CAPSTONE: Cultural Event- Shepherd Homecoming Game

R....A....M....S.....Go Rams!!

     Just change the letter and mascot and this chant can be heard at school football games all around the country. It’s part of high school and goes into college. As a Shepherd University student senior I attended my last Shepherd Homecoming Game. 

     It’s a display of school script. It’s a display of school pride. It’s a display of town support. A football game is more then just about football to many. Granted we are not talking about an NFL team or division I team but a homecoming game in general is more than just a game. 

     There are the players. Boys...men(?) that have probably played football most their life. Football is a massive part of their life if not their whole life. It is their culture. Watching film, watching a NFL game, and then playing Madden could be an example of the free time of a football player. 

     Furthermore football is American culture as well. Even though baseball is the national sport, no where else in the world is Football a major sport. We tried in Europe just like Beckham tried for soccer for us. 

The tailgating, the beer, the body paint, and yelling at referees are all parts of football and insights into culture. In America we like loud and we like big. The big stadium gives freedom to yell as loud as one wants. 

     It also gives insight into the value of loyalty. Bring on the trash talking and sometimes physical fights. 

People like to belong to something and be apart of something. Supporting a team lets people do this. In college people may want to be apart of their school as well as belong to the new group of friends they have made. 

     At a homecoming game the game is important yes but also what is going on in the stands or the parking lot. It is people getting together, supporting another group of people, and supporting themselves fulfilling wants of belonging. 

CAPSTONE: Cultural Event- The Constitutional Convention and the Miracle of Democracy, Constitution Day lecture by Richard Dreyfuss

 America....America...

What does it mean to you? 

Do you know what it means? 

Richard Dreyfuss wants people to know those answers and care about civics. 

     Dreyfuss believes that civics is losing importance. People do not know the answers to the questions above or care about answering them. 

     What is more important children of today are losing the opportunity to learn about civics and this country. Civics education has already been taking out of some schools and thus taking away the values and virtues of this country in education. 

     Students are the future of this country so how can they govern when they don’t know how this country came about, its foundations, and its values. Foundations and values that can be seen in important civic documents such as the constitution. 

     Dreyfuss spoke of the constitution and what it means during his lecture. He also spoke of what America means to him. He cares about this country and believes we will lose this country if we do not do something. He called for citizens to become engaged in civics and civility. 

     This lecture is a culture event for it is based around the culture of this country. Values are a part of a country’s culture. Students need to learn more of our civic culture rather than popular culture. 

In the eyes of Richard Dreyfuss lose civics, lose values....lose America.  

CAPSTONE: Cultural Event- Happy Feet 2

     Dancing Penguins.....cultural event of course. Well if there were penguins in real life that could dance that would definitely be a event...a phenomenon. Yet in animation it can still be cultural for the fact that Happy Feet 2 is animation. Young children today aren’t just watching hand drawn 2-D characters on screen. Today children are watching computer animated characters in 3-D. Along with learning of the environment, family, and group dynamics. 

     In Happy Feet 2 we return to dancing and singing penguins until their habitat is further effected by global warming. Cracking and falling ice causes the penguins “land” to lower creating a bowl effect with no way out or up. Mumble goes to find help to create a passageway up the bowl. Mumble helps a elephant seal out of the ice earlier in the movie and he helps Mumble in return. Penguins and elephant seals dance and sing together to help the penguins below. 

     This shows children people working together to help one another. Just as firefighters or doctors do everyday. Groups of people helping out one another is part of culture. Many different cultures why this film could be enjoyed worldwide. 

     Back to the elephant seal Mumble saved his life in front of his children and in front of his son. Family is another big theme in this movie. Mumble’s son Erik is young and does not understand yet why he can’t do certain things. Erik got mad at his father for telling him this but in the end he looks at his dad as a hero. When Mumble when to the elephant seal at first the seal said no but Erik admired his father for trying. 

     Children look to their parents for example. Children do stray and get mad at their parents from time to time. (Erik is just a little one wait till he’s a teenager Mumble). However that how families are, not everything is always perfect. 

     Then there’s the side story of the Krill, Bill and Will. I do believe the names were intentional. These Krill set out to see beyond the swarm together as male and male. 

There’s a definite bromance going on between them, at least from Bill’s eyes. When Bill sees baby jellyfish he thinks of children and asks Bill “why don’t we have children”. 

Bill’s reply “we’re males”. 

Will’s reply “we can adopt.” 

A funny moment in the movie for today’s generation. I don’t believe this would of happened in earlier family movies. Today our culture is much more accepting of gay culture. Having this moment in the movie reflects this. 

Happy Feet 2 is another 3-D family computer animated film. Another of the many that are now the “children” movie standard. Yet the stories still tell of cultural morals like family and helping another while changing to reflect changing views in culture. 

Still even the classics are updating. Disney’s The Lion King 3-D was in theaters now The Beauty and the Beast is next to be modernized. 

CAPSTONE: Cultural Event- In the Next Room(or the Vibrator Play)...yea

The Vibrator Play...

Did that get your attention?

The play is actually a well written funny play. It centers around the doctor’s prescription of “pleasure” for hysteria. 

     According to the play’s program “hysteria” was a female medical condition categorized by symptoms like unhappinessness, faintness, and “occasionally, the unwillingness to obey’s one husband.” Prescription: orgasm. 

     How is this cultural...well sexual topics in general have been in society, in culture for years. Yet during certain time periods speaking about these subjects openly was taboo. Now there’s Playboy and various reality shows showing people suggestive situations. 

     This play however is set after the Civil War in the 1880s when I assume people did not understand “pleasures” as today. For when the vibrator was used on the patients the reactions were like the did not know what the feeling was or never experienced these feelings before. Seems like there was a lack of understanding of sexually in those times by some. Certainly there was a lack of sexually in popular culture in those times as well. The reactions were a funny part of the play but the reactions between the characters were as well.

     Yet there is a painter character in the play that does know of pleasures with woman. He has a carefree personality. He gives another dimension of the type of people in those times. Even though some may have been uptight back then with covered up dresses and suits there were still those who were easygoing with open sweaters and loose scarfs. 

     Another character Catherine Givings wife of Dr. Givings, the doctor giving the “prescriptions” has a very upbeat personality. She loves to talk but feels lonely from her husband since he seems so busy with work or going out after work. These times in marriages were seen then as they are now.

     Times change. History lets us now how things can about. The invention of the vibrator made people more “carefree”. Birthing the emergence of a more sexuality accepting culture. 

CAPSTONE: Cultural Event- Macbeth

Romeo, Romeo where are thou Romeo?

This isn’t that play

     This is about Macbeth....another play of by the great Shakespeare of betrayal, temptation, and greed for power. 

     Macbeth is an insight into today as well as how people spoke and dressed in Medieval times. Through actor's movements and expressions one can follow the play. Actors speak more than just words. 

     Returning to the themes of Shakespeare; greed, power, temptation, betrayal these are apart of culture today as there were in Shakespeare’s time. Why his plays are still being performed today. 

     Lady Macbeth persuades her husband to kill the King and servants to fame them for the murder. Macbeth is overcome with guilt throughout the play. As well as tempted by the witches throughout the play. More people are killed during the play and at the end there is still a fight for power. 

     Power is a part of culture. Wars are still fought today. The wars are still over who will control what. In Macbeth several people are wanting to be king in order for the ability to control. Then the murders committed are done by people who are under control by someone else. 

Power is temptation. Thus it creates greed and causes people to betray one another. 

Follow Macbeth and watch the play and one will see this. 

Can’t understand what they are saying? 

Listen close. Watch expressions and movements. Expand your cultural horizons.

CAPSTONE: Plugged Everywhere

source

    What to plug in a website? Plug in plugins for a WordPress site. When researching for WordPress plugins several appear list after list. Whether its the 8 essential WordPress plugins, 16 essential plugins, 32 essential plugins or 15 incredible plugins these plugins keep popping up for every blog/website needs certain necessary parts to be successful.

Top Essential Plugins:

       1. Sitemap - A sitemap is needed to find the pages of your site easily by a search engine. 

Plugin: Google XML Sitemaps

        2. Analytics - Analytics is imperative to have a successful site. It allows one to track visitors to a site and what they do. In return one can see what works and what is popular on their site.

Plugin: Google Analytics

        3. SEO - A SEO plugin is needed to be seen above everyone else. It helps ranks one site for it is a search engine optimization site. 

Plugins: All in One SEO / WordPress SEO by Yoast/ HeadSpace2 SEO

        4. Contact Form - A contact form is needed on a site for visitors to be able to contact the makers of the site instead of leaving an email address. 

Plugin: Contact Form 7

        5. Cache - A cache plugin is needed to keep one’s site performance up and keep loading times fast. 

Plugins: W3 Total Cache/ WP Super Cache/ Quick Cache

        6. Spam - No one, the makers or readers of a site, wants spam on a site. There are plugins for spam checking. 

Plugin: Akismet

        7. Comments - Conversation is key to keep a blog or website alive. There are plugins to keep the conversation going or to just say thank you. 

Plugins: Subscribe to Comments Reloaded / Reply Me - send email for reply to one’s comment

                Thank Me Later - sends email to everyone who leaves a comment

    There are thousands of WordPress Plugins to choose from for a site. These are essential the rest are up to the admin to choose. Think of plugins that will electrify one’s site. 

Learn Something...Go Play Online

     Social Issues are not a game. Yet they can be turned into games. This can be figurative nowadays but also literal. There are games today that teach different age groups about social issues....about anything really. I had played 4 educational games found online.

• Climate Change
• Stop Disasters
• MedMyst Original: Mission 1 Orientation at O.R.B.
• Engineering - Design a Cell Phone

The first three deal with social issues while the last game is also educational but deals with business and design. 

Game 1: Climate Change

     Climate Change is a role play game where the player is the President of the European Nations. As President the player must make policy decisions regrading the nations as a whole, local communities, agriculture, trade, and environment. 

• Target age group: Late teenagers to adults

Younger children would not understand all the policies. Late teenagers and even adults may not but they understand that leaders make these decisions.

• List three specific concepts/things the designers are trying to teach the player:

1. World policies
2. Outcomes of leader actions
3. Importance of carbon emissions 

• What is successful (or not) about the game. What could you do to improve the game?: 

     It is successful that it gives real life decisions that a world leader has. I would improve the rounds that player must go through due to the fact the options did not change much but good to see that a previous option is no longer available due to a previous decision. Present decisions affect the future. 

Game 2: Stop Disasters 

     Stop Disasters is a game where the player can pick a natural disaster scenario and try to save lives. This is done through building housing and defences. 

• Target age group of this game: middle school to high school students 

Adults would already know defences against natural disasters and I feel would be bored with game. To middle school and high school students it would be more of a challenge so they would play the game all the way through. 

• List three specific concepts/things the designers are trying to teach the player.

1. The effects of disasters
2. How to protect an area against a disaster
3. The cost of disaster protection and aftermath

• What is successful (or not) about the game. What could you do to improve the game?:

     It is successful that there are many available options to protect the island that would be used in real life. I would improve the way a player can move to see all of the island. It would have been easier to have a pan out option. 

Game 3: MedMyst Original: Mission 1 Orientation at O.R.B. 

     MedMyst Original: Mission 1 Orientation at O.R.B. is the first game in a series of games where the player is a NCDC (Neuropolis Center for Disease Control) agent in 2254 after the Great Plague that kills millions. 

• Target age group of this game: Late elementary to high school students 

Adults would find this game childish. High schoolers may also find it childish but would learn from this game.

• List three specific concepts/things the designers are trying to teach the player:

1. Types of infectious agents & how to defeat them
2. How infectious agents are spread & how to prevent getting disease(medicine, vaccine, soap)
3. How to identify a germ 

• What is successful (or not) about the game. What could you do to improve the game?

It is successful this game gives a large amount of information throughout several short games. I would improve the going back option in some games and shorten the number of different games. I feel like younger players would get bored after awhile. 

Game 4: Engineering - Design a Cell Phone

• Target age group of this game: Middle School to High School

This game is too simple for adults. 

• List three specific concepts/things the designers are trying to teach the player.

1. Research is needed to understand product
2. Important to reach out to target market wants
3. Design and testing of a product

• What is successful (or not) about the game. What could you do to improve the game?

It is successful that a player can get feedback and go back to research and/or design to improve the cell phone. I would improve the options for designing a cell phone. The basic options are fine but there is not much room to change the phone after feedback for there are only so many options. 

CAPSTONE: "Common Senseless"

     What if a leader had no common sense? What if those who elected leaders had no sense? Well that makes no sense!! In the words of Richard Dreyfuss it is “common senseless”. For the leaders of today, politicians, children, and the public to not know the values of this country or how this country is run is senseless. The Dreyfuss Initiative wants to start a vehicle of bringing common senseless to light. For my capstone I will create a WordPress blog to do just that. On the blog I will write examples, include videos, have news feeds, links to TDI social media, and create a forum. This blog is part of a social media strategy for TDI.

     This blog idea comes after the two TDI events I helped with this weekend. During the first event I helped set up, signed in media, sold CDs, got to people join the email list, and answered what is TDI to those who asked (more than a few). Which means this message needs to reach more people which is my job. The second event was at Shepherd and the topic of my next blog. 

  My research for this week is to look at professional WordPress blog websites. Blog websites that are more then just....well blogs like this one. Through looking at popular ones so far I have noticed navigation menus, social media links, and layout. Sidebars hold popular posts, there are sidebar menus, there are site maps at the bottom, comment boxes at end of every post, voting on posts, and clean simple backgrounds. I plan to model the blog in similar fashion. My research throughout this whole semester will be to find examples of “common senseless”. This is unfortunately not to hard to find today. I will continue to watch and read the news daily. Which we all should be doing already right? 

CAPSTONE: Taking the Initiative

     The end is near.......of my college career. For my capstone project I will be working with The Dreyfuss Initiative. My role in the Shepherd team is marketing and press. For the upcoming events, September 17 I will be a press liaison. TDI is also looking to us as college students for ways to engage people in this internet savvy age. Additionally, aspects of branding like helping to prepare displays are also a part of the marketing. The events this month introduce an important area of the organization. 

      I have expressed to the executive director of TDI that I am interested in PR aspects as well as the theatre area of TDI. TDI is composed of three different areas. One of the areas focuses on theatre. TDI is holding an American history play competition. Working with the theatre and helping to handle logistics was an idea suggested to me. 

     I also have expressed my enthusiasm to write press releases. At this time the executive director writes the press releases but I hope to at least help get the information to the media if I am not given the opportunity to write any press releases. TDI has a message and I am here to spread it. 

Build a Straw Tower with Meaning

     One plays a game to win, to lose or just play. Whatever the reason there is always an outcome even if the game is left uncompleted. Playing a game involves a series of actions. These actions can have a player gain something in the end or all effort falls to the floor like a leaning straw tower. Random...yet it is an example. Building a straw tower does have meaningful play. 

     Actions have meaning in a game or at least for successful game design the goal is meaningful play according to Rules of Play by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman.  

The book describes meaningful play as descriptive and evaluative. 

• Descriptive - relationship between player actions and system outcome 
• Evaluative - relationships between actions and outcomes in a game are discernable and integrated into larger context of the game. 

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tsmall/3506616038/

     
     Back to building a tower out of bendy straws as experienced in class every straw added to the tower affected how the tower would respond. For some groups, like mine, the tower would lean and for others the tower would continue to rise. This would be descriptive meaning play. A player would add a straw and the tower, the system, would respond. Support is needed to build a tower and thus straws were added for the intention, meaning, of support. As well as the meaning of adding height. 

     The building of the tower would also be evaluative meaningful play. This description of meaningful play maybe easier to distinguish. 

     Discernability details when a player is aware of the outcome of their action. Grab a diamond theres a sound. Add more straws add more length to the tower. 

     Integration details when an outcome of an action affects the game as a whole. The outcome is not immediate. One can not know how tall a straw tower will be until all straws are added. How a straw is added or the decision of how to add a straw affects the way the tower will look and if it will lean or stand. 

     Actions in a game have meaning to be a successful game. One should think before they act in a game. One should think before they act in life. Every action has a outcome thats immediate and/or intended for a later outcome. 

Media is more than images right Media module?

I downloaded the Media module to see if I could create a video field for Yoxview. The media module can add media into any textarea. This requires Wysiwyg module. The module can also add media field and mass importing of files. I could only get images to upload using this module. 

1. I downloaded Media, Styles module, and Media:YouTube module since I wanted to display a youtube video. 
2. To add or try to add video as a field I went to configuration/media/types. I choose video, audio, image, and other types. 
3. Then I went to my Yoxview content type since I was trying to add video to Yoxview. I added a video content field with multimedia asset field type. 
4. I then clicked on my Yoxview content type, scrolled down to the new video field and tried to upload a youtube video. The popup screen said paste url or embed code here from supported provider. The supported provider was youtube so I tried to copy both the link of the video and embed code. Both did not work.

Rereading documentation they said to add the field to an article content type. I tried this and this time it would let me upload the video url but it uploaded it as a link only. Then when I clicked the link up popped code. 

I can upload images using these module. I can upload from my images folder. 

This module is still in beta and and on the drupal page for the module it does say there are some critical issues that still need to be fixed. This module does seem like an easy to use module when everything does work properly. 

Yoxview the new colorbox/lighbox

     I knew that I wanted to have a colorbox type module on my site. People seemed to have some difficulty with it but they got it to work so I was going to try it out until I saw Yoxview. Yoxview caught my attention because it is like lightbox but it can also display video and other media. Intrigued I downloaded and was confused by then documentation. Then I came across this issues discussion about the module on drupal.  

http://drupal.org/node/1063134

     The person who posted the question was exactly like me so I read on. I found out that it is just a matter of adding a content type and field. Then the module creates the yoxview for you. 

1) Create a content type for yoxview
2) Create a type Gallery field for the content type. The field and widget type is Image.

3) Go to the Manage Display tab for field, and for Gallery field you have to indicate that the format is yoxview and style "thumbnail"

     That’s all you have to do. Much more less confusing. Just click on the yoxview content type and below the body there will be an image upload gallery field. Upload as many pictures as you want and save the page. The pictures will then be there to click on and start yoxview. 

     The images were easy. Yet I could not figure out how to add videos to yoxview. I thought of making a video field to format to yoxview but that did not work. To create a video field I tried the module Media. We didn't entirely get along. 

Wysiwyg Module

     As I am typing this right now I like the options that I have in the toolbar. Bold button, text color button, and text align button to name a few. When typing a page in Drupal you have none of these options unless you just code the words yourself. This isn’t difficult but having modules that make things even easier is always a good thing.

Wysiwyg is a module that easily formats HTML text. 

Wysiwyg will only work if a third party editor is downloaded. As said in the video below it is the “glue” that holds everything together. Wysiwyg does nothing unless an editor is installed.

Once downloaded you can choose which type of editor you want. Then configure that editor to a input format. I chose filtered HTML since that was the format I usually used. After this you can choose which buttons and plugins you want for the editor. Then the editor will display when adding content. 

View content how you want it with Views

     Some modules just have perfect names. The views module is about viewing content. The module allows to organize content and create custom blocks and lists of content. 

     

     I used views for my main page menu links. Fashion, Accessories, and Beauty are all separate views that I set to a page and set to a different content type. I have a fashion, accessories, and beauty content type on my website. 

The user interface for views was a bit imitating at first but after watching this video I was easy to understand. 

     Basically to set up views you just need to filter what type of content you want for that view. Then you change the page settings and path to where you want the page. The module does require Chaos Tools Suite module as well

5 stars for Rate Module

     After switching the idea for my site after difficult modules that do not want to work or just couldn't figure out how I felt a sigh of relief. This came from a simple module called Rate. Simple is good sometimes. 
     Rating can be used on many different types of websites. It is a good way to see what visitors to your site think about a topic or idea.

The Rate module is as simply named as it is easy to use. You can choose from 6 different widget types. 

• Thumbs up
• Thumbs up / down
• Fivestar
• Emotion (this makes me mad, angry...)
• Yes / no
• Custom

All you need to do is upload the module along with the Voting API. 

I found this helpful video on Youtube.

Basically after everything is installed and enabled you can choose which widget you want to use, modify it, and then assign it to a content type. I did this for my fashion content and Yoxview content type which I will talk about soon. 

5 stars to Rate for simplicity and ease. 

Style is a Reflection of Self

     She has no style. How do you know that? Better yet why do you think that? Style is a matter of perception. Style is a matter of categorization. Style is a matter of many different things. The music video is a style. MTV which was based on music videos also has a style. Style is a relationship to the world, body, and technology.

     After reading Chapter 5 of Why I Still Want My MTV by Kevin Williams and discussion in Music Video class the style of music video and MTV became more apparent to me. I already knew that a music video had a certain way of looking. A music video is fast paced, can tell a story, be non-narrative, or completely confuse the viewer. There is a way of shooting a music video that is different from shooting a film or television show. Even though a trailer for a film can follow music video style. A trailer “tells us something quicker, without need for traditional narrative.” That fast paced style of a music video. 

     MTV, the network formally known for music videos has it own style as well. MTV expresses the music, expresses visuals musically, and expresses perception. The way this is done is institutionalized. Even though MTV is no longer a music video based channel the way they present and edit their reality shows or more substantial shows dealing with politics or documentaries have a style. This style is taken from the music video style. An example in Chapter 5 described how presidential candidates on Choose or Lose in 1992 were presented in the mood of a music video. Even though that was in 1992 MTV still has a style today. Take the Video Music Awards for instance. Since the first VMA’s MTV’s awards show had more shock, more laid back vibe, more anything goes approach than The Grammy’s or more serious awards shows. During the show the camera will move the camera up to the balcony or cut to something quickly. 

     Morse said that MTV style is taken from the strong institutional relation to advertisements. Advertisements that are of pop culture and customer capitalism like cars. Commercials are fast paced and quick like music videos. MTV shows and the way or style that they produce things can look like they are selling something. Partying it up at the Jersey Shore or teen pregnancy for instance. MTV has been criticized by some people for glamorizing teen pregnancy with 16 and Pregnant. Glamorizing is to bring allure to something like advertisements do. MTV style is to shock, be like a music video, and be pop culture.

     Style can reflect pop culture or be a trend and be in or out but there is more to style. Style “reveals consciousness of the world” and the “sense of the world.” The thoughts, feelings, culture of a time or place. The study of style can help to understand the world for style is a way of perception. The video girl is a standard in the music video.   The female is thus still seen as an object. Style has relation to the body for style interprets the visual. Style allows us to come up with our own meaning for something. Therefore the visuals to a music video don’t have to match the lyrics. 

     Style is not only a matter of trend. Style is not only how something is done. Style is a way we can categorize something by how we understand it. The music video is condensed but doesn’t really have restrictions. A music video can be a music video in many different types of ways. 

The Very Beginning is the Best Part

     The lights go down, sound comes up, opening credits roll, and then the excitement dies. Well not with every movie but the opening credits to a film are important. If the opening credits of a film reflect the storyline or a character it sets up the story. Remarkable opening credits go further and engage the moviegoer completely into the film in just a matter of minutes. 

     Kyle Cooper has created many remarkable opening credits. The opening credits for Spiderman 2 caught my interest. Not to mention they were one of the best parts of the film. 

     In the opening credits for Spiderman 2 Kyle Cooper introduces the typography motif for the credits in the very beginning of them with the word, Marvel. Marvel appears through the flipping of comic book pages. The word however starts to appear behind the pictures but not in entirety. This happens fast but I noticed that not all of the letters appear at the same time. He did not have letters come in at different times rather he put some parts of the letters behind the flipping pictures. This is seen with the typography after the title of the film is shown. 

     After the title names appear after layers in front of them move to reveal the names. The layers were also on top of each other which gave the 3D effect. Moreover at times a name on one layer was larger than the name on another layer. The layer with the larger name also was closer to the viewer in terms of depth. This added to the 3D effect even more. 

     

     The reveal of the names and the use of layers inspired me significantly. There was a spark that was initiated in my mind. Since the beginning of this project I have tried to think of ways to show a part of my phrase that has the word behind in it. I wanted to show a behind action but didn’t want to be so obvious about it. Cooper gave me the idea to use layers and masks. How he revealed the names in the opening credits was unexpected to me and thus very interesting rather than obvious. 

     Kinetic typography can look engaging but can be simple at the same time. Turning words into images can be entertaining but Kyle Cooper showed with the Spiderman 2 opening credits that movement and layers are enough to intrigue. I have already learned After Effects is based on layers. Now manipulating layers is what I shall base my kinetic typography on. 

Making it My Own ("Own")

     How often does one see something and think I want to do that or at least like to try? As a lifelong music lover I have watched countless music videos. Being that I am visual person I enjoy to see visuals with music. I have even have thought of how the music video for a song would look...before even taking this class. This class is Music Video and I want to make the video my own but I am taking inspiration from others I have seen. 

     A music video is fast pace or at least a music video I would watch. If a music video was just one continuous shot and hardly any movement I would lose interest fast. That being the case, for my music video I want to put several different ideas together. These ideas I have seen in other music videos. I like the idea of stop motion. It is movement but not normal movement. Thus I think that it is interesting and I believe that it is more interesting to impose stop motion over another shot. This idea I got from Dev’s music video for her song “Booty Bounce”. The video is simple but does get boring after a while so I don’t want to do a complete video of stop motion. 

     To contrast stop motion I also like the idea of slow motion in music videos. In some music videos I have seen the artist run, walk,  or perform in slow motion. Furthermore I would also like to use masks on top of an object. As well as match cut and jump cut editing. Moving an object through two different shots or using two sequential shots of the same thing from different camera positions can link shots together but not in the traditional “movie making” way. Music videos can be short films....(Michael Jackson!) but “you can do things in video you can’t do in film” as said in class. I want to take advantage of this. 

     

     Going back to film making though I also like simple music videos if the artist has enough personally to keep my attention. Therefore I do want to just shoot people doing their own thing. 

     I do want to vary the shots on an action and add color sometimes. Again just to switch it up. The idea for color I first got from Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le fou. Godard was all about unconventional film making and in an early scene from Pierrot le fou he uses different colors throughout a scene. The colors didn’t need to be there but they added to the scene. For a current reference, Kanye West’s “All of the Lights” music video also used color and this added to the song lyrics and vibe of the video. 

     There are numerous ways one can go when making a music video. I want to go with ideas that interest me. As well as ideas that I believe a relative beginner to video production can achieve. 

Drupal Therapy Indeed

     I need a remedy. Why? I am a college student dealing with a content management system for the first time. It’s name is Drupal. Screencasts from www.drupaltherapy.com have helped me and will hopefully help other beginners to Drupal. The screencasts deal with fundamental modules thus probably not for advanced Drupal users but great for us newcomers. 

     Each screencast is “a prescription by Sean Effel.” He has a calm voice that is not distracting so viewers can pay full attention to the screencast. Effel goes through each module needed, what the module does, and how to use the modules. For instance, in the Date + Calendar screencast he turns on the modules and shows how to make an event content type along with how to make an event on a calendar. 

There are 3 screencasts for Drupal 7.

1. Wysiwyg + CKEditor screencast 
2. Pathauto + Token screencast 
3. Date + Calendar screencast 

     There are 5 older screencasts for Drupal 6 as well. These screencasts can be useful to get a sense of how other modules work. Even though the screencasts are for Drupal 6 several modules included in the screencasts such as views, imagecache, and filefield now have Drupal 7 versions or included in Drupal 7 core.

     

     To get a stronger prescription Drupaltherapy is actually more about training sessions than screencasts. They can be contacted through their website for public or private sessions. Now time to get off the long chair and start to Drupal. 

 

The Internet Not the Web

      The Internet and the web, do you know the difference? For several years I assume that many including myself did not or at least did not think of them separately. If one got on the Internet they got on the web. Fast forward to today and the distinction is clear. The internet is used but more for apps, not web surfing. After reading the wired. com article “ The Web is Dead. Long Live the Internet ”, I agree with both Chris Anderson’s and Michael Wolff’s take on the matter but I’m leaning more toward Anderson. Wolff suggests it is them (media moguls) to blame for web’s demise while Anderson says that it is us. 

The introduction of the Internet and countless other technologies has turned our world into a very fast paced and impatient society. We want something and we want to it now. Anderson spoke of the convenience and reliability of apps. He gave the example of google maps being better to have on one’s phone they bring to their car than on one’s laptop at home. With apps information is given rather than having to search for it. It is easier for information to come to the screen than for one to go to the screen. “The web is not the culmination of the digital revolution,” says Anderson. It is the Internet that fuels many technologies and services with the web only being one of the many. 

On the other hand, Wolff focuses on the them. The media moguls of today like Apple CEO Steve Jobs. They are after control and power. Jobs and others like him have realized that product has power over technology. Apple has control over content, the delivery of content, and the devices that content plays on. This does not go with the openness of the web. Internet services like Netflix are taking people away from the web. Apps and Internet services give people what they want. People are looking for product and “them” know this. Product is more easily accessible through controlled apps than searching for it over the open web. 

I agree with both but I lean more toward Anderson’s explanation due to my own use of the Internet. Once I got an iPhone I do use it more than the web and I do this because it is faster, easier, convent, and reliable. The apps on my phone give me the content I want without me having to go on the web and search for them. I am rarely ever on Facebook on an actual computer. At times I can remember myself on my Facebook app while on my laptop. Why didn’t I just log in? I am already logged in on my Facebook app and can scroll and tap faster than clicking. The only time I am on the web is if I want to see something on a bigger screen than my phone or YouTube. Even though there’s an app for that..... There really is an app for EVERYTHING. There is now even an app store on my MacBook. Now I can use my computer for more than schoolwork and the pages application I use to write such things as this blog. Still not using the web so much though.