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.

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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

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

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 50^th 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.

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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!

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