Final Top 3

After reviewing all of the final projects I came to a decision on my top 3.  Although all the projects were great, the top 3 that I picked were very obvious winners due to their overall effectiveness and production quality.  First I would like to say that I think there were certain strategies that were well executed and produced, and I also think that there were some videos that picked a strategy and failed to produce a quality package for one reason or another.

Third place goes to College Ave Kidz




This video got number three because It was effective, and used simple, high quality edits to get a very clear point across.  With many of the videos I watched, groups tried to use complex concepts improperly or they just did not have the proper resources in order to pull it off.  College Ave Kidz executed their presentation with a high quality end result.

 

Second place goes to The Lusty Librarians

I really liked the entire layout of this video; it was very well organized and had a clean look to it.  This video did seem like it would be a little dry for the kids watching, but of all the videos I watched, I was the most entertained by this.  But this project was to entertain the kids of Alexandria Middle School.  The production quality of this video was very good, but I do not feel that these children will appreciate it to it’s full potential.

 

First Place goes to Minority Mashup

 

I decided on this video because it was short, sweet and to the point.  The video itself delivered a message that I think the students watching will understand and learn something from.  I also feel that the chronemics was very appropriate.  The video was brief and captured my attention from beginning to end.

 

This project ended up being a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be.  When I heard that this was going to be for a library, my initial thoughts were not the most positive.  But after a while, the topic seemed fitting and refreshing.  I was very excited to work on it in anyway possible.  Our project came out better than I thought it was going to.  Sitting here now, a couple months from the start of this class, I am super satisfied with every aspect of it.  My main disappointment was that it was ending, and I feel like there is so much more to elaborate on in this area.  Overall, this course and project were very rewarding.  Thanks Aaron for a great semester.

 

Memes and their impacts.

I have been following memes, probably since about 2005, and have noticed their increase in popularity and impact.  Here are three Memes from knowyourmeme.com that I find very influential and interesting.

1) Pepper Spray Everything Cop:

Knowyourmeme.com Pepper Spray Everything Cop

As I just did a research paper and presentation about Occupy Wall Street this meme hits home.  The increase in violence used by police and law enforcement to intimidate protesters is being seen around the world, but do memes turn this topic into a joke?  I think memes spread awareness, but in this case it depends on the background of the picture.  I think the use of pepper spray in this situation was not justified, therefore tarnishing the imagery of this meme.

Because it was so unjustified, memes are being reproduced and passed around very quickly.  This particular meme causes support for the protesters therefore generating much needed publicity to bring public opinion in line with the protesters points of view.

2)  Fire in the Hole

This has to be the oldest meme I know of.  Increase in interest peaked in august 2008 according to the chart on the knowyourmeme.com page.  This meme has picked up interest among teenagers who are just getting their drivers license, as most of the pranksters are around the age of 17.  This prank has led to many arrests around the country as well as injuring fast food chain employees.  The impact of this meme degrades those employees of these fast food chains, but you have to admit, the idea is very humorous.

 

3) Red shirt guy

Last but most certantly not least is Red Shirt Guy.  I don’t know how anyone can not make fun of this kid, as terrbile as it seems.  He has responded to the video declaring that he as Asberger’s Syndrome.  In the same video he also embraced the internet attention and even name dropped his guild in order in up recruitment.  This meme spread quickly due to the massive WoW community and the humoreous nature of the video. 

Wizard rock makes me laugh..

So, wizard rock, where do I begin? I was a little apprehensive at first but eventually I came around. It made me a little uncomfortable listening to a sweaty dude sing to a bunch of little children, but that was just one guy of many featured in this documentary… But some of the acts were actually really interesting. It’s crazy how people consume media these days. On top of the fact that an entire genre of music stemmed from a book series. What will come next? It makes you think about all of the influences involved with creating new media. The documentary seemed very well made. Which makes me think about how serious they actually are. In the video it becomes evident that all the artists involved were in fact very serious.

Thanksgiving Break!

Borrowed from thekitchn.com

 

Over Thanksgiving break I decided that I need to put more effort into my mid term blog.  I was unfortunately cut out of another prospective blog that I was going to be working on for a student organization, but lets not get into that.  I did some research that pertained to my mid term blog that I plan on running for a very long time.  Like everything, you get out what you put into something, and blogs are definitely the same.  The more time and effort I seem to put into Hammyshomebrew the more satisfying it becomes. It turned out that I had most of the equipment needed for brewing left over around my house from about 15 years ago.  I found some left over yeast, but the cans had expanded and this can cause very serious issues.  If bacteria has gotten into the yeast, it can cause botulism which can be fatal.  I have been keeping up with the beer blogging community as well.  There are a lot of events that go on around the country where beer bloggers get together and share thoughts.  Unfortunately, most of them are on the west coast.  I hope that the east coast is on their way to cultivating a rich beer blogging community comparable to that of the west coast.

Final Project Trailer

 

After watching the trailer posted on ecollege, you can see how easy it is to change the entire mood of a movie with a few intended edits and the use of music.  The trailer for our class project would look a little different in my opinion.  The vibe from our video portion of our project makes me think that if we took it from the stand point of a horror film, that it would be the most effective.  The trailer would be in black and white, just like a good portion of the film.  There would be lots of use of effects such as slow motion, and blur, to add a sense of mystery and horror.  For each one of the actions the main character does, I would cut out the reaction in order to keep the sense the horror of the unknown.  I see this technique done in a lot of movie trailers and I think it is very effective.

 

Timmy, the main character, would be running around a library, doing things that should not be done in a library.  The editing would give the illusion that whatever he has actually done, seems much worse.  Such as, when he throws a frisbee, I will include a shot of him throwing it, with some scary music, then it will cut to the next deviate action.  Using this strategy, the trailer would catch the attention of our audience using shock value and over the top humor.  The kind of shock value and sick humor used in the making of “The Human Centipede” trailer.  I feel kind of bad comparing my intended work to the human centipede, but the trailer for that movie was very successful, it was even viral for a while.  If my trailer became viral, that would be a best possible outcome.

 

Google Docs Collaboration!

 

Google Docs has to be the best invention for any college student out there, and it still amazes me that students are not familiar with it. Whenever I use google docs in a public place, someone looking over my shoulder always stares in amazement on how fast you can get something done.  Google docs makes communication and collaboration very easy, and the output and productivity of the group increases dramatically.  Google Docs allows the presentation process of creative minds to be expanded and produced in a very new way.  In our particular setting, we used google docs to produce and organize a story board and an outline for a presentation we are doing in class.  Google Docs allowed us to collaborate in real time from the comfort of our houses/dorms.  If we had to meet up during the school day, a lot less would get done.  Google docs also allows us to not all have to be present at the same time, therefore we do not have to struggle to find a time and day where the whole group would be able to meet up in between classes.  Google docs allowed us to collaborate on our presentation, in a power point form.  We would comment on each others work and this drove us to produce higher quality work due to the feedback that we received.  The limits of google docs seems endless; all college students should be able to take advantage of this wonderful tool. This goes to show you how technology and intelligence directly affect each other.

Creative Commons Adventure

Creative commons turned out to be a super useful resource, but for this particular project it was very difficult to come up with a useful video and a useful image.  The song aspect of creative commons was relativley easy because you can use any song you want as a music bed for b-roll, or for use under a voice over. I prefer instrumental songs when doing music beds because I feel that vocals can take away from the quality of the narration if they are competing for the attention of the audience, I chose a Popof album, becuase its a very relaxing, instrumental acoustic album.  I feel that this would suit a library perfectly.  The video I chose was a library day in the life video which I feel captures a very interesting angle of a library.  This video gives a great understanding of the behind the scenes look at a very large library.  The librarian narrating gives us a tour of a huge knowledge facility that would otherwise go unexplored. Last but not least, the photo I think that best suits this project is this one. When I think about libraries, I think of ancient knowledge that has been kept in a facility under the delicate care of professionals. 

Courtesy of F.H. Mira

 

This image portrays an ancient library, one that is very famous, and a symbol of ancient knowledge.  Creative Commons ended up being a stretch for this particular project, but I can see the usefulness of the database in other applications.  For instance, making a mash-up song or creating a video montage.  My experience with creative commons was very educational becuase I have a great deal of interest in media law.  This website is great for aspiring artists who wish to make money off of their work, and for that we thank you Creative Commons!

Top 5 Midterm Blogs

1) Crap Basement Sound.

This blog is really interesting due to the fact that Nakul is playing all of the instruments involved in the cover.  This is a really good example of how blogs can help showcase talent as well as fine tune techniques in both playing the instruments and editing the materials into a short video.  I think that this blog will be one of the most popular due to the fact that this is a very interesting talent and it’s cool to see that it was done in a basement with minimal equiptment.  This blog is a prime example of a strategic way to get noticed as a musician.

2) Soundtrack Cinema

I really liked the idea of this blog, and the execution was done pretty well.  I would like to see him use hyperlinks to link his screencasts, but the video analysis was very interesting.  I like that concept of this blog, tihere are a lot of people out there who will appreciate the study of sound in movies, and its incorporation into a blog.  There really is so much to say about sound in movies, therefore I feel that if this blog were to be updated on a regular basis, it would be very successful.

3) A Vanilla Daydream

It’s kind of a closet interest of mine, but I love dessert/ food blogs.  I enjoy the concept of this blog as much as I enjoy the pictures of different baked novelties.  Food is a great category for a blog becuase there is such an immense audience for it.  This blog lacks some analysis of the baked goods it portrays, but it makes up for that with it’s picture selection.  The blogroll on this blog is one of the most useful I have seen so far, which makes it a great resource for baking enthusiasts in need of a good recipe, or just inspiration in general.

4) Campus Cooking

This blog has one of the best ideas I have seen.  This blog is going to be on almost all of this classes top fives due to its great utility.  The blog itself is portrayed by the title and the url, it is a blog about cheap and easy cooking with minimal equiptment, and a higher nutritional value than eating fast food.  There are so many college students out there that need this blog desperatly, not saying that in a mean way, but it really is true that the freshman 15 is a plague, and this blog helps to fight that.  The videos are pretty well made, and I really like that they are embeded in the blog itself as opposed to just being links to a youtube channel, that is one of my pet peeves.

5) Romantically Rejected

This blog is an analysis of failed relationships and how we can all take something from them, but the best part is, you don’t have to go through it yourself!  The part that I liked about this blog was the layout and aesthetics.  The blog looked very well made, and I really enjoyed the layout, which included a picture of the author which provided a connection for the audience to the author.  She also listed her twitter and facebook on the sidebar which was a very nice touch.  The blogroll was useful and contained links to other information that would be very helpful to her general audience.

My Midterm

I actually really enjoyed this midterm project, it was a ton of fun and very pratical and hands on.  Most midterms this semester, no matter what the class, were in the form of a scan tron exam.  This midterm was a much better learning experience due to the fact that I am actually going to keep this blog going for as long as I can.  The creative process started with me choosing a topic.  I really like two things in this world, good food, and good beer.  I toyed around with a food blog and realized that it was not really for me at this point in time, so I looked into beer blogging.  There is actually a very accomodating, and friendly beer blogger community.  There are a bunch out there for all different categories, and I decided that it was my duty to create a Home Brewing blog.  Next came the actual design of the blog.  I knew I wanted it to be professional and sleek looking.  There had to be some sort of beer relationship in the layout.  I added a picture that I thought portrayed beer in an abstract sort of way, there was just enough detail to tell what it was, but not so much that you could tell right off the bat. Next came designing the core requirements, the pages and the posts.  This was fairly simple, I added a few pages which are going to under construction for a while due to the detail in which I would like to into.  My goal was to be informative.  I want people to understand the brewing process, and fully appreciate the subtle notes of flavors in different craft beers.  There are too many people in this world that feed into cheap, poor quality breweries, and I think that home brewing should be more largely recognized.  Through examples of my own brewing techniques I hope to intrigue a wide variety of people. Check out Hammy’s Home Brew and let me know what you think!

My Youtube Game!

This is a very simple, unfinished version of a youtube game. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8v09RFrYHs