Toys For Tots PSA Final Cut

Toys For Tots PSA Rough Cut

Passport Thief Group Project

Fair Use Remix

My use of the copyrighted material from the movie TED is covered by the sixth principle of fair use stating, "quoting in order to recombine elements to make a new work that depends for its meaning on (often unlikely) relationships between the elements." This applies to the remix i have created because i split and cut pieces from the original TED trailes and reordered them and manipulated them to create a new meaning to the film. This new combination of the clips creates a new and rather unlikely relationship between the elements of the trailer. I also added different and copyright free music from a free source to change the dynamic of the audio and create the mood I was trying to convey. 

Scene Analysis

This scene is from The Dark Knight depicting one of Batman's last interactions/fights with The Joker.

• MCU, Frontal/Low Angle, 6 seconds, Joker leaning over Batman
• MS, Profile, 3 seconds, Joker holding down Batman
• MCU, Frontal/Low Angle, 5 seconds, Joker still leaning over Batman
• MS, Reverse 3/4 Front, 3 seconds, Batman responding to Joker/Scratching him
• MCU, Frontal/Low Angle, 1 seconds, Joker reacting to scratch
• MS, Profile, 2 seconds, Batman throwing Joker over edge
• WS, Frontal/High Angle, 3 seconds, Joker falling 

Slideshow

Humpty Dumpty Audio

Audio Story Proposal

  For our audio story, I will be working with Brittany. Due to our subject matter, we will be interviewing each other as we both have similar experiences related to our topic. Our audio story will focus on our personal interactions with cancer. Each of us have a family member who is currently or has had to battle with some type of cancer. Therefore, we will interview each other not only about their stories, but also our reactions to it and how it has affected our lives. Although there are two different types of cancer being represented in our story, they both deal with a person vs. nature conflict. Even though this may cause a lot of inner conflict with the victim, it also works its way into society through organizations searching for a cure. However, at the root of it all, it is a natural, uncontrollable medical issue that causes conflict in someone's life. As for recording this story, we plan to interview in the privacy of our room, due to the fact that this can be a very personal topic. Other sounds may include music of our choice as well as the stereotypical sounds of a hospital that we plan to recreate on campus. For example, we plan to recreate the beeping of a heart monitor with the beep of our passports unlocking a door.

What would you do if you were Nido for a day?

StoryCorps Podcast

I listened to StoryCorps: 290 Homeless, Not Hopeless. This podcast consisted of the brief story of  Tierra Jackson discussing her prior struggles in high school. She is telling her story at age 23 to her prior high school principal John Horan. As she discusses the strife of her daily life in high school her principal comments on how frustrating her tardiness and lack of success in school was to him as it was clear she was a bright student. She finally explains and reveals the fact that her struggles stemmed from problems at home. The absence of her mother forced an unnecessary amount of responsibility on Tierra at a very young age which resulted in her struggles with school. She discusses how her run in with poverty and economic issues greatly effected her ability to focus on her own education. She was constantly worrying about taking care of her brother and her mother at home so the last thing she wanted as pity from her teachers or peers. Eventually she realized that she was not receiving pity but support from these people. This acceptance of help allowed her to move onto college and begin to blaze a positive path for herself and her family despite the long hours she still puts in studying. 

The conflict present in Tierras story both past and present was a person vs. society conflict. She was not able to balance the hardships of poverty in an economically unstable society with her personal life. Also the overwhelming response she tended to receive from the people in her community was initially overbearing which created a wall between her and others. While her struggles were mainly based in society they could also be categorized by person vs. person as well as person vs. herself. She felt her mothers absence became her biggest hurdle which created a conflict between her and her mother. Her mothers mistakes seemed to cause issue in her own life which is the exact opposite of what a mother should do. But more indirectly this story focuses on Tierra story on overcoming her own self and gaining self worth. Her overly independent attitude was becoming her own worst enemy and once she was finally able to allow herself to receive help and use others as support for her own well being she was able to succeed. 

Vox Pop Question

My question I plan on asking for this project is "If you were Nido Qubein for a day, what would you do?"
 I want to ask this because not only is it relevant to my audience but it is humorous and could evoke unique answers. Because I am asking my question to a group of High Point University students who are familiar with this iconic person I believe they will be able come up with an answer that is applicable, candid and sincere. This question is open ended and hopefully will force people to think of a creative response or scenario. The answers will not only reveal a bit of humor within the student body but an indirect, truthful opinion of a very influential authority figure in our university.

This American Life Review

The episode I chose to listen to for this assignment was episode 340: The Devil In Me, originally aired September 7, 2007. The main topic of this discussion is best stated in the title. The discussion is made up of three acts each revolving around different people and different scenarios but all with some type of inner conscience or being inside them. The contents of the show consists of these different individual sharing not only their experiences with such an inner demon but their stories of trying to exorcize such a thing from themselves. The unsettling idea that an unwanted inner demon is looming inside these individuals makes for an intriguing and very controversial episode.

Prior to Act One the host prompts us with a little antidotal tale of troubles between him and his wife. He discusses his uncontrollable urge to cover up any mistake he makes with a lie no matter how big or small. He discusses that part of getting older is learning about this you do unknowingly that you're not necessarily proud of. Fighting little devils inside of us. This smoothly transitions us into the story of Iraqi War Veteran Sam Slaven. Sam is self admittedly hatefully racist toward all islamic people due to his experiences in the war. He talks about how his hate for Muslim people has gotten to an extent where even he feels its out of control, to a point where he can't control his intense emotions any longer. When he says hateful he really means it too, not just silly war jokes with his comrades but feelings of tension and anxiety that arise at the mere sight of a mosque or a turban. Feelings that become so overwhelming he begins to feel unwanted malicious emotions toward islamic people he comes across no matter what his run in with them may be. The remainder of the story discusses his meeting a young Iraqi man named Yusef and his road to healing these hateful feelings. He goes as far as to join a Muslim Students Association club, which while extremely uncomfortable for him ended up in an outcome of him being able to somewhat overcome his inner racist demon, he learned to enjoy Yusef's company and actually reach out to others in order to dispel muslim misconceptions, a massive transformation for Sam.

Act two was very brief and consisted of audio clips of different individuals explaining what their inner demons where that hassle them on a daily basis. This touches on the idea that sometimes your inner voice that is telling you to do the wrong thing actually sounds like a voice, a real entity that you must obey. This mainly talks to people about how these voices lead this people to go astray more often than not and how it seems impossible to defy them. The voices direct them to do anything and everything, from smoking, binging, purging, and popping acne to tardiness and even financial mistakes. The different individuals go as far as to describe the voice as "charming" and state that even when one tries to overcome it or counter it in anyway it always seems to win.

Act three was a short and more vivid recollection of a man run in with a potential demon in a college classroom. He discusses how the news of this medium being a guest in the classroom ahead of time made him so nervous he began a type of religious boot camp just to prepare for it. Come to find out that all his imaging of a battle with the devil, a demon like face off, it basically appeared to be a joke. He outwitted the so called "medium" with a scholarly question that truthfully only the demon could answer. In some terms he left the class room still felling like he had won, but in other terms he felt a sense of disbelief and foolery. This second guessing of the validity of such demons made him begin to question not only if demons were real, but then what about angels, and the Virgin birth. Such a religiously spoken man became worried and somewhat conflicted by his phony run in with the devil.

Although the second act was very brief, actually the shortest segment of the three I found it interestingly compelling. Out of the three this story seemed to me the most raw, dynamic and believable due to the approach taken to document these peoples stories. The central conflict was directly dealing with the idea of an inner demon controlling you. This is a very vivid and real concept to talk about so the reality of it made it that much more intriguing and effective. The characters were interesting because they were very well spoken yet very candid. The back to back to back accounts of their different experiences made for a collage type of feeling when piecing the story together. They were all very different demons but seemed to intertwine because they were all facing the same issue. The contrasting tonality in each of their voices made them engaging and interesting to listen to. Also the contrast of the audio quality added to the dynamism of the piece. The phone call like sound quality placed next to the crisp voice of the host made it seem like you were witnessing an interview or a live phone call of some type which gave it validity and ethos. I feel this act was the most engaging because it was fast paced, easy to relate to and had many different levels to it that acted to create a larger picture. Overall I found this entire episode of This American Life to be unique, not what I expected and very well executed.

Podcast Review

For this assignment I chose to listen to Episode #192, "Chronicle/ In Brief: The Descendant, Tintin, The Artist" from a series entitled, "The Film Talk Movie Reviews". The Film Talk is hosted by interviewers Jett Loe and Garret Higgins but the Podcast itself is produced by Consolidated Operational Services LLC. 

The Podcast mainly focused on reviewing the 2012 film Chronicle. The show consisted of the two men creating commentary on the film as well as relating it to other better known works. The banter between the two of them created a playful yet informative dynamic to the review. Host Jett Loe started off the show by commenting on the technical and conceptual success of the movie. He commented on the depth of the writing in the movie as well as its relevance to modern society. The rebuttal and complimentary conversation from his cohost only added to the positive conversation about the film. Toward the beginning of the podcast they shared a sound bite from the film as well to help acclimate the listeners to the style of the movie. Although they mainly focused on praising Chronicle they used the last 10 minutes of the 30 minute podcast to do a quick few rounds of commentary on the movies Tintin, The Artist and The Descendants. The quick buzzer like 1 minute descriptions of the other movies added a new rhythm and dynamic to the show, 

This podcast was found under the TV & Film category of ITune's Podcast's and being that this series focuses on reviewing films I think it fits appropriately.The category could be more specifically defined as Film Review. Judging by the length of the other podcasts by them this one may have been a bit more brief and packed with more information than the others but it nevertheless appears typical of the channel. Overall the content of the podcast was intriguing and quirky and the quality was very good. The sound seemed about as clear as a good radio show which made it seem very professional. They seemed very practiced and smooth in their speech which also made it easy to listen to. The only down side was that with about 9 minutes left one of the speakers microphones decided to begin breaking up. The connection became very grainy and almost impossible to understand. While the other cohost managed to keep the show together and salvage what was left of the cast this technical difficulty was frustrating for me as a listener. I decided to stick it out and listen till the end and the strong beginning of the review seemed to outweigh the technical mistake but this mistake was undoubtedly distracting from the quality of the podcast as a whole.

Version 1

Version 2

Original

Word Layer Styles

I chose this design as a good fit for our company because we are promoting a fashion line. Our company is for college students by college students and because we are trying to promote our products and our company I think having a logo as a clothes tag would be memorable and applies to what we are promoting. This clearly identifies the company name as well as its purpose. The edgy but classy style gives it a simple but unique shape that will communicate what we are trying to convey through our company. 

Baby Bear

Made with Photoshop shapes!

A Fit for Every Font

Adjustments

Perspective Cropping

Yadkin Hall Before Perspective Cropping

Yadkin Hall After Perspective Cropping :)

Laundry Lead Photo

I think this photo will be a captivating lead photo because of its angle and composition. By choosing an action shot such as this there is a certain momentum about the photo that allows the audience to feel like they are caught in the action themselves. Also the unexpected angle of the camera looking out of the washer framing the subject gives it depth and a unique point of view for a common or everyday activity. This sums up the topic of my photo story by clearing communicating the experience in a unique and unexpected way making it an intriguing lead photo.

Change of Topic

After reviewing the requirements for the photo story project I decided to change my topic to something a bit more progressional with a clearer plot. As I began to take photos with my motion idea in mind I realized that my topic was much too conceptional and didn't have a clear plot that could be expressed in photos.
In an attempt to make the ordinary extraordinary and to explore a much more simple but progressional and interesting topic I've decided to document the adventures of a college students first experience with doing laundry. I realized that by changing my story line to this I could capture some interesting candid moments that may shed a new light on a rather mundane or typical activity. Laundry is an activity that every college student has to experience despite their gender, class, race or age so by documenting this process through a photo story I will be able to capture both the humor and the more technical elements of this non discriminatory activity.
I decided to change to this because while a day in the life of a student if very generic a day in the life of a student on laundry day is a specific and tangible experience. Also by choosing such an everyday topic I have more of a blank canvas to work with. By choosing this I will have the option to either realistically represent the process or breathe life into the characters by personifying the components of the story with captions and other headers.

Martin Luther

Out of the variety of shots I took this one is one of my favorites due to its composition. Although the face of the statue (Martin Luther King Jr.) isn't in view his disposition, his stance, and his attitude are nicely displayed. I like this photo not only because his character is easily identified but we get to share in his point of view. On a more technical level lines, patterns and repetition are prevalent in this shot. The lines of the bench and their shadows create a rhythm in the photo that is repeated by the flags in the background. The direction of the statues head also leads our eye up and to the right similar to how the flags and the bench lines carry us that way.
It could be improved by possibly changing my angle to avoid the statue's shadow interference as well as a straighter approach to accentuate the pattern of the flags even more. The lighting was a bit overpowering as well but didn't necessarily ruin the shot. Over all I chose this photo because I think it has good movement and a good sense of character despite the lack of intense detail.

Momentous Momentum

Now that we’ve began to communicate with each other on campus I think now it’s time to get moving. But wait, we already have. Everywhere you turn on the HPU campus movement is surrounding you, engulfing you or influencing you in some way. HPU is a community promoting growth, development and perpetual learning. Being an institution that leads by example motion is an ever present concept on this bustling and busy campus. Whether it’s the soft rolling of the rocking chairs, the shuffle of sandals, sneakers and loafers or the buzz of that charming security guard and his segway there is a sense of movement encircling us. It is this motion that is unique to High Point, it is this motion that propels each us of forward with an unavoidable momentum.

This story is definitely one attempting to make the ordinary extraordinary. Motion can be considered an everyday concept or an action. Here I am transforming many ordinary actions into a symbolic concept that is extraordinary and distinctive to the HPU campus. Movement communicates a subconscious message on this campus to all who inhabit it

I plan to shoot this in a variety of places around campus. My story is going to be told both by live subjects and by inanimate ones that connect appropriately. A few places for example could be through the tires of a car, the wheels of a skateboard or even the continuous falling of the water in the UC lobby. Shooting these events and things at a variety of times will also help show the versatility and continuous nature of my concept. This will help improve upon my point that even when you may not be moving on the quietest of nights, something is.

It is this something that never sleeps that creates a certain moment or inspiration for a student otherwise stuck standing still. Because of this effective impact my current working headline for my photo story is “Momentous Momentum”. I would like to express the great significance of my topic by shooting my lead photo at the Slane Recreation Center. I think an impactful shot would be one looking through a crowd of feet running on the line of treadmills in the gym. This eruption of motion in such a recurring but explosive pattern would create a powerful sense of unity in an ever moving community.

First Blog Post

Welcome to my blog for Mediated Communications! This semester I'm hoping to learn how to become familiarized with a few more movie and photo editing programs such as Photoshop and Final Cut Pro. In doing this I hope to improve upon the polish and overall organization of my final products. Hopefully these improvements in my skills will result in improved and superior work with a grade to match!