Video Skills Test

This is my short video clip of my work colleague and his thoughts on the effects Twitter has had on Journalism. My question was quite broad so it was a struggle to keep the video down to the 30 second allotted time, whilst including a title page. The original video actually lasted for around 39 seconds this wasn't including title page, I also tried to get away with my title clip only lasting 1 second but eventually noticing that it was rather pointless, therefore increasing it to a 3 second duration. So I did have to make a few copies to finally come up with my final video, which can be seen below.

Audio Skills Test

Below are the answers to my vox pop based around cyclist Lance Armstrong. The question raised was to whether the criticism aimed at Lance Armstrong was could be deemed fair after what he battled back from and achieved in his career.

Image Skills Test

For the image task we were asked to photograph something from the University. I decided to go with the Brook building sign as for me personally it is the building where most of my lessons take place and most of my has been spent throughout my course.

Original image (click for full size)

Cropped 100px by 100px - Actual size

I used Adobe Photoshop to resize the photograph to an appropriate size, before cropping a 100px by 100px segment with the focus on the building name and UCLAN logo in the center.

Cropped 400px by 300px - Actual size

I re-loaded the original image in Adobe Photoshop and resized it appropriately before cropping a 400px by 300px segment from it, ensuring the focus of the image was on the building name and the UCLAN logo.

Cropped 200px by 500px - Actual size

Finally I reszied and cropped the image appropriatly to a 200px by 500px frame. This image turned out to be the most suitable in my opinion as it is almost entirly the sign, which was intended to be the focal point of the original photograph.

Map Skills Test

This map features four stories from the 12th November edition of the Lancashire Evening Post, which all include links to the online LEP article as well as an additional link which is related to the story. There wasn't a wide range of stories to choose from in my edition but the ones I selected have a strong 'where' element located in different areas of the city and offer different news values.

1. City Centre tram plans to create new network  
This was one of the stand out stories of my edition for a number of reasons. You could say the location was all around the core area of Preston, the image used highlighted what the future may look like down the down the busy Fishergate high street in Preston city centre. The impact of a tramlines throughout Preston could affect everyone in the city. My additional link takes you to trampowers website where you can further explore the intentions they have for Preston.

2. Heroic PCSO to be honoured for rescue 
This story was covered with a full page spread in the edition highlighting its value. The heroic/miracle aspect and unexpectedness of this story really makes it newsworthy and would bring the community of Preston closer together. The location is just your average everyday terrace housing street, but that is something more people can relate to whilst carry the values of a hard news story. My additional link gives some helpful tips and guidance on how to avoid house fires.

3. Legal action to be take in bid to save disabled charity
This story was also given a lot of space in the paper. The fact that it is about a organisation who cater the needs for disabled children in the Preston area is already heart warming but when you consider they may have been closing down until the latest reports makes it something special, another story built for the community and definitely had a soft news edge. The location was strong as it was near the Preston docks area and away from any of my other stories. My additional link takes you to the space centre home page where you can see all the help the charity really does provide.

4. Girls help foil crime
This was the headline and front page article from my edition and rightly so. A story about two school girls helping the police to catch a criminal, the perfect story for my map, contains both soft and hard news values, whilst again bringing in good ties with the community. The location was in one of the suburbs of Preston, Penwortham again not in the proximity of my other stories. My additional link takes you to a wiki page on what to if you spot a hit run, whilst giving further information into the crime in question.



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