Tuesday 15 December 2015

Assignment 4: All Time Low announce second support for O2 performance (opinion column writing)

American based pop-punk band All Time Low have announced that pop-rock Against The Current will be supporting them alongside Good Charlotte at the O2 arena in February.

The New York based band have been steadily growing over the past couple of years and have just returned from a three month world tour following their release of their debut EP Gravity.

They started as a YouTube cover band - where a lot of their fans, including myself, found them - working to produce covers of popular songs, such as 'Uptown Funk' by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars and 'Beauty and the Beat' by Justin Bieber, with a rock twist very successfully.

Lead singer Chrissy Costanza, with guitarist Daniel Gow and drummer Will Ferri, were signed to Fueled By Ramen earlier this year, alongside bands like Panic! At The Disco, Paramore and Twenty One Pilots - a similar genre to Against The Current.

All Time Low said they were 'excited' about the New Yorkers joining them on their tour. 'Kerrang' and 'Rock Sound' have both posted articles following the announcement however know no more thus far. 'Rock Sound' have interviewed Against The Current in the past and have been following their rise to popularity in the UK, following their success in the US.

All Time Low are incredible live performers, having recorded a concert DVD to a sold out Wembley arena earlier in 2015 which was their best performance I've seen to date, having seen them perform in Cambridge Corn Exchange four years earlier. Good Charlotte are making their return on this tour following a four year break and Against The Current said when announcing their part in the 'Back To The Future Hearts' tour that 'we are so pumped'.

The three bands will make an incredible tour and put on a night that thousands of fans will never forget.


---

Hello! Just a quick note to say I'll be posting 'Week 12' on Friday or maybe over the weekend this week as it's my last week at uni before Christmas, so I might as well talk about the whole week!

Thank you for reading!




Personal blog: http://sophiecountsclouds.blogspot.co.uk/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SophieCountsClouds
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SophieALuckett

Thursday 10 December 2015

Week 11: Too Many Deadlines

Hello,

First of all, I'm sorry this post is two days later than I usually upload - I'll get to why in a bit!

This week has felt even longer than every other week I've had at university - I was lucky last week to have two days off but I felt really ill on those couple of days and (though I can't remember actually how I spent them) I imagine it was in bed!

On Thursday I was meant to have an audio session where we worked on our assignments but at 1am that morning I was really worked up and I felt awful so my boyfriend helped me email my tutor so he'd know I wouldn't be there for the day - I missed my first day at uni, first sick day.

I spent most of the morning in bed, the boyfriend took a trip to Asda with me to get some fresh air and pick up some shopping but I went back to bed as soon as we got back - I really wasn't feeling it last week!

However on Friday, for photography, I was determined to go in because I had three themes that I wanted to photography for my assignment and I made it - we spent two hours learning how to print photos properly (it really didn't need to take two hours) and then from three until half past six I was taking photos. At first a couple of people from my course were there but they finished what they needed and went home.

I was glad to get three themes done though - I now only have one theme, a location shoot and three stock jobs to photograph and then that's all that photos done. I have to do some writing stuff and a portfolio style thing alongside printing a physical copy of my theme photos but I've done quite a bit. Even though it feels like I've got twice as much still to do.

The weekend was fun - I saw friends, I made videos, but slowly my motivation to do anything at all is draining. Blogging is the only thing I'm still (mostly) happy to do - I didn't want to make a video, I don't want to do any uni work, I don't even want to get out of bed anymore. I'm really struggling right now if I'm being perfectly honest, but I do have a doctors appointment for next week so hopefully I should be able to get back on track.

On Monday I had a lecture, shorthand and a seminar that was interesting - I wrote a new blog post for UCAS which you can read here - and I'm thinking of potentially finding some blogging work for the New Year. History should suggest that I could be seen as struggling with running three blogs but I really do love it and I think I'm getting better at it so if I could find some paid work that would be really fun (and my bank would love me).

Tuesday and Wednesday I was lucky to have off again but failed to use them productively due to decreasing health and motivation - Wednesday I did manage to get my audio assignment ready and start work on my feature but I had a mild meltdown about how stupid I was to leave them this close to the deadlines.

It was like being back in school all over again.

But today, Thursday, my audio assignment is done (probably failed) and submitted and I'm going to work on my feature after lunch until I'm done. I'm not going to let myself do anything else or see anyone else until my feature's done. But obviously I'll have YouTube breaks for my own sanity.

Okay that sounds bad - I have my method and generally it works, I just wish I'd started using said method about a week ago.

I'm stressed out and struggling right now, but only one more week till I'm home for Christmas at least.




Personal blog: http://sophiecountsclouds.blogspot.co.uk/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SophieCountsClouds
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SophieALuckett

Monday 7 December 2015

Assignment 3: Vlogmas 2015 (Timed Column/Opinion Piece)

Now a week into December, many YouTube content creators have started uploading content every day in the build up to Christmas in an event known as ‘Vlogmas’.

YouTubers and millions of teens around the world are starting to replace traditional media like TV and print magazines for videos put on video-sharing website YouTube – videos anything between 3 minutes and an hour featuring any kind of content from sitting talking to a camera about recent purchases (a ‘haul’), playing video games or even just filming their day.

This ‘Vlogmas’ event, acting as the advent calendar of YouTube, allows content creators to share more with their dedicated audience. People with few subscribers that make videos for fun, or to be more like their favourite YouTubers, up to those full-time YouTubers, such Brighton based Zoe Sugg, known as Zoella, the 50th most subscribed channel on YouTube, are participating in Vlogmas.

Becoming a full time YouTube creator is both easier and harder than it’s ever been – YouTube as a platform is growing infinitely to audiences of all ages, all around the world and whilst the audiences are there, the ‘YouTube game’ is harder to get into than ever, with YouTube’s new algorithms making it harder to find smaller, but just as talented, YouTubers.

Aforementioned beauty vlogger Zoella, known for her tutorials and fashion hauls, is participating in Vlogmas on both her main channel and her ‘second channel’ – a side channel where she posts vlogs of her daily life, sometimes nearing thirty minutes long. She is posting a video on her main channel, with over 9 million subscribers, every day, talking about Christmas related topics and making fun videos with her friends.

Last December, Sugg faced criticism following the launch of her tween book ‘Girl Online’ and the revelation that the book was in fact ghost written. This forced her to stop making Vlogmas videos with an announcement on her twitter profile: ‘taking a few days out and off the internet because it’s clouding up my brain’.

However, Sugg appears to be returning to Vlogmas 2015 with a bang having successfully uploaded videos to both of her channels every day so far.


With her second book, sequel ‘Girl Online: On Tour’ having been released two months ago, it’s unlikely literary criticism will stop her.

---

In my writing seminar today we were given about 35 minutes to write an opinion piece on whatever we wanted to work on finding our 'voice'. My journalist 'voice' is much more formal than my 'blogger' voice but I find it relatively easy to write nonetheless and finished in twenty minutes.

I'll let you know if the feedback is good or bad - I could have got the wrong idea entirely!

Tuesday 1 December 2015

Actual Week 10: Post News Week

Hello!

This week I greet you totally exhausted - last Tuesday I told you about our first News Day and I regret to inform you that on Wednesday I was sat around for seven hours without being given a story or any sort of job to do. I got quite a bit of photography work done and I was somewhat productive but definitely not News Day productive.

I was meant to be in the photography studio that night but I was far too tired and I had a dance class to go to halfway through the session anyway so I skipped the studio that night.

On Thursday, in audio, we were given another script to write in a short amount of time. I like writing (if you couldn't tell from my running of three blogs) so getting a story together in the right format and presented for radio in under an hour and a half isn't too much of a challenge for me and I even got to go a little bit early. That afternoon we were meant to be performing our scripts and writing our show reels but we didn't get round to it in the end.

On Friday I was helping my boyfriend film something for his course - I had to stand in the park on a cold morning and talk about why certain Christmas songs were bad. Not all of them were bad and whilst I wasn't a big fan of the early morning, I'm comfortable on camera and having a boom mic held over my head was actually really interesting as it's something I've never done before.

In photography that afternoon, two of us went straight into the studio to get more of our assignment photos done. After about an hour, I was told that my photos didn't fit the brief and I'd have to start again but I think I know how I'm going to rectify it now. Hopefully that is!

Friday night I travelled for about three and a half hours - through London traffic - to get back home for the weekend. It was nice to see my friends and family and the Christmas light switch on in town and lovely to share it with my boyfriend who's never seen my little corner of the world before.

But it meant that Sunday night was a busy four and a half hours to get back to Southampton for a Monday morning lecture!

However, Monday morning's lecture was actually quite interesting - it was about social media and making the most of it as a journalist. We were told that Facebook is way more valuable that we'd expect and most publications get 90% of their views from Facebook sharing. 

So with that in mind I set up a Facebook page to share my YouTube videos and blog posts - it's got the same username as my blog and channel but if you're interested in my blog, my YouTube or me at all, it would mean a lot if you could give it a like and share it around! SophieCountsClouds

And today is my first day off in what feels like years - I had a lie in, I've done some Christmas shopping, even filmed a YouTube video to celebrate two years to the day since I uploaded my first video but I've had a day to myself and I've needed it more than anything.

I'm not in uni again till Thursday and it's so close to Christmas, that I'm hoping these next two weeks are going to fly by.



Personal blog: http://sophiecountsclouds.blogspot.co.uk/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SophieCountsClouds
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SophieALuckett

Tuesday 24 November 2015

Week '10'

Hello,

This week has been busy and confusing - not only have I had my first deadline for the writing unit of my course pass (I submitted in time, don't worry!) but I've been struggling to figure out whether this is actually week 10!

Academically, this is my 9th week of teaching at university, but it's actually my 10th week at uni including welcome week and I don't want to change it up now, but I might call next week 'Week 10' just so I'm on the right track in terms of being able to carry on after Christmas. I'll figure it out when I've had more sleep.

(update: I've just googled it and I'm right - this is week 9, so I'll go by teaching weeks from now on! I know it doesn't matter really, but it was bugging me a bit!)

Last week was busy and this week is looking to be busier - this is my first Tuesday where I don't get the day off because we have our first News Week. 'Week' is a little misleading, as it's only three days (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) but I'll feedback on that next week.

I've said 'week' far too many times.

Planning day for News Week last Wednesday was no different to usual - I was given a story, turns out I was the only one there that was on this story and I enlisted the help of one of my friends without a story and it all started to work out in the end - we went to take photos yesterday and get audio from members of the public. Not my favourite task if I'm being completely honest, but it's got to be done!

Thursday audio was painful, only because I went to see the new instalment of the Hunger Games franchise Mockingjay Part 2 at midnight the night before so I'd had very little sleep. But we were working on writing for radio more and I like the challenge of making something work in a purely auditory situation so it was actually okay! We worked on recording what we wrote in the afternoon and chatted to our guest lecturer Jordan about what we were enjoying about the unit and what we want to work on more. It was interesting that he asked, actually.

Friday photography was another good session as we had two hours of working on our assignments and prepping more ideas and then we had an hour and a half in the studio to practise taking low light photos. It was the first time in a while that all three of my group were there so it was nice to work with them, because it never feels like work.

The weekend was busy with shopping (for both photography assignments and Christmas) and a lot of productive uni work on Sunday whilst my friends played 'Grand Theft Auto' from across the hall! But I got lots of work done, so I can't moan completely - I'm a lot more on track now and I managed to submit the writing assignment I had a day early, so whilst I'll complain at them for sleeping for so long, I'm actually grateful to have had the day to myself to get some work done!

Monday's I've taken to describing as my busiest day - I attended a lecture on press releases and press conferences in the morning and then my grammar lecture was cancelled (thank God) so I went and sat in the university canteen for an hour and wrote a blog post for SophieCountsClouds, starting writing out this post and uploaded another post to my new UCAS blog!

My introductory post is available to read here and the post I wrote on Monday is available here! What I did learn was that not only are there only 7 UCAS bloggers, so being chosen was more of a big deal than I thought! But there is also an option to vote for blogger of the month, so if you like my posts please vote for me! It would be awesome if I could have that title under my belt so soon after starting. The post I wrote was about assignment deadlines if you're interested!

If there's anything about Uni life or the application process that you'd like me to write about, as someone who's been through the UCAS system, please leave a comment or message me - I've got lots of ideas but I'd rather write something that people are actually wanting to find out!

And today, after a 2.30am fire alarm in my halls, I was up and in uni by 9 to finish taking photos for the story we were assigned last week and now I'm waiting for another job to do and filling some time. But I've got enough assignment work to do that I'd be quite happy just sitting here doing my own thing for the rest of the day!

It would mean a lot if you could have a look at my UCAS blog - I'm actually really excited about it so it would mean a lot if I can share it with people and actually get some viewers!

Thank you!




Personal blog: http://sophiecountsclouds.blogspot.co.uk/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SophieCountsClouds
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SophieALuckett

Tuesday 17 November 2015

Week 9

Hello!

Every week is getting slightly more stressful and tiring - this week I'm facing a looming deadline and trying to adapt to not having a half term for the first time in 14 years so I'm very, very tired but let's talk about last week!

Last Wednesday was another live news day - the editor decided that letting people volunteer for stories was a good idea (which it wasn't because no one really knew where anyone was) and I ended up being put on a story, as a photographer, that didn't need photos. So I just hung around in the News Room with my laptop working on my assignment stories (the looming deadline) until we left for this conference trip that some of us were going to in Portsmouth.

The conference wasn't really what any of us were expecting - it was sitting in a lecture theatre listening to how a bunch of local journalists got their jobs and then we were put in a small stuffy room with lots of the same journalists sat at tables answering questions that we already knew the answers to. What we were expecting was a bigger room with national journalists and company representatives offering advice and potential jobs so it was somewhat disappointing and my phone died.

I then had to go to my jazz dance class and I didn't get back home till twelve and a half hours after I left and making myself dinner was a challenge - I was very tired.

Next day was radio and we got to work with Jordan, one of our voice coaches, on writing for radio. We looked at some examples then in groups we were given four stories that we had to write two versions, a headline and a tease for. I got the story about Queen performing at the Isle of Wight festival - writing about music is my thing. It was actually really interesting figuring out what works for radio in comparison to traditional headlines and copy. In the afternoon we were reading our headlines in the studio so it was a fairly easy afternoon.

Friday photography was exclusively assignment work - we were allowed to use the studio or work on the prep and I organised everything a little bit more. I've got some more formal ideas and when my writing assignment is done hopefully mid this week, I'm going to work more on the mood boards and making everything look pretty - I'm excited, I love a good mood board.

Over the weekend my mum was in town and I organised my life a bit more - I got my flat mate to print out a couple of calendars and I wrote everything in pretty colours and I feel like my life is a little bit more on track.

Monday's lectures were somewhat difficult to get through to say the least - we had another lecture on contacts which told us everything the first one did, I don't know if I've actually expressed my hatred for grammar lectures yet but every week makes me consider skipping them and I've never ever been someone who can skip lectures - I feel too guilty, my conscience can't handle it.

In the afternoon we had a seminar with Adam Leitch, the head sports writer from the Daily Echo in Southampton and whilst most of the afternoon was allocated to working on our assignment but we were also given a press release and five minutes to interview Adam to write a feature about his running of the Ironman marathon, race, thing. I recorded the interview on my phone and I should probably write some notes down but I'm more concerned about this assignment than a seminar feature that doesn't mean anything right now!

And today, my wonderful day off, I've been to the opticians, got my lip pierced and bought numerous cuddly toys! 

In other news, as of yesterday I'm officially blogging for university admissions company UCAS and I'm excited! I will keep this blog up to date with what happens on that blog!

There is a lot going on right now, but it's all good and exciting.



Personal blog: http://sophiecountsclouds.blogspot.co.uk/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SophieCountsClouds
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SophieALuckett

Tuesday 10 November 2015

Week 8

Hello!

Last time I wrote an update on this blog feels like months ago, not a week. It's been another super busy week but exciting none-the-less!

Wednesday was another planning day for a live news day this week. I was put on one story that didn't have enough people and ended up being pulled and then I was put on another story that no one was available for and it was all very confusing. The biggest part of this planning day was being told about a networking event trip that's happening next week - a bunch of us get to spend the afternoon in Portsmouth this Wednesday. One of the course leaders said that some third years got jobs from this event when it was in Southampton last year so I'm actually really excited! 

Less excited to have to come back and go straight to dance, but excited none the less. Busy day!

Thursday was interesting to say the least - I made the mistake of pulling an all nighter and I felt like my body was closing down. But audio gave us a new assignment to work on and we had something to work on for the afternoon.

Between sessions I went for a nap but in the afternoon we worked with a host from BBC Radio Solent and worked on telling stories - hosting radio alone is hard so he wanted us to work on our voices being engaging and entertaining when we telling an anecdote or a story on our own. We were told to pick something to do with music that we were passionate about and talk about it for 2 to 3 minutes. 

I talked about my favourite band of all time All Time Low (see what I did there?) and how they're starting to break through to mainstream popularity without changing their sound and how their tours and sense of performance have grown so much in the four consecutive years I've seen them. I didn't quite manage the full 2 minutes I don't think, but I was still very tired and I was concerned about talking for too long so I cut myself off too soon.

Friday photography was one of the longest, most hands-on sessions we've had - we did some more editing of photos and we got given more themes for our assignment due in January. One of them sparked an immediate idea in my mind and I really want to start working on my mood boards for these photos but time management is something I'm struggling a little bit with - everything has just got really busy really fast and deadlines are rather hastily approaching. But it'll work out.

Hopefully.

After being given new themes, we went into the studio and were told more about the facilities in the computer that we could use and some suggested set ups for still life photography.



It was a long afternoon but worth every second.

From there I had a pretty quiet weekend - I went to see some fireworks on Saturday night and inquired about getting a lip piercing on Sunday. It wasn't quite the productive weekend I wanted but it wasn't a weekend off either because I felt neither refreshed nor ready for Monday.

I was relieved that my grammar lecture had been cancelled on Monday because those are the most tedious hours of my life, but we had a lecture on writing and how important typos and self correction are. I don't know if I'm really the advocate for that - I often get so tired by the time I've finished a blog post that I'm too lazy to reread it and check it over again but it's different with news copy. The most memorable part of the lecture that I took away from it was stepping away from whatever you're writing and coming back to check it later to read it with fresh eyes.

With most blog posts I haven't really got the time to go away and come back to it but I know for a fact it definitely works in terms of writing - creative writing that is.

Monday's seminar was mostly about writing press releases and working on our technique by posting them on the blogs we made in freshers week - hence this somewhat unexplained headline post - to work on our online writing skills. It might sound somewhat cocky but writing is definitely my most confident ability within the course so I'm happy with the writing itself, I just need to work on making sure the newest information is first rather than just going for the 'shock' factor. All good stuff to bear in mind!

Tomorrow is another live news day and then this networking event in the afternoon! 

With deadlines approaching, I imagine the next few weeks are going to get stressful!




Personal blog: http://sophiecountsclouds.blogspot.co.uk/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SophieCountsClouds
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SophieALuckett

Monday 9 November 2015

Second Assignment: Charity advises parents on children’s accident prevention

Almost 2000 children aged between 0 and 4 years were hospitalised in the South East due to accidents in the home, such as burns and poisoning, last year alone.

The Child Accident Prevention Trust have organised Child Safety Week to advise parents about how to avoid accidents in the home, with the theme 'Make a Change. Make a Difference'. The event will run from 23rd to 29th November and Sure Start Weston Children's Centre have activities on Wednesday 25th to find out more about hazards to children.


Tuesday 3 November 2015

Week 7

Hello!

This week's been harder than the others so far but I'm dealing with it better than I expected. Yesterday was my first assignment deadline and now 50% of my Introduction to Audio unit is done! It's somewhat surreal to think that I've already submitted my first formal assignment less than two months in but it's a little reassuring (amongst making all the other assignments feel infinitely more real).

Last Wednesday saw our second live news day - I was assigned to a story about substitute teachers and had to go take pictures of books in the library. But upon returning from taking these photos we were told the story wasn't running as school's were on half term this week and we could get in touch with anyone. The third year I was working with and I then looked for other potential stories but we were sent to take footage of some lanterns outside the library for a video bulletin. By the time we got back the editor told me that there was nothing more for me to do and if my tutor was okay with it I could go.

After telling me it was only because he knows I'm a conscientious student, I was allowed to leave a lot earlier than anticipated. I then went back to my halls for a conscientious nap. 

What can I say, it's been a stressful week? I don't think that makes it better. Never mind.

In audio on Thursday we did our first 'as live' bulletin - we had to plan a 5-8 minute show with news headlines, sports headlines and an interview with a guest speaker. We had this guy in our class who'll be giving us vocal coaching this week (I think) and he was acting as the expert for our interview. It actually went really well - my group have been working together for a few weeks now and we're good at radio, to be perfectly honest. Our timing was good and the flow was good and I'm really happy with how it went, particularly since the rest of my class was stood in the room just watching us perform our bulletin, show, thing.

On Friday we had photography and we learnt more about editing photos - we were put into groups and told to turn a before picture into the after picture with some basic instructions to help. I was put in a smaller group and my tutor came over afterwards and said it was to give us a fighting chance, because 'we already had experience with the software'.

I hadn't used the software before the week before, so we were really happy.

Then we started learning about portable, outdoor lighting and I was surprised by how easy I picked it all up - since learning about the lighting in the studio and being in the mindset for photography, I've managed to retain what we're learning better than I thought. I don't want to speak too soon - next week will probably be something really complicated now!

The weekend following was Halloween and my flat mate and I spent the evening making cupcakes and decorating them. It was super fun and they're really tasty so it makes this busy week somewhat more bearable.

This week shouldn't seem that busy but as my dad is visiting on top of all my uni stuff it seems busier - Monday was traditional lectures Monday but I went to see my dad and we went out for dinner and in between all of that we went to the Apple store and he bought me a MacBook Pro!

Not out of nowhere, we'd been planning it for a while but I'm now blogging from a MacBook! It's so exciting, I love it already - I've been setting it up yesterday and today and it's almost fully transitioned with everything from my old laptop. I'm so excited to use better software and really make the most of this machine. I can't explain it I'm just so excited!

Tuesday is meant to be my day off - which is why I allocated this day for blogging on this blog - but I had to go record an interview with my friend for one of our assignment stories and then I met my dad and we went over to Portsmouth to the Mary Rose museum, which was both interesting and intimidating as we managed to go around the whole museum with members of the Korean Navy! They weren't particularly polite but I smiled and let them do their thing anyway - resisted asking their photographer what camera they were using!

I'm seeing my dad again tomorrow before he leaves on Thursday. I'm loving spending time with him and showing him what is now becoming my home - my little corner of the country so far away from his corner of the country. There's a lot of change going on at home right now (as in home home, where my family is!) and I think it's done him some good to be able to step away from it all.

Thursday is looking to be my first real chilled out day this week, I'm looking forward to it - a few of my flat mates and I are going over to the park to watch the Bonfire Night fireworks so I think it'll be a nice way to begin the end of a stressful week.

I'll let you know how stressful this week ends up being in next week's post!




Personal blog: http://sophiecountsclouds.blogspot.co.uk/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SophieCountsClouds
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SophieALuckett

Tuesday 27 October 2015

Week 6

Hello!

The past week has been mostly uneventful, but I'm going to write about it until I find something vaguely interesting. Or, if in doubt, I'll make something sound more interesting than it actually was.

Last Wednesday was another planning session for a live News Day this week - I was given a story about a pier but as a mobile journalist (I'm going to say social media correspondent because that sounds far more important) I just had to take photos of the other people in our group getting the story. It was actually quite nice because I didn't have to take DSLR photos, just iPhone photos. I like the sound of working in social media because I'm very good at updating Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. I'm really good at Snapchat. Mostly just Snapchatting my friends while they're unaware. It's brilliant.

On Thursday I had audio - in the morning we had our edited interviews from the week before played to the whole class and then we started planning for our audio assignment (which will be submitted by the time I write week 7) and our other assignment tasks. 

That afternoon, our tutor said he hadn't got anything planned for us so we didn't have to go into our radio session if we didn't want to.

But that means there was a lot of empty radio studios. So I went and spent an hour and a half playing in the studios on my own, recording a few podcast-like things and just getting comfortable being in the studio on my own. It was going really well until that night when I accidentally deleted all the files by trying to be organised.

On Friday I had photography and we started learning about Photoshop and editing photos and we printed out our edited photos and we had to vote on which photos we thought best represented the person and I got the most votes. I was actually quite pleased, because the votes were pretty evenly spread. I still love photography, there's no element of the course that I dislike yet.

Apart from grammar lectures. My notes literally consist of me moaning about how much I hate the lecturer and how I already know everything that's being taught. For example, I was rereading my notes today and at one point he asked us where the apostrophe in 'don't' goes. Imagine me flailing angrily.

And that's been my week! The highlight was definitely having time in the radio studio on my own, but today I got to spend two hours in the rain to get some photos for News Day, but I wrote about that on my personal blog, where I also wrote my 300th consecutive blog post! It's actually my 308th post, but it's my 300th consecutive blog post in my blog-everyday-for-a-year-project and I think that's more exciting.

Looking forward to this next week, especially with my Dad coming to visit and spending more time with friends. Everything's settling down now and I'm starting to feel a little bit like I live in Southampton, rather than just staying here.

I can't wait to look back on this blog and see how much everything has changed.




Personal blog: http://sophiecountsclouds.blogspot.co.uk/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SophieCountsClouds
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SophieALuckett

Tuesday 20 October 2015

Week 5

Hello! 

This week in particular has been more eventful than most - last Wednesday I had my first live News Day, Thursday saw me conducting my first interview and Friday I was doing a photo shoot! The best part was that I also had my first trip home since I started uni.

News Day was interesting to say the least - once I was given a story and had something to do it was fun and I even got an assignment story out of it but it was also quite unorganised. As the first live News Day, the third years (as the editors) must have felt as new as we did and obviously I'm not pointing fingers or criticising - everyone's got to learn how to do their new jobs this year and it definitely leaves a lot of room for News Days to get better. But I enjoyed the story I worked on (you can read it here, I took the photos) and by talking to the charity shop manager I found another story that I can use for my assignment so overall, a productive day.

On Thursday morning, we were given a press release, told to make a list of questions and then we were given five minutes to interview the subject of the press release as she was sat in the next room. Talking to strangers is one of my weaker points so I was terrified but I put on this persona of someone who was confident and knew what they were doing and listening back to it, it actually went okay! And the editing is my favourite part - editing my croaky, freshers flu voice wasn't as fun though.

And then Friday was the day I'd been waiting for all week - I was going home! But I had photography first. This week we learnt more about lighting and balancing lighting and making the most of using one light over two - it's all very interesting and I love having the studio time. My group were done over an hour early and our tutor said we'd done well so we all got to leave early. I dropped my uni stuff in my room and walked to the train station for the long three and a half hour journey home.

My weekend at home was wonderful but short - I wrote about it on my personal blog - my dad has booked a few days in Southampton to come visit me and I'm really pleased. We're going to go over to Portsmouth to see the Mary Rose and spend the best part of three days together - I'm really excited.

This week looks set to be just as busy as last week, so Week 6 could be interesting!




Personal blog: http://sophiecountsclouds.blogspot.co.uk/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SophieCountsClouds
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SophieALuckett

Tuesday 13 October 2015

Week 4

credit: James Griffin

Hello!

I'm trying to make this 'Tuesday blogging' thing a thing - two weeks consecutively isn't a bad start!

This week is Week 3 of uni, officially but including freshers week it's my fourth week living in Southampton. The highlight of last week academically was definitely photography - I got to use a Canon 700D and get into the studio with my friends and learn about changing settings and setting up light boxes. Today my photography tutor put on Facebook that he had a spare hot shoe adapter (the little clip thing that goes on top of the camera to connect the lights; real, technical definitions with Sophie) and I nabbed it first, which is always a highlight. Cheap tech!

I then rented the 700D for the weekend and used it to film this weeks YouTube video which was probably the best quality video I've ever filmed. My editing software refused to let me save it in it's full quality, but it looked great pre-upload I promise. You be the judge!



This week looks like it's going to be interesting - I have my first live news day tomorrow (despite my throat feeling really sore tonight) and I could potentially (hopefully) be getting a radio show in the next couple of weeks!

Outside university, in all honesty the last week has been tough - it really hit me how far away I am from home and that this is the beginning of three years of education. That's a really long time and I'm trying my best to cope.

Check my personal blog for any potential break downs!

I like having this blog to look back at my week academically and document my university course. That sounds so lame, but I'm enjoying it. And I think my mum is too!

With going home this weekend, I think next weeks post will be interesting. 




Personal blog: http://sophiecountsclouds.blogspot.co.uk/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SophieCountsClouds
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SophieALuckett