James' Blog

Yes, you read the blog title correctly - I have acquired another laptop. It's a rarity for me too - it's a HP and not a Dell. I would've bought myself a Dell of the same spec but they were actually way out of my budget in comparison to this - even though I was looking at laptops from 2015. Anyway, I am now the owner of a HP EliteBook 840 G2. It's a nice laptop given its age, and the keyboard is surprisingly good given that it's a HP, as I am not normally a fan of HP keyboards. Although, I will say, the home, page up, page down and end keys are in a layout that I am not a fan of really. Anyway, a full review will be coming soon - right here on my blog. So keep your eyes peeled!

Hello all You may remember that a few weeks ago I was talking about DHL and them delivering my phone. Well, I got my phone last Friday and honestly I am so happy with it. It is the best phone that I have ver owned in my life. It is fast, it looks great, the camera is amazing quality and it's a really enjoyable experience. I had known for over a year that when I had the money I was going to buy a OnePlus. Once I got my job, I knew it would be one of the first htings I bought, especially considering the fact that I was having issues with my old Samsung and its charging connector. As it was my first payslip, I hadn't worked for a full month and therefore didn't get a full month's pay. As a result, I was unable to buy the top of the line model with more RAM and storage space, but for me I am very, very pleased with what I purchased. The phone came almost a month after I ordered it, due to delivery issues, and when I new that it had arrived, I was extremly happy becaus...

Hi all Just thought i'd post a little article about eaving school and the world of work, and how it has gone for me so far. I left school officially in May and had my last exam in June. I started work in August, when I got myself an apprenticeship. So, what's it like? I found it quite easy actually. Maybe that's because the apprenticeship does have a classroom part where we are at the training academy/college once a week for training. We also have exams there and my first one is just over a week. So I am going to be doing some revision over the next week. When you first start, you may find it to be a little bit daunting, however after a week or two it's fine, especially once you have settled in with your working enviroment and your colleagues. You'll feel at home very quickly, and feel as though you can easily ask your colleagues for help - especially considering that fact that you are a new employee but also because you are new to the world of work. I do ha...

Hi all. If you've bee on my YouTube channel over the last few months, you may remember that I said I was hoping to start it back up again at some point. Well, I still am, but I need your help and advice. For me to start it up again, I need ideas fo videos to actually create. I work on a budget, so anything that is going to cost me a lot of money isn't possible - but I really need your ideas. I could continue with the Windows History series, however I am having issues with finding a microphone that is decent enough for screen recordings - so, that's something else I could do with some recommendations for. If you can suggest one - please do. So, please let me know what you want. Your suggestions are valued, and if they are for things I can physically do, I will do my best to actually try to create the content that you want me to create. Thanks, James

Hey all! As most of you know, I did A Level Media Studies at school. The media blog is available online, and all of the posts are also available on this blog. Anyway, my sister was looking for my trailer on Youtube, when she came across a video that effectively turns it into a Plantsbrook meme. Below, I will embed the original video and the 'meme' version. The meme version is based on one of my characters, that is also a deputy head and was my media teacher - Mr Farr. Original Meme

This post is largely related to the previous post on this blog. Anyway, DHL Express has a complaints page when you can contact the main customer services manager at DHL online. We did this last night, and she responded very quickly. The next day we had a call from DHL saying that the parcel had been marked as unretrievable and that hopefuly we will be able to get a new one shipped. On top of this, they have offered to refund all of the charges incurred whilst calling them. Anyway, it's really easy to contact DHL's Customer Service manager. The screenshots below show you where to go.

On the 31st August, I ordered myself a new phone. It was due for delivery on Wednesday, which then changed to Tuesday. Anyway, Tuesday comes and I get an email at around 16:38 - my phone had been signed for (obviously but a relative, as I was at work). Anyway, when I left work at 17:00, I checked and it turned out that it hadn't been delivered. When I got home I called DHL to see what was happening and they couldn't get hold of the driver. Anyway, for the rest of the week, I called DHL once a day to find out if there had been any updates - but nothing. I kept getting told I would have to wait - even though I had spent £476 on that. On top of that, the calls cost 7p plus a 63p connection charge per minute. By the end of the week, we had spent £24 on phone calls (as the line is not a normal free line). On Monday, I was told again that the driver wasn't in work. The call dropped as I hit my limit although they did call me back to allow us to finish the call. DHL need to re...

Those of you that have seen my Youtube channel will know that I am quite fond of buying second hand laptops. Well, I hadn't bought one since 2016, but the tea incident (see my last post) gave me a reason to buy a new one. I chose a Dell Latitude E6440. I am fond of Dell Latitudes, I've owned second hand ones - a D410, an E6400, an E6510 and an E5400 - and my main laptop is actually a Dell Latitude 5000 series. I know that they're reliable and easy to maintain, which is the  main  reason that I went for one. Anyway, my first thoughts are below. The first thing that really sprung to mind when thinking about writing this post is the keyboard. I love it. I'm actually writing this post using the laptop for that very reason. I find that it I can type very quickly on it - quicker than on my main laptop in fact. In additon, like my main laptop, this has a backlit keyboard. I have actually found the backlit keyboard on this one, even though it is at least 3 years old, to be be...

This is a little story of mine, with which I hope to ensure that nobody else has the same problem that I had. Last Sunday, i was on my laptop as usual. I was about to go to bed, so I was saying goodnight to people on Facebook and then getting ready to hibernate my computer, which is what I normally do with my laptops. I had a cup of tea on one of my desks, which I hadn't completely finished drinking and as I went to bed, I left the cup on my desk. I thought nothing of it at the time, but the next day I would realise what a bad mistake this was. The next morning, I woke up at half 6, ready to go to work. It turns out that I had left something at my dads, so I had to go there first before going to work. Anyway, when I got up, and was rushing about, I noticed that my laptop was covered in tea. I thought to myself "that wasn't there when I went to bed, so how did it get there?". All day I was wondering who had done it, and i  was worrying at work that it wouldn't ...

Last week, I recieved my A Level results - like everyone else in England and Wales. A week later, Yr11 students collected their GCSE results. I would like to congratulate everyone who has sat any exams and recieved their results. The main thing is that you try your hardest and remember that it's your result and that you should be proud of your results - whatever it is. There's always  help if you didn't get what you want, and need to change future plans. So, congrats all!

Trailer Poster Magazine

Link to Prezi Click the image to view

Audience Feedback  Video Survey  Survey Survey Responses What I have learnt from my audience feedback

 Introduction  Throughout the creation of my media products, I have tried to ensure that the combination is effective. The first thing that I have tried to do is to ensure that all of them are clearly identifiable as School Run. The main thing that has definitely allowed for this is the use of the same logo across all three products - the theatrical trailer and the print products. In addition to this, the same characters are seen wearing exactly the same costumes in all of my products. This makes the characters themselves clearly identifiable, both as the character and as a character of the film. The production and distribution companies are also visible on all of the products, again linking the products together and therefore providing an effective combination. In addition, one of the star reviews mentioned on the poster refers to a review that the article in the magazine would be about if it was written - again showing a clear link between the products. Video Audience Feed...

Rough Edit 5 1. The trailer, in my opinion, is very good. It is what I would expect. There's two different pieces of music and their is narration and there are also titles that hint at what the trailer is about. The main issue with these titles is that they don't distinguish why this is all happening and they also don't distinguish which side the teacher themselves is on. The action clearly becomes more intense, as everything is very fast paced and the music is a lot more epic than at the start. The film logo is at the end, which means that I know what the film is called, however it doesn't look very professional and the logo itself looks to be quite low quality. The credits at  the end provide all of the information that I would be interested in, particularly the main actors, the director and the producer. Overall, I think that it is quite a good trailer, although there are a few things that could be changed in improved. Magazine Mockup 9  1. In my opinion, the magazin...

Film Logo 1) The film logo is good, but it seems more basic when compared to the Slick Motion logo. It is fitting, with the use of the gun and also very school like colours, but it seems that it was made a lot quicker than the Slick Motion logo, and it seems a lot more rushed in comparison to it. 2) I can see where the idea comes from. The use of the gun confirms that it isn't called School Run because it's about a real school run, but that it's about 'running around a school'. It confirms the action nature of the film, because otherwise I would think that it is just a comedy film about the school run. Production Company Logo 1) I like the Slick Motion logo. It is very sleek and modern, but it also incorporates the older 'film reel' image. This means that it is a very good mix of 'now and then'. In addition, the sleekness of the logo really fits when the name 'Slick Motion', as 'Slick' is a word that I would associate with being very ...

Posters   There are a number of things about theses posters that inspire me, mostly however is that at least one of the main characters is used for the main image and that they are often holding a weapon of some kind. I feel that I should replicate that. In addition, the fact that the majority of them contain credits means that I am definitely going to include them.