Formula 1 – The Story So Far (Portfolio Article)

So let’s set the scene: it’s 2014 and a new Formula 1 season was ahead of us. Infiniti Red Bull Racing was returning after a glorious run of constructors’ victories in 2010, 11, 12 and 13. The man everyone wanted to beat was Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing’s number 1 driver and 4 time world champion (consecutively). The Season promised new regulation changes with: insanely complicated V6 engines, turbos, new energy recovery systems and new body; bringing with them an age of uncertainty with terrible engine noise which grew on us surprisingly quickly.

Pre-season winter testing usually gives no clear indication of how a given season will pan out, but this year was different, with Mercedes dominating as both a team and engine supplier across all test sessions. With Ferrari’s engines setting the benchmark and Renault’s clear poor form (with one of their main teams, Lotus Renault, failing to show), the season seemed decided.

The first race in Melbourne showed us all the new face of F1; highly complicated and very temperamental, but the racing has become paramount with places being traded throughout the race. Excitement hit early, when Kamui Kobayashi collided with Felipe Massa going into turn 1; this was deemed to be a mechanical failure and no further action was taken. Sadly for Caterham, Marcus Ericsson didn’t finish, handing their back-marker battle to Marussia from the start. Early retirements from Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel came as a shock to most, but these were due to engine failures and written off as a learning experience; giving a very nice win to Nico Rosberg by 26 seconds, with Daniel Ricciardo coming second. But Red Bull, being no stranger to controversy, were disqualified due to a breach of fuel flow regulations; meaning a McLaren second and third.

Malaysia – and as if to make up for a lost race Vettel and Hamilton came back with a vengeance, Sebastian taking second in qualifying and Lewis grabbing pole. Though the race didn’t go so well for everyone (Ricciardo suffered from a spat of tire and wing issues largely reminiscent of his Aussie predecessor), both Saubers failed to finish and Jules Bianchi’s Marussia suffered a similar fate. With Max Chilton being the last driver to finish, pushing Caterham back into contention… to not finish last. Mercedes took a 1-2 finish with Hamilton and Rosberg; Vettel finished third to top off the Podium.

Bahrain is a place for teammate battles that are to die for; last year we had Sergio Perez and Jenson Button. This year it was Hamilton and Rosberg, both receiving messages that bringing the cars home was the priority, but they were still allowed to battle. This brought Mercedes yet another 1-2 finish with both cars finishing within a second of each other, however, Perez in third was a full 24 seconds behind. McLaren had a double retirement due to clutch issues; and Esteban Gutiérrez retired due to an impact that turned his car into a plane. Honourable mentions in this race go to Vettel, who started 11th and worked up to 6th, and the Force India boys Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, starting in 12th and finishing 5th, creating a RedBull sandwich with Force India bread. DELICIOUS!!

The Chinese, Spanish and Monaco GPs largely went the same way with Mercedes grabbing 1-2 finishes, whilst fighting all the way through the races and pulling away from their competition. Hamilton took China and Spain, while Rosberg had a massively impressive race in China, he could only grab the second podium step after a very rocky start, then showing a return to form by winning the Monaco GP for the second year running. Notable drivers through the races were Fernando Alonso, grabbing his first podium of the season in China; and Bianchi in Monaco who, in finishing 9th after receiving a 5 seconds penalty, secured 2 points for Marussia – a first for that team which practically wins them the back-marker battle with Caterham, AND puts them ahead of Sauber as well!

“O Canada! – Our home and native land!” This place spelled doom for Marussia in lap one when both cars were taken out due to Chilton ending up sideways and hitting Bianchi. The race looked like it was going for another 1-2 for Mercedes, but an energy recovery problem prompted excessive rear brake fading causing the rear biased Hamilton to retire. Rosberg, who was forward biased however, had to make-do and his race performance declined, being overtaken by Ricciardo in the closing stages. Perez and Massa had a huge impact, taking out both cars and nearly crashing into Vettel; he went onto finish third, finally putting both Red Bulls on the Podium for the first time since Brazil last year!

Austria returned to the F1 calendar in style, with a battle of the Mercedes engines. Unfortunately for Red Bull, on home turf on their own circuit, they didn’t do too well. Rosberg, Hamilton, Massa and Valtteri Bottas were all battling till the end with Mercedes getting another 1-2 headed by Rosberg, and Bottas finishing third to achieve his first F1 Podium.

Great Britain, a home GP for our winner Hamilton; an unbeatable feeling made sweeter by the retirement of Rosberg, his main competitor and teammate – those gearboxes can be funny things. Ignore this though, the main headline should have been the performance of Bottas qualifying 17th but starting in 14th, he managed to push himself all the way up into second place, recording his best career finish not long after achieving his previous best. With any luck he will be a winner in Germany.

We’re almost halfway through the season, but to make this a proper summary of the first half of the season, it would have been made on lap 34 of the German Grand Prix. Teams are improving leaps and bounds since the pre-season however; they are all doing this at the same rate, maintaining Mercedes dominance. At this rate Mercedes are looking untouchable!

The Fault in Our Stars The Snot Criers are Everywhere (Portfolio article/review)

*Infographic *

Director: Josh Boone

Writers: Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber

Original story: The Fault in our Stars by John Green

Stars: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort and Willem Dafoe

Certificate: 12A

Plot: Teen cancer sufferer meets dreamy boy in support group and they embark upon a not so magical adventure to meet the very alcoholic author of their favourite book.

*Infographic ends*

 

Now, this is a tricky one to review, as when I read the book I never realised how romantic the story was. BUT I AM A REVIEWER OF FILMS and so, must cast aside the book as if it never existed and review this rom-com depress-fest as its own property, divulging all emotions at the risk of losing my manliness (I didn’t know it was possible to sweat from your eyes).

 

To be honest, it has everything a good teen film needs; likeable teenage characters, romance, a trip to Amsterdam (for a teen film other European countries are available) car egging, video games and kids with cancer….oh no, wait, something’s not right here

 

Hazel Grace-Lancaster (Woodley) is a 16 year old cancer sufferer, who is forced by her tyrannical mother (she is actually really nice), to go to a support group led by a man who has no testes, in the literal and metaphorical heart of Jesus. In this group she meets our one legged romantic lead of the hour, Augustus ‘Gus’ Waters (Elgort), whose confident and charming way wins the heart of every woman watching the film. Hazel introduces Gus to her favourite book: Imperial Affliction.

 

Gus, unsatisfied with the ending the book (we have all been there brother), decides to contact the author, Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe), and arranges for him and Hazel to meet the author in Amsterdam. However, the world is a very unforgiving place… yes even for teen cancer sufferers.

 

Gus and Hazel’s relationship is portrayed really well on screen, with Ansel and Shailene giving their characters life. I do have to wonder though, if they felt a little awkward, given that their previous film outing depicted them as siblings? Gus’ love of metaphor though, doesn’t come off that well and it makes him seem arrogant and cocky; if it wasn’t for his likeability this trait would start to become rather annoying. For me however, my favourite performance was Willem Dafoe’s; he gives his character (Peter van Houten) the self-destructive quality of a man who has lost something dear to him. This turns him bitter and cynical and, at one point, he goes as far as to berate our protagonists for being spoiled due to their illnesses; which makes him unlikeable, even when the audience finds out why he is like this. Really, it’s a good thing!

 

It needs to be said to the unprepared (basically those who have not read the book), that the film is a tear jerker;  and even to those that are prepared. It’s unavoidable that a story like this only had a handful of clear cut endings that even hint at realism. The film’s realistic credibility (or what there is of it) is stretched in places; characters pop in and out of A&E/ICU faster than most people went through a box of tissues during viewing (if in need of reference points, please refer to the demise of the Laserdisc or my social life). This is probably to maintain a sense of flow within the narrative as well as keep the film to a decent length.

 

I am a huge fan of the way text conversations are shown throughout the film. Instead of  a voice-over, the text is shown in an over the shoulder or POV shot of the phone and little speech bubbles appear behind the characters, which gives us immediate responses to the texts and make it feel more genuine 

 

It is extremely faithful to the source material (some scenes are dropped and a few are added), but it’s nothing to make most fans of the book sad and, honestly, as far as adaptations go it couldn’t have been done better. They have even substituted the awfully cheesy final 5 words of the book for a more believable final few words.

 

I really enjoyed the film, which seems like an odd thing to say given the subject matter and, unlike the many behind me and my girlfriend in the cinema who were blubbing, and snot crying in a literal sea of tears and other bodily by-products, we didn’t cry, I’M NOT HEARTLESS…. I’m just different… OR at least that’s what my therapist tells me about something completely unrelated to my emotional state. 

 

How To Train Your Dragon 2 Went to the Empire Strikes Back School for Sequels (Portfolio article/review)

*Info graphic*

Director: Dean DeBlois

Stars: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler

Certificate: PG

Plot: Set 5 years after their first outing, Hiccup and his dragon Toothless have helped the village Burk to live in coexistence with dragons, but a slightly deranged man with an army of dragons threatens to undo all their hard work.

*Info Graphic ends*

 

 

BY ODIN!? –  a director taking inspiration from one of the greatest sequels of all time to produce his own. Not just that, it’s a sequel to How To Train Your Dragon, probably one of the best legitimate family films of that year, standing hand in hand with Toy Story 3 in a meadow of 3D glasses and popcorn. Is this man insane!? Yes….but he delivers.

 

Let’s say one thing first, in terms of a trilogies’ narrative 5 years seems like a long time between instalments, but realistically speaking, how long do you think it would have taken to fully integrate dragons into a society that previously killed them for ‘protection’ and sport? At least one person would probably have suffered PTSD flashbacks and gone on a dragon murdering rampage; maybe there would have been riots, rebellions or a really aggressive knitting circle to contend with; a VSPCD (Viking Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Dragons)? Really, when you think about it, 5 years might be a little short; but I digress.

 

Our Teen Heroes are now 20 year old Dragon Riders; Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his dragon Toothless shirk their responsibilities to dragon race, and cater to the needs of this new way of life; to discover new unfound lands and map them whilst performing amazing aerial displays, in a bid to discover who he is (ah to be young….).

 

Our story really kicks off when our Hero sets out, against the wishes of his father Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), to try and convince a madman that dragons are lovely creatures and that the VSPCD will come knocking on his door if he doesn’t free his dragon army. On Hiccup’s way he discovers his long lost mother ‘Valka’ (Cate Blanchett) that we have heard about, but have yet to be introduced to. Valka is the Yoda of dragon knowledge; Cate Blanchett owns this role, it’s almost like it was written for her….. AND that would be because it was; DeBlois wrote this specifically with Blanchett in mind and it comes across very well. If there is any criticism of this character it’s everyone’s willingness to just accept her when she magically re-appears after 20 years. Later she is side-lined in the closing stages of the film, and we don’t really get much development of the character; though I guess we need some ideas to encourage interest in the sequel.

 

In quite an odd twist for a family film it is abnormally heavy and fully deserves its PG rating, especially the scenes featuring our favourite madman of the hour Drago Bludvist, where we are taught that just because the hero’s intentions are good there are some who words and reasoning alone won’t change. For the idealistic Hiccup (and maybe some members of the audience) this is ground shattering and turns it into a rather mature film, which kicks you in the teeth if you were expecting just fun and laughs….kinda like a Glasgow pub quiz.

 

The continuation of Hiccup’s character from the first film is a God-send; he could have easily been the nerdy smart mouth we have seen a million times over (see Jesse Eisenberg’s performances), basking in the glory of becoming the village hero. Instead, the writers went for a character who, while witty and confident, has an inner struggle to find who he is and what he wants to be in the aftermath of becoming famous, all this at a time where his generation is being forced to take the helm. Jay Baruchel’s voice is a perfect choice for this character. Hiccup’s bond with Toothless has also grown hugely and even through the toughest of moments they still manage to stick together and fight the great evil, but not in the cheesy or clichéd way we would expect.

 

Relationships between characters have also changed; Stoick is proud of what his son has become, but wishes he would be more responsible; the village now loves Hiccup as opposed to berating him; and love is in the air but it’s not in your face about it. Hiccup and Astrid (America Ferrera) share a moment very early on that perfectly conveys their relationship without so much as a flirty conversation or big sloppy kiss; and the other Male Dragon Riders are after possibly the only available chick left in Burk, however this is used more for comedy than actual substance

 

All in all it’s a really enjoyable film and is well deserving of its acclaim as an Empire Strikes Back of animated film, it being both a great continuation of the franchise as well as an amazing stand-alone film. And knowing that it is a trilogy is already getting me fired up for a How To Train Your Dragon 3….in 2-3 years.

 

Article Youtube Partnership

Created by 3 former Pay-Pal employees, YouTube has become universally accepted by most as a great source for online content, with 100 hours of new video being uploaded every minute and 800 million unique users accessing the site every month. It’s not surprising that various people have risen to YouTube stardom and many now make a living posting their videos.

By mid-2006 YouTube had announced that more than 65,000 new videos were being uploaded every day, and that the site was receiving 100 million video views, leading to Google purchasing it in October 2006 for $1.65 billion which, at the time, was considered abnormally high and very risky; but Google clearly knew better.

In May 2007 Google released the YouTube partnership program; it works by users allowing Google to show ads relevant to the video (relevance is decided by an automated system which looks at video tags and finds matches with ad content if possible), in-front of or after the partner’s content. Interested parties pay Google for advertising space, and, in turn, Google gives the partner 55% of the revenue. So, how much is that exactly? Well, 1000 views is estimated to be worth around $7.60. Only half of all videos watched by a user are eligible for pre-roll advertisements however, so per 1000 views, the average amount of money a YouTube partner can make is $2.09.

All you need is 50,000 subscribers and a decent upload schedule, to earn just enough to make a living, which has led to some starting YouTube for the ‘wrong reasons’. Couple this with the fact that many are starting to generate small fortunes by uploading live commentated ‘let’s plays’ (basically when you record and upload you playing a video game), which has resulted in waves upon waves of video game related content being uploaded every single day. Creators are jumping at the chance to upload on YouTube just to make money, which removes a certain purity from the videos and, generally, generates lacklustre content.

Although it sounds like I am not a big fan of partnership, given the cold and robotic way in which the numbers and statistics are handled, but, in general, I support it hugely. The people that get into YouTube with the intent to create content they love and don’t care about the view counts, tend to be the ones that make it big, producing amazing videos across all genres (yes, that even includes ‘let’s plays’). Some are even crossing over into the mainstream, while others (including myself) don’t believe they should really be a staple of our little community. In the land of television they are; and that is remarkable in and of itself.

All of this has led to the creation of multi-channel networks that are often affiliated with multiple channels. They offer advice, help with promotion and sometimes funding; however, it’s a 2 way street and someone’s got to get paid, so they take some of your ad revenue. It is important to note that Youtube does not endorse or recommend any MCN, they do however have an advice page on their creator space on how to choose the right one for you. The most notable MCN is probably Maker Studios (which also has sub-networks: Maker Music, Polaris and RPM Network). Disney acquired Maker in early 2014 for over $500million.

How I feel about MCNs changes from network to network. Something that supports its partners and helps them produce great content and help advertise their content is great, but some of the networks tend to focus on their higher earning partners not giving help to those that need it as promised. Let’s also not forget the contracts that lock you into working for the MCN exclusively and completely removes your ownership of content (though YouTube discourages networks from doing this).

It can’t be denied that many YouTubers (yes, even me) would jump at the opportunity to start making money from their hobby. MCNs are giving creators spaces to work and equipment to work with (though this only pertains to some cases) and YouTube, with its creator spaces in LA, New York, London and Tokyo, provide very similar services for anyone with over 5000 subscribers. I guess instead of making an opinion piece on YouTube partnership, the article I SHOULD be writing is who wouldn’t become a YouTube partner if given the opportunity!?

 

 

 

***through the article little info graphics will show:***

Top 10 earnings of youtubers

(estimated annual earnings)

#1: Pewdiepie – $7 million (3.7b views)

#2: BlueXephos – $6.7 million (2.4b views)

#3: Smosh – $5.7 million (3.1b views)

#4: DisneyCollectorBR – $5 million (1.6b views)

#5: BluCollection – $4.8 million (1.4b views)

#6: JennaMarbles – $4.3 million (1.4b views)

#7: TobyGames – $4.2 million (1.6b views)

#8: RayWilliamJohnson – $4 million (2.6b views)

#9: UberHaxorNova – $3.5 million (1.1b views)

#10: RealAnnoyingOrange – $3.4 million (1.9b views)

 

 

Where you would be in the top 2000 most subscribed if you had 1,000,000?

756^th with 1,000,837

MaybeMagazine Ecar Article

The electric car has had a somewhat troubled upbringing, with allegations of low range and pitiful speed combined with an unwillingness to adopt this fledgling form of travel; but is it justified? Are electric cars suitable in their current form? Do they have a future?

I guess we’ll start with the hot topic of range. Previously, most electric cars were only really suited for inner city travel with ranges of 50 miles being common; now however, with the likes of Renault’s Twizy and BMW’s i3, manufactures are coming up with ingenious ways of extending this distance. The Twizy is a small 2 seated contraption that has a seat configuration where the passenger sits behind the driver (so I guess calling shotgun is irrelevant). The car features a system similar to Formula 1’s KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) where energy is gathered through stopping and slowing. The i3 can be purchased with the addition of a range extender, a small 2 cylinder petrol engine with 9L of fuel behind it; acting effectively as an on-board generator for the battery. In house tests show that, with range extender, the i3 can reach 186miles without recharging. Industry leader Tesla Motors creates very efficient batteries giving the 85KWh Model S 312miles of range.

Ignoring the Twizy, which is primarily made for travel, due to the way electric cars work there is no lack of storage space. The Model S boasts 26.3 cubic feet of space over the front and rear boot, not including spaces for cables. More recent versions of the Nissan Leaf have 13 cubic feet of storage so the electric car, in most cases, has a lot more room than its conventional petrol powered brethren.

Speed is something people tend to scoff at when thinking of electric cars, but most can now easily achieve 0-60 in about 9 seconds and, in some cases, go on and up into the hundreds. The Model S (which, at this point, seems like a car after my heart) has a performance model which reaches 0-60 in 4.2 seconds and goes on and up to 130MPH; but even at the slower end of the spectrum these cars can hold their own speed wise on the motorway …Just don’t expect to go challenging high performance sports-cars …unless you happen to be driving the Mercedes SLS AMG Electric Drive, with a 0-60 of 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 150MPH.

A few interesting things are also starting to happen with electric cars in the world of motor sport. Nissan got their Zeod RC to do the first electric lap of Le Man’s Circuit de la Sarthe, clocking in at 300KM/h (186MPH); this however is a plug-in hybrid, but its electric lap should not be discounted. Drayson Racing Technologies has a more impressive entry, with its B12 69/EV setting an electric land speed record at 204.185MPH. With this and the new Formula-e electric race series starting its inaugural season in September, ‘green’ racing is about to become much more prominent.

So, electric cars can be suitable, fast and even practical and, with electric racing cars starting to pop up and a series coming along to facilitate them, the production of rechargeable racing cars, will do for electric cars what Formula 1 and World Endurance Racing did for the modern petrol car. The future is looking …bright …er.

Run Shalk! RUN!

Sometimes to grow as a person you must do new things, in this case that comprises of me narrating creepypasta, which didn’t sound like a challenge when I started the project but this has turned into a hugely interesting and unique challenge of editing audio to be clear and well timed

so without further ado my new project RunShalkRun

 

Somehow More Broken

Somehow More Broken was my final project for A2-Film Studies I was tasked with creating a 3-5 minute short film. This is the final product

There are some minor issues with direct sunlight black spotting my camera but I’ll let this one speak for itself, I’m proud of it anyway

 

Me, My Condition and Surgery

This is a vlog series documenting my life pre/post op, and while not entirely interesting is something for myself to look back on and hopefully help others in making the decision to become part metal

 

The Proxy Teaser

A2 media final project was to produce a 1 minute teaser trailer so this is “The Proxy”,  this was a fairly mixed experience for myself, I DO NOT LIKE MY FINAL PROJECT

I do however like the editing techniques used within the product.

 

Fool’s Heist

Fool’s Heist was my AS-Film studies final project, i was tasked with producing a 2 minute short film

This version was not the final version as the final version had copyrighted music, this is my youtube friendly version with short explanation vlog about the project.