Digital Media and the Student's Union
The Project
For the past 10 weeks I have been working in partnership with Brighton Student's Union, researching how the use of digital media can improve content that they are currently producing. Focusing in particular on creating content for YouTube.
The Aim
So, the aim of this project is to identify ways of communicating with University of Brighton students through the use of digital media.
I've always been interested in the ever changing field of digital media. Content production takes a large part of my interest- whether that be for social media, blogs, and also video production. That is where my passion lies.
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With that being said, I'm also a student first and foremost- so I thought, if anyone has expertise on what students are interested in, it's me! I'm not saying my knowledge is exhaustive, but I'm certainly saying that I am able to provide the Student's Union with insight that they don't necessarily have. By creating my own blog series for them, I am also providing them with a product that they otherwise may not take the time or money in investing in.
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Over the course of the 10 weeks, the project has evolved quite a bit. In the beginning I was unsure what routes I wanted to take when it came to creating my own content for the SU. However, after spending countless hours on YouTube, and seeing the results of my survey I decided YouTube was way forward. YouTube is one of the most lucrative social channels today, so taking that popularity and using it to the advantage of the SU seemed the best route for my project.
The Process
Before creating my own series, I presented my ideas of video style to the SU and they were happy for me to take the lead and go ahead to create vlog style content for them. They told me how the video content they were currently producing was a bit formal and they wanted to move away from that.
So I spent a good few days just watching videos on YouTube, making notes on styles that I liked, things that I thought worked really well and things to avoid.
When it came to filming, initially I had a dilemma when it came to deciding what to record on. I had a few options including steadicams, DSLRs etc. But I found that either the battery wouldn't last, or the sound wasn't that good, or the picture quality was compromised.
But then I remembered my iPhone. It was perfect. Small and easy to take to location, with both great picture and sound quality. Plus for the handheld work I think it gives more of an authentic vlog or Instagram story vibe when shooting, which is something I was determined to keep within my work.
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Here's a little snap from my editing process, this particular video was the first one I shot, so it really was a case of trial and error, seeing what worked and what didn't. For example, the shot you can see was my phone balanced on a storage box- I'd taken a mini tripod but we couldn't set it up by the window where the lighting was best, so adapting to the location was something I often found myself doing.
I'm joined by my lovely friend Connie, for the episode on Tips for becoming Vegan and How to be more Mindful. Connie is part of a health and wellness emporium where she is a self help coach. She is also training to be a nutritional therapist. Although Connie is not a student, she is of student age so I thought she would be perfect for sharing tips, tricks and expertise. The rest of my videos all include current University of Brighton students. I thought that this was important to show real students, and real experiences.
The Outcome
After working for 10 weeks on this project, I have created, filmed, directed and edited a 4 part series for the Brighton Student's Union. To see the full series click