A Mouse and Her Girl-Part 3 (Week 8)

I have decided to use only stop motion for my video. Fortunately my sister is studying animation and is able to show me how to create stop motion using Adobe After Effects. My narrative has changed slightly since my last post and I have included the new outline here:

Act 1

• Meet Daisy and Melody.
• Introduction to their world.
• Enter Evil Overlord.

Plot Point 1

• Evil Overlord plans to send Daisy and Melody to the Mud Pits to work (it is the most evil and deadly place to be sent to).
• Daisy and Melody plan to escape.

Act 2

• Daisy and Melody escape.
• Evil Overlord realises that they are gone and makes chase.
• During the chase Daisy and Melody are separated.

Plot Point 2

• Daisy and Melody have been separated and must find each other.

Act 3

• After a desperate search, Daisy and Melody are reunited and they are free from Evil Overlord.

I will be using photos and title cards that I have created myself, so I will own them completely. The only parts of this production that I will not own, is the music. I plan to follow that 10% rule for the music, so I should not have any problems with copyright.

I plan to photograph this early next week, allowing me time to edit it together.

Let's go open source! (Week 8)

For many years now I have been using open source software without actually realising it. My dad is a fan of open source and he uses several different types of open source software. He will quite often tell me that I need to download something, because it is better than something else, or he decides to download stuff for me. This would explain why I probably have several types of software on my laptop that are open source, without me realising that they are.

These include Mozilla Firefox, Audacity and Quick Media Converter. I use Mozilla all the time, and find it easy to use. It is always strange going back to use Internet Explorer, which I had to do in my last workplace. Having used Mozilla for some time, I notice the difference and personally prefer it over Internet Explorer. For my video I used Audacity to edit the music clips that I used. I have had it on my laptop for a while, but have never used it. I found that it worked well and it was fairly easy to use. Quick Media Converter uses open source code from other software. Once again I have had it for a while but did not use it until recently. It is quick and easy to use, and does a good job converting video and music files.

What is a Produser? (Week 7)

This week the topic of the produser was introduced in the readings (Bruns, Towards Produsage) and lecture. Unlike the traditional producer, the produser is a user-producer, which introduces the ‘user-led production of content’ (Bruns).

A produser could be anyone. For example, we will all be produsers when we complete our videos. Other examples of produsage include: the collaborative development of open source software, Wikipedia, use-led multi-user online games (e.g. The Sims) and collaborative online publishing, particularly news and information sites (e.g. Slashdot and OhmyNews) (Bruns). Admittedly I have found it a bit difficult to get my head around this topic. The term produser is very similar to producer, which does not help. The fact that they are both producers of sorts can also cause confusion.

Producers are involved in the ‘traditional form of content production’ whereas produsers are user-led. The user is the producer and this can sometimes take the form of a collaborative project involving many produsers (Bruns). A prime example of produsage in action is Youtube. Many of the videos on Youtube have been made by produsers. These people are not professional filmmakers; they are users of Youtube who want to share their work with everyone else, this then makes them produsers rather than producers.

Bruns, A. Towards Produsage: Futures for User-Led Content Production, viewed 8^th September 2011, < http://produsage.org/files/12132812018_towards_produsage_0.pdf>.

A Mouse and Her Girl-Part 2 (Week 7)

I plan to use a combination of continuous shooting and stop motion for my video, it will be also be a ‘silent’ film and I will use title cards to explain the situation. I have included an outline of how I will be using the three act structure in the narrative of my video. I am still planning the storyline, so this will probably change.

Three Act Structure:

Act 1-The Setup

• Who the film is about:

          -Daisy (a mouse) and Melody (a human)
          -Lead character: Daisy and Melody

• What kind of person are they?         

          -Daisy is a mouse.
          -Melody is a human.      
          -They are friends.
          -They live in a world ruled by an evil overlord.

Plot Point 1

• Daisy and Melody must escape the evil overlord.

Act 2-Confrontation

• Daisy and Melody escape.
• But the evil overlord chases after them and they are separated.

Plot Point 2

• Daisy and Melody have escaped but they have been separated and must find each other.

Act 3-Resolution

• Daisy and Melody eventually find each other again, and can start a new life free from the evil overlord, whom they have managed to escape from.

Is Wikipedia useful? (Week7)

I have found Wikipedia to be useful. When I want to find information quickly, and it is not for an assignment, I am happy to go to a Wikipedia page. When I simply want general information on a topic that I am interested in, Wikipedia is able to supply this for me. I think the key with Wikipedia is to remember that the information can be edited by anyone, and can therefore contain misinformation (Russell, 2007).

Wikipedia can be useful as a starting point for an assignment. When I have no idea where to start, I have found that Wikipedia can offer some key ideas, making it a little bit easier to research the main points elsewhere. Wikipedia articles also offer references and citations that will often lead to other reliable sources. It is important to remember to verify the information found in a Wikipedia article to ensure that the information given is correct (Russell, 2007).

There are some educational institutions considering banning students from using Wikipedia (Bogatin, 2007). While I can understand the reasoning behind this proposal, I feel that Wikipedia does have its uses. Wikipedia can be useful as a starting point for assignments, and can provide reliable sources for students to explore. Students should not rely on Wikipedia as a source, and should always verify the information that they have found by doing further research.

Russell, A. 2007, Wikipedia: Useful Information or Unreliable Source?, viewed 8^th September 2011, <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/180706/wikipedia_useful_information_or_unreliable.hhtm?cat=15>.

Bogatin, D. 2007, Wikipedia: Should students trust it?, viewed 8^th September 2011, <http://www.zdnet.com/blog/micro-markets/wikipedia-should-students-trust-it/911>.

The Blair Witch Project and ARGs (Week 6)

One of the readings this week (Mascioni, 2010) mentioned Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), and I thought I would look at The Blair Witch Project as an ARG. It was mentioned in the lecture that when The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999, it was the most profitable film in Hollywood history. The film can thank low-cost advertising on the internet for this success. The use of internet advertising also suggested that the events of the film were real, a fact that the filmmakers took full advantage of.

Strictly speaking The Blair Witch Project did not start as an ARG, but it basically evolved into one. And it displays many of the elements of an ARG (Cook, 2009). When the film began to receive more attention, the filmmakers had to accommodate for this interest by giving out information on the internet. Some of this information included the mythology behind the film, photos, drawings and anything else that they had created (Candler). It was for these reasons that the internet advertising turned The Blair Witch Project into an ARG.

The Blair Witch Project was so successful as an ARG that many people are unsure as to whether it was real or not, and some refuse to believe that it is a work of fiction (Shamrock, 2009). While ARGs can be fun—after all they are still just a game—there are people who are unable to see the difference between fact and fiction.

Candler, S. Connecting With Audiences: Lessons Learned from The Blair Witch Project, viewed 2^nd September 2011, <http://www.microfilmmaker.com/tipstrick/Issue57/ConAud_1.html>.

Cook, D. 2009, The Blair Witch Project—10 Years Later, viewed 2^nd September 2011, <http://workbookproject.com/culturehacker/2009/07/30/the-blair-witch-project-10-years-later/>.

Mascioni, M. 2010, Transforming Filmmaking Through Crowdsourcing, viewed 1^st September 2011, <http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=709&doc_id=190970>.

Shamrock, 2009, The Blair Witch Project: Wait, is it real?, viewed 2^nd September 2011, <http://real.zachwhalen.net/content/blair-witch-project-wait-it-real>.

A Mouse and Her Girl-Part 1 (Week 6)

As part of the tutorial tasks for the next few weeks we are required to produce a short audio-visual piece. Some productions tools that I can use include iMovie or Windows Movie Maker, some Adobe products, Audacity for editing music clips, or Picasa to create a slideshow or movie.

Other video editing software includes the Sony products: Vegas Pro or Vegas Movie Studio, but since I do not have easy access to these products, I will not be using them.

I plan to use all original photos and/or video, so I will not have any problems with copyright for these elements. I will not own the music that I use, but as long as I stick to the 10% rule for students, I should not have any problems. I will also credit the songs that I use.

I am not planning on using any logos, etc in my video, so as far as I can tell I should not have in issues with defamation.

Production tools such as iMovie or Windows Movie Maker allow the user to create videos using their own footage. I will be using one of these to create my video.

In one sentence my basic concept is: ‘The adventures of a mouse and her girl’.

I plan to use the three act structure in the formation of the narrative. Fingers crossed that it will work!