THE ART OF FLIGHT

Red Bull certainly gives you wings (and to the lesser extent, energy) but to the men in The Art of Flight, Red Bull gives them a surge of courage to be at one with a mountain side, and snowboard vertically down it; flipping and landing perfectly.

Over a space of two-years the movie/documentary was filmed in different exotic locations around the globe, including Antarctica, Canada and South America; one foreign place named “The Devil's Land” where they push the boundaries and risk the safety of themselves and the crew for the urge of the new. This is the sole reason they do it, a discovery of the unknown and pushing the limits of the sport they love.

The Art of Flight follows not only the amazing stunts of snowboarders Travis Rice, John Jackson, Mark Landvik, Scotty Lago, Nicolas Müller, DCP, Mark McMorris, Jake Blauvelt, Pat Moore and Jeremy Jones, but also documents their travels and the trials and tribulations they encounter.

Red Bull’s technique of filming is beyond explanation. The crew behind the production of the film and those they collaborate with are of the utmost in their genres – The best of the best.

The extensive documentary of extreme snowboarding was one of the best filmed documentaries I have ever watched. Being 3D it gave an even more extreme look at the sport and the art behind snowboarding. Sitting with my mouth locked in a permanent state of shock at the extraordinary moves of these sportsmen; more so artists of their profession.

The Red Bull Media House sports actions film was made in association with Brain Farm Digital Cinema, a Curt Morgan film. The insight in to the world of extreme sports takes you on a journey with some of the bravest men in unexplored territory and mountains in remote corners of the world.

The juxtaposition of the inspiring music, slow-motion antics and courage blend well in to a well spent hour-and-a-half of watching the unordinary. The true essence of what Red Bull exudes.

 

REFLECTION

REFLECTION ON THE PROCESS OF CREATING THE WEBLOG: 

What skills you gained with regarding to writing to an audience? 

The written content of a blog differs a lot to writing an essay or an article. Writing to an audience through my blog allowed me to share more of my insights and opinions on media issues that are prominent in today's society. The feeling of sharing thoughts to an audience is exhilarating as you are more aware that somebody is reading your thoughts and perhaps agrees with some of them. As a writer, this is ideally the outcome that you want.

What skills did you gain regarding design? 

Personally I like simplicity in regards to design. With this work blog I wanted to exude an element of professionalism, and therefore use colours that were not going to be regarded as in appropriate. In the same sense I attempted to use colours that also reflected my personality, after all it is essentially my blog, presenting my own work. Clear headings, and pages on the top of the main page of the blog allows for an audience to easily direct themselves about my blog, as well as click on links that relate to other aspects of my professional and personal online work, such as my personal blog Something Coral, Twitter, Facebook page as well as contact information.

What did you think of the process? 

For a design subject this assignment is very relevant. Blogging, as mentioned throughout my blog posts, is a new form of writing and publishing for writers, and those who want to blog about their personal interests. As a writer having a blog is crucial in attempting to find jobs in the profession. It is an online portfolio where the pieces we have written can be published for potential future employers can view the quality of writing.

The process was great, especially having a period of 3-4 weeks to post our own content, as well as the content provided in the course outlines. It allows for a personal approach to design, in which the teacher can grade us accordingly. It was definitely fun.

What is your view on blogging? 

As I have my own personal blog I have very fond views on blogging. I love the fact that I can publish all of my creative content to a site where others can view and comment on my work. It is a great platform to practice writing, especially as a future profession.

Image: Tumblr

DESIGN ISSUES

DOCUMENT DESIGN FOR PRINT AND ONLINE

What are some of the different issues when designing for print as opposed to designing online? 

For a recent assignment I had to design both a magazine article and a website design with a document. The information and content in which I had to base my designs on was already provided, the content was about the use of smart-phones in the workplace, an article called "un-plug".

Essential key design factors needed to be addressed with changing the genre of a document to a webpage and a print design. These included visual balance, presentation, proportion and consistency.

One important factor for web design is the balance between  images and text. This is supported by Reep who states that "in an effective document, the words and visual support each other" (Reep, 2006, p.134). As the print document I was designing was a magazine article, I used columns to spread out the information. The design of the text and juxtaposition of the images on the layout of the page was crucial to the print documents aesthetic.

Parker (2003) in "Designing documents for web distribution' notes that"when reading a printed document, readers can see the entire page - typically a vertical rectangle. Without physical activity-scrolling through the page or moving their head-they can quickly skim the document, going directly to points of greatest interest and easily seeing how the individual paragraph they're readings relates to the page as a whole" (p. 271). 

Designing a magazine publication there were many issues involved such as: Written content, pull quotes, images, titles, design layout and article template.

Online publication includes: Links, written content, online template, headings and groups/content.

Reference: Reep, DC, 2006, Document Design, Technical Writing, New York: Pearson/Longman 6th ed, ch.6, pp. 133-172, URL:

http://p8080-130.220.236.155.ezlibproxy3.unisa.edu.au/fedora/get/changeme:931547/CONTENT

Parker, RC, 2003, Designing Documents for Web Distribution, Looking Good in Print, Scottsdale, Ariz : Paraglyth Press, 5th ed. Ch. 14, pp. 265-293, URL:

http://p8080-130.220.236.155.ezlibproxy3.unisa.edu.au/fedora/get/changeme:931548/CONTENT

Image: http://stylewebs.net/perth_website_design.html
http://www.genusdesign.com/blog/magazine-design-for-phashion-internet-magazine.html

CLASSIFICATION

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT WAY THAT YOU CAN CLASSIFY OR GROUP BLOGS?

Three main stream blog sites are Blogger, Wordpress, and Tumblr.

Blogger and Wordpress are blogs which have the ability to create and change the web-page layout to your likings and to suit the content involved. They are more so the blogs that are in written format and can provide links to other websites and up-loads of pictures and videos. Photo-blogs for photographers or fashion bloggers is tumblr. Which is an assortment of photos, which can also include written content. Depending on which sort of content you choose to blog as an individual.

Wordpress: www.melbgirl.com.au

Blogger: www.wolfcubchronicles.blogspot.com

Photography tumblr: http://halfhearted-handshake.tumblr.com/

As a blogger the aspects that you need to consider are:

1. What kind of blog do I want to share?

2. What will the content be?

3. How will I deliver the content? Pictures, articles, opinions?

4. Who will be my demographic audience?

TYPES OF BLOGS:

Personal blogs: Bloggers represents something personal about themselves, a diary, to express feelings, even if no body reads it

Topic driven blog: Hobbies, passion and professions. Fashion blogs are huge with the highest rating blog on bloglovin being Fashion Toast - www.fashiontoast.com

Corporate and organisation blogs: Marketing or public relations with the purpose of communcation and advertisement for a business/publication

Genre specific blogs: Form of content and its particular subject: For example travel, music, or  a film review blog

BLOGLOVIN' categories include:

Art, beauty, design, DIY & Crafts, Entertainment, family, fashion, film, music and books, fitness, food & drink, home decor, mens fashion, other, personal, photography, street style, wedding

Blog post content can include:

Trends, interviews, reviews, lists and rants - These sorts of posts allow for engagement via comments from readers, and thus a wider audience.

Reference:http://socialmediatoday.com/shellykramer/585646/5-types-blog-content-drive-engagement

http://www.slideshare.net/p10540735/different-types-of-blog-11609124
Image: Tumblr
bloglovin' widgets 

NEW FORM OF PUBLISHING

E-BOOKS

Find and discuss your own example of a new form of publishing (i.e. how has new technology affected the way we communicate and design our ‘documents’?)

There are still those people who love to open a book and smell the old pages or the fresh, newly printed pages, as opposed to those who prefer to read from a technologically advanced gadget. iPads and tablets that take on the form of an 'e-book', where the books and their pages are downloaded on to a format that is read from a screen.

Electric books, essentially doned as 'E-Books' is a new form of technology, we would never had of realised was possible. It is essentially an up-dated version of a book, on technological gadgets such as tablets and iPads. Google even has their own

Google EBooks has partnered up with Dymocks to create a new outlets for 'Booklovers'. They have created a new range of electronic books where "hundreds of thousands of downloadable nations and international titles on Dymocks.com.au" are available for your smart gadget, computer, laptop or e-reader device.

There is an option to live-stream the book, where you are connected to interent, or download the book and read it offline. "Whenever you re-open your book, it'll pick up right where you left off reading".

Reference: http://www.dymocks.com.au/Google-eBooks/Google-eBooks.aspx

Image: http://www.loveofbooks.com.au/ebook-creation-services/

MEDIA ISSUE: MITT VS BARRACK

SOCIAL MEDIA A PROMINENT TOOL IN THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

The new presidential campaign has been the first one to really incorporate social media to promote their campaigns for presidency.

Article issue: Social media also enable voters to respond to candidates mis-statements and awkward situations, which then spread like wildfire across the Internet. "There is a piece of information… and it begins to bounce around, essentially. It’s shared, it’s repeated. It reverberates," said Politico newspaper correspondent Tony Romm. 

"We see the same thing with Facebook, when a user shares a news story about something a candidate has done. And then, that begins to explode, eventually winding up in major newspapers, making major headlines across the country. So, it has a huge effect."

Internet political strategists say the goal with social media is to collect data from voters in order to personalize the campaign - to make the candidate not only familiar, but also to be seen as a friend who knows and understands the problems voters face and want solved. That, analysts say, is the ‘retail politics’ of today - and tomorrow.

My view: The internet's role in campaigning has been used to spread the candidates’ messages, to raise money, and to motivate voters to get actively involved. With every presidential election, the role and impact of the Internet grows. In 2012, so-called ‘social media,’ such as Facebook, Twitter and the like, have become a prominent means of political communication.

Political campaigns used to rely on speeches, rallies, and newspapers to reach and motivate voters. Then radio and TV made it possible to reach everyone quickly and simultaneously. Today, campaigns can spread their messages instantly - and, interactively - through the Internet’s so-called ‘social media.’ I think it is a very modern way of communicating, especially getting to the youths of America to help get involved and vote for America's next president. 

Reference: http://flipthemedia.com/2012/08/the-2012-presidential-campaign-and-social-media-a-new-age/
http://www.voanews.com/content/internet_social_media_are_prominent_in_2012_presidential_race/1485372.html
Image: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-17/mcmurtrie-hollow-campaign/4315800

MEDIA ISSUE: LIVE STREAMING

LIVE STREAMING OF THE RED BULL SPACE JUMP, GETS 8 MILLION LIVE VIEWS

We are in the generation of technology! Everything is possible, things that were not even possible 5 years ago have become daily rituals that we over-look.

Article Issue: YouTube has published a blog post about the accomplishment, in an email to The Huffington Post, confirmed that the live stream of the Red Bull Stratos jump holds the record for most concurrent live streams: 8 million. "There's two numbers to consider," wrote a YouTube rep in the email, "the total number of livestreams (total number of streams we sent out over an entire event) and the concurrent livestreams (the number of livestreams being watched simultaneously at any one moment)."

My view: Downloading TV shows, music and now live streaming from space!? Youtube is an amazing outlet for online media and crazy hype buzz's such as the live stream of the Space Jump.This media issue is such a prevalent day-to-day antic. Instead of waiting until the 6pm news the next day to watch the jump we get to view it while it is happening.

After the extremeties of the live streaming of the space jump events I furthered my research on the issue. Not only is it popular to stream videos, podcasts for radio stations are also considered live streams, you can listen on your laptop to an overseas radio programme, or stream it to your mobile phone while sitting on the bus. Gone are the days where you simply have to miss out on wathching, or listening to something because you are busy, there is always a catch-up version where Internet is involved.

Reference:http://youtube-global.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/mission-complete-red-bull-stratos-lands.html
Image: http://www.lolset.com/2012/10/15/red-bull-stratos-youtube-live-stream-attracts-record-number-of-viewers/