Jasons Blog

Idea 1

A child in bed and their father or mother sitting by their bed side telling them a bed time story something along the lines of

"The pirates moved at high speeds pillageing loot from every corner of the internets. For years they took whatever they wanted with no regard for the law. But alas one day, their pirate plans were foiled by the local authorities. They tracked them down with new technogloy and made the pirates pay them vast ammounts of money THE END''

The parent walks out and shuts the door the kid looks scared
Theres a shadow of a pirate on the wall.
Or the child Knocks an action figure of a pirate into a draw and closes it then turns off the lamp.


Idea 2

A guy is in his room. The items in the room, such as guitars on the wall and amps laying around, Suggest the guy is very into music. He is on the phone to his friend telling him about a record deal his band just got and that his album should be out in a few weeks. He finishs on the phone hears a noise and leaves the room for a few seconds then returns. When he comes back into the room there are three pirates sitting at his pc shouting and swiging grog. The camera will zoom in on the screen and it will say something like "98%... 99%.... 100%.. Downloading and burning complete" one of the pirates will steal a cd out of the cd tray and then they'll run to the balcony and disapear into the night before the man can stop them.

I had another idea but it had to many problems so i scraped it. Let me know what you think and which idea i should work on. Im leaning towards the 2nd idea at the moment.

I Don't want the advert to contain to much writen information, but at the
same time i need to give the audience a good understanding. The best way that I've found to do this is through visuals. Here is an example of what i think is an advert that successfully uses a lot of visuals to get the message across.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plrcDeDa7LQ&feature=related

I really love this advert. I think it works very well making the audience look at a not very obvious reason why software piracy could be a bad thing. Its also humorous and this appears to be a key factor when trying to get an audience to remember something. It uses a video game medium that a lot of people can relate to of all ages. Theres not an overload of information (just some straight to the point text at the end) and its not boring so it doesn't make you want to zone out like a lot of the other piracy adverts do. Because of all of these factors In my mind this is highly successful.

If written information has to be given an effective way to do this is bullet points short and snappy. This way the audience will hopefully remember the information that i want them to. My thoughts on software piracy is that it is possible to slow it down but impossible to completely get rid of it. The two main ways that i have found work for stopping people illegally downloading are the moral approach and the shock approach. The Moral approach trys to connect with people and make them realize that they are doing something that is wrong. There is lots of different techniques using this approach, that can be used. These play on different emotions such as guilt. An example of an effective moral approach to similar advert is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf4pnY1wFiU

This works quite well as it uses real actors to get the point across. Another similar approach that i like has the actor musician Jack Black talking about
piracy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LkWKvMCzqA

However him not to sure that the moral approach is the best way forward i think it can work but then again at the same time i think a lot of people especially online aren't really bothered if the actors and musicians are losing out or not. I think most of the messages in these adverts are obvious to the audience already and a lot of them still continue to download illegally regardless.

The Shock approach instead of playing on the morals looks at the consequences of the users actions such as fines. They often make the audience think that they cant get away with piracy as they WILL be caught even though it is not normally the case. These type of adverts use emotions such as fear to scare the audience. A good example of this is the TV licensing adverts such as:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a_QX3DECRE

A video i was watching on software piracy discusses that there is often freeware on the Internet that can be found but people often choose to ignore this and illegal download software that they have heard of. An example of this is Photoshop. After a quick look on Pirate bay i can see that Photoshop CS3 is the 6th most popular software application, with a huge 2684 seeders and 219 lechers at this current point in time. In my opinion there is no need to download programs such as Photoshop as their are nearly always free alternative such as GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) which does nearly exactly the same thing. In some cases these free alternatives can be better than the software that people are illegally downloading. So one approach to trying to get users to stop software piracy could be to advertise the freeware. Not only is there free software available on the net that many people don't know about or choose not to use but now with sites such as BBC i player and channel 4 catch up there is less reason for people download films. As with Spotify people can listen to music for free legally but the majority still choose to download albums illegally. I think the method of making people aware of the free alternatives to illegal software piracy, would have the highest success rate in an advert.

We conducted the interview twice with Sam. The first interview was taken on the streets after we had finished filming Sam play. However there was a problem with the recording. There was to much background ambiance on the recording and in some parts it drowned out what Sam was talking about. So we decided to re do the recording in a sound proof both in university. We could add ambiance in the background of people walking past and street noises on a separate layer this way we would be able to control the volume of both channels of sound. We felt this was the right decision to make as not only did we fix our previous problems but Sam also gave more details and relaxed answers this time. Here is a copy of the Transcript of the interview with the busker.



Ollie: Right okay, alright so can you just err introduce yourself err like things a bit about yourself erm what you’re into that kind of thing erm and obviously, why you’re here.

Sam: [Laugh] Well erm, my name is Sam, Sam Lindo and erm I’m into music the blues erm, sort of erm a regular sort of street entertainer i-in in the city of Nottingham [inhale] sometimes I’d rather say entertainer than busking but errr [laugh] if you wanna put it that way (2) err, erm, my main instrument is a guita-guitar but I play the keyboard, bass and [mumble] I do recording as well. I also do err music lessons err (1) anything sort of [mumble] keep me going.

Ollie: (3) Right erm err so you live in Nottingham…

Sam: Yeah.

Ollie: Errr, how long have you lived in Nottingham and whats your opinions on the city?

Sam: Errrrr, I lived in N-Nottingham a ermmm quite a time ‘cause as I say I grew up in the city of Nottingham but I went to live in Lon-London for sometime and came back here in about ninety (1) ninety-six ninety-seven that’s when I came back and obviously there was a lot of change in the city when I came back but erm, took a little while to sort of settle back down but erm, seem to be getting the hang of it now and erm, I do like the city of Nottingham it’s quite a friendly (1) city I thought it to be and erm (1) my sort of opinion it’s not big not to small, ya know? A lot seems to be going on nowadays in Nottingham yeah…

Ollie: H-How do you think Nottingham compares say to London?

Sam: Errrm… Well, what can I say? (1) London erm it seems where it’s all happening but yet it can be a bit sort of ummm selfish but I found Nottin-Nottingham to be more friendly than, than London itself ya know? There is more interaction with the people, surprisingly, despite London might be bigger than Nottingham but err seems to have more reaction, ya know but erm, or interaction rather [slight laugh] it’s whats happening in Nottingham.

Ollie: (3) I’m just seeing what else you’ve not already talked about on here [laugh].

Sam: Yeah.

Ollie: Ermm… [tut] (4) Is errr do you have a favourite aspect about the city other than the friendliness of the people…

Sam: Ermm…

Ollie: [mumble] or is it just…

Sam: Well, eh (1) th-the music I do seems to go down very well in Nottingham [mumble] a lot of sort of support and a lot, a lot of erm encouragement from Nottingham and erm, since the start sort of erm playing as such erm (2) I find I-I-I find that people are very, very owgasiv wh-whats the word (1) eh got better and better [laugh] yeah [inhale] I-I-I think ermm you can sort of get better if you get good encouragement good support and err therefore you get appreciation of what you’re doing, it’s err kind of really encouraging yeah.

Ollie: Right, erm so why is it that you choose to busk and entertain on the street?

Sam: Ermm, I-I also g-gr-grew up around music (1) and errr sometimes I said I do a lot of sort of a studio things in the studio now [hitting mic stand with foot] I found I was sort of just doing what I like and ya know and I thought to myself well well music’s not so much for you its for people its for people so so the things I was doing I thought to myself let lets give it a try on the street to see how people react to it because [incoherent mumbles] you know sort of erm bookings, wedding, different venues or whatever ya know until that time comes ya know you don’t sort of know how people react to what you’re doing but err I thought I’d give it a try ya know see ya know how people react to what I’m doing ‘cause I really wanna know, find what diection (1) in music I was going ya know ‘cause errr when I start I wasn’t quite sure because of sort of um sort of err asedava church gigs like I sort of grew up in the church and do a lot of ya know gospel music and all that but, but err I find that I was doing a different kind of music than gospel itself altho the lyrics that I do use was gospel but then I find that erm but I didn’t realise it was the blues [laugh] that err, that I was playing so when I started playing on the street people says ‘oh err I like your blues’ ya no and erm, then I started to listen a bit more keener to what I’m doing to what I feel inside I realise it was the blues [laugh] so I er just continue doing that ya know and erm sort of erm get better and better at it ya know and all that.

Ollie: [clears throat] How does erm religion influence your personality and also the music you play?
Sam: Err, erm to the full ext-extent really as I-I would say ‘cause I’m very much, very much erm, erm a Christian [chuckle] ya know. Sometimes I find it difficult to say religion because I-I feel knowing Jesus Christ and God its far more, m-more important than religion itself igotosay there religions all over the world and some-some ya know you can get weary of of and some… neh ser ah ih so but erm, but from that perspective erm I-I am definetly a spiritual man [chuckle] ya know and erm, and err, I like err and my really aspiration in playing is that whatever I’m playing its meaning something to people, ‘cause ya know I feel that music is a spiritual thing (1) th-th-er-I I feel its one of the gift of creation that err, and err, and everytime I play my my aspiration is to really reach the soul, reach the spirit ya know with music ya know [incoherent mumble] I tends to I tends to err (1) use very careful lyrics, lyrics that’s got s-some sense in it g-got some spirituality and that’s, erm, I try to avoid type of lyrics that is lude err such as swearing and I just like to err, I like to use lyrics that err that can build the spirit can encourage people that can give people awarenes of the supernatural, that can the awareness of God and Jesus Christ that’s my, that’s my main drive in all of this and I feel that’s where my strength come from I feel that’s where my inspiration come from, and err (1) and err (1) and that’s the way I’m going.

Ollie: Alright, erm [clears throat] have you got an opinion on, obviously erm blues and gospel are quite traditional types of music erm so do you have an opinion on sort of erm the youth of today and their type of music and how it effects their behaviour because obviously gospel and that kind of stuff ya say is spiritual it makes you feel good it makes people feel good, how do you yeah how do you think the music of today effects the youth of today?

Sam: Err, Erm, eh I-I don’t want to judge or scon but err, erm, I find myself being very concerned about the, the the kind of music that you hear today especially erm (1) music the lyrics that involve swearing and and blaspheming and all that its err, I feel it is such [mic stand being kicked] a shame really and err, I do feel its of a negative effect and err (1) and my, my aspiration and my hope is that, that erm, that music itself will find its true meaning [mic stand being kicked] ya know ‘cause I feel music is a beautiful thing ya know and err some of the, some of the thing that is being used to represent music I feel that is ya know its [chuckle] it doesn’t really do music justice at all and I feel, and I feel that erm, I think people erm get involved with the type of music that, that can, that can benefit, that can be beneficial to erm, to themselves ya know to yourself as a person as a citizens or as human as a member of society and the community erm, b-because at the end of the day music is a powerful thing and ya know and erm, it-it can control the emotion and it, if you get involved in the right kind of ideal the right kind of if I may say the right kind of, wrong kind of spirits ya know, that it can lead to powerful things really, because erm, with myself as in music really ya know ya know [laugh] erm by the time people says ya know ‘you wanna ciggarette you wanna drink’ its often that I say ‘I don’t drink I don’t smoke’ and they might, they might wonder you know this is the first blues guy that doesn’t drink or do-[laugh] or don’t smoke ya know but I-I find at the end of the day i-i-i-i-its better for you ya know music it tends to erm, associate it with erm excessing drinks and erm drugs and all that kind and er and I feel that, erm, your gonna have to stay away from all of that and err hope to produce the kind of music that that, that erm y- one can feel fulfilled and feel enjoy ya know without being erm destructive to yourself or to your soul or to your spirit yeah.

Ollie: (2) erm, just go a bit a back towards the busking then…

Sam: Yeah

Ollie: Errrrrrrrm (1) [tut] (5) [clears throat] have you… we’ll go b-yeah we’ll talk about a bit about the people you meet and stuff like that…

Sam: Yeah

Ollie: So, so you say you enjoy meeting new people…

Sam: Oh yeah, yeah…

Ollie: Erm, is there any particular that you’ve met say through busking that you wouldn’t have met otherwise or ya know m-maybe close friends you’ve made since you’ve been busking?

Sam: Ah-I-I think it gives a, it gives a great opportunity to meet people of ya know, different walks of life [mumble] ya know, its, its difficult to soft of measure[?] ya know but I know that people that erm, that erm I wouldn’t of met otherwise ya know I mean, I mean even meeting you guys ya know [laugh] doing your err doing your project ya know say from a university sta- errr standard ya know some people say ‘busking – playing in the street’ yet I feel I feel its err its, its quite an interesting thing that ya know busking on the street enter-en-entertaining on the street and you guys can come along and and what im doing can be such a great part of what you doing ya know and I-I feel that’s something encouraging [laugh] ya know I would’t meet you otherwise ya know, I had a stu- a student ya know a medical student that comes praps doing the same thing your doing, it seems to of sort of ermm take interest in what im doing and and what im doing can help be a part of your project and I feel that’s erm, quite a good thing [trails off].

Ollie: Erm, do you appreciate err people coming up to you then, well obviously you do, you like meeting new people but but I mean there must be times when you get a bit of trouble from people as well?

Sam: Yeah, yeah you do get that sometime but erm, in the early days when I started busking now, ya know when people didn’t sort of realise ermm who I was and what I was capable of but the more I do it and then, and then errr, and then erm they get to realise ‘oh you know this guy’s for real and the music he does seems to be really good music you know’ and then, so erm respect develops [laugh] and as errr, as I get better and better at playing ya know s-so I get better and better respect [incoherent mumbling] so in Nottingham like everyone sort of know who I am and erm, seems that they have a great respect and appreication on what I’m doing ya know, so erm, so err I seem to get more respect now th-than the trouble ya know one or two trouble-makers come along but sometimes they do, yeah (1) sometimes err maybe I can be a bit of a nuisance myself if I get too loud for the office [chuckle] sometimes people complain that its too loud, sometime we get the errr, the warden comes ya know, ya know and err asks you to turn it down or move along or whatever but err, but now you’ve got liscense now so therefore ya know once they know who you are ya know and and try to sort of co-operate with err with whats happening, ‘cause at the end of the day if that’s what your used to, if its making a living from it you gotta sort of treat it with respect yourself so, so we try not to make it too difficult for ourselves so we, try to co-operate yeah.

Ollie: Erm, just to sort of continue on to that do you have any specific examples of of when any sort of younger people ya know not just like people like wardens and stuff but I mean actual like younger people have come up to and done something to disrupt your playing… [trails off]

Sam: Erm (1) Erm… yeah ab-a-about a couple or three times people sort of grab some of the money up and run off [laugh] and one day I chase a couple of guy down the road [laugh] [mumble] [mic stand being hit] and someone stop them on the errr… and then they err and then the police came and ya know and investigate what has happened ‘cause ya know its an offense really if you err, for someone to sort of err (1) dip their hand in your what in your takings, so err, so anything like that the police ya know, the police are quite co-operative with err street entertainers (1) err (1) ermm…

Ollie: Errr, I suppose really the only thing we havent touched on is that err, that some people can sort of stereotype buskers as like maybe homeless people or just people that are just looking for their next fix, does this bother you and what do you, w-what do you say to those people?

Sam: Erm (2) w-what do I say to those pe- erm i-i-is i-i-is that to are look at it, people is people to me, and erm, if I was, if I was doing a concert live performace say i-in the erm, in say the concert hall or in the theatre oh pft, it’s the same people that I’m seeing on the street that I’d want to come to, come to buy a ticket or, ya know so [stuttering] so to me it’s people, peoples my interest its people, its people I wanna entertain, its people I wanna bring my music to, so err, so I don’t see a difference of the people that come to the theatre or comes to the concert hall to hear my music than ones that hear it on the street because I mean its, you might see you might see err, the vagrants[?] on the street, you might see th-th-th-the drug pushers or th-those that are taking drug, but, they don’t own the street, I see it as a spectacle of people who come to do their shopping who comes to ya know whatever ya know, I see myself just as ya know you have any of the major store like you might have you might have Marks & Spencer you might have WH Smith’s you might have the phone[?] ya know we all we all in there, in the, in the healing for the people so therfore I don’t look at it that way, I look at the people I’m entertaining, I’m looking at the people that ya know appreciate and respect my music, I’m looking at the people might not you might, come unnanounced[?] ya know sad and disappointed and and my music cheers them up ya know ya know so that’s the way I look at it, I’m there entertaining as I would if I was in the theatre, as I would if I was in the concert hall, as I would if I was in the pub or in the club because it’s the same people that are there in the street that would of come along so err so that’s why I would, ya know that’s how I look at it ya know, altho-although erm, ya know, in the early days of Nottingham when I started that there was there seemed to be a lot of ya know vagrants[?] err err the beggars or those who ya know, playing for their next fix or whatever, b-but all that is clean up now in Nottingham because eh erm not a lot is going now, and [mumble] the proper street entertainer who has got our liscense to do that so there is a lot of respect for that know, so err…

Ollie: [clears throat] Well we’ve pretty much you’ve answered all the questions on here so err, any of you guys have anything to ask?

Jason: [clears throat] Did you err perform anywhere other than the streets?

Sam: Oh-y-y-yeah (1) errm (1) I do sometimes erm restaurants erm in the pub when sometimes the job comes up or (1) erm so [incoherence] birthday celebration [incoherent mumbles]…

Jason: Ok, thank you (1) Tom, can you think of any questions?

Tom: I think you’ve pretty much said them all

Jason: We’ve got like…

Ollie: Twenty mintues nearly [chuckle]

Jason: That’s great.

Recce Information

PRODUCTION TITLE: Soul City

PRODUCER: Jason Bickers

DATE OF RECCE: 20/11/08

TIME OF RECCE: 3:00 pm

LOCATION: City Center, Broadmarsh shopping center district

HOW TO GET THERE (bus/car/train/plane) Walking

PERSON IN CHARGE OF LOCATION
CONTACT NAME, Council

POSITION, Council

TELEPHONE

ACCESS & PARKING/ HOURS AVAILABLE
Not relevant
POWER AVAILABLE

SOUND / AMBIENT NOISE / PROBLEMS
Pedestrians passing, road sweepers and other general city ambiance









OTHER INFORMATION (TOILETS, CATERING, FUNNY CARETAKER)
Public facilities

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF LOCATION
Out door busy city shopping district. Near The Broadmarsh centre lots of pedestrians, very built up area.

DESCRIPTION OF ACTION
Pedestrians walking past, busker playing live music, fountains, general traffic

HEALTH AND SAFETY NOTES
AREAS OF HAZARD √
ACCESS/EXIT √
AUDIENCE/PUBLIC √
HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES √
DANGEROUS STRUCTURES √
EXPLOSIVES OR PYROTECHNICS √
ELECTRICITY √
GAS √
ROADS √

INEXPERIENCED CREW/PERFORMERS

LIFTING & LOADING N/A
NIGHT/DAY SHOOT N/A
STUNTS N/A
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS N/A

OTHER INFORMATION

Production Stills

Next we had to write a series of interview questions for Sam. These questions were an important part of the documentary as we are relying on the busker to be an interesting narrator. The group all came up with questions and we put a big list of them together. Next Ollie arranged them into four main groups that we wanted to find out about the busker. Personal questions, Nottingham questions, Busking-musical questions and questions about society. These were four main topics that we want to explore in the documentary. We also tried to write as many double barreled questions as possible to help produce long and interesting answers.


Interview Questions

Personal Questions

What is your full name?

Where do you live now and how long have you lived there?

Have you always lived in Nottingham and where did you lived before?

Do you have family or friends in the local area?

What else do you do in your free time?

Do you have another job and how long have you done it?

On an average busking session how much money do you earn?

What do you spend it on? Anything specific?


Nottingham Questions

What do you think of Nottingham as a city?

Are there any aspects of it you like/don't like?

How has the city changed in the time you have lived here? For better or worse?

Where is your favourite part of the city? Why?


Busking/Musical Questions

How long have you been busking and how did you get into it?

How long have you been busking and how did you get into it?

Where did you learn to play guitar and how long have you been playing?

Do you play guitar and/or sing anywhere else other than busking? If so, where?

Why do you busk?

Why do you choose to busk in this area all the time?

What music do you listen to in your free time?

Does this influence your busking style or even your mood and personality?

What do your family/friends think of your busking?

What is your opinion on modern pop music?

Are there any particular modern artists you like/dislike?

What do you think about most modern music being electronically produced on computer?

Would you encourage more people to busk? Why?

Would you encourage young people to learn a musical instrument? Why?

Does it not bother you sitting out in the cold for hours and how do you deal with it?


Society Questions

Do you enjoy meeting new people and are there any regulars that you see when you're busking?

What do the regulars say to you?

Have you made friends with anyone you didn't know before busking?

Do you get any trouble from any of the public? If yes, who? What did they do?

Who are your favourite types of members of the public? e.g. businessmen, couples, teenagers, the elderly etc. Why?

Do you care what people think of you while your busking?

What do you think they are thinking?

Some people stereotype buskers as homeless people playing for money, does this bother you? What would you say to those people?

Here is a Copy of the initial story boards that i drew up for the project. I based the majority of the pictures in story board on a number of photos that were taken in the location which we would be shooting and around the city. These photographs were taken to give us ideas for some of the shots that we would need to get on the day of shooting. There is also notes including with the pictures describing things like key elements of the shot and ideas for camera directions.