Week 7 - Tutorial Task (Filming problems and other issues overcome)

Most filming is out of the way, so it most of the editing too. Just a small video to go and a bit of tweaking with the music. Last week we got down the idea of what we wanted in the film and discussed how this may happen. We also swapped details to keep in contact and gave everyone in the group something to do. By Monday this week, between the 3 of us, we had managed to get some filming done, a few pieces of music we are allowed to use and a couple of pictures. On Tuesday, we were all going to meet up after the lecture to get more filming done. unfortunately one couldn't make it, luckily we were able to cope without.

This week we have been faced with a few problems. The main one being "shaky hands." Because we didn't have a tripod, we were faced with the problem of no matter what we did, the film was wobbling all over the place. After spending an hour at uni filming scenes that looked great on the small screen we were devastated that it looked really bad. We overcame the situation by borrowing a small gorilla tripod from another group while they were not needing it. We thank this group graciously for their help, especially Lisa Townley.  Another problem we encountered was unwanted reflections. we were shooting a scene that involved a bus going past the camera and although we didn't see it the first few times, you could clearly see a reflection of me and the camera in the side of the bus. When we re-filmed this scene we fixed the problem by putting the camera on an angle to the bus. 

While for our 2nd meeting, once again one group member could not make it but fortunately Clare was not needed for the editing process as Shaun our 3rd member would be the one handling the editing process. Shaun and I spent 2 hours after classes were over first finding a computer willing to log us on and then to download and use the editing software. While we had most of the footage and pictures needed, some things did not copy across quite right and we were still missing one scene of video. We managed to work through this by just putting what we had into order and finding out what else we may need. luckily we found we had thought of everything. We managed to cut what scenes we did have and fine tune certain things getting rid of what we didn't want or need and even started looking into transitions. By the time we left, we had most of the film in order and cut down from the originals and an idea on what transitions we would use. 

Thursday morning, we had all group members present, Clare unable to film the final scene at home due to problems with the computer has passed the job onto me after I offered, we got the pictures that did not transfer initially and we entered new footage and transitions. we also looked into music and as soon as the final scene is shot all we have to do is ad that in and fine tune the music. 

so after having to re-shoot, re-juggle, and plan a time we could all get together outside of class we have managed to piece together a film that we are all quite proud of. 

~Blue-Inspiration

Week 7 - Response To Content ( Can Wikipedia be Usefull?)

Although it is not always trustworthy, Wikipedia is a good place to start looking for something that you need information on. Through a system of a dense linked structure, meaning lots of inner links, there are many different topics that inter-relate with each other and make it easier to find the information you are after. (1). 

Wikipedia also has various other characteristics such as live updates, word sense disambiguation by URL and brief anchor texts which make the site even easier to use. (2). A lot of people think Wikipedia has more wrong information than correct but this is not true. A lot of the information is actually correct. Although it may not be the best idea to quote directly from Wikipedia, as I said before, it’s a good place to start so you can find related aspects about the topic to search elsewhere. Also, depending on who has edited or added information on Wikipedia you may get lucky with a few links straight from that page as references. 

Wikipedia is a site full of information that allows all different people to add or edit the information gathered there. Allowing people outside of the site can cause problems if wrong information is stored, however that wrong information can be corrected. It is a way for people to interact and learn through each other and from different points of views.  Someone may know what something is and decide to add it to Wikipedia but then someone else may have a better way of putting it to be made more understandable. Wikipedia is a place where information can grow.

References: 

      (1) Davison, B 200, ‘Topical locality in the web,’ Proc. of the ACM SIGIR, pp. 272–
279.

      (2)  Nakayama, K, Hara, T, Nishio, S 2007, ‘A thesaurus construction method from large
scale web dictionaries,’ IEEE International Conference on Advanced
Information Networking and Applications (AINA 2007), pp. 932–939.

      ~Blue-Inspiration

Week 6 - Tutorial Task ( Coming up with an idea for our video. )

As a group we decided to address the serious issue of how people create a false persona and con innocent people into 'meeting up'. We have decided to create this message to people to raise awareness that this really does happen and everyone should be more careful on what details they put up on the Internet. The tools we have decided to use are various images and short video clips to piece together an impacting film. Deciding to not use talking or voice overs, we are going to use blocks of text to say anything that needs to be shown. We are also planning to use a piece of music to create the mood and help people realise just how serious the issue is.

To avoid undertaking the illegal act of using someones picture as our own and creating false information, we have decided to simply change our own Facebook names and use our own pages for the task. This way we are also able to use our own images and film ourselves and a volunteer for all our footage helping us overcome the problematic situation of having to find images and video's we can use without others suing us. The issue that we are yet to come across is the use of music. If we can find some music that has no ties to legal action against us we will use that, if not i have hopes of enlisting a piano playing friend's help by asking him to perhaps help us out by writing and recording a piece of original work.

So far we have a plan set out and each of our members has a job to achieve. We will be doing our own independent searching for usable photo's and footage where needed. Plans will need to be made for a time where we can all get online for the conversations between characters to be made.

~Blue-Inpiration

Week 6 - Response To Content (How can we deal with the downloaders' attack on Hollywood?)

"If you have a fast computer and a fast Internet connection, you make Hollywood nervous. Not because of what you're doing now, but because of what you might do in the near future." (Goodwin, 2002). 


Throughout the years, Hollywood has taken on the advancing technologies as allies. Now, with the Internet and the ability to simply download movies straight to your computer is slowly putting movie making out of business as people are no longer going to the cinemas or buying the movies as much as they used to. 


When TV was first introduced, Hollywood was wary of its capabilities and competed with them by advancing their own technologies in order to draw more attention back to movies. Things like sound and colour provided new curiosity for a while but after a period of time everyone once again became used the idea. They then created 3D showcasing this to the world only through cinemas with the first ever 3D movie "Bwana Devil." Again, business took off in Hollywood's favour. In the end however, Hollywood realised that TV being invented could be a positive thing for films, which is when they came up with ideas for DVD’s selling films to people so they could watch them on their TV’s at home. 


So as technology advanced, Hollywood productions took it in their stride and made ways of benefitting from it as well.  But can this work with the Internet? With people able to download movies for free without seeing the movie previously, the future does not look too bright for the cinematic business. “As technology advances, the threat of rampant and unprecedented theft of digital media continues to grow. The music industry has already faced, and continues to face, this threat, but has largely failed in defending musicians’ intellectual property.” (Engelman and Scott, 2006). Can Hollywood hope to protect movies and their directors and screenwriters? 

Over the years less and less people have been going to the movies and instead simply downloaded online.  This may just end up killing Hollywood. If people don’t pay to see or buy the movies, then there is no way to pay for the expenses of actually creating the films. The future looks bleak for movie producers as those who download movies will end up putting an end to movies unless Hollywood comes up with a way to make money from people downloading their work freely. Although “Downloading movies or television shows illegally has not reached the same level as music,” (Rodriguez, 2006) It is sure heading that way. One idea to stop this would be to advertise more how unethical downloading is and hope that people will stop. Another idea is to introduce sampling, putting a limit on how much people can actually download.

Bibliography:

Goodwin, Mike 2002, “Hollywood vs. the Internet”, reason online.

Rodriguez, Antonio 2006, "The Relationship between Copyright Software Protection and Piracy: Evidence from Europe," European Journal of Law and Economics, 21(1), 29-51.

Engelman, Anna and Scott, Dale 2004, ‘Arrgh! Hollywood Targets Internet Piracy’, 11 RICH.J.L&TECH.3.

~Blue-Inspiration

Week 5 - Tutorial Task

Questions asnwered without Google or Wikipedia.

1.Where was the first University established and in which year?

According to WolframAlpha.com, Plato founded his Academy as the first University, in Athens, 387BC.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=first+university+ accessed 24/08/11

However other sites argue that other universities are the first to be established. Through Yahoo I found sites that said the first university was in Timbuktu, and another that claims it was one in Cairo Egypt.

http://africanlegends.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/timbuktu-the-worlds-first-and-oldest-university/

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060729054252AAiUY0V accessed 24/08/11

2.What is Stephen Stockwell's band called and what does he play?  Can you name a couple of their songs?

Through using youtube, I found a music video by Stephen Stockwell and searching through sites linked to each other I found that he was in a band called “the black assassins.” Once finding their Band page, I found out that Stephen Stockwell played the keyboard and sang for the band. A few of their songs include: Planet X, Death Take Me Now, Run Ronnie Run, ASIO, Pain Barrier, and Barricades.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~toxicoh/blackas.htm accessed 25/08/11

3.What is the weight of the world’s biggest machine? How much did it cost to build?

Using Yahoo.com I found that the weight of the world’s largest 'digging' machine is 45,500 Tons and cost $100 million taking 5 years to build.

http://www.oddee.com/item_97210.aspx accessed 25/08/11

4.Who is Justin Bieber's lawyer, and what is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact the lawyer?

Through aceshowbiz.com, It is found that Justin Bieber's Lawyer/Attorney is Kenneth Feinswog.

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/w0006112.html accessed 25/08/11

found on yahoo, the best way to contact him is by phoning him on (310) 277-8211. 

http://www.manta.com/c/mms3lh1/kenneth-a-feinswog-attorney accessed 25/08/11

5.What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Melbourne?

By searching around on ask.com I found the cheapest travel from gold coast to Melbourne would be to fly with airfaresflights.

http://www.airfaresflights.com.au/flights/Melbourne/Gold_Coast-OOL/ accessed 25/08/11

6.Who is Hatsune Miku? What company does she belong to? What is her birthday?

Searching Ask.com it shows that Hatsune Miku is a voice synthesizer program for the Crypton Future Media for creating Japanese music by fans who write their own lyrics and music. Her Birthday is on 31^st August being first introduced in 2007. the company that created her have also created a hologram of Hatsune that performs her various songs on a stage in front of a crowd.

http://kyourankyodai.com/2008/08/31/happy-birthday-hatsune-miku/ accessed 25/08/11

7.Find a live webcam in Belarus. Find a place to stay in Antarctica.

Using ask.com I found a live webcam stream from Kirova street in Minsk, Belarus at:

http://www.webcamsmania.com/webcam/kirovastreetwebcam accessed 25/08/11

Answers.com told me that tourists can stay in either the stations in Antarctica or even tents. Another answer said little houses called carbines.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_do_tourists_stay_in_Antarctica accessed 25/08/11

8.What song was top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1991?

Using Yahoo.com I found various sites that led me to believe that the song “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” was the top popular song in august 1991.

http://mag.weddingcentral.com.au/music/songs/songs1991.htm accessed 25/08/11

http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-end-of-year-charts-top-50-singles-1991.htm accessed 25/08/11

http://australiancharts.com/weekchart.asp?cat=s&year=1991&date=1991 accessed 25/08/11

http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Bryan+Adams&titel=%28Everything+I+Do%29+I+Do+It+For+You&cat=s (this last link takes you to the page where it says it lasted 11 weeks making it the Hit song all through August.) accessed 25/08/11

9. What type of car is used to make ‘Google Street View’?

According to Yahoo, the car used for Google street view is a Volkswagen New Beetle.

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/06/01/take-a-look-at-the-vehicle-thats-taking-a-look-at-you/ accessed 25/08/11

10.Translate these questions into Spanish and then translate them back into English.

Using babelfish.com: http://au.babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt accessed 25/08/11

Spanish:

1. ¿Dónde la primera universidad fue establecida y en qué año?

2. Cuál es Stephen Stockwell' ¿la venda de s llamada y qué hace él juega? ¿Puede usted nombrar unas par de sus canciones?

3. ¿Cuál es el peso de la máquina más grande del mundo? ¿Cuánto costó para construir?

4. Quién es Justin Bieber' ¿abogado de s, y cuál es el mejor contacto de la manera (lo más aprisa posible, el más confiable) el abogado?

5. ¿Cuál es la forma más barata de recorrido del Gold Coast a Melbourne?

6. ¿Quién es Hatsune Miku? ¿Qué compañía ella pertenece? ¿Cuál es su cumpleaños?

7. Encuentre un webcam vivo en Belarus. Encuentre un lugar para permanecer en Ant3artida.

8. ¿Qué canción era la tapa de las cartas australianas del estallido esta semana en 1991?

9. Qué tipo de coche se utiliza para hacer el View'? de la calle de Google del `

10. Traduzca estas preguntas a español y después tradúzcalo nuevamente dentro de inglés.

Back to English:

1. Where the first university was established and in what year?

2. Which is Stephen Stockwell' the bandage of called s and what he does plays? Can you name a pair of your songs?

3. Which is the weight of the greatest machine of the world? How much it cost to construct?

4. Who is Justin Bieber' lawyer of s, and which is the best contact of the way (possible, more fast most reliable) the lawyer?

5. Which is the cheapest form of route of the Gold Coast to Melbourne?

6. Who is Hatsune Miku? What company she belongs? Which is its birthday?

7. It finds webcam alive in Belarus. It finds a place to remain in Ant3artida.

8. What song was the cover of Australian letters of the outbreak this week in 1991?

9. What type of car is used to make the View'? of the street of Google of `

10. It translates these questions to Spanish later and tradúzcalo again within English.

Week 5 - Response To Content

The Language of Film

In this week’s lecture, we talked about films discussing why and how they are made. Having already done Screen Analysis last semester none of the content we went through was new to me.

When asked why films were made, the most common answers were: entertainment, to tell stories, express creativity, and reflect on life. Another question was “what’s the biggest aspect of most films?” The answer, that they were largely personal.

When watching a film, usually you spend a lot of time following around one specific character; the Protagonist. The majority of films are based on creating a story through the protagonist’s desire or fear that invokes a necessity to accomplish a goal.  This takes you through the character ark as the protagonist changes and learns how to overcome the most difficult boundaries. A lot of the time the main source of conflict is caused by an Antagonist; the character that is usually the polar opposite of the protagonist and seen as the ‘enemy.’ But an antagonist is not always needed or used. In order for a film to be fully successful, the audience must respond to the film through emotion whether it be feeling sorry for a character in pain, or laughing at one of their expressions. (Thomson, 2010)

In making a film, there are 5 essential plot elements and 3 plot points that need to be incorporated into a 3 part act.

Act 1: The Setup, allows time for the 1st essential plot element to be created; the introduction of the character in such a way that they are a believable character and we learn to sympathise with their life. Act 1 is also where the first plot point should be.

Act 2: The Confrontation, develops the midpoint by introducing an urgent/difficult problem to overcome and follows the protagonist as they attempt to overcome it; the 2nd and 3rd essential elements. The 4th essential element follows soon after as the ‘climax,’ the last problem to overcome. This is usually where the protagonist learns how to accomplish his goal which is the 2nd plot point; the midpoint.

Act 3: The Resolution, holds the final essential element; where everything is resolved which is not always happy. This is the final plot point.

The film ‘Rubber’ follows these steps correctly through its set up. We watch as a guy arrives in a peculiar way to come and stand in front of an audience we don’t see until he is finished to explain what we will be watching. The first plot point of the full film is created when we realise the audience within the movie and watch as they settle down with binoculars to watch a film some distance away. This ‘setup’ shows us that what we are about to see is quite absurd and out of the ordinary. We view the crowd of people watching the tyre as the protagonists as we journey with them through problems like hunger and understanding what they are watching in their own film. We feel sympathetic towards this group of people because we understand what it is like to watch movies. While they watch their own film, we are observing them and their reactions.


References:


Thomson, K 2010, 'Film Art', McGraw-Hill, p. 61.

Week 4 - Tutorial Task

Facebook and how it owns you:

I believe that Facebook wants to help you keep your privacy, as they allow you to choose who see's your posts, who can view your pictures and who can contact you.  However they say nothing about deleting your information, status' etc. after you delete the account. According to Amanda French's article on Facebook's Terms of Service; they leave out the lines in the terms and conditions that say they delete all information once it is deactivated. (Amanda, 2009). French also mentions that if you apply a link or widget to your page, Facebook takes it as an agreement to a whole lot of other claims on the content of your page. 

Facebook allows a lot of different content but will allow you to change your own preferences to seeing or not seeing particular things. For example; if you set your preferences to "do not show coarse language", it will hide other peoples coarse words with asterisks. Facebook also stops you from annoying a person, page or group too much if they find you interacting with their wall too much. First they will delete comments you make on that page, then they will send a pop up saying you have been banned from all commenting for a certain period of time. Facebook also sends you a warning when you are doing something wrong before they straight out Ban you.

French, A 2009, “Facebook terms of service compared with MySpace, Flickr, Picasa, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter”, Wordpress.com.

viewed 12th august 2011.

~Blue-Inspiration