Class Video

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This week in media studies we are going to be filming a short video modeled after the popular tv series The Walking Dead. This project will be acted out by members of our class and filmed by me with the help of Brock Jorgenson later in the week. I’m kind of nervous as to how it will turn out since we are trying to do a series knock-off of the show rather than a parody. We don’t have a multi-million dollar budget, comparable acting skills, multi-thousand dollar cameras, professional editors, professional costuming, set designers, and all of that other professional things that make The Walking Dead what it is. I think it would be much better to do a parody of The Walking Dead where we could really have fun with it and make a video which is both funny and have a serious plot line and would be an excuse for anything that doesn’t seem very professional, but that’s just my opinion. We need to have it all filmed in 4 days. Sometimes it has taken me up to 3 different days of filming to get enough footage for a 3 and a half minute music video, so it’ll be interesting to see if we can finish this video on time. I just hope that in the end the final product of this project turns out to be time well spent rather than a mistake!

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Equality in Media

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I personally don’t have a problem with cartoons today. Sure, there may be some female characters that aren’t as pretty as others and the main female character is rather old or attractive, but isn’t every character?  The majority of male main characters are manly, brave men rather than some lanky, awkward guy. I find that everyone is so skeptical when it comes to women be treating fairly. If it is unfair for males, it seems to be overlooked, but as soon as something doesn’t seem right for women, there is a line-up of complaints waiting.  Almost like how if you where walking down the street and saw a couple arguing and the women slapped the man, you’d probably chuckle a little, yet if you saw the man hit the women it would be a much more serious event. It just seems worse when it’s happening to women. Everyone being treated equally seems to be a big topic these days. If a show has all white characters it’s called racist. If a show has all white characters except one black character that ends up getting killed is also called racist. If a show has just one character of any race that has an extreme personality, such as an Asian who is super smart, it is called racist. Modern media sacrifices too much to try and not offend every single human on the planet rather than creating the best possible show for a specific audience. Now I’m not trying to come off as racist or discriminate against women in any way in this article, this is just what crossed my mind upon reading this. I just think that people need to stop criticizing shows if things aren’t perfect for everyone. The Walking Dead is a good example of this. In season 1, the men dominated the pack and defended the helpless females and helped by a smart Asian man. The show then got really popular and with fame comes criticism. By season two, there was African Americans, the women put in an equal effort in protecting the group and themselves, and the Asian seemed to stop making elaborate plans and strategies and seemed to fit in more. Plus I noticed that when an African American died, they were shortly replaced by another. It’s still an amazing show, but I guess they had to change to be more accepted. 

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The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead

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   So last Sunday concluded season 3 of The Walking Dead tv series and was it ever crazy. I’m not going to say what happened and spoil it for anyone who isn’t up to date on the series, but man was it ever great. It’s good to finally see some episodes where things actually happen as I found that the episodes last month felt like filler episodes with not much happening. I do always enjoy every episode though. I’ve been hooked ever since season 1, episode 1. I’ve always been a fan of zombie games and action tv shows, so its easy to see why I enjoy this one so much. The show has been a big hit everywhere and has started a zombie craze. Three quarters of the commercials during The Walking Dead are bunches of new games and movies coming out about the world being in danger by some monster, rather zombies or aliens, and just a small group left to try to survive. I don’t think anything will be able to compete with The Walking Dead’s success. Only thing that sucked about the finale was that it was that last new episode until season 4 starts this Fall. So now there’s a long wait ahead. Until then I’ll just have to survive off of Netflix or actually try having a life. Netflix sounds more appealing though…

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A Trip to the Moon

A Trip to The Moon

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When I first started watching the video “A Trip to The Moon”, my first thoughts were what the frig am I watching? I stared at my screen for several minutes with a blank expression as the video played on and on. Then I started to think about it. This isn’t some 21^st century video. This was released in 1902! This would be the first time these special effects have been seen! I thought it was funny how their concept of getting to the moon was by getting shot in a big gun rather than a rocket ship. I also thought it was funny how their logic of getting off the moon was by putting their big bullet ship on the edge of the moon and falling off. Not much research has gone into space travel at this time, so this method would probably seem logical to the people at this time. This video also showed space aliens. I think that showing aliens would put fear in the public as it would be one of the first times they’ve seen aliens on screen and the thought of that would be scary.

            I can see how the movie is known for its revolutionary special effects for that time period.  A couple that I really noticed was the powder explosion every time an alien was killed and the moon having a face when it got hit with the bullet. The alien disappearing upon being hit, signaling death is more powerful than simply falling down.

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Marshall McLuhan on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook

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I think that Marshall McLuhan would enjoy the techniques and ways of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Marshall McLuhan believes in the power of information being brief yet powerful and different. He does not like the 90-minute debates being on TV as they just go on and on rambling about nonsense trying to fill the 90-minute time frame. He also does not like when people are seen when presenting their message. It puts the focus on the person’s appearance rather than what they are saying. Someone could be saying something insightful and look like a hobo and go unnoticed while someone else talks about something bland with no meaning and have everyone clinging on his every word because they look like their word is true. Facebook and twitter is a good example of what Marshall McLuhan likes. The content on both, especially Twitter, is very brief. Twitter’s content is usually more insightful as it consists of 140 characters of thoughts that are unscripted that come at random moments. Marshall McLuhan also likes when information is different rather than the same news over and over again. Both Facebook and Twitter have unique information on them. Every time someone signs on, there is new things to look at and new post. I think that Marshall McLuhan would also like YouTube, but just not as much as Twitter or Facebook. YouTube is great with having new content and brief videos, but it also brings a visual effect into play. Some videos get viewed more based on what is seen and McLuhan doesn’t believe in that.

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The Bronswick Affair

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          I was actually surprised by The Bronswick Affiar. At first I thought it was real because of the real people interviews of how they were affected by this television. It seemed as in they were really struck by some sort of disease or something. I was surprised that I haven’t heard of such a tragedy! But as the video went on, my doubts started to come. The interviews started to seem staged and the circumstances started getting more and more bizarre. The “victims” started to seem more like actors more than anything. The further we got into the video, the more I started to convince myself that what I was hearing and seeing was not the truth. I was glad to know that my instincts were right at the end of the film when we were told that the video was indeed a mockumentary. I found it to be an effective way to spread a message. To actually put the time and effort into creating a fake story and making it look so real just to prove a point.  I imagine that the majority of people who watched this video believed it was a real issue at one point or another and has now learned a lessons into not believing everything that they see or hear even if they see it on tv.

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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Goat Coat

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The play production at SRHS this year has concluded! All those many hours of rehearsal really paid off in my opinion. We had a big cast this year and everyone was spot on for the most part. Even tech crew!!! It was really great getting to know new people that I probably would of never talked to if it wasn’t for joining the play. It was also great getting closer to already existing friends and a making some memories. You get to see a new side to people when it comes to show time. A big thank you to the costume designers for all the time and effort they put into making us look great on stage for just their names in the bulletin, thanks to Mrs. Corbett, Mrs. Hill, and Mrs. Smidt for giving up all their time to cooperate for us through all of our silliness to direct us for the best play I’ve been apart of. Also, a big thank you to the tech crew. The lights looked great and really spiced up the show, and to Mr. Mac for running all the microphones and sound. There were a lot of microphones so I bet that wasn’t a simple job. And can’t forget thanking the set crew! They helped everything move smoothly during the show. And last, but not least, thank you to everyone who helped with the show in any way and to anyone who came support us by coming to the show. But it’s not all over yet. Drama fest is coming up next month and that should be a time and a half!

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