This is for Media 160...the only class to use this blog unfortunately.
Anyway here's the blog for the first assignment earlier, sorry for the lateness. Forgot the password....
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I'm not much on the media I see and somtimes use today. I see everyone at least carrying a iPod, iTouch(this sounds wrong to me the first time I heard it), Blackberry, Nintendo DS, PSP, and other electronic devices. To be honest, I just think that people buy it just because its cool and even though I admit its cool too, I just don't have any use for it. I mean do people really need such things to show off to other people when in fact they really don't give a damn. Its not just electronic devices but other things people "think" its all the rage such as Twitter, iTouch Apps, and the most annoying habit in existense: texting. The only thing I use now and forever is my cell phone. That's it.
Sorry about the rant but that's the way I see the way the media being used today. Although its not all that bad except for the constant rules I hate like copyright. Anyway, there are some places I actually like to browse to amuse myself.
YouTube - Pretty much the number one place where everyone can watch videos about anything. And I mean anything. I just like this site because its a great way to kill time and also a place to take your mind off of things to enjoy yourself. Also a great place to spam/comment with others about really funny or really bad videos.
One Manga, Fanfiction.net, and MangaFox - These places can be really great when you want to read something that may interest you on a rainy day or a relaxing day.
Random Forums - These places are great to have a debate against anybody about any subject to talk about. I sometimes go to these places to explode my rage on a bad day.
So these are the places I go to interact and discuss stuff.
Stay tuned for Blog 2 later.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
In The End Of The Semester...
The final blog post. *sigh*
Before coming to this class, I didn't know what to expect. At first I thought I was going to get the usual glossary terms but instead I get a more in depth look at what real thoughts about images, appearances, and other things are. It was a real eye opener yet sometimes I too feel the same about the compare and contrast between images and reality. Overall it was a excellent class with an exceptional professor who knows it best. You also did your part as well Prof. Souzis, thanks.
- Vanessa R.
Ads, Opinions and Bernays
Well I read the final four readings of the semester, sorry about the lateness of the post.
In "Engineering Of Consent" by Edward Bernays, he mainly talks about how to communicate with the public with the major issues we have today and how can a public relations person can do to make people aware of what that issue may be to them. Bernays describes a method to create campaigns to make people listen.
In another reading by Bernays "Promoting Lucky Strike Cigarettes to Women in the 1920's", he talks about his time with promoting Lucky Strike cigarettes to women since at that time it was considered a bad idea to women to smoke. The reason for that is because a woman's image would be a bad idea for her since it would look like she's a hussy. Together with Hill, both campaigned for women's rights to smoke in public and their "torches of freedom". In the end it was successful but then the question of the branding was not in sync with fashion. Bernays suggested the color green and then it became a sensation with now every women wearing green as a fashion.
In "Public Opinion and The Phantom Public" by Walter Lippmann, he talks about what people are thinking when looking at any advertisements and what goes through the public opinion. He also describes what the public does as one when in anger or any other feeling when talking about whatever campaign affects them.
Finally in the last reading we see what Prof. Ewen's visit to Bernays was like in "Visiting Edward Bernays" by Stuart Ewen. Ewen talk about his visit to Bernays' house and learns that public relations was about fashioning and projecting credible renditions of reality itself. He visited his house and was amazed at all the books that Bernays wrote over the years and became fascinated. They had a really long interview and it was full of surprises and both had a nice time. After the interview, he felt satisfied and strange happenings happen months after his interview. In the end, Bernays was sad about today's public relations and said that it lost its way.
The most interesting reading was the last reading with Ewen's meeting with Bernays. Who wouldn't want to meet a legend of any kind especially at 99 years old. The whole thing with images and reality to me I find true as well.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Outcome of Desire...
Really sorry for the late blogs.
Anyway, here's a brief summary of the chapters of 8, 9, 10, and the conclusion.
"Form Follows Value", "Form Follows Power", "Form Follows Waste" and "The Political Elements Of Style" by Stuart Ewen, talks about how advertising and people work together to create an image. Mainly it starts with a certain fashion when it then spreads to an idea of what life is supposed to be. Some feel like that the things they desire are the best to see and have. Things like skyscrapers are built because its modern and a better place to live. In the early 1900's, everyone wants what everyone else wants and then people faced the ultimate consequence when they feel that they lost all their money and faced depression. In the end, everything that was desired lay to waste and people have forgotten what was really important.
These chapters pretty much describes what people have gone through in the Great Depression and even now when all that matters now is being with the people you should be with the most. Everything else doesn't matter no matter what people think about materials because its simply a waste.
Anyway, here's a brief summary of the chapters of 8, 9, 10, and the conclusion.
"Form Follows Value", "Form Follows Power", "Form Follows Waste" and "The Political Elements Of Style" by Stuart Ewen, talks about how advertising and people work together to create an image. Mainly it starts with a certain fashion when it then spreads to an idea of what life is supposed to be. Some feel like that the things they desire are the best to see and have. Things like skyscrapers are built because its modern and a better place to live. In the early 1900's, everyone wants what everyone else wants and then people faced the ultimate consequence when they feel that they lost all their money and faced depression. In the end, everything that was desired lay to waste and people have forgotten what was really important.
These chapters pretty much describes what people have gone through in the Great Depression and even now when all that matters now is being with the people you should be with the most. Everything else doesn't matter no matter what people think about materials because its simply a waste.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
What I Hear...
Sorry for the lateness, I couldn't go to the last class because of a family emergency. Anyway here's my final blog post for Media 150.
"What I Hear..."
As I was walking from home to school, I could hear the usual sounds that make commuting common. The sounds I usually hear are cars horns from near and far. Some louder than others especially during morning traffic and evening traffic. The sounds of different types of engines from all types of cars. Most of the time I hear the sound of the wind blowing in my ear roughly along with the sound of the leaves coming from the tall trees. A very soothing sound to relax one's self to. Sometimes I hear small idle chitchat from people near and far talking about their own stories through the day or any other time. By the end of the day, all I hear is complete silence except for the sound of the wind and leaves.
- Vanessa R.
"What I Hear..."
As I was walking from home to school, I could hear the usual sounds that make commuting common. The sounds I usually hear are cars horns from near and far. Some louder than others especially during morning traffic and evening traffic. The sounds of different types of engines from all types of cars. Most of the time I hear the sound of the wind blowing in my ear roughly along with the sound of the leaves coming from the tall trees. A very soothing sound to relax one's self to. Sometimes I hear small idle chitchat from people near and far talking about their own stories through the day or any other time. By the end of the day, all I hear is complete silence except for the sound of the wind and leaves.
- Vanessa R.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
The Five Stories About Movies and the Internet...
Its Spring Break and I thought I was free but I still have work to do. I never seem to get a break...
Anyway there are five readings this time rather than the usual one or two. The first is called "Immigrant Women and the Rise of the Movies" by the Ewens. The first reading was about immigrants coming to America for a better life. The only thing that they carried with them to America was their values, traditions, and other important things but as Ewen explained, there can be cultural differences between the Old World and the New World. One examplel is the relationship between a mother and her daughter. A mother relies on her daughter for help around the house and for money but as for the daughter, she knows more about street smarts and tends to enjoy her independence. This can make the mother feel insecure about her daughter but the one thing that keeps families together is by going to the movies. The moves that were shown at that time were mainly drama based and they talk about the hardships of American life as well as the lives of different ethnic groups like the Italians and Jews. Movies also talk about the social status and classes of people in America as well as the difference between men and women. Immigrant women were memerized by the visual life of what a real American woman should be like and this leads to conflicts with mothers and daughters alike. In the end, woman today watch movies as an escape from their hard lives and it can also provide a visual universe of magic and illusion.
The second reading is what we were talking about for some time already. "The True Story About A Bogus Blog". The story is about own school of Hunter College and its first ever controversy surrounding a bogus blog. The story is simple, a girl named Heidi Cee was upset that her bag was stolen and it happens to be a Coach bag that her ex-boyfriend gave her. She was really distressed over her bag until she decided to spread the word out about her bag and posted her urgency on Facebook and MySpace. In the end, her bag was returned to her by a girl named Melanie and Heidi gave her the reward of $500 as promised by the wanted posters. Later she realized that her bag was a counterfeit and began to make a protest about knowing the awareness of counterfeits. The real problem was that everyone was deceived by everything about Heidi Cee. Everyone found out that she and her problem was all fake. This incident lead to question about the PR's way of campaigning, corporate satisfaction, and using a school to experiment their methods. Some were upset like my professor, Stephen Ewen and some find it interesting and effective like some PR representatives.
The third reading is "Identity In The Virtual World", a article posted on CNN.com. The article talks about the differences between your alter-ego and the real you. When it comes to the internet, you can create your alter-ego on any online games and be whoever you want to be. In the real world, you can only be yourself but sometimes you can act as your alter-ego as it seems like who you really are on the internet. If you're on online games, you can easily be who you are or if you don't like it, you can just change it to any other identity you prefer like gender, location, birthdate, etc. In other words, it is so much more fun to be anyone on the internet and it can become so boring in the real world.
The fourth reading is "Coming Apart At The Seams: Sex, Text, and the Virtual Body" by Shannon McRae. This reading is about nothing but sex and even more sex. *turns red* Mainly the reading talks about average people having sex over the internet rather than having it in real life. People use text mostly to express their sexuality and discover more about themselves. One thing that no one knows when having "netsex" is that they don't know who exactly they're doing it with. To some people, they pretend to be female and finding it very satisfying while some women pretend that they're men with equal feeling. Sometimes netsex can be done with either lesbians or gays when in reality they are just straight men and women. In the end though, nexsex is considered fun but to some they may be personal if they're looking for a real life partner.
The final reading is "Robot Telerobotics" by Judith S. Donath. The reading is about using technology to talk to other people as if they are talking to another human being. When the program to communicate was created in the beginning of the 1950's some researching were amazed at how much potential this program might have and yet there were some that didn't like the idea. The reason why some researchers didn't like it is because talking to the program cannot feel the same as talking to a real human being. Yet as time goes by this program will always be the question of whether or not its a good idea or not.
In conclusion, all these stories are based on the idea of fantasy of what we imagined ourselves doing and who we wish to become. Although we imagine ourselves to be like this its never the same as talking to another human or working hard for what you want to do or having a relationship with someone or being the same as someone else. I believe that the more you see the bigger picture looking at society from whatever medium you see, you can become more aware of yourself but in truth you can become more isolated. The more knowledge you know the more of yourself becomes detacted from others like your friends and family. More like your independence from a harsh reality. We strive to become someone else we wish to be but we also know that in the end if we can't go any further we can become miserable.
Anyway there are five readings this time rather than the usual one or two. The first is called "Immigrant Women and the Rise of the Movies" by the Ewens. The first reading was about immigrants coming to America for a better life. The only thing that they carried with them to America was their values, traditions, and other important things but as Ewen explained, there can be cultural differences between the Old World and the New World. One examplel is the relationship between a mother and her daughter. A mother relies on her daughter for help around the house and for money but as for the daughter, she knows more about street smarts and tends to enjoy her independence. This can make the mother feel insecure about her daughter but the one thing that keeps families together is by going to the movies. The moves that were shown at that time were mainly drama based and they talk about the hardships of American life as well as the lives of different ethnic groups like the Italians and Jews. Movies also talk about the social status and classes of people in America as well as the difference between men and women. Immigrant women were memerized by the visual life of what a real American woman should be like and this leads to conflicts with mothers and daughters alike. In the end, woman today watch movies as an escape from their hard lives and it can also provide a visual universe of magic and illusion.
The second reading is what we were talking about for some time already. "The True Story About A Bogus Blog". The story is about own school of Hunter College and its first ever controversy surrounding a bogus blog. The story is simple, a girl named Heidi Cee was upset that her bag was stolen and it happens to be a Coach bag that her ex-boyfriend gave her. She was really distressed over her bag until she decided to spread the word out about her bag and posted her urgency on Facebook and MySpace. In the end, her bag was returned to her by a girl named Melanie and Heidi gave her the reward of $500 as promised by the wanted posters. Later she realized that her bag was a counterfeit and began to make a protest about knowing the awareness of counterfeits. The real problem was that everyone was deceived by everything about Heidi Cee. Everyone found out that she and her problem was all fake. This incident lead to question about the PR's way of campaigning, corporate satisfaction, and using a school to experiment their methods. Some were upset like my professor, Stephen Ewen and some find it interesting and effective like some PR representatives.
The third reading is "Identity In The Virtual World", a article posted on CNN.com. The article talks about the differences between your alter-ego and the real you. When it comes to the internet, you can create your alter-ego on any online games and be whoever you want to be. In the real world, you can only be yourself but sometimes you can act as your alter-ego as it seems like who you really are on the internet. If you're on online games, you can easily be who you are or if you don't like it, you can just change it to any other identity you prefer like gender, location, birthdate, etc. In other words, it is so much more fun to be anyone on the internet and it can become so boring in the real world.
The fourth reading is "Coming Apart At The Seams: Sex, Text, and the Virtual Body" by Shannon McRae. This reading is about nothing but sex and even more sex. *turns red* Mainly the reading talks about average people having sex over the internet rather than having it in real life. People use text mostly to express their sexuality and discover more about themselves. One thing that no one knows when having "netsex" is that they don't know who exactly they're doing it with. To some people, they pretend to be female and finding it very satisfying while some women pretend that they're men with equal feeling. Sometimes netsex can be done with either lesbians or gays when in reality they are just straight men and women. In the end though, nexsex is considered fun but to some they may be personal if they're looking for a real life partner.
The final reading is "Robot Telerobotics" by Judith S. Donath. The reading is about using technology to talk to other people as if they are talking to another human being. When the program to communicate was created in the beginning of the 1950's some researching were amazed at how much potential this program might have and yet there were some that didn't like the idea. The reason why some researchers didn't like it is because talking to the program cannot feel the same as talking to a real human being. Yet as time goes by this program will always be the question of whether or not its a good idea or not.
In conclusion, all these stories are based on the idea of fantasy of what we imagined ourselves doing and who we wish to become. Although we imagine ourselves to be like this its never the same as talking to another human or working hard for what you want to do or having a relationship with someone or being the same as someone else. I believe that the more you see the bigger picture looking at society from whatever medium you see, you can become more aware of yourself but in truth you can become more isolated. The more knowledge you know the more of yourself becomes detacted from others like your friends and family. More like your independence from a harsh reality. We strive to become someone else we wish to be but we also know that in the end if we can't go any further we can become miserable.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Video Editing...
I just wanted to tell you about what I know from my editing experience and other stuff.
I started learning on my own with video editing since 2000. I made a couple of videos in the beginning with several favorite series coming from the world of Japanese animation. Unfortunately, they did not turn out the way I thought they would but it was a good first try if I do say so myself. Later on for a few years, I watched countless anime music videos or as we call it 'AMV's' and they were all really professional and stunning. I was always looking for new ways to improve my videos. I even began to understand the programs people used most of the time and apply their imagination to their video. Most music videos are mainly narrative based on the series they select. I made a mental note for editing programs that can be helpful going up the ladder.
Beginners Programs
Windows Movie Maker - This program comes along with Windows and happens to be the first video editing programs I had fun making movies with. Nowadays, for people who like making much better videos, this happens to be the most hated programs because it freezes a lot and lacks editing tools but great for starters.
iMovie - This program comes along with the Mac and it also happens to be another beginners editing programs as well. I only tried this once when I was at City College for a semester and I think I found a even more hated program other than Maker. I couldn't move the clips easily and it was annoying working with the audio. Never again will I work with this program again.
Intermediate Programs
Adobe Premiere(any version) - A program I'm working with right now and I'm pretty great at it. Not to mention a whole lot better to manage certain tools and clips and really great at organization. I made a majority of my fanmade videos using this program after I had my internship at BMCC. I even made a video that I submitted to anime conventions last year and won a total of five awards, four for best drama category and one best in show. Here's my video that someone recorded at a anime convention called "Anime Boston" held in Boston. It won for Best Drama and from what I heard a close winner for best in show. When I first uploaded this video I had up to close to 20,000 views a lot of comments.
Title of the Video: Escaping But Not Far
Anime Series: Death Note
Song: "Bird and the Worm"
Artist: The Used
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cKdUFY2gK0
Sony Vegas Pro - A program that I heard a majority of editors use but they swear to and that it creates videos on a whole new level. Its a program I'm currently testing and I really like how it turns out in small clips I exported. The best part of Vegas is that I can FINALLY upload a high quality videos up on YouTube or even better...HD!! As for an example of a video made from this program here's one from a studio named A2000A and the editor is Koopiskation. I hope someday that I can make a video like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujU9q3Equ60
Advanced Programs
Avid Express Pro/Mojo - A program I used on my last year in BMCC. Its also the program I edited a majority of my documentaries on as well. When I first looked at it, I couldn't believe all the many options you can pick from but I know that I really need only a few to complete my videos. My favorite effects I really love to use while editing certain videos were pan and scan and using masks of any size. Along with the program, the keyboard had the same tools as what you can see on the program. The only thing that I find kind of annoying is the constant firewiring and use of the video deck. It gets worse at the end of the semester when the entire video lab is crowded and have every station occupied, but that's how it is anyway.
Final Cut Pro - Just as Sony Vegas, a majority of editors also swear by it. I only saw a glimpse of it just last semester and I was surprised that it looked almost exactly like Avid. So now that I've seen it, I would know how to edit videos using the tools I've worked with before.
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I know this random post is long but I wanted to say it anyway and to also have a connection with what you wanted to see a video of my editing. One more thing, I couldn't find my film reel with my work but I was extremely lucky to find the montage video I was talking about.
EDIT: I almost forgot to tell you about that website I was talking about before. Its a website that I use sometimes when I feel like downloading something from a streaming site that doesn't give any option for downloading the video. Here it is...
http://www.mediaconverter.org/
The instructions are self-explaintory and it can apply to any streaming site you go to.
I started learning on my own with video editing since 2000. I made a couple of videos in the beginning with several favorite series coming from the world of Japanese animation. Unfortunately, they did not turn out the way I thought they would but it was a good first try if I do say so myself. Later on for a few years, I watched countless anime music videos or as we call it 'AMV's' and they were all really professional and stunning. I was always looking for new ways to improve my videos. I even began to understand the programs people used most of the time and apply their imagination to their video. Most music videos are mainly narrative based on the series they select. I made a mental note for editing programs that can be helpful going up the ladder.
Beginners Programs
Windows Movie Maker - This program comes along with Windows and happens to be the first video editing programs I had fun making movies with. Nowadays, for people who like making much better videos, this happens to be the most hated programs because it freezes a lot and lacks editing tools but great for starters.
iMovie - This program comes along with the Mac and it also happens to be another beginners editing programs as well. I only tried this once when I was at City College for a semester and I think I found a even more hated program other than Maker. I couldn't move the clips easily and it was annoying working with the audio. Never again will I work with this program again.
Intermediate Programs
Adobe Premiere(any version) - A program I'm working with right now and I'm pretty great at it. Not to mention a whole lot better to manage certain tools and clips and really great at organization. I made a majority of my fanmade videos using this program after I had my internship at BMCC. I even made a video that I submitted to anime conventions last year and won a total of five awards, four for best drama category and one best in show. Here's my video that someone recorded at a anime convention called "Anime Boston" held in Boston. It won for Best Drama and from what I heard a close winner for best in show. When I first uploaded this video I had up to close to 20,000 views a lot of comments.
Title of the Video: Escaping But Not Far
Anime Series: Death Note
Song: "Bird and the Worm"
Artist: The Used
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cKdUFY2gK0
Sony Vegas Pro - A program that I heard a majority of editors use but they swear to and that it creates videos on a whole new level. Its a program I'm currently testing and I really like how it turns out in small clips I exported. The best part of Vegas is that I can FINALLY upload a high quality videos up on YouTube or even better...HD!! As for an example of a video made from this program here's one from a studio named A2000A and the editor is Koopiskation. I hope someday that I can make a video like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujU9q3Equ60
Advanced Programs
Avid Express Pro/Mojo - A program I used on my last year in BMCC. Its also the program I edited a majority of my documentaries on as well. When I first looked at it, I couldn't believe all the many options you can pick from but I know that I really need only a few to complete my videos. My favorite effects I really love to use while editing certain videos were pan and scan and using masks of any size. Along with the program, the keyboard had the same tools as what you can see on the program. The only thing that I find kind of annoying is the constant firewiring and use of the video deck. It gets worse at the end of the semester when the entire video lab is crowded and have every station occupied, but that's how it is anyway.
Final Cut Pro - Just as Sony Vegas, a majority of editors also swear by it. I only saw a glimpse of it just last semester and I was surprised that it looked almost exactly like Avid. So now that I've seen it, I would know how to edit videos using the tools I've worked with before.
----------------
I know this random post is long but I wanted to say it anyway and to also have a connection with what you wanted to see a video of my editing. One more thing, I couldn't find my film reel with my work but I was extremely lucky to find the montage video I was talking about.
EDIT: I almost forgot to tell you about that website I was talking about before. Its a website that I use sometimes when I feel like downloading something from a streaming site that doesn't give any option for downloading the video. Here it is...
http://www.mediaconverter.org/
The instructions are self-explaintory and it can apply to any streaming site you go to.
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