Production

In order to create our project, we needed to place two videos into final cut- one of the gherkin and one of the flames. The plane was an animation and so was not another video to layer and mask. Due to the lack of tools able to delete specifically chosen areas, we had to rely on tools which were only able to delete big sections, and would only erase/mask from one side. This meant that the video of the flames which we had layered over the Gherkin was difficult to crop as we could only do in in sections, and then having to rely on colour correction to make the smoke more visible. We did this by changing the mid, dark and lighter tones to create contrast in the smoke. We also had to rotate some of the frames so the smoke did not look too square. The feathering technique was useful to soften the edges, rounding them so they again appeared less sharp.

We encountered some problems in that the footage of the smoke was at first too slow when we imported it into final cut, so we speeded it up, but it was then too fast. This meant we had to slow it down again, making it appear out of sync with the Gherkin footage. The flames then lasted for three and a half seconds longer than the other footage, resulting in the need to copy the last few seconds of Gherkin film, reverse it- so it played back to front.

However, the flames appeared very jerky because the film had been slown down, and each individual frame had to be moved into position- meaning they did not align up properly. We then turned to stop animation blur to try to blend the smoke better, and image stabilizer to steady the handheld Gherkin footage in an attempt to try and stabilise the images.

We had the idea to import each individual frame into photoshop to get rid of any unwanted smoke that made the film look unrealistic, but at 24 frames per second with ours running at about 9 seconds, it would take too long to individually edit each frame and import them back into final draft.

Room A5.7 Floor Plan

In order to present the project to its full potential we decided that we would need two projectors and consequently a suitable space. Fortunately due to forward planning we were able to book A5.7. The room already has a projector fitted to the ceiling and has another clear wall opposite, with space on other walls, making it perfect for what we need. The room plan above highlights how we plan to utilise the space. Projector one will show the ‘Gherkin’ footage and projector two will show the live reaction, streaming through ‘insideLondon’ our personal internet television channel.

The Telegraph

When deciding on papers to use for this project we thought we should use the last remaining broadsheet, as they were once a very tradition British icon.

BBC Ticker

The Daily Express

We used this paper, as it is a middle of the road conservative paper, and it has very strong political right wing message against immigration and other foreign policies, and are used to running fear tactics in their stories.

'Key scratch artist' admits hoax

An artist who claimed to have vandalised nearly 50 cars in the name of art has admitted it was a stunt.
Mark McGowan, 37, said he had taken pictures of himself scratching vehicles' paintwork as part of a project.

But the London performance artist has since admitted the cars were already "keyed" and the photos were "staged".

He said it had been an art project that had gone "horribly wrong" and said he was "very, very sorry".

"I never keyed any cars...the whole thing has just been a nightmare," he added.


At least I've shown people do care about car crime
Mark McGowan
"All I wanted to do was highlight the plight of people who have had their cars scratched, which has somehow spiralled out of control.

"My family and friends have shunned me and someone rang into a radio show and said they wanted to rip my head off.

"But at least I've shown people do care about car crime."

Mr McGowan said the cars in two of the pictures, taken for his latest exhibition, belonged to his brother-in-law and a barmaid from a pub in Camberwell, south London, and had already been scratched.

The Met police had said on Monday that if any criminal allegations were made they would be investigated.

Mr McGowan's latest project is just one of many bizarre stunts by the artist who describes himself as "the British alternative to David Blaine".

In 2003, he used his nose to push a monkey nut seven miles to 10 Downing Street in protest against student debt.

He also rolled on pavements for four miles across London singing Christmas carols to highlight the work of office cleaners.

Rolling news24 creation

The News 24 layout is a well known news format and so we decided to use the logo and scrolling update in our project. In order to create this, we had to use photoshop to separate each logo part- this is to create the layers for Flash which is important in order to let the text flow infront of and behind other layers.







Using the cloning stamp, we got rid of the time that was on the screen shot from the internet, and cut each section up before inporting them into the Flash library.

In Flash we then positioned each segment correctly on the page, and typed the text which we wanted to scroll along the bottom of the page, and created it into a motion tween to it would end up the opposite side of the screen it started from.

We decided we wanted a clock which actually worked, so had to search the internet to find action script instructions.

The news section works really well and looks more realistic than the first BBC one we created.



Also, we are really pleased we decided to use the real time clock as it makes it look more professional and gives a sense of living in the present- making the event seem like it really has just happened

Aliza Shvarts

The internationally reported art project of a Yale University art major who said she would document a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself "as often as possible" while periodically taking abortifacient drugs, has been revealed as a hoax.

Yale released a statement today indicating that senior student Aliza Shvarts "stated to three senior Yale University officials today, including two deans, that she did not impregnate herself and that she did not induce any miscarriages." The statement added, "The entire project is an art piece, a creative fiction designed to draw attention to the ambiguity surrounding form and function of a woman’s body." Yale defended Shvarts' project stating, "She is an artist and has the right to express herself through performance art," but added, "Had these acts been real, they would have violated basic ethical standards and raised serious mental and physical health concerns."

According to a report in the Yale University newspaper, the Yale Daily News, Shvarts was to commence a display of her senior art project Tuesday which reportedly featured her artificial inseminations and drug induced abortions.

"Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process," said the paper. "The goal in creating the art exhibition, Shvarts said, was to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body."

"I hope it inspires some sort of discourse," Shvarts told the paper. "Sure, some people will be upset with the message and will not agree with it, but it's not the intention of the piece to scandalize anyone."

The paper suggested that some students did disagree with the 'art,' but Shvarts also was able to find other enthusiasts. Art major Juan Castillo told the paper "I really loved the idea of this project, but a lot other people didn't. I think that most people were very resistant to thinking about what the project was really about."

For her part, Shvarts indicated that her education in 'art' at Yale has taught her that her project is appropriate. "I believe strongly that art should be a medium for politics and ideologies, not just a commodity," Shvarts told the Daily Yale. "I think that I'm creating a project that lives up to the standard of what art is supposed to be."

The story seemed believable coming from Yale, since the university has a history of unquestioning abortion support.

In 2006, the university announced that ob/gyn residents at Yale's School of Medicine must undergo training in abortion procedures in a required residency program established by Planned Parenthood's Connecticut branch (PPC). In 2007, the university observed "Roe v. Wade" week in which pro-abortion campus clubs taught students how to commit the "simple procedure" of abortion - a procedure made complicated and "emotionally traumatic" by "media attention."

The Guardian

The guardian is the main middleclass paper in the UK and is mainly read by Labour and liberal democrat supporters alike, and is printed in full colour the only other British daily to do the same is the Daily Mail.

Fake Bomb at the Royal Ontario Museum

A 24-year-old Ontario College of Art and Design student who planted a fake bomb at the Royal Ontario Museum for an art project has been released on $33,000 bail.

Thorarinn Jonsson turned himself in to police last night and was charged with common nuisance and mischief that interferes with property. He spent the night in custody and appeared at Old City Hall this morning.

The bomb hoax forced the evacuation of the ROM, and canceled a major fundraiser for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research Wednesday night.

Mr. Jonsson said he left the fake pipe bomb, which he described as a sculpture, in a bag at the ROM around 4 p.m. on Wednesday, with a note indicating that it was not a bomb. Then went to his third year production class to present a video he made called “The fake bombing at the ROM”. The short video depicted a woman walking through the museum, before an apparent explosion. Mr. Jonsson posted the video on YouTube. He has said that his project was meant to demonstrate “recontextualization” - the notion that the context in which an item is placed changes its meaning.

“We see it as an individual who planted this device in a museum, in a public place, and it impacted on a lot of police resources and members of the public,” Detective Leslie Dunkley, who investigated the case, told reporters today. “It is a big deal."

OCAD has suspended Mr. Jonsson and his production class teachers pending an internal investigation. OCAD president Sara Diamond said the teachers had no idea that the class project involved planting something at the ROM. She said the student “crossed the line”

Friends who attended court to support Mr. Jonsson denounced the “witch hunt” that has followed him.
“It’s art because it makes us think,” said Daniel Epstein, a U of T student. He said his friend was not trying to deliberately shut down the AIDS benefit. In media interviews, Mr. Jonsson has regretted ruining the AIDS fundraisers, but said he did not know it was to be held. He did not blame himself for the fallout.

Banksy

Fake prehistoric rock art of a caveman with a shopping trolley has been hung on the walls of the British Museum.
The rock was put there by art prankster Banksy, who has previously put works in galleries in London and New York.

A British Museum spokeswoman said they were "seeing the lighter side of it". She said it went unnoticed for one or two days but Banksy said three days.

Banksy also hung a sign saying the cave art showed "early man venturing towards the out-of-town hunting grounds".

It read: "This finely preserved example of primitive art dates from the Post-Catatonic era.


It looked very much in keeping with the other exhibits, the explanatory text was quite similar
British Museum spokeswoman
"The artist responsible is known to have created a substantial body of work across South East of England under the moniker Banksymus Maximus but little else is known about him.

"Most art of this type has unfortunately not survived. The majority is destroyed by zealous municipal officials who fail to recognise the artistic merit and historical value of daubing on walls."

Banksy is best-known as a graffiti artist who has attracted a cult following for stencilled designs that satirise authority and modern society.

He hung his own art in the Tate Britain in London in October 2003, which was not noticed until it fell to the ground, and has done the same in four New York galleries.


Banksy has previously stuck a painting to the wall of Tate Britain
The British Museum praised the way his rock was hung and the style of the sign, which was "very similar" to their own design.

A spokesperson for Banksy said he sneaked the work into the museum on Monday and it was found on Wednesday.

He ran a competition on his website for fans to have their photographs taken with the rock, offering a shopping trolley as a prize.

A British Museum spokeswoman said: "We're reasonably confident that it hadn't been up for that long, maybe a couple of days.


We have loaned the rock to Banksy but we are still in the process of deciding what to do with it
British Museum spokeswoman
"It looked very much in keeping with the other exhibits, the explanatory text was quite similar."

It is now being exhibited at Banksy's new show, Outside Institute, which opens in London on Friday. It will have a sign saying it is "on loan from the British Museum".

The British Museum spokesperson said they were expecting it back when Outside Institute ends in June.

"He has said to us that we can keep it," she said.

Bowie and Boyd "hoax" art world

Some of the biggest names in the art world have reportedly been fooled by a biography of a fake artist created by the author William Boyd and the rock star David Bowie.
Last week the glitterati of New York gathered for a launch party of Boyd's biography of the apparently rediscovered American painter Nat Tate.

Bowie, a director of 21 Publishing, the company which produced the book, read extracts to the gathering.

Critics on the other side of the Atlantic were due to attend the British launch of the memoir on Tuesday. Several British papers, including the Sunday Telegraph, have already run extracts from the book.

Excerpts were also published on Bowie's own website.

Fake history

However, the Independent newspaper says Tate and the story of how he befriended painters Picasso and Braque, suffered from depression, burned most of his paintings and then killed himself aged 31, is all fiction.

Some of the paintings pictured in the book were reportedly by Boyd himself. Photos of Tate were from Boyd's own collection of pictures of unidentified people.

The ruse was made more convincing by an endorsement on the book's dust cover from the veteran writer and political commentator Gore Vidal.

In the book he is also quoted as remembering Tate as "essentially dignified, drunk with nothing to say".

John Richardson, the acclaimed biographer of the artist Pablo Picasso, was also in on the scam and is also quoted.

Karen Wright, one of Bowie's co-directors at 21 Publishing said the hoax was not meant to be malicious.

"Part of it was, we were very amused that people kept saying 'Yes, I've heard of him'. There is a willingness not to appear foolish. Critics are too proud for that."

presentation

Filming Planes

Filming Planes
To gain footage of airplanes flying. We went out and shoot several different planes flying over central London, it was important that we gained footage of the planes in as many different weather conditions, so that we could match up the footage to previously recorded images of the gherkin Tower.
The footage had to have an amateur feel about it, so getting the camera to shake the right amount as if it had been recorded on a hand held camera was not something that you can judge at the time of filming as it will not be till the editing process that you see how the two clips piece together.
Examples of films that have used the same camera technique are Cloverfield and Blair witch project. We found the footage shot to be hard to edit, and needed manipulated a lot, so that the two run seamlessly together.

The Sun

The Sun newspaper has the highest readership than any other paper in Britain standing at 3,126,866 copies sold daily. The Murdock news corporation also owns The Sun. The paper has a reputation for racist and homophobic views, alongside the image of the white van man.

Change of Title

At the stage that we produced the poster our title was “Panic in an Illusion” this was always a working title. We started to feel that this did not represent the way that our project was heading, so we opted for a new title this being “Inside London”. The main reason for the new title was that we had created an online TV channel of the same name. The new channel was a mock-up of a news program so we felt that the name represented this.

Fear in the Media

Be afraid; be very afraid. After all, isn't fear the strongest emotion we have? If you were a reporter who wanted to get the best ratings, wouldn't you use the most powerful tool in the human experience? It works, is why they do it. If we didn't react to negative and scary news so powerfully and predictably, they wouldn't use it; but we do because we are human.

Do you remember the pandemic? Bird flu was coming to get us. Why? Because it was the scariest thing they could report in that boring news cycle. As soon as there was something else to scare us, the media forgot about bird flu. The potential for avian flu to transform into a pandemic hasn't changed, but we got tired of being afraid of bird flu, so we went onto other fears, the war, the terrorist threat, the collapsing bridge. We all drive across bridges, so now we are all focused on making our bridges safer, not developing a vaccination to prevent the spread of avian flu.


Imagine, we re-elected a president we all knew was incompetent, simply out of fear. We were afraid to vote in another leader in a time of war. The known fear is always preferable to the unknown fear. We voted, saying, "This fear, this president, and this war we can live with," because we knew that fear. Had we voted, "I don't know what the other will be but I don't fear it as much as this one," we would have had a change in direction. Here, I won't make any predictions if that would have been good or bad, but it would have been different.

Fear can be highly motivating, or paralyzing, depending on how we react to our fears. The media is great at helping us decide what to fear, but not so good at helping us know how we should respond to it. There are too many "experts," who disagree about what to do, but they all agree we should be very afraid.

How can we, the people, the readers and watchers of our world, deal with the media and the fears they provoke? Similar to how we manage our fears in life, I would think. We know that life is scary, and we manage to ignore, or deal with those fears, usually, not well for some and better for others. Humankind needs to be scared; that's why we have scary movies and Stephen King. But, that's not enough; we also have Fox News and Rush Limbaugh to further scare us.

Why does the media scare us? Because it works. How we can react to it positively, is to not let them manipulate us, through our fears, but from our own experiences and thought processes, much like we do the real things to fear in our lives. We know that we can be seriously injured or killed in a car, but we drive. We know the news is scary, but we watch it and react to it, some positively and others negatively; it's our choice.

The other choice is to deny that there are things to know and some to fear, which requires some response, or to be ignorant of what is occurring in the world, and not care. I choose to sort and filter the news, not ignore it. You can choose for yourself.

Online television streaming

Web Streaming:

As mentioned earlier in the blog we are extremely interested in utilising the internet within our project. A possibility that we are keen to use is the innovative notion of internet television. New media technology now enables us to create our own Internet TV station. This will allow us to broadcast live from anywhere with an internet connection, with as little as an 8 second delay. Internet television is a great example of convergent media in everyday life, which will add another exciting level to our project.

Following the setup of our own television channel and testing the possibilities of it, we are confident that we will use it in the final presentation of the project. As the project is highlighting how the public receive the media, we feel that it would be extremely interesting for our audience to watch a live audience, consequently experiencing the piece for themselves as well as experiencing the reactions of others.

Reuters Doctoring Photos from Beirut?

The news agency Reuters has withdrawn from sale 920 pictures taken by a photographer after finding he had doctored two images taken in Lebanon.
Bloggers first spotted that smoke on Adnan Hajj's image of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike in Beirut appeared to have been made darker.

A Reuters investigation confirmed this and also found two flares had been added to an image of an Israeli jet.

Mr Hajj told the BBC he denied doctoring the content of the images.



Adnan Hajj's doctored image following an Israeli air strike


He said had tried to clean dust off the first image, a shot of buildings in a suburb of Beirut, on which Reuters found smoke plumes had been darkened and expanded using computer software.

"It was so badly done - an amateur could have done better," Bob Bodman, picture editor at the Daily Telegraph newspaper, told the BBC.

Mr Hajj, a freelance photographer working for Reuters, denied altering the second photograph, an image of an Israeli F-16 fighter over Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon.

"There's no problem with it, not at all," he said in a BBC interview.

'Lapse'

Paul Holmes, editor of political and general news at Reuters, told the BBC that senior photographers at the agency "weren't convinced" that cleaning dust off the first image would result in the manipulation the image showed.

He said there had been a "lapse in our editing process", but stressed that Reuters had moved swiftly to address the issue and tighten editing procedures.


Global picture editor Tom Szlukovenyi said all of Adnan Hajj's images had been removed from the company's database.

He described it as a precautionary measure, but said the manipulation undermined trust in Mr Hajj's entire body of work.

"There is no graver breach of Reuters standards for our photographers than the deliberate manipulation of an image," Mr Szlukovenyi said in a statement.

Questions were raised about the accuracy of the image on Sunday in several weblogs - personal online diaries by writers known as "bloggers" - including ones which scrutinise media coverage of the Middle East for bias.

Mr Holmes said Reuters welcomed the growth of weblogs, which had made the media "much more accountable and more transparent".

The London Paper

Rupert Murdoch owns the London paper along side the Sun and the Times,
We picked this paper, as it is a free daily paper handed out to customers outside London underground stations at rush hour, from Monday to Friday.
Our reasoning behind this was that if a plane had crashed into a landmark in central London they would be one of the first newspapers to run the story.

Consent Form example

A consent form will be obligatory after filming the general public and their reactions, and will only be able to use the footage of the particular individuals if they agree and sign the form, which will be similar to this one here.

UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER
Information and Consent Form
Title of the Study: CONVERGENT MEDIA
Principal Investigator: Neal Bryant, James Ketterer, Andrew Lawson (phone: 0208 208 2747) (email: iamlawson@gmail.com)
Student Researcher: Andrew Lawson (phone: 07895505758)
DESCRIPTION OF THE RESEARCH
You are invited to participate in a research study about a University Of Westminster student project looking at the important of the media in the modern times.
You have been asked to participate because You have just been shown a piece of film that has been doctored to show a terrorist attack in central London, all images have been manipulated to rein-acted what might be televised if such events might happen.
The purpose of the research is to understand the publics understanding of how the new media works.
This study will include randomly selected members of the public.
The information will be included in a university project.
You will be audio and video taped during your participation in this research.
WHAT WILL MY PARTICIPATION INVOLVE?
If you decide to participate in this research you will be asked to discuss you feeling on viewing this piece of footage.
Your participation will last approximately 5 mins per session and will require 1 session which will require 5 mins in total.
ARE THERE ANY RISKS TO ME?
We don't anticipate any risks to you from participation in this study.
ARE THERE ANY BENEFITS TO ME?
We don't expect any direct benefits to you from participation in this study.
HOW WILL MY CONFIDENTIALITY BE PROTECTED?
This study is anonymous. Neither your name nor any other identifiable information will be recorded.
WHOM SHOULD I CONTACT IF I HAVE QUESTIONS?
You may ask any questions about this project at any time. If you have questions about the project after you leave today you should contact the Principal Investigator Neal Bryant, James Ketterer, Andrew Lawson at 0208 208 2747. You may also call the student researcher, Andrew Lawson at 07895505758.
If you are not satisfied with response of research team, have more questions, or want to talk with someone about your rights as a project participant, you should contact the University Of Westminster on +44 (0)20 7911 5000
Your participation is completely voluntary. If you decide not to participate or to withdraw from the study it will have no effect on any services or treatment you are currently receiving.
Your signature indicates that you have read this consent form, had an opportunity to ask any questions about your participation in this research and voluntarily consent to participate. You will receive a copy of this form for your records.
Name of Participant (please print):______________________________
_______________________________________ ______________
Signature Date

Rolling News Channel

The rolling news format has been a very popular with the news broadcasters, as it allows the channel to repeat the same footage every ten to twenty minutes, this keeping the costs down. It has also been popular with the TV audience as it allows them to catch up with daily events in a short space of time.
It was always our intention to use the BBC 24 style layout to show the Gherkin tower footage, we belive that the BBC logo will help the viewer to be more trusting of the film they are being shown.
This style will benefit us in the way that we will be using a very short piece of footage, and we will be able to loop the film and this will not look out of place on the rolling news channel

Audience

It has been discussed that the audience our final footage is shown to may not be a huge group of people. As we are looking to avoid mass panic, it could perhaps be a good idea to keep the number down to a certain amount of people to minimise the chances of a large panicked reaction. However, if the number is too small, then we may not provoke enough of a varied reaction. It would be interesting to see people who would dismiss the idea straight away, and the people who would believe it without thinking twice.

Where to show footage?

The aim of the project is to highlight how the public receive and react to media. As a result it is imperative that the footage is believable, in terms of how realistic it is and how the public are shown the footage. It is far less likely to be believed if the the situation seems too premeditated or unlikely, for example, if it is viewed on a computer it would be less likely to be believed than through a television (the standard viewing medium for the rolling news). This obviously limits where and how we can show the footage.

One option that has become available whilst trying to find possible locations is a local pub in Willesden Green, where I (James) work. The pub has two television screens which are capable to be connected directly to a computer, that we could run the footage of, thus making it appear like it is live on TV and consequently believable. The television screens are located in a great position that allows the entire bar to see them, but remain unobtrusive, which will allow some of the audience to either miss the footage or only briefly catch the footage. This will hopefully allow for a variety of reactions, which will enrich the findings.

Due to nature of television screens in pubs, i.e. can be connected to with ease and are likely to be viewed by many, they may be great locations to film the final footage. The test run in The Green will help to determine how successful this option may be.

However, it is important that we consider further possibilities as more rewarding opportunities may present themselves.

Palestine Fakes

Research into public reaction to faked events led us to a number of faked photos from Palestine where extra smoke was photoshopped in to create an illusion an attack was worse than it actually was- to provoke a reaction from the public which would be biased against the Israeli's.



This photo is what experts created to reflect what the photo would actually look like in the sun and heat of the day- with the realistic amount of smoke that was caused.

Shooting Plans

It was decided to film in little bits, preparing each piece of footage as we go along. The filming of a tourist-like amateur video of the Gherkin tower, which goes wobbly and zomms in and out (to accomodate the plane we will paste in on top) would be the first step, followed by footage of some planes, hopefully in the same sort of weather conditions. It is appropriate to take as much footage as possible in order to make the best final video we can.
After the editing of footage, we will then have to shoot the publics reaction to the film.

Ethical Issues

Researching the Ztohoven group and the Creators of 'Czech Dream', Vit Klusak and Filip Remunda, it is possible to see how other people have created hoaxes without thought of ethical issues, especially with the live broadcast hacking of the atomic explosion. There was no way for the group to personally state immediately afterwards that the event was just a stunt, but was left to the broadcasters. This almost disregard of ethical issues allows our project to have some leniency towards the ethics. Although a debrief and consent forms will be in place after the event, there is nothing beforehand to prevent the viewers from believing anything other than what they will be seeing.
The 'Czech Dream' creators did personally address the public after their event, but then again their's was not boardering on terrorism. Of course, our project is in no way endorsing or supporting the act of terrorism in any way whatsoever, but due to the obvious after effects of 9/11, fear of terrorism is higher than ever and our project will be addressing this issue directly.
Again, our aim is to prove (through the reaction of the chosen audience) that people will instantly believe what they see so long as some sort of news banner is flashing accross the screen.

Ztohoven- Chech fake explosion

A group of young Czechs produced footage of an apparent nucleur explosion and broadcast it on live television. The video consists of a shot of the Krkonose Mountains, followed by a bright flash and the emergenc eof a large mushroom top cloud in the distance. The group were acquitted and let go without punishment with a court in Trutnov stating that it was not a criminal offence. According to Czech news station CT24, although Czech television said it was "...inadvisable and could have provoked panic among a wide group of people". Ztohoven, which recently won the NG333 award for young artists from Prague's National Gallery, said it does not have terrorist or political objectives and did not want to "intimidate or manipulate society".

Subtlety

From the start it had been agreed that subtlety was the key to success for the project. With thoughts of Jeremy Beadle in mind, it was exactly the opposite of what we had set out to achieve. The project is supposed to be tackling a genuine issue within the media, and how people will believe whatever the papers and the news says because they do not know any better. Exploitation is too strong to describe what we are setting out to achieve, yet in a way it is the media we are exploiting, not so much the people who read into it. The idea is not a show and laugh affair, we are after genuine reactions with a debrief in order afterwards to dispell any rumours travelling further afield than our chosen space.

War of the Worlds:

War of the Worlds was an episode of an American radio drama series performed as a Halloween special on October 30, 1938 by Orson Welles. The episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' classic novel The War of the Worlds.



The first half of the 60 minute broadcast was presented as a series of news bulletins, and suggested that a Martian invasion was in progress.The bulletins suggested that Martians were invading America when a huge flaming object had landed in a small village called Grovers Mill. The news bulletin then goes on to describe scenes of chaos. The story tells how the aliens have released poison gas and that the country is now under military law.

The reaction of the now most well known radio production was unprecedented. Millions of people had not listened to the broadcast from the beginning and so missed the announcements that the bulletin was a drama production. Furthermore because of the heightened tensions in the lead up to World War II many simply took the bulletins to be war coverage. Later studies showed how panic swept through the public. Some phoned loved ones to say goodbye, others started praying and preparing for death whilst thousands tried to flee in their cars. People who had run outside to see what was happening, either saw lots of people and believed they were all leaving or saw very little people and believed that nearly everyone had already gone. Furthermore some close to the supposed invasion site, Grovers Mill convinced themselves that they could smell gas or see flashes of light in the sky, some roamed the countryside looking for the martians. It was later estimated that 1 million people were frightened or disturbed by the production.

One of the best studies into this public phenomenon was conducted by Cantril’s study into the psychology of panic . His study looks at panic behaviour inadvertently activated by the mass media.

The broadcast had obviously caused fear in over 1 million of the public and this had then manifested itself into panic that lead to heightened reactions.

One reason why the broadcast had been so successful was that the public trusted the radio and consequently suspended their judgement. Did the broadcast spark anxiety or fear in the public?

There is a distinction between Anxiety and Fear:

Fear: is focused on an identifiable frightening person or dangerous object – referring to an immediate, objective threat.

Anxiety: is less specific, though no less real: a dread, a premonition of doom, but with no specific focus.

In 1938, there was a mixture of Fear and Anxiety:

People believed the threat was actual and imminent, yet they were reacting to a brew of uncertainties.

With fear: people are consciously able to take measures to neutralise or flee from the dangerous object.
With anxiety: there is very little that can consciously be done.

Clearly, it is sometimes in someone’s interest to convert anxiety into fear:

Drugs companies and new-age therapists:
An anxiety over unwellness into a fear of the consequences unless a particular medicine is taken.

Political extremists:
Scapegoating enables a group to convert a general anxiety into a an attack on a specific ‘outsider’ group.

Sometimes, it is useful to convert fear into anxiety:

Anxiety tends to make people withdraw from one another.
Fear is likely to draw people in a community together.

Tutorial Five:

This was an important tutorial, as we had been unable to make the last one and also as it is the last before the midterm- review. We talked through our progression with the project and highlighted especially our trial run using the mock up newspaper as the platform.

Preparation for tutorial 5

Our footage featuring the Metro mock-up needs to be run through, perhaps edited down to a key number of moments rather than let it run all the way through because not everyone looked at our paper. Talk about how we can make it seem more interesting to the audience walking past. Discuss location and time of day changes. The paper may benefit us more if we have a evening paper i.e. The london paper or the Lite. Ethical issues are a problem and so we wish to discuss how to deal best with them- what if people who are older have some kind of body failure in response to the shock of the 'news' we are looking to present?

Schedule:

1. Prepare our 'Metro' mock-up
2. Film reactions in a few locations
3. Asess the footage
4. POTENTIALLY film again if it is not adequate
5. Take into account the reactions- for the final video piece will be more shocking (hopefully)
6.

The footage:

Filming: the public reaction:

How successful was the filming?

Our first attempt at filming the publics reactions went reasonably well. Whilst I (James) sat on a bench with the paper, Neal sat 20 feet away with the camera hidden under his arm whilst reading his own paper so people did not become suspicious. People tended to just walk by without glancing (which we expected would happen) but those who did look, took a long hard stare, clearly interested in the story of the Gherkin being blown up. However, people simply kept on walking, so the reaction was nothing more than the glance, which we both agreed wasn't that effective, especially in terms of our final presentation, as it would just be a series of clips of people looking interested in the paper.

Whilst on the way home from the filming we decided to see how effective it would be if we were to read the paper on the tube, we decided not to film it however as it was very obvious as the carriage wasn't very busy. This achieved a far better response, the people that did see it became very interested in the article, some getting others to look at it as well, creating discussion about it etc.

The underground obviously allows for a better reaction, as the onlooker is stationary and can take time to look at the paper, which gives time for it to sink in, as oppose to the brief glance of a passerby. The best reaction that we received was from tourists, who seemed to take the article as truth. Underground journeys are generally speaking very boring, so people are constantly looking around them, at posters, books and newspapers, so it is more likely that somebody will look at the paper, than somebody who is walking past.

Considering this preliminary work if we do decide to use newspapers in our final project we would want to film on the underground, but this would be very difficult, we probably do it secretly, but it wouldn't be certain that we would get good footage, and might not be as effective as other methods, which gives us something to think about.

Filming: when and where...?

We needed to make sure that lots of people would be walking past, therefore increasing the possibility of gaining lots of 'reaction' footage. We decided to film at two different points, the first would be early morning, from 7 through to 10, to try and capture the early commuters who won't have yet seen the metro, and may not have seen any news, consequently are more likely to believe the headline, and as a result react with more animation. The second filming time that we have decided upon is about 11 to 1, just before lunch, although by this time all of the metro's will have been removed from the train's so there will be very few around. As the Metro is printed and distributed in the early morning, it is likely that the majority will be read by commuters, and not by the unemployed, tourists etc who start their days slightly later.

We decided that the best places would be;

- Public parks- several people will walk through on their way to the tube. Secret filming will be easy due to unconfined space, and several concealed spaces. We decided an especially good time would be just after the changing of the guard ceremony, as we knew that lots of people would be walking through Green park and St James park, which are obviously very close to Buckingham Palace.

- On the Tube- although may not be achievable due to the high security regarding filming on the tube, although could attempt o do it secretly or using a mobile phone, still remains difficult however.

Darko Maver

The rumours about Maver began in 1998 within the circles of underground artists in Europe. Originating in Yugoslavia where he was accused of anti-patriotism, where his work was reputedly censored and he was persecuted. This story was spread around the art world rapidly.

On May the 15th, press agencies receive and released a shocking announcement: "The Serbian artist Darko Maver has died in the Podgorica prison".
Together with the announcement of Maver's death came the image that went down in history: the only evidence of Darko Maver's tragic death in the Podgorica prison. The photo was taken in a garret in the centre of Bologna, and was believable enough to be seen as true.



The image spread rapidly and the articles written about the event illustrate how Darko Maver, his works and history, can be read as a critique to the reality of media and the exploitation of images of victims of war.

Tutorial Three:

During today's tutorial we discussed how our ideas had furthered since last talking it through with Andy and Peter. We raised our idea of using print and highlighting the hoax in one of London's free newspapers. Instead of trying to gather together all the Metro's at a station and trying to re-distribute them before commuters appear for their journey to work, we are going to attempt to print just one paper with our covering story, and have one of us sit on a bench near a busy crowd reading it whilst the other two group members video the event from a hidden location. This seemed to be an easy but relatively effective method of capturing a reaction. Although this was moving away from our initial large scale reaction, it would be an interesting experiment, illustrating how an individual would react.

Before this would be possible we would have to make the paper, so replicate the format of the metro paper, adapt pictures so that they are suitable, then get it printed onto news paper in the right dimensions.

Different Types of Paper

We have looked at different types of paper to use for our preliminary experiment, and found that most companies would print onto a minimum of 180gsm. We phoned many companies using the Yellow pages and found that if we wanted to print onto a paper of around 60-90gsm it would only be in black and white, although relatively cheap. However, we want to use colour and the price then rises dramatically, as does the weight of the paper. We eentually found a place near Covent Garden which would print for us onto newspaper weight paper and in colour, but due to the price, we feel we are only able to get a couple of copies so need our stories in the paper to be as immaculate as possible.

The Metro

The Metro is given away in the morning rush hour, this was the first paper that we made a mock-up of, the results that we gained from this paper was very successful, and led to us creating the other five front covers.

Newspaper Format

The Metro was the chosen format of paper to use in the end. We mocked up a version on Photoshop, taking into account all of the dimensions of the paper, the colours and page numbers etc. Little mistakes on each copy led to problems in that if people studied the papers too closely, spelling mistakes or wrong news (i.e. sports, not the faked explosion) would stand out and cause them to disbelieve in the paper. This caused us to create a third copy which was probably the best of the three, except a big football match was on the night before we were planning on printing it, causing us to have to guess who would win the match, and unfortunately we guessed wrong leaving the paper stating how Chelsea had won, when in actual fact Tottenham had. However, when we film with the paper, people hopefully will be too interested in the front page to notice the back page- which is not our priority anway.

Obviously there is a lot to do in order to get the paper looking authentic. We will need to copy the same formatting as the metro, keeping everything similar to how the metro would publish the piece. We need to get authentic photos of the instance, print onto realistic news paper, keeping the same weighting, colouring etc.
People read the Metro everyday so will have a good understanding of exactly how it looks, and if we don't manage to make it look authentic enough, the story will be instantly dismissed. On the other hand, because the story is so attention grabbing, it may detract from the paper meaning it may not have to be identical, however we want it to be as close as possible to the real thing in order to maintain the realism.

Internet Campaign:

Something that had developed within our idea, and how we would generate interest into the at of terrorism would be a gradual internet campaign, something similar to the recent campaign for Matt Reeves' "Cloverfield", which instead of using the normal trailer process to entice the public instead released small clips on the web that acted as clues to final piece, thus making the audience more and more intrigued about what all the clues meant.

However, we would have to be extremely careful about how we went about this, due to the nature of the project hoaxing terrorism. Such clues would not be taken lightly by the authorities, and we really wouldn't our laptops to be taken away from us. However, we remained adamant that an ongoing internet campaign would be extremely effective, and would work help raise a lot of awareness and speculation.

Utilizing London's Free Newspapers

It was highlighted in the tutorial that we should be more subtle when it comes to showing the public the hoaxed footage. Whilst talking about about how we could depict our hoaxed event, we liked the idea of utilizing London's free newspapers, especially the Metro which is issued in the early morning in underground stations. We were thinking that we would be able to make our own version of the first two pages of the paper, replace them and as a result it would appear to be real. We would then record the user's reaction. We also discussed the idea that one of us could be sat reading the paper in a public location. Whilst walking around people tend to notice the headlines on a newspaper, and will be keen to take more notice regarding the content of our fake front page.

A Different Hoax...?

The tutorial had confirmed worries that we were being too brash with the idea, and there wasn't enough subtlety behind it. We decided that it might be more effective to move away from the idea of hoaxing an act of terrorism. The following our other possible hoax's that we considered:

* A Music Festival: This would be similar to Czech Dream in terms of the large campaign before the actual event. Several different articles would be released before hand, on the internet, in poster form, articles and also stickers. The date would remain a secret until a couple of days before hand. This idea is too similar to Czech Dream, although would be effect it has already been done and is not as innovate as we would like.

* A Serial Killer: This would include articles across the web, maybe cordoning off roads, fake police outfits etc.

* A Kidnapping: Try to create a fake kidnapping either a famous person, so that an official statement has to be made, or something similiar to the madeline disapperance, obviously not to suh a large scale, but a missing person campaign.

Czech Dream:

Amy had encouraged us in the tutorial to watch a film called 'Czech Dream', which is about the hoaxing of new super cheap hypermarket opening in the Czech Republic. This obviously has direct links with our project as it is making the public believe something that isn't real and utilizes the media as a tool to do so. The film follows a fictitious, and fraudulent, ad campaign around the opening of a new store called Czech Dream- the Hypermarket for a Better Life. When thousands of people turn up to the grand opening they soon realize that it is no more than a field with a huge shop facade!

The film was extremely interesting as it gave a useful insight into how to con the public. Obviously, the film deals with a different type of hoax, but we liked the gradual build up of the campaign and how effective it turned out to be. A lot of attention was given to every aspect of the campaign, and the organisers even managed to remain truthful throughout, using slogans such as 'Don't Come' and 'Don't Buy', although the public actually did go, the organisers had told them not to.

The film reiterated our previous idea of having a build up before the actual event, but again we could not see a way around this whilst we were hoaxing terrorism. The film highlighted the power of the media and how easily people can be manipulated by it.

Tutorial Two:

The main issue that was raised during the second tutorial was how we would present the footage to the public. The point was stressed that we should avoid the 'Beadle's about' idea, of simply showing the footage to the audience then coming out and saying that wasn't real and you've been caught on camera, which is something that we had become aware of, this simple approach does seem too obvious! However, the tutorial did give us a further nudge to start thinking of other ways that we could show the footage to the public. As previously mentioned we like the idea of doing a web campaign, but obviously due to the nature of the idea this wouldn't be possible. At this point we became stuck with how we would be able to pull the idea off but maintaining a level of subtlety.

It was now time to reconsider the idea, and maybe even move away from the idea of terrorism, and instead hoax something else, something that could be built up over time.

More than just a hoax:

Although at this stage we are mainly concentrating on what we want to hoax and how we will do it, we don't want to move away from the concept behind the idea, how the public will react to the hoax and if we really do believe everything that we see. Obviously, we need the hoax to be extremely realistic in order to be believable, we need to constantly be thinking about how we can present it to the public. After all this is what we want to illustrate with the idea!

Preparation for tutorial two:

Since the last tutorial, we have looked into what we actually need to be able to try to pull off our idea effectively. Obviously we need some sort of model of a landmark, and some sort of explosive. We are thinking along the lines of fireworks and a smoke machine to help create an effect. We need to create consent forms for the public when they are caught on our hidden camera, and we need to find out about how we can display the project in a shop window, and also where will be most effective in comparisoon to where the stunt is taking place. For example, we could not display in a shop near to where te stunt is filmed as it would clearly not be believable. We have basically discussed the implications and limitations of what and where we can film whilst making it believable, because if it is not believable then we will have technically failed our objective.

Gherkin Hoax

Following our search for suitable locations to hoax an act of terrorism around london and the feedback that we received in the tutorial we decided that Battersea power station wouldn't be suitable. Although it is a very iconic building and everybody would recognize it, it wouldn't be suitable in terms of filming, and the fact that it is derelict it could just be mistaken for a controlled destruction. We decided to look into other possible scenario's as well as just moving the location.

Other possibilites that we discussed where:

- hoaxing a beheading
- blowing up buildings (as above) maybe just in london, somewhere further a field, potentially more believable?
- flying planes into buildings, obviously extremely poignant after 9/11

We put together a quick mock up of what this could look like using the Gherkin tower as the public building. It flickers with slightly different photos because we used 4 different stills, obviously this is just a rough example but conveys the look that we would want to achieve in terms of a handheld appearance moving eratically around.



We decided we could feasibly create the hoax using the gherkin because we could use a camera from quite a distance and make it collapse behind other buildings also in the distance. Also, we decided to use the Gherkin plane crash as our preliminary experiment on paper. We will make a mock-up of the Metro paper with the attack and explosion on the front page with a grabbing headline. We will also make up a story for the back sports page too for realism.

Our response to the tutorial comments:

We generally thought that the comments that we received from the rest of the group in the tutorial was positive, although it quickly came apparent that we hadn't been clear enough in our explanation of what we were planning on doing and how we would actually be doing it. A lot of the comments that we had received asked how we would hoax a building being blown up and how this would fulfill the brief, how is it an example of convergent media etc?

As a result we decided that we needed to be much clearer in our plans, not just to satisfy the questions that we could face in tutorials etc, but to strengthen the idea, and to provide a firm base for us to build on.

How would we hoax a building being blown up? We had previously thought that we would use a small model of the chosen building and using slow filming we would be able to control the explosion, then put the model footage on to the 'real' recording replacing the building with the model. This is obviously very adventurous and would be technically very difficult, especially as we don't know anything about explosives. We consequently agreed that it would be easier to manipulate the footage frame by frame using photoshop and flash. This will be a huge task, as we will need to do 24 frames per second, so if we have a ten second long piece of footage, we will need to manipulate 240 frames to how we won't them. This is obviously a lot of work but we are confident that if we manage our time properly we can produce a high standard.

How does our idea fulfill the brief and how is this an example of convergent media? The project is going to be an example for convergent media throughout the production and in the final presentation of the piece. The production process will include the use of video, new media software, photography and print. Although we're not 100% sure of how we will present the piece in a crit situation we are sure that it will involve at least two mediums.

Tutorial Feedback

The tutorial was useful. All of the groups placed there posters on the walls and we commented on each others ideas. Here are the feedback comments that we received from the rest of the group after they looked at our poster:

"I think this will be a good experiment. it's sometimes quite shocking to realise how much people believe in from images despite knowing the capacity for manipulation or construction. Therefore, the result of this will be intriguing. Kind of like Die Hard 4.0 with the white house bombing?" Helen.

"This is very interesting, The idea of media manipulation is a continued debate and i think if it is pulled off successfully it will make more people aware of what they see and hear within the media" Danny

"Big project, Big idea- Risky too!... How?" Lara

"What... How??? I'm intrigued" Carl

"I like this concept, but have serious concerns of the feasibility depending on the method you intend to use" Adam Handerson

"I cant imagine how to accomplish this visually. But how do you release this to the public? How to convince people? Anonymous

"I think this is a really interesting idea in exploring our relationship to the media but i'm wondering how it will be presented in order for people to see and believe it or not?" Tom

"Sounds very interesting!! What medium will be used? a slight worry of wether or not the idea is too big? Good Luck" Anonymous

"These are serious issues, will this not be more detrimental than good. What is the point. Good visually maybe" Jessica Richardson

"How do you intend to portray the whole process? What mediums will be used? Good idea, depends how you plan to pull it off? Will you not get in trouble?" Hassan Ghazi

"This looks awesome, this idea is so cool, a big task. you guys are inspiring" Anonymous

"What mediums are you going to use?" Emma B

"HOW?" Sofia

"Imaginative idea, what converging mediums do you propose to use? Anonymous

"Why Battersea?" Anonymous

"What media will you use?" Sharan Balai

"You could try doing something other than blowing up a building, such as beheading someone dressed as a hostage perhaps? Also, it would be difficult in London as people would see the images, turn around and realise that it actually is not under attack. However, if you hoax the demolition of the parliament in Scotland, where people are not able to hear about so readily it could cause more of a stir." Peter Dukes

Battersea Power Station:

We wanted to use a building which was recognisable but also not as high profile as certain landmarks in London such as the London eye. We felt that something too public would be harder to make people believe had been attacked/targeted. Also Battersea Powerstation is derelect meaning we would find it easier to work with for filming purposes i.e. having less people getting in the way of shots, but also, if the final product did come as a massive shock, people would know that it is derelect therefore no-one would be in the vicinity and under threat.

Locations:

The idea that we arrived at was rather ambitious, but following the encouragement to push ourselves in the first lecture we decided to go for it! The next step was to decide to look into what buildings would be the most effective. We needed to consider how easy the different locations were to photograph, as we would be using a model we would need to be able to film the entire building. There was obviously a lot of other things to consider when deciding which one to focus on, location, ease of purchasing models, ease of film i.e. lighting, ability to see entire building in camera shot etc. The list seemed endless, the first step was to go into london and look into each of the possible locations.

- Houses of parliament



The Houses of Parliament would be a good 'target' because obviously they are one of the best known, if not the best known landmark in London so would be well documented. However, this is also the weak point. Because it is so well known, it will be very difficult to make anybody believe it has been hit. Also, it is in close proximity with the London Eye and Big Ben, so anybody in that area would clearly see that nothing has happened.

- Canary Wharf



Canary Warf is not in the centre of london so in a way would be easier to pretend to attack, yet on the other hand, it is so big that it can be seen from a long way away, meaning people who see our project will more or less instantly know that it is in fact not on fire after a plane attack.

- MI-5 building



The MI5 building is theoretically a good idea to hit because it is the central communications for our secret service and the people who would be heavily involved in investigations to a crash would be hit themselves. However, there are other landmarks in London which would probably appeal more to a terrorist i.e. Buckingham Palace.

- Buckingham Palace



Palace would be a good location because it is very difficult to see from a distance as it is not that tall, and the Queen is the biggest tourist attraction in London so it would cause a big ruckus. However, again, because it is so well known and constantly populated, it would be difficult to document without someone knowing instantly it was a fake.

- The Gherkin



This would be a better target for us to hit than Canary warf because it is less well known as a landmark, but at the same time is still a large, recognized building in London.

- Battersea Powerstation



Battersea would be quite hard to do because it is now derelect and the point of blowing it up in an attack wouldn't be that great as the harm it would caus ein comparison to another building which is inhabited would be minimal.

- London Eye



this would most probably be the hardest landmark to fake as it is still a newish and major attraction, and is so big it can be seen from almost everywhere in London.

Each of the above our obvious landmarks, and would be extremely effective.

Panic in an illusion:

It was apparent that although this would be difficult to pull off effectively, that it was not enough to simply pretend to blow up a building! We had again just arrived at an idea that we were just doing it to look good. We decided to consequently add a spin to the project still hoaxing the destruction of an important landmark, but instead concentrating on the public's reaction to the footage. If we could make the footage appear that it was happening live somewhere and film the public's reaction. Obviously, this would be looking into the ever growing question, do people just believe what ever the see on the screen/in the media?

Initial Ideas:

Between us we had several initial ideas floating around:

- The interactive waiting room- the user would enter a room that would appear to be a waiting room, i.e. chairs along the walls, coffee table in the middle. However, instead of people waiting on the chairs, placed above are video screens, which will show people's faces. The user will be able to have a conversation with others around the room, influencing what happens through the volume of their voice.

Problems: There would be no real reason for the user to change the level of their voice, consequently not effecting the piece, would just be an automated conversation, no interaction!

- An interactive piece, where the user has an object that they can touch within the gallery space, which would effect what happens around them. e.g. a mannequin influencing pornography. Obviously, this was just an aesthetic with no real idea.

- Making something beauty out of something ugly. Do you have to be an artist to produce art? can every trade be beautiful? The idea behind this to make undesirable jobs into something that is actually beautiful. i.e. a dustbin man's morning is actually fun, animations placed on top of video to create a happier environment.

Problems: There was no real reasoning behind this, no context. It would be purely because it would look cool, and we kept arriving at rotoscoping, which was something that we wanted to avoid. A dustbin man's job is undesirable, so how could we make it look like its something beautiful. Animations of flowers and leaves etc may make the piece appear like its a recycling advert, which has be recreated time and time again.

- Nightmares, the modern fairy-tale

- Secret filming- hiding a camera in an object in a public space, e.g. a television showing a violent montage of photographs, the camera would be recording the audiences reactions.

- Projection onto buildings, again would just look cool. No real idea.

- Comic Books- Instead of seeing images in each frame of the comic, there would be a video. This would be similiar to something that may be seen in a music video, which we wanted to avoid.

- Terrorism- demolishing a building, or making it appear so! this would obviously be something on a ridiculously large scale, similar to something in a hollywood blockbuster. This would obviously be greatly expensive, but we liked the idea a lot. We decided that through the use of models of buildings and through the use of video and flash (new media) we would be able to make this appear to be realistic. This was our favourite out of all of the ideas so far. We decided to pursue this further and see what we arrived at.

Gallery Visits: A search for inspiration

Having drawn a blank on our original ideas we decided to visit some of the galleries around London to see if they could trigger some inspiration.

Poster Presentation

In the opening lecture we were set the following task to kick start us into the project:

On Monday 21st January you must present a Poster pitching your idea for your Convergent Media Project. The presentation will be in A4.10 from 2.00pm – be on time!

You are expected to be working in groups of up to 4 people, not as a single individual. One joint Poster is required per project.

This must be one side of one sheet of A2 card, and must include both text and image (to provide some visualisation of your proposed project).

The poster will be displayed on the wall for comment so should be designed and finished appropriately. It will form part of the documentation for your project (which you will be assessed on)
The requirements for the poster are:

1. Your name and the names of the people you are working with
2. Initial working title
3. Summary of the proposed project in 25-50 words
4. Visualisation (what this might be is up to you - it could be your own work, or an appropriate image from your research)
5. Key references – conceptual / technical / practice

What is Convergent Media?

Although the lecture gave us a general idea of what convergent media is, we decided that in order to be successful throughout this module that we needed to agree on what we all thought convergent media meant. We decided that the term covers media that use several different mediums within the final product. Two or more mediums have to be used in the production process or in the display of the work in order to be considered convergent media.

Welcome to our Convergent Media Blog!

We have just had the first meeting of the convergent media module, which outlined what was expected of us within this module. We have created this blog to document and analyze our progress through the module.