they are not happy with the way they are portrayed as hunger bait and the drive to someone's deathbed .. yes it causes death and retardation, Ok so that might be slightly fabricated but it is extreme .. one can lose their mind over this ..
http://tilt214.tripod.com/id6.html there are many more sites.. its a real problem and it needs to be addressed in the right manner. it might be a job too big for me but I will give it a try
many of these blogs and sites are made by people who are inspired by 'thin' celebrities.. the idea .. anything to do with thin. people as young as 8 have posted for help on how to lose weight fast without their mothers noticing ..
celebrities and catwalk models are to blame for this crazy phenomenon. many years ago thinspo sites were closed down and major help was put into place to get these young people eating and leading normal lives, but bullies, pictures and this life has changed it all again .
To make it an even harder subject .. things like this happen
as if thin sites are not enough, there is a guy in a dress at Jean Paul Gaultier's women's wear fashion show ..
what is the message ? having no curves makes the dress look better ?
I want to make a campaign that brings back the banishing of thinspo.. what does it mean to gain inspiration from a lifeless looking image ? what age are we in ? these are not the dark days . yes a catwalk model is a hanger .. but should they really be?
I am going to get as many views on opinions on this as i possibly can .. i will ask people if they know about thin sites and their views.. they need help.. you are beautiful no matter what kind of body you are in ..
this video i found lurking on the net a few days ago .. uneducated fools laughing at a real condition .
The last piece on my reflective journal will be a campaign. we are to film and edit a campaign about what we are most passionate about.. in groups or individually. I have decided to work alone because I remembered something i am personally passionate about .. I wrote a piece/ monologue on the issue five years ago when I was on a Performing Arts course and I still have the original copy of the script .
Draft Mirror Image, The completed campaign video will be in black & white .. Change the original script Flashes of 'The Mirror Image' are to be shown The mirror image is the required one.. who by ? The Media. As a performing arts student at the time, my main aim was to break into the performance/media industry, possibly the toughest industry to break into, i faced many challenges when i tried my luck at modelling.. My body was changing and this is how i felt . betrayed by myself, I'd lost control.. the 'Magazine' held the image that was the true epitome of beauty.. I was truly fooled, times have changed since ..
As comical as it may seem now.. I was 16 when I wrote this.. and performed it in a different manner to the way that it possibly reads to many.
x----Mirror Image----x
Original Script.
Do I look fat in this ?
You should know, you told me collar bones were a fashion accessory. Now tell me these thunder thighs are too.
Tell me, tell me now, tell me this big ol ass is a must have in the fashion.
Now meet 'SALLY', the talking belly,
she talks about all sorts, roast chicken and potato bake,
bacon sandwiches, fried foods and everything wrong. You name it, she wants it!!!
Chocolate (gasp.. hand on mouth) 8th deadly sin.
I hear they call me "thunder"
thunder thighs, surely its not that bad is it
They don't know what it feels like to be a leopard trapped in an elephant's body,
wanting so badly to show off what you really have, but 'Dumbo' here wants some spotlight!
I shouldn't be crying about such a minor issue,
I'm sure someone out there envies me for one reason or another .. all to do with my body .
Its just you , you insist that I fill up on fruits and quench my thirst on skinny water..
What do you know ?..
After all you're just a ... mirror
Ahhhhhh.. I never knew these were so big.. well mine are =p
The End hmm.. Not sure if im keeping my original script and just making it semi-comical with a great meaning ..
I plan on using very shocking images in the video to show the extremes that people go to, to make it in that industry. Its boys and girls alike.
The moral of the campaign will be love the body your'e in..
I will be asking people about their opinions or the 'mirror image' for the campaign.. I want to raise the awareness that there re still pressures amongst humanity to get the so called desired 'LOOK' it does not only happen to girls, boys enter the industry too and are expected to maintain a particular look.. we all know that look does not exist ..
Its called many hours/ sometimes even a few hours of editing.
creativity is all over the place.. I cant wait to get stuck in !!
In academic week 6 we had a Lecture on copyright 'Why I Copyfight' and had to read a few articles..
I chose the Legal threats against The Pirate Bay-http://thepiratebay.org/legal which the university computers did not allow me on- for legal reasons of course, what kind of a university would allow students to access The Pirate Bay ? what example would they be setting.. here I go suggesting that the university is for copyright because they have put a ban on accessing particular sites ..
copyright & Me
sitting on the fence .. Get it ? ha.ha .
read on and decide where i ended up.
Ever since i can remember I have been sitting on the fence with this issue.. I cannot decide where i stand ..
It took me a while to completely understand the different sides let alone pick my side..
I used to be a huge fan of music and only ever bought two Cd's in that time .. the others came as Xmas presents .. and itunes vouchers other than that.. I found out about this not so big secret called Downloading ...
I was so quick to download Kazaa, thats how far back I learnt about this Malarky!!
soon after downloading it .. I discovered that Music was not the only thing I was downloading, I did this on the main PC in the house so my parents were asking me if I had 'Been watching porn' and why the PC was running slow .. clearly those pop-ups carried some really damaging viruses ..
I upgraded .. and just as well . Kazaa closed down .. they were definitely CRAPPY if you asked me . Limewire came out.. even my own mother was asking about it .. begging me to get her the latest tunes ..
That was until one day, driving around listening to the radio, my mum turned up the volume when she heard the word Limewire.
'Do you hear that ' she said .. that is illegal .. I just laughed and thought but didn't you ask me to download something for you . She had been testing me .. asking me favours that involved downloading to see how eager I was to use this PC crippling software ..
Yet again the PC was slowing down and i just gave up on the whole thing ..
I saw on the net a few months after that Limewire was gone ..
But they were clever they left a seed .. right after they died out the birth of Frostwire was a BOOM!!
I did not jump on that bandwagon .. my download days were behind me..
.. I felt like a proper rebel .. should I even be putting this up here ? I said used to so its Ok =]
I found out about the damage illegal downloads puts on companies ..
Companies lose profit share.
Digital single sales and record industries create lower profits. Lower profits can ultimately result in record companies producing lower quality work or eventually ceasing to exist. The quality of audio which is downloaded for free from the web is generally poor. Under Federal law, Downloaders can be fined thousands of pounds per track downloaded .
Deep down I felt the people making and producing this music deserve some credit.. supporting music industries was my motive for a Long time .
I bought a few CD's for my younger sister, that we shared and for a while .. we were doing great ..
technically I'm still supporting aren't I ?
So one day .. Im at my PC just browsing the net.. looking at some underground UK artist and i came across a story headline .. SUE ME I LIKE YOUR SH*T (unfortunately i cannot find the link for it it was a while back), pretty excited .. I read on.. It was about a young girl who was getting frustrated by the whole copyright issue.. she claimed that when she bought a CD, she was not interested in every track that was listed and that the music she was into was never available on sale when she wanted it .. so Download it she said ..
She also claimed that certain underground artists would not mind their music being downloaded because its for the same cause ? listening..
Hmm this girl had me thinking .. silly things ? i don't know .. but in a sense she was right .. there is a law out there and she was fighting it with some sort of sense ..
Even then, i learnt at the time that underground artists were selling their music for low prices and illegally just to get 'their stuff heard'..
bigger fish to fry
watch a movie .. really like it .. want to watch it again..
you can but you don't always have to go to the cinema .. I dont understand how i got sold in .. but it happened ..
apparently some of the biggest known secrets in the name of download .. Im not going to go into that avenue but i learnt quicker than i knew that downloading movies,music e.t.c ruins the Idea of the trade ..
Im keen to discover new things that's why I try stuff out .. I am a strong believer of both and the day is possibly coming soon ..
We beep you once (or more) a day to ask how you're feeling, and a few basic things to control for: who you're with, where you are, what you're doing (if you're outdoors, you can also take a photo)
So... Mapping.
We have to create a psychogeographic map ..
The idea of it is to document life's unseen bouts .. well seen but not really looked into at times.
I decided to do my Map on my beloved Iphone 4 :)
I downloaded an app called Mappiness.. don't be fooled by the above description .. the app is horribly annoying. Well i am a student and half my life is spent indoors .. library.. labs.. lecture rooms.. halls or partying.
The app beeps twice or three times a day and asks "How do you feel? Please tell us as soon as you can.
At first its very exciting you cant wait to get into it.. well i couldn't .. when my first beep came I was so ready for it .
The App asks really personal questions at the beginning .. getting to know who you are , your health, marital status.. household income .. number of people living in your house and then asks you to agree with terms and conditions of(the invasion of your privacy) the program.
It asks about feelings, relaxation and being awake in a graph rating kind of format .. gage your happiness basically . Then it asks about people.. who you are with, where you are and what you are doing = breach of privacy much ? .
If you are outside you are asked to take a photo of your surroundings. unfortunately i was hardly outside when i took park in the Mappiness survey. i cannot remember exactly how long i did it for but twice to three times a day i had to answer questions .. It was like looking after a baby and a non-existent one because i did not know exactly where the information was going . (yes they tell us its for a survey but who are they ? )
Over time you are able to view a graph of your feelings and it gives you a percentage or graph rating of what kind of happiness you have within!!... LIES ..
Also shows when you are happiest . who you are with, where you are and what you are doing ..
I found myself having to walk about and go to places just to make my Mappiness exciting. =]
As you cannot access the information once its gone to Mappiness heaven - for those with Iphones and other phones that can do the same .. Take screen shots to prove that you actually took part in this beeping phenomena. !!
the slide show below shows my progress on Mappiness .. Enjoy !!
(sorry but the perfectionist that i am decided to turn this into a slide-show last minute after seeing that it looked slightly messy- & i did this on flickr the pictures looked cool but this is neat)
I have a beautiful old vintage-y Lumix camera..
well i think it looks vintage .. And all i ever do is take a bunch of pictures .. I'm making a pictorial document of my life.. So I was walking from a friends house one day after a discussion on how we should photograph our first love FASHION , and it occurred to me that it was quite a pretty day and the images would look exquisite on my blog .. off to the land of photography .. i made a second psychogeography map.. I call this one 'The Walk Home from my Friend's House' it should really read halls but this is home now.
My friend lives in Victoria Hall but the idea came to me once i had already left her area. I started photographing from Castle View/ Magazine Sq area all the way to Liberty Park halls on Eastern Boulevard.
The Walk Home from my Friend's House Enjoy (turned these pics into a slideshow last minute as well because it looks less spacey)
the dates on the photos may read differently because i have used images i took in the past to fill out any gaps =]
Only added the map to make it look better otherwise my images mapped the way. added April
