"A Million Ways" to do a Film Project

For the film project, Erin and I got brainstorming on creating a music video. When deciding on what song to use, I thought we should try for a song by an independent band and avoid mainstream music (and copyright issues). Erin found a French song “Étienne d'Août” by Malajube, and it seemed to fit our idea perfectly. We had a few ideas about how to film and the kind of shots we wanted to take. Our ideas required more people, so we decided to invite Josie, Katrina and Laura into our group.

We decided to begin the video, we should do something all out fun with parts of dancing. I told my group we should do something neat, like the backyard video the OK Go did for their song “A Million Ways”. I have known the dance for over a year now, so I took it upon myself to teach small bits of it to the rest of the group. Whoever said media students were great dancers? It was a lot of fun doing small parts of the dance, and we were able to do the whole dance with cutting inbetween. After that, we proceeded with some more choreography done on the spot at different angles. We also rotated each other around to take turns to film so everyone else could be in it (we didn’t exactly want to trust anyone else with the camera we rented from Humber).

We thought the footage we filmed was great, but after a while we decided to have fun. I played around with the different special effects features while filming students walking up and down the Guelph Humber spiral staircase. Imust say, the angle shot I took was pretty neat, and none of the students noticed me filming their feet for a good 2 minutes.

When we were done filming, we decided to upload the footage to Erin’s laptop using firewire. We tried to fiddle around with special effects and neat film designs, but when it came to saving the video, the file wouldn’t save at all. We tried to change it into pieces, but that didn’t work either. We concluded it was probably the size of the file that would not allow us to save with the amount of memory on Erin’s laptop, so we have no final product to show =(. I must say we did have a great time though filming, it’s just a shame we didn’t get to save it.

Media Timeline

My group members and I got thinking of the media timeline, and it didn’t take too long on what we felt to be considered an accomplishment to today’s society. We felt that electricity, the printing press, the Internet, the alphabet, and the telephone to be effective forms of media communication in today’s society.

Our lovely timeline begins with the alphabet.

The alphabet doesn’t just create itself over night, but instead it took a series of steps. It began with the use of symbols as a form of written communication. As far as we’re concerned, the very first use of symbols between each other was through early caveman paintings, where pictures and symbols were drawn out. Progressing after that, the early Egyptians used hieroglyphics to communicate. This was around 3200 BC, and the Ancient Egyptians were able to establish the first pictographic writing.

Next in our media timeline is the printing press. The printing press was invented in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg. He established to turn our language into a form of communication technology. This gave everyone the new ability to learn how to read rather than resort to verbal communication. This form of communication created the means needed to learn how to visually teach ourselves a different way to learn. The Catholic Church had a bittersweet encounter with the Gutenberg’s invention. The upside to Catholicism at the time was that numerous Holy Bibles were printed, enough for almost every family to have in their home. The downfall was when indulgences were printed and stacked ready to be signed by priests. At the beginning stage of the printing press, there was very limited knowledge they were able to print at the time (only the Holy Bible and indulgences). Today, the printing press has evolved to providing us with newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, and books filled with knowledge. Since the invention of the printing press, we were able to teach ourselves to read and write the alphabet and turn our speech into a visual means of communication

Electricity can be transformed into light and heat, as it is a form of energy. Alessandro Volta is responsible for inventing the battery. The battery was the first source of continuous electric current that was contained within an object. This form of energy source evolved into detachable energy providers to portable devices, such as automobiles, telephones, laptops, and cameras.

Our next remarkable invention is the telegraph. Samuel Morse invented the first telegraph in 1837. He created a way to travel signals through wires to reach a lengthier distance between two people. This form of communication. It was only until the late 1870’s where Alexander Graham Bell found a way to transmit verbal speech through what was called the telephone. Just a year later, Thomas Edison improved the quality of the sound in the telephone and made it popular to have.

The Internet now closes our media timeline. In1969, the Internet was first invented through the use of modems and a phone line. Today it has grown into the popularity where we use it as a source of information, entertainment purposes, email, instant messengers, and even blogs =).

"Electricity." Canada Science and Technology Museum. 10 Nov. 2007 http://www.sciencetech.technomuses.ca/english/schoolzone/Info_Electricity.cfm.

"History of the Printing Press." The Great Idea Finder. 1 May 2007. 10 Nov. 2007 http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/printpress.htm.

"Telephone History." Private Line. 10 Nov. 2007 http://www.privateline.com/mt_telephonehistory/.

"The Birth of the Alphabet." CedarSeed. Joumana Medle. 10 Nov. 2007 http://www.cedarseed.com/water/alphabet.html.

Project Burma; Successful!!

Consider this a night to remember! I just got home now from our event and I can honestly say I don't remember the last time I had this much fun.

All of our hard work, input, and efforts for the past month and a half have finally paid off. Not only did we get the word out about our cause, but we raised a total of $985.82!! I am so proud of myself and the rest of my group members, I could not have asked for a better team to make this event as amazing as it was. I believe that the money we raised says something about how much awareness we caused as well as the people we got involved. Raising almost $1000 is a high accomplishment, but we were also able to get our audience to sign a petition and a banner as well to help Burma. All proceeds and money are going strictly to Burma. We would like to donate our profits to a U.S. campaign and organizations that support Burma, but we will have to discuss it as a group on how we should approach it.

I am also very pleased with the videotaping we got done. We got a filmographer to film the entire show including our in between video presentations and clips about Burma. We will be getting a copy of this tape and sending it to Muchmusic to reach a higher audience to gain awareness about Burma. Hopefully it all works out.

For the most part, the bands were amazing and insanely generous with helping us out. Near the end when wrapping up our event and cleaning things up, members from Explosure, the Lunateers, and Mouthful of Strings emptied their pockets and gave us some donations for our cause. I can’t find anything sweeter than talented band members who donate from the heart; we were definitely not expecting them to do so after the great show they put on for us.

It is amazing how I began this project with just Erin and I. Erin was very passionate about this subject, and after doing some research, it looked like an amazing cause for us to pitch. This was definitely too big of a task for us two to handle, so we decided to send out a group e-mail to all the students in our class asking anyone who would like to be interested, in joining the group. After rallying all of the confirmed group members, I decided to take it upon myself to schedule and hold the group meetings so that each one of our members was informed with our updates. I also took part in choosing the musicians with Katrina and narrowed it down to the final six. The band I was responsible to keep in close contact with was "Mouthful of Strings", a Mississauga band I was able to constantly keep tabs on in terms of their song choices they had prepared as well as the technical stage equipment needed. The bands who agreed to play for our concert were very generous and cooperated to play for our non-profit cause.

Katrina, Jeremiah, Josie, Elisha, Robert, Laura and I showed up two hours ahead of schedule to assure all the equipment rented was functioning as well as the sound system and powerpoint. After doing sound checks with a couple of the band members, the rest of us decided to put up our posters of Burma with awareness facts and how we could help. When Erin arrived, we set up a banner and petition for all our audience members to sign to help support our cause throughout the night.

I am still shaking from this evening and I cannot believe the overwhelming sensation I am getting. Maybe this is a rush of achievement. Maybe? I’m not too sure but I can’t stop smiling like a fool =D

A huge thank you to my group members (Erin, Laura, Katrina, Josie, Jeremiah, Robert, Meghan, Mandi, Elisha) because without them, we wouldn’t have made our night as memorable as it was. Not only has this experience bonded us closer together, but I feel as if I belong to something incredible. I never felt that I could be a part of something before, and for once I feel included.

They are all talented individuals and I am so happy I have had the pleasure to work on this special project with them. This project would honestly not have been as successful without you all, so I believe we should all be proud of ourselves for the amazing deed we have done.

Media Map

My group members Laura, Katrina and I decided to do our Media Mapping Project on CanWest Global Communications. When we met, we didn’t know whether or not to do big companies like Disney ©, so we decided to stick to our Canadian roots instead. Laura, Katrina and I mapped out the company and the different branches they own on a Bristol board. Here is what we got:

CanWest Global
Broadcasting/Cable
Global Television Network
DejaView
Fox Sports World Canada
Mystery TV
TVtropolis
X-Treme Sports

Internet
CanWest Entertainment
Canada.com

Publishing
Calgary Herald
Edmonton Journal
Montreal Gazette
National Post
Ottawa Citizen
Vancouver Sun

We decided on this information to be used, and as we printed out all the necessary company logos and information for our web, Laura volunteered to take the poster home and put it all together on a Bristol board. We learned that major companies are owned by even bigger companies who take earn a portion of their shares. We also learned that a company is never really alone and is linked to some of familiar names in the industry.

Project Burma; preliminary stages

For our activist group project, we wanted to raise awareness about the protests in Burma. There are monks rallying together to raise awareness of their fight for democracy and freedom of speech. The monks in Burma are peacefully protesting in order to spread the concern of the mistreatment of fellow Burmese citizens.

I discovered that this began August 19, 2007, less than two months ago. The Burmese military and the government shows no mercy and does not publically speak of what has occurred. They are told to shoot anyone on sight if they appear to be escaping. Children are now recruited to fight in the military because adults will no longer be a part of it. A boy told Human Rights that he was forced into the military at the age of 11. He was unable to resist or else they would kill him and the rest of his family. Children are now forced to fight and it is unfair as to how far the Burmese government will go.

Thousands have already been put behind bars and are constantly tortured and mistreated.

On our first official group meeting, we ran a couple of ideas amongst our group members and decided to do a form of a fundraiser. We did not know what would be the best solution to raise awareness, and decided that a concert will be the best idea. We are currently getting ideas together and everything else is still in the preliminary stages, but hopefully we can make this work within the month =)


http://www.witness.org

Podcasting Value Village =)

One trip to Value Village earlier today turned out to be a lot more fun than I expected. This has been my second time at going into a Value Village, and my group member Erin and I decided to view all of the things we found interesting.

Our main focus was set upon the shoes and accessories, since that had to be one of the largest selections to choose from. Erin and I decided to have some fun with our podcast and took turns trying on some extravagant items. It was a lot of fun but we showed how creative a person can be with the items they can find at their local thrift shop. Some of the items we tried on were super retro, but it made us feel good about ourselves that we were having fun in such a simple location. Another perk about shopping at a Value Village is those low on money can find decent clothing to wear for all seasons at a fraction of the price.

My best friend Nicole shops at the local Value Village near her home in Oakville all the time, and unlike me she is able to find the neatest pieces of jewellery and shoes to make it into a combination of her own. My first time in a Value Village was with her this past summer when we decided to do some ‘thrift shopping’. Even though it was the middle of July, I was searching for a comfortable sweater to become a part of my ‘bumming out at home’ outfit. I was in need of a new sweater I could wear at home while I did housework, cooking and even some homemade baking (I’m a rubbish cook, but at least I’m not afraid to try!)

As luck may have it, I was able to find a medium sized white zip-up I can proudly say I wear around the house and for my early morning jogs on a casual basis. I ran out of money since this school semester began, and I am certainly glad of my summer purchase that saved me about $30 at a shopping mall.

I told Erin of my first trip to Value Village, and she and I decided to talk about our own personal expieriences shopping for our podcast. As university students, we know we are under a budget and cannot afford neat accessories and clothes (all our money mainly goes to gas, bus tickets, and food). Erin and I thought our interesting finds around the store made us feel happier since we were able to purchase used goods at an affordable price. As a result, we accomplished to look through used goods and make them useful for us.

A person’s trash definitely can be another person’s treasure at Value Village =).

Image Distortion

For the group project with Mandi and Meg, we chose image distortion. At the stages of the discussion process, Mandi, Meg and I thought we should run by a topic reflecting upon women’s sexuality, exploitation, or patriarchal societies. It came down to an image shown in John Berger’s Ways of Seeing that we finally made a decision. In Chapter 2, there are exquisite photos of women in all different body shapes and forms. In my opinion, each woman is potentially beautiful because of the confidence they portray in their poses. The pose on page 45 made us think that we should talk about how images are made to influence our emotions, on body image.

When we saw this image, we saw what the definition of natural beauty used to be. If you look closely, you see a male figure watching the woman through the window like a piece of meat. Today, this is how the media displays women as, objects for the public to gaze at without appreciation of who she is.

This is where we brought image distortion into our image slide show. Our slideshow is a collection of various pictures and images we distorted ourselves to display just how much manipulation can be put into a photo in order for it to be called beautiful. Being beautiful like these women will make you a "happier" person.

It is not only women, but men are also viewed in a way where they appear “just for show”. Predominantly, our focus was on how anything in the media can be altered to fit the writer’s perspective.

We also learned the alteration of images in the media have a strong impact on the general public in terms of what we purchase, what we consume, and the different messages we absorb (hidden or not). No one realizes that a simple advertisement can change our spending habits almost instantaneously and input ideas into our heads; ideas marketers do not want us to recognize off the bat.

Amongst my group members and I, I found that I probably consume a lot more from the TV than the two of them. Mandi does not have cable in her room at res by choice, and the only show Megan assures she tunes in to is her Tuesday night "Gossip Girl". Since I commute from my home in Mississauga, I'm guilty for tuning in to about three TV drama shows a week, which is evident on how many coffee and clothing advertisements I am exposed to. On the comparison of advertisements, it is relatively the same since billboards splash across the same distorted images. The media affects our ideas on body image when we see these images. We either see someone we adore or someone we envy and want to become; no matter what, these distorted images will always toy with our emotions.

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin, 1972.