Video Games and Me

Perhaps the first experience I had with video games was via a handheld that I haven't ever identified - a small white device resembling a Game Boy, and yet I think it must have been either a Sega product or a bootleg, since it included a few Sonic and Alex Kidd games.

Through the Nintendo Wii in about 2008, I played Mario Kart and an assortment of other games, such as Wii Sports Resort and Super Mario Galaxy. This was in the golden age of the Nintendo Wii, when it was extremely popular for families and still somewhat technologically relevant due to its 'wiimote' controller. My favourite game became Majora's Mask, which I played on PC via a Nintendo 64 emulator (and as a result, I was one of the people who bought the 3DS remake on the first day in February 2015.)

Minecraft Mission

Minecraft: Pocket Edition is the mobile version of the popular open-world sandbox game, Minecraft. It is very similar to the original PC game, but has been adapted to be more suitable for touchscreen devices. As far as actual goals go, it is identical to the original - crafting and mining are key to the player's survival. The flexibility in the game and the lack of a strict objective make it a very accessible game for a wide audience, and the creative potential in being able to build anything you want is a source of signficant appeal. An example of a structure players can build to protect themselves from the game's enemies is a house, as seen in the attached image.

My Breakfast Show Segment

Evaluation

1. Did you fulfil all the content requirements; both in terms of including all the correct features and as well as the actual choices made?

We did fulfil the requirements, as the required sections of the segment - music, a caller, a promo for a celebrity who would appear later, the celebrity gamble game, social media responses, and the news section were all included in our Breakfast Show recording. As well as these features of the show itself, we also used jingles to open each section, as done in the real Breakfast Show and as required by the brief.

2. Have you accurately used the conventions of and style of Nick Grimshaw and the Radio 1 Breafkast show?

I think we used the conventions of Nick Grimshaw's Breakfast Show very well, as we included segments of conversation between the host and the person on the phone, and incorporated some 'youth speak' into the host's dialogue (for example, describing an enjoyable music track as 'banging'). The music played is modern pop music, which is exactly the kind that Nick Grimshaw plays on the real Radio 1 Breakfast Show.

3. How well did you manage your running order/timings?

We created a script with the content of our show prepared, and were therefore able to rehearse the segment in advance of the final recording. This helped us to perfect our timings, eliminate pauses and give the different sections the proper amounts of time reserved for them. For example, the Celebrity Gamble section required more time than anything else, and to accomodate this we made sure that the opening section up until the beginning of Celebrity Gamble did not run on for too long.

Current Music Video Analysis

Castle On The Hill - Ed Sheeran

• Non-linear passage of time

The video cuts back and forth between the present day Ed Sheeran and his apparent younger self. The cutting between the two time periods is without an obvious visual cue beforehand, which makes this structure common to music videos rather than a film, which would usually have a reason for a flashback rather than suddenly cutting back in time.

• Character singing the lyrics while in the video

Present-day Ed can be seen singing the lyrics to the song. This is a convention of a music video, as it is only in this medium that the audience would not question why this man is singing to himself in a secluded location. This can be done to emphasise especially important lyrics (e.g. "Take me back to when" as he says in the above GIF.)

• Visual content reflecting spoken lyrics

The line "Had my first kiss on a Friday night" is accompanied by a shot of the younger version of the character kissing somebody to reflect the statement and reinforce its signifcance.

• Strong contrasting settings & lighting

At one point, the music video shows an exciting and colourful party in the past, which is a totally different atmosphere compared to the foggy fields that present-day Ed Sheeran is walking through. This is also seen in the scene with a large bonfire, where the lighting is a high-key orange, in contrast to the low-key colour grading of the present-day scenes.

• Duration of shots changing according to pace of music

For the majority of the song, the character reminisces about the past, and the pace of the editing is relatively slow to accompany the feelings communicated by the song. When the pace of the song picks up later in the video, the speed at which it cuts to the next shot also increases to synchronise the visuals with the audio.