Sunday 9 May 2010

An outline of questions asked to Fit estate agents and their tennants

also used to interview toby burr our unite tenant

Documentary questions for Fit interview

  1. You represent a number of landlords and facilitate the renting of their properties correct?
  2. Are the majority of your hopeful tenants that approach you students?
  3. Do you feel that the majority of your student customers make informed decisions when renting a property?
  4. If not, does your company give advice to student customers who may be first time renters?
  5. Do you feel students are misinformed about the residential possibilities available to them?
  6. In your professional opinion are students misrepresented in the market, for instance are they falsely portrayed and as such does the standard of their accommodation suffer?
  7. Do landlords prefer tenants that are mixed sex or one sex?
  8. What is the typical housing that you facilitate students to, e.g flat, house, en-suite fully furbished…,?
  9. Who regulates prices and how?
  10. What is the typical price band?
  11. Is there anything else you would like to tell me?

Documentary questions for tenants

  1. How many years have you been studying at university?
  2. Before your arrival at university were you made aware of the any other form of residence other that student halls?
  3. If your were made aware of the private sector would it have altered your decision?
  4. Were you given any advice when renting this or any previous accommodation, such as what was expected from you as a tenant?
  5. Do you feel that students are misrepresented in the market, for example are they falsely portrayed and as such does the standard of their accommodation suffer?
  6. Do you think landlords and estate agents should monitor their prices in accordance with the funds available to students?
  7. Do you feel like a valid and informed customer of your landlord?
  8. Drawing from your personal experience what advice would you give a first time renter or indeed a first year student?

Friday 7 May 2010

Complaints about Unite accommodation!!!

Came across complaints about Unite accommodation on student forums!

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=189487

''The main argument here is that Unite should give students the choice of a 41 week contracts and 51 week contracts! Students shouldn’t be forced in to paying for accommodation which they won’t even use over the holidays! I think that the 51 week contract is a good idea for people who wish to live @ university but its not suited to all students!''

A student is complaining about the prices and charges of Unite accommodation and has created a petition against their contract!


''The petition signatures will be forwarded to the Directors of Unite and hopefully the better response we get the more likely we will be able to get contracts we want saving us students money!''

The Independant 'promotes' Unite

Came across an article from 'The Independant'; which seems to promote Unite accommodation to students!!


http://www.independent.co.uk/student/student-life/accommodation/your-student-accommodation-questions-answered-1881772.html


sheffield hallam student accommodation: map!

Heres a map of all the different student accommodation sheffield hallam offers to students!



Production Folder

Contributor release forms printed and ready for signing!
Hopefully can get round everyone thats taken part!

Equipment List and Shot list - done :)

Thursday 6 May 2010

Student Loan Rates

Information and tables showing, how much Loan students are entitled to.


http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/Applyingforthefirsttime/DG_171542


http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentFinance/Applyingforthefirsttime/DG_174046

Items for £2!!

Having worked one of the cheapest sums, which didnt end up in minus figures after paying for accom with the loan, we worked out that students had 2pound a week to survive on!

We thought it would be a good idea just to see what you can get in a supermarket for that price!

Having looked at Asda online; i came across these items for £2!



Not much aye?! :)

Stop Motion Whiteboard

A short example of Stop Motion Animation on a Whiteboard!

We will do the same with our opening title sequence and working out different sums regarding the prices. Drawing a line/ number/ letter at a time to create the same effect. We will then include a narration of the onscreen action.

"Poor students forced to live at home"

Heres a relevant news article regarding expensive student accommodation;

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/nov/25/studenthousing-students

"Most teenagers from low-income families go to a nearby university and stay at home, poll shows"

" More than half (53%) of students from families who work in manual jobs or are on benefits - socio-economic categories D and E - chose their university because it was close to home, a poll by the National Union of Students and HSBC has found."

"Student housing costs up sharply, NUS survey suggests"

Heres a news article regarding the expensive prices of student housing!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8584415.stm

"The average cost of university accommodation has risen by 22% in the past three years, according to the National Union of Students (NUS).

The survey of 132 university and private sector landlords found the average weekly room cost had risen from £81.18 in 2006-07 to £98.99 in 2009-10"

Unite accom ''virtual tour''

Unite Accommodation!

Pictures from Unite Accommodation Website
Showing images from The Anvil, and The Forge in Sheffield

These Halls range from £91-£99 a week!!!


Typical Unite Kitchen:



Typical Unite Bedroom:




Typical Living area, Open plan, with kitchen:





As we can see; the quality is very basic, low standard, cheap furniture, and very small living space, for the price students pay! = RIP OFF :)

Fonejacker - Monies

Change to style

Influences..

Alan Berliners' : Nobody's Business (1996)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117196/

http://www.alanberliner.com/flashdev3/viewing.html




Channel 4 Series. Fonejacker


Phone call to Unite

As Unite haven't replied to our email we sent, we then decided to ring them up and try arrange an interview to see what they had to say. Heres a short script of what we planned to say during the phone call.

''Hi, we're making a film regarding student accommodation. We've interviewed some of your tennants and there have been complaints regarding your prices.
We are giving you the opportunity to express your side of the story which will be recorded for our film.
Would you like to arrange an interview with us?''

Having tried to arrange an interview over the phone, no one was willing to speak to us regarding the topic and kept redirecting us to other offices.

Unite: 0800 783 4213

Sheffield Unite... 01132 426135

Head Marketing Department Bristol... 01173027046

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Email to unite

Hey sorry took so long to put this email on that we sent to unite was trying to find it in my mailbox, still no reply from them yet though.



To whom it may concern,
Hi my name is Sam Parker, I am currently a second year student at Sheffield Hallam University and studying film and media production. For our latest project we have been asked to make a documentary that is within the public interest, being students we decided to tackle the issue of student acommodation prices. we decided to look at both student and private sector letting agents to find out who offered the better deal for students. upon our findings we found that your company is one of the most expensive.

From this we decided to speak both past and present tenants of your acommodation to see wether they thought you acommodation was worth the money. From this we discovered that not all of them were entirely satisfied with the service that is provided by you. We would very much like to hear your views on the issue as to your pricing structure and to the standard of your acommodation and allow you to have an input into our documentary, unfortunately we discovered you were not the only company that didn't provide adequate service or value for money and we as students feel we deserve a better standard of living especially for the amount of money we are spending on such service.

We very much looking forward to hearing a response to this email and hopefully shed some light on the disillusionment we feel as students on the current issues.

Yours Faithfully
Sam Parker