TuteSpark 4

We have to find 3 short films made for internet distribution.

The iMac's at uni allow me to embed the videos into my blog, but my pc at home doesn't, so I apologise for the links.
I don't know if the computer of the security settings or what not (I am not computer savvy), but I do apologise.

Short Film One:

Black Button

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrKnhOJ-R80&feature=search

This video is I think personally awesome. The message it had was pretty impacting.

Once again, due to my no-computer-skills, I originally found this short film on a website, but typically, I lost the web address and couldn't find it again, so I resorted to ol' ye faithful YouTube.

The short films main pitfall was that I think they dragged the beginning out too long, as it was getting boring and I was tempted to close it, but the ending was extremely good.

It won't become popular, I think, because it is drawn out so long.

Short Film Two:

Llamas in Hats

http://www.filmcow.com/movies.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZUPCB9533Y&feature=search

Llamas in Hats.

By far, my favourite short film ever. And with its sequel as well.

This is an ideal example of short films, made for internet, gone viral. It became so popular it was amazing.

It is simple, yet effective. People love the voices and the quotes.

Just, what I thought was the perfect example.

Short Film Three:

Signs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy0HNWto0UY&feature=search

This one is pretty awesome I thought. It was like a movie, had a storyline, an introduction, complication, climax, resolution. Real story like.

It was cute too.

This would be really awesome to become popular, because it really is a short version of a movie. It would be awesome if it became huge. I like it!

Short Film Four:

Hands

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

I don't know if this actually qualifies as a short film, hence why I didn't put it as my top 3, but I just thought it was pretty awesome. And it is something that will become popular and has a point to it. It probably is made for television, although I wouldn't know, I don't get to watch it often. But it is funny, clever and has a message, so it will be successful.

This subject really is teaching me how to use the internet.

Apologies

Hello.
I got emailed about a "HTML issue" for the post titled 'Treasure Hunt'.
That is the reason it is so ridiculously spaced out, so I am sorry.
I would also like to ensure that is it correctly hyperlinked, as for question ten it does link you to my reference.

I used this website
Mr Klingon.org, last updated March 2010,
http://www.mrklingon.org/
Accessed 10th August & 26th August 2010

TuteSpark Week 5

Culture Jamming

A colloquialism referring to a species of media activism usually presented in the form of a fraudulent mass media event.

(www.thebookman.wordpress.com/2008/03/01/postmodern-terms-absence-to-curtain-wall/, Accessed 25th August 2010)

To me, it is making the unrealistic, realistic.

Rather than the rest of our world, that is so scared of offending everyone and stepping on people's toes, culture jamming breaks down the barriers and shows the truth. It is a reality check in this world that covers up the real issues at hand. Culture Jamming can be demonstrated in numerous ways, not just by edited pictures. An example is a video Fall Out Boy did a few years ago to help make people aware of child soilering in Uganda.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAgbZdrWiN4

First Cultural Jamming:

It is hard to pinpoint the "first" instance of cultural jamming as it can be argued it started in the late 1800's or the 1950's. I vote, it started to became a confrontation in the 1950's. (Studies in Art Education, 2004, http://thedepartmentofaesthetics.org/VisCultJAM.pdf, Accessed 26th August 2010)

Most Influential Jamming:

An extremely good example of influential culture jamming was the iPod mock posters of the Iraqi war that is currently an issue. In America these posters kept showing up on billboards and across many. (TUAW, http://www.tuaw.com/2004/06/11/more-ipod-iraq-mock-posters-showing-up/, Accessed 27th August 2010) It caused necessary alarm. It caused a lot of attention because the iPod advertisement is such a popular and well known one. People would look at the picture to the left and not even realise the mock posters were embedded unless they took another look. The picture on the right (>>) demonstrates four of the pictures that were being displayed, especially around New York City and LA.

This personally was my favourite example of culture jamming as well. Bringing the realistic into the unrealistic world.

Most Damaging Jamming:

Cultural Jamming is a very powerful tool. In the case of Nike, using slave and child labour to manufacture their shoes was a huge example of how powerful culture jamming is. It erupted in 2001. Pictures were posted on billboards, sent through emails, and in the newspapers. Documentaries were made and schools were taught in Geography and Social Science subjects about how Nike was abusing the lives of children, and underpaying those less fortunate. It again erupted into a worldwide known issue in 2004 and 2006 as it was seen that Nike had not fixed their child and slave labour issue and the appalling conditions of their working environment.

(Not My Tribe, http://notmytribe.com/2000/slave-labor-in-modern-times-89.html#more-9, Accessed 27th August 2010)
(Child Labour, http://ihscslnews.org/view_article.php?id=32, Accessed 27th August 2010)

Lecture Summary Week 5

In this weeks lecture we learnt about "Production and Consumption".

Points I learnt-->

• In order to consume, someone needs to produce.
• The media has a huge role in society and watches and influenced what we watch.
• The news we se, isn't all the news that happens.
• Citizen Journalism- what is it?

Citizen Journalism appeared to be an important factor-

Positives-

• Every individual person has the ability to have a voice
• We can see news events that we may not have been able without a news crew- Eg Boxing Day Tsunami and 911

Negatives-

• Ruining the quality of journalism
• People could manipulate a photo or story and no one would know
• People can start rumours- like actors dying
• Bias

Tute Exercise Week 4

1. Where and when did usable online video start? (provide some refs. and an example if possible)

According to Dembot site, usable online video started ten years ago and we are now “celebrating” ten years of online video. (http://dembot.com/post/310798115/a-decade-in-history-of-online-video, Accessed 18/8/10) Although it wasn't a convenience to watch these videos until the creation of broadband, which was 2004 in America, and then populated across the globe.

There were many sites of course, pre-youtube.com but youtube.com is globally and most popularly known for people to be able to watch, access and download videos and parts of films. The domain name "YouTube.com" was activated on February 15, 2005 (http://www.articlealley.com/article_1482289_81.html, Accessed 18.8.10) and ever since has been the most popular website for the general public.

2.In the lecture we heard about technological innovations that were used by the studios to lure audiences (mostly to combat the popularity of TV). What recent innovations are being used to lure us in the movies? What are they luring us from?

The movies are using the same method that they attempted to do in 1952, which was creating everything in 3D. Companies and cinemas also try advertise heavily and also make the premieres of movies seem so much more appealing by having special guests. Cinemas are also known to have a 'cheap day' like Cheap Tuesday, to bring people in on a day that wouldn't normally bring people in. Any method to save money in recent times, people are gullible. They will fall for marketing techniques if they believe that they are saving money.

The cinemas are trying to lure people to come to the cinema, purely because they do now want to lose the company. The internet and downloading free or cheap movies has become such a popular phenomenon that it is a constant fear and risk of the cinemas. Why pay for a movie when you are going to have to sit through ads, be accompanied by screaming children, uncomfortable seats that you actually paid for, when you could watch a movie in the comfort of your own home for free or cheap? You can pause or rewind it whenever you want and you are watching it as the same time or before it is released. The cinemas are aware that this is reality and they have to combat it.

3. Are short films still being made? Why? Who pays for them to be made?

Short films are still being made. They are most of the time cheaper to make, as one person can afford to put the debt on a credit card, opposed to many, like an independent film maker would. Short films are made because people have ideas and want to demonstrate them, but large companies don't listen. So a short film may be an achievement, or it may be like a prototype to advertise their films which they want to make into a feature.

Short films are also great for advertisements. To get a real message across it appears that ads use the short film technique to make it really impacting. Some examples are Chanel no.5 perfume ad, Old Spice Ad and a UK Seatbelt Ad.

Short films additionally are great for "before" feature films. Pixar uses this technique before every movie. Example. It helps people get into the mood of the film and is some funny entertainment.

Most short films are self-funded, hoping to get picked up by a studio.

Airlines also use them to advertise the country and introduce the culture, nationality, etc.

4. The term viral is thrown about adhoc but what does it mean in film/movie arena?

Viral is the worldwide spreading of a video/ film/ etc. It is spread by word of mouth, people talking about it due to popularity, sending links, social networking, etc.

Examples are like Llama in Hats, Perez Hilton, Lazy town, and even the Old Spice ad that was shown above.

5. Online video distribution isn't limited to the short film format. We are now starting to see television styled shows made solely for internet release (webisodes). Find an example of this style of content and discuss how viewing television content in this way can positively and negatively affect the viewer's experience.

An example of a webisode would be 'The Awkward Man' which is a 9 part TV show for the web. http://www.theawkwardman.com/

A lot of anime would be distributed this way, as so many people enjoy it, but not enough to distribute on television.

There are positives and negatives when viewing television this way.

Positives- People can watch shows that they like.

Negatives- People will not watch programs pointlessly, and therefore the TV networks will suffer.

Week 4 Lecture Summary

Well practically everything that was said in this lecture was something I learnt this week. I was clearly oblivious to the history of television and the cinema.

I watched a documentary a couple of months ago called The Brothers Warner,

(http://www.warnersisters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1:the-brothers-warner&catid=13:the-brothers-warner&Itemid=20)
clearly about the Warner Brothers, so I knew of their many achievements in the cinema, but outside of their world, I had little knowledge of the history.

What particularly amazed me what the fact that it was 1952 that they created 3D movies. I thought that it was a recent phenomenon created in the last 15 years.

But looking over this history, it shows that history does repeat itself. even within the century. In 1952, according to our notes on learning@griffith they created this 3D television to avoid losing the battle against television. This issue that was occurring in 1952 is happening again in 2010. The television industry has bought out the '3D television'.

Therefore movie cinemas are feeling the ridiculous pressure to bring out a majority of movies out in 3D now, which is in my opinion stupid. I liked the idea of 3D being a treat but now it is just part of 'the movie experience'. But the movies have also gone from being made for 3D to just being able to be in 3D.

Example: I saw Toy Story 3 in 3D and to be honest I am so glad that I didn't pay for my ticket... It had absolutely no need to be in 3D. I also saw the movie in 2D and the experience was exactly the same. The movie had nothing popping out at me, it was hardly any different. The only real difference was that the background had more depth of field. But other then that, it was only a money making scheme.

Week 3 Lecture Summary

Week 3 Lecture

What did I learn?
I learnt that the internet is not just hte www (world wide web), as that is only a small portion.
I thought the www was all.

We also watched this video http://apple2history.org/ watching how slow the computer screens used to take to load. It makes you extremely thankful that thye have sped up, because otherwise assignments and researching would take a lot longer than it does now...

I also learnt that Bill Gates was a university drop out and that there was originally a Steam Powered Calculator that was created in the 1800's!