During lock down DMU have transitioned to giving advice to potential students and hosting events online via live streams. As my role as a student ambassador I signed up to help present on some of these about topics from advice for clearing to what the student experience at University is like. This has meant I’ve been able to continue to help the university and advice students about what DMU is like.
Presenting a live stream is different to other kinds of presenting that I’ve done as it’s more casual since we were responding to live comments. I think this has helped me improve my confidence and helped me adjust to new environments and ways of working which will definitely help me in the future.
Not only have I participated in live streams but I have also been able to host some about specific subject areas. This involved me introducing the academics and students, explaining what the following stream would be about and making sure the different segments linked well. I would keep an eye on the questions we had coming in so I could ask the appropriate questions to the right guests. When we got questions that the guests couldn’t answer I would direct the audience to somewhere they could find the information required or suggest they used our UniBuddy system to ask current students opinions on the matter.
Although it isn’t how I expected to end my role as a student ambassador I was able to transition quickly and have loved the experience.
While in lock down I have been asked to film an advert for DMU to help potential students get the information they need about UCAS Extra and Clearing. Having my housemate assist with filming parts I couldn’t he would ask me the questions and I answered them while baking a cake. This element is something that seems to have brought a lot of questions in, I believe it was to reflect giving students the recipe/simple steps for UCAS Extra.
I enjoyed presenting this video as it was something a little different to what I had been doing during lock down. The style of video was also different to others I’d filmed before as I was answering the questions casually in quick succession while baking and I had to remember all of the details accurately.
Although we encountered a few issues along the way, such as burning the cake so turning it upside down I loved the challenge. I did sometimes find it difficult to remember the different information for UCAS Extra and Clearing as I was required to film two separate versions but I made sure I had ran through it enough times before we begun filming in order to save time.
I have been working with PeppermintHB to create a logo for their Home Improvement and Building Maintenance business. They wanted to use a fresh peppermint theme including images of real peppermint, rather than the colour peppermint.
From their designs I was able to find an appropriate font and make a cut out look so it appeared that the letters were cut out peering through to the peppermint leaves. A peppermint leaf shape was added above the P as requested to add visual difference. To make the H & B stand out from Home Improvements and Building Maintenance the font size was increased and the colour altered from the grey that the rest of the words had. The grey matches the thin grey outline on Peppermint creating a cohesive slick logo.
The words Home Improvement and Building Maintenance are aligned equally from Peppermint. They were slotted in between the letters and leaves so it would all be contained.
A drop shadow was added to make the logo stand out from the background it would be placed on. The logo was exported without a background so it could be used in a variety of places. The P was also exported on it’s own so it could be used as a letter heading and on some social media posts.
When I joined DMU in 2017 I was on the look out for a creative outlet and Demon Media seemed like the perfect opportunity.
Having never worked with audio I thought having a role in DemonFM would help be get to grips with things in a fun environment before having to tackle the creation of audio projects for coursework. This was definitely a good approach to have. I started by having a late night show every Tuesday evening from 12-2AM. I presented this with my good friends, Alice, Tom and Rob. We had a lot of fun talking about where we’d all come from, Alices love for Dinosaurs and learning about all of the wonderful topics Tom would bring. We would also play games live on air such as Netflix knowledge where Rob would read the description of a Netflix series or film and we had to guess the title. We all loved having a chance to get used to using the control desk and finding our way around Zetta. As the year went on we developed so much, increasing our knowledge of the good format of a radio show and the best ways to share our stories through the magic of audio production. I even managed to become the afternoons producer with Tom having only been in Demon for a few weeks. This was the opportunity of a lifetime, when producing show teams I would offer them my advice and even learn a thing or two from them. Tom and I even went on to produce an outside broadcast for the Leicester comedy festival. This was held over the span of two weeks from the LCB Depot, in the cultural heart of the City. I loved learning how to set up the equipment and experiencing a new element of radio.
Although these experiences were a lot of fun I was also learning so rapidly and the coursework I was producing was enhanced from the skills I had been able to gain from my involvement with DemonFM. In my second year I got the chance to co-host a drive time show with Alice. Thursday Home Run with Alice and Léonie was a great creative outlet for the two of us. It was a chance for us to escape the stresses of uni and life in general, have a chat and listen to some great music. Although the show was relaxed we made sure it was produced to the highest quality possible. We had a loose format that we would follow each week, including ‘Léonie Learns’ and ‘Raptor Round-up’. Léonie Learns was my segment in which I would share something I had learnt each week. Whether that was something about the solar system or the odd ways that cookies can be baked, I brought it all! While Raptor Round-up was the part of the show that Alice could share her love for dinosaurs. She would find a new story each week and impart her wisdom on us all. I really didn’t think dinosaurs would be that popular in the news but they still are!
Unfortunately as I entered my final year at University I was too busy to apply for a show on DemonFM but I didn’t let that stop me. I still managed to get involved by taking part in a few of the podcasts including DMRu and the special podcasts for Christmas and Children in Need. Although audio and I aren’t always the best of friends I haven’t let it get to me. I’ve always been determined to keep going and I will always treasure my times with DemonFM.
The Demon Magazine is another strand I have had a fair bit of involvement in since joining Demon Media. Although I wasn’t always involved I have written the odd article over the years. It was in my final year that I found my true passion for designing for the magazine. I had always admired the colourful illustrations they included and when I had been briefly shown my way around InDesign I couldn’t stop. From articles about the latest fashion trend to global warming I loved being able to be a little more experimental with Illustrator and InDesign each month. I’m so pleased that I got more involved as I never thought I could do something with a magazine, as I’m not a massive writer, but I have really taken to designing and still find myself creating small illustrations for fun.
Finally I have also been involved in Demon TV. I would have to say that although I have been heavily involved in Demon Media for the past three years Demon TV has been my home. From first introducing me to the wonders of hiding your audio equipment and messy location from the camera to experimenting with aperture and producing live streams I have learnt so much. I’ve always been a visual person and Demon TV has given the the confidence boost to step out of my comfort zone more when it comes to video production. One of my favourite memories from my first year was when I was given the role of being the roaming camera for the DSU event the Faculty Championships. My adrenaline was high and I was so pleased that I had been able to capture some great shots of the event. Following this I through myself in and got involved in any project possible.
During my second year I was the New Producer where I developed a bi-weekly news show that discussed local stories from Leicester a well as news from around the world to keep the students of DMU informed. I also worked on ensuring any breaking news stories were covered. A key one that we covered was the Helicopter crash with Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha at the Leicester football stadium. I got a crew to the event as soon as possible and captured what we could alongside the BBC and other local News stations. Working closely with the DemonFM News Producer I created a voice over for our footage due to not being able to get a reporter to the scene.
We later filmed an update from the location showing the memorial that had grown and informing people of what the University had been doing to show their respects.
Another story that we released a breaking news video for was with the issues surrounding the late Vice Chancellor of De Montfort University, Dominic Shellard. This was a very big issue which had a lot of speculation from students due to him suddenly stepping down. However, it appeared that a lot of students weren’t aware of the issues that had occurred so we worked to try and make sure transparency was present.
I enjoyed the variety of environments that I was able to work in and was eager to develop my skills further. In our student group elections nominated myself for the Station Manager of Demon TV and was over the moon when I was selected for the role. In my time of being Station Manager I have been able to form close relationships with the rest of the management team which meant we were able to work together on a lot of projects. This meant the content we produced was enhanced by the inclusion of motion graphics, high quality presenting and of course cinematography skills.
I have tried to introduce a shadowing scheme for some of our large live events in order to make different roles accessible to all members. This proved helpful and is something the incoming Station Manager would like to continue. There have been a lot of challenges over the year including differences in opinions with friends in management however we were able to compromise to come to decisions that would be best for the content we were creating. Another was when our capture card went missing on the day of our Students’ Union elections. This was an issue as we were due to be streaming it for students that couldn’t attend the event. When we realised it went missing I tried to ensure people wouldn’t be stressed but setting up early meant we were still in a fairly comfortable position. I allocated members that knew the cameras to show others around the equipment if they weren’t sure what they were going to be doing during the event. I then set to work with the Deputy Station Manager to try and find an alternative, we contacted the individuals that had last used it for an Open Day however it wasn’t where they thought they had left it. We contacted all of our members and other student TV stations around the area to see if we could borrow a capture card from someone else should we not be able to find ours. This proved helpful and we were able to borrow a gaming capture card however had a few issues with connecting it so I tried to remain calm so I could focus on getting things working and wouldn’t stress anyone else in the team out. Despite having a fair few issues the final stream was able to go ahead with minimal issues and all of our crew learnt a lot from the event.
A final time that was a challenge was when we transitioned into taking social distancing measures. Before the UK went into lockdown we made sure we all memebers were keeping clean and were taking extra cleaning measures with any equipment they were using. I got members involved by creating a lockdown vlogs series giving our members a creative outlet and to show others tips when working from home. We were also due to hold a charity live event and made changes to content we had planned to ensure we could still raise money. We changed our charity to NHS charities together so we could do our part to help with the current situation. I made sure everyone that wanted to be involved could still do so, whether that was by producing a video, being involved in one of our challenges or being in our live show. I then found my way around stream yard and created a schedule for the shows planned. I streamed the event from my living room, having pre-recorded videos lined up to play between our live segments. Alice and I hosted the stream before handing over to Rhys for a live show he had planned. For this show I was able to bring in individuals to take part in the quiz. It was a lot of fun and I was glad members had been able to get so creative while being at home. Although it was stressful at times making sure the correct people were in the stream at the right time and that the extra assets we had were on screen when we needed I was able to adapt quickly. The event was a success and we even raised more money than initially intended which was great.
I will miss Demon Media dearly and will always treasure the skills I have been able to learn and develop over my time at Uni.
For my dissertation I wanted to look into the links that mental health has with the media. I focused on the negative stigma that has been created within society. Putting specific focus on the impact that Cinematography and editing techniques could have.
Extensive research was done into these areas and I created two products using varying techniques. The scripting and acting was the same across the products in order to eliminate extraneous variables having an impact. The main difference was the techniques in the first were a lot more standard. The camera was often level with the characters and the shots transitioned between characters equally.
Whereas the other video utilised more experimental techniques, using low hand held camera angles to show the characters anger at the situation she had been put in.
These products were used in testing and results were compared against one another, using the first version as a control. The conclusions drawn from this have shown that cinematography doesn’t have as much of an impact as initially expected. It appears that scripting and characterisation have a much larger impact on peoples views of mental health. Therefore, if we would like to reduce the stigma consideration should be put on the scripting of a product rather than the visual mediums it contains.
Léonie Mayer 