Corn Maze Finale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7XAw9j2uSw&feature=youtu.be https://soundcloud.com/daniel-dylan-davis/corn-maze Here is the corn maze assignment I did. It consists of two different projects. One of them is a video that has me and Travis talking about the corn maze we just through and our experience with it. The other is a podcast which responds to that video, following up on it. In a way, both projects are the same, dealing with the same subject etc... However the podcast goes into more detail about what the corn maze was like. The thing about going through a corn maze is, is that it's really difficult and can be really confusing. Me and Travis spent hours trying to get through the one that we did, and as you would expect, we did not have the easiest of times. At the same time though we and especially I, had a bit of satisfaction after we had gotten through it. Regardless of my feelings on the thing as a whole, I felt very accomplished when I had gotten through the maze whole. I imagine anyone would feel satisfaction if they had gone through, and completed it, instead of turning themselves around and walking out. Another thing to note is that I could not use any of the equipment that you gave me. I tried to use the Sony Playtouch that you gave me, but that and the Vado made me a little confused when I used them, instead I ended up using Travis's own phone in order to record this video, and for the most part, I'd say it turned out pretty well, some low video quality aside, I set out and accomplished what I intended to, which was to make a short video conversation / vlog about corn mazes.

The Corn Maze Interview

For my final project (which I'm going to be doing by myself) I'm going to talking with Travis (a friend of mine). We're going to be talking about our experience and trouble of going through a corn maze, which we did around October and why it was so challenging (we got lost and it took us while to get through it), as well as the overall idea of a corn maze. Among the forms that we may use (depending on what happens), will include a combination of a podcast, a video and possibly a write-up as well, showing our interview, as well some footage and images. If all goes well, then we I may end actually using all three sources but 100% not sure at this time. Depends on what happens this week.

Snow Effect!

My video assignment is going to be 1:30 to 2 minutes and it's going to be a shot of snow followed by people shoveling the snow. The video is going to a bit of an experiment, showing how a few people shovel the driveways. Included in the video will be the sound of me taking over the footage, briefly explaining what's going on, but the primary bulk of the video will not having any talking in it, instead it will just be the footage of the person doing their thing. Most of the sound in the video will simply be natural (such as the sound of snow being picked up etc…), but the occasion sound affect added in to make a difference. The primary purpose of the video, aside from being for the project in the class (multimedia), is also to show a simple shot of someone shoveling the driveway, in a way the video almost shows the frustration of what it means to shovel the driveway, and in another way it simply shows someone doing their job, as we see the person (in this case my own mother), diligently cleaning up some of the snow on the ground near her house, as well next to her own car. I am very fortunate with this project, as it has managed to snow at home in Norwich Vermont. In fact it snowed in the city for about two days nonstop, to the point where one could assume that anyone could be snowed-in their own house. This makes the project much easier and possible to do, even if my own video skills are only average at this point and shooting outside without sunlight makes the screen look very fog-like, the second of which is a major downside related to the project. Snow is a simple weather pattern. Not everyone films footage of snow, or especially of people picking up snow, but my video is clearly not unique, it is however a bit of a test run with the camera, and also one of my major assignments in the class (Multimedia Studies). Hopefully things don't go completely wrong in regards to this assignment.

Audio Video

USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/

For this assignment I have decided to look at the USA today page.

Finding the videos on the website was pretty simple and easy. Articles and videos weren't separated or put into different sections, but videos had a play press feature, making it easy to distinguish between the two types of news format, although I still wish the site had different sections for its articles and videos, I didn't mind this approach at all. 

I watched a few of the clips on the site, and the videos feel very much like that of a television news report, with a reporter narrating and footage and interviews being shown. The average length of the videos were also around the same as that of a television news report, between 1 to 2 minutes. 

There were some minor differences as well with the videos, some simply consisted of images rather than video footage. Some of the videos also tended to end more abruptly compared to that of a regular TV news report. 

Overall I think USA today's videos are very professional well done. However the videos should really be put into a different section from that of the news articles altogether and the videos themselves are very much short on content, making them not as engrossing as they might be, had they been more detailed about what ever subject or story they may be talking about.  

USA Today is a very much a professional website, but when compared to the ireport I find it to be inferior because the ireport's articles and videos tend to fascinate and engross me more. That being said USA Today videos are not badly done, they just wouldn't be my first source of info when it came to doing a report or something. 

PhotoPeach

http://photopeach.com/album/7d82v7

Ireport

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1185261

Ireport is an interesting site.

Ireport is the collective information of various people who have taken their time to create accounts for the site and make blog posts about various subjects of things they’ve encountered, things that have too happened to them, etc... Some of these people do blogs based off things that CNN assignments, for example one of the assignments / suggestions is called “Your personal essays” where CNN suggest that you write a personal story about yourself within 1000 words or less with a photo that’s relevant to the piece, this assignment encourages writers to express themselves freely.

What I especially like about ireport is after having looked at the site, it’s very much a creative driven place. It allows freedom of expression, and makes topic suggestion, given readers a clearer idea of what they may want to write about.

I don’t know if there’s anything I would say that I don’t like about ireport. It seems like a fairly well rounded site, with a good idea and enough creative control to make the articles interesting enough.

If there’s anything I really don’t like ireport it would be the insistence on having every single blog and article have a picture or video attached to it, as I don’t have an image or video for every single blog idea out there, and it kinda annoys me honestly.

Otherwise ireport is a good site, that encourages people to express their opinions and thoughts in writing, something I’m quite for.

Slideshow Story - Cafeteria

For my group project, I plan on doing a slideshow and story based off the Lyndonville school cafeteria.

I plan on taking photos of the cafeteria, and also have planned interviews lined up with some of the staff that works there (which includes the manager Michael). Using the audio and images I will create a story that explains how a usual day goes in the Cafeteria for the staff, and even the students.

I myself have previously worked at the school cafeteria (and I have plans to come back, but currently am busy with loads of classes, so am unable to), so I have experience with the place, and am familiar with how a normal day goes for the place. Cleaning, putting food again, refilling the ice etc… All of those things will be shown in my slideshow.

Working at the cafeteria was never an easy thing for me, and what I often saw was that some of the students were often irresponsible when it came to their use of the cafeteria.

Its one thing to pick up a mess (I’ll admit I’ll left some mess at the school cafeteria), but it’s another to just leave your civil ware there and expect people to pick it up for you. The people who work hard at the cafeteria are not people’s servants, they are just regular people, who are simply doing their jobs, and most of them would very much appreciate if more people weren’t so careless.

The purpose of this project is to give more insight into just how hard working at the cafeteria can really be, but it is also to show that more people should value the school cafeteria then they seemingly do. It's cool and nice to chat with people, but sometimes cafeteria workers just don't appreciate huge messes, especially when those messes seem more careless than accidental.

I’m doing this slideshow all by my own, with no help what so ever.

Fish Chart

Slideshow Assignment

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/audioslideshow/2014/mar/20/learn-how-build-table-budget

The first link is to the audio slideshow.

This audio slideshow is about how to build a table using reclaimed or recycled wood.

The audio helps to explain the images in the video, and explains how to do the task of making a table with recycled wood. Without the audio, the images would simply be confusing, but the audio makes thing much clearer and easier to do.

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/slide-show-oldest-place-earth

The second slideshow (the one without sound) is an article I found from The New Yorker. The images show the people of Japan Nagano, who are said to live longer than anyone else in the world (the woman average 87.2 years, while the men average 80.9 years); as these images showed me, their lifestyle is relatively quiet and peaceful, and the food along with their daily practices help to keep them living longer.

Truly interesting stuff. The slideshow was very solid in showing it's points.

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/

The third link was for the photo gallery / album and was from The Hubble Site showing an expansive collection of images of planets, stars, nebula's etc...

The images show the vast galaxies and stars and so on, as seen from The Hubble telescope. Even without the descriptions and texts that were written about the images, they are still amazing, fascinating, incredible and even scary to look at and think about, showing us tales of the various encounters and sightings that were spotted coming from outside space.

Both the slideshows (audio and non-audio) and the image gallery, serve good enough functions as storytelling tools. The best of the three was the non-audio slideshow as the images were strong enough to tell a tale of the people of Japan, Nagano and their "healthy" lifestyles, and show how they manage to live for so long.

Audio slideshows (such as the one I used) often help as they explain what the images, especially if you have no idea what's going on in the images themselves (such as the images from the table recycling wood article, if you looked at those and had no idea, you'd probably be a little confused).

Both slideshows (audio and non-audio) and photo galleries can both function well as storytelling tools. It all comes down to how they're used, and if any of them are really needed.

Any story that would be better off being explained, would no doubt need audio, while any story that is easy to follow just with images would probably be better off using a photo gallery or a non-audio slideshow.

There is no real difference when it comes to quality overall, as far as I can tell. 

Twenty Highest Grossing Films Chart - A Summary

The graph I have made is of the twenty highest grossing films in the U.S. of 2014 thus far.

I have explained to Alex Johnston (a fellow roommate of mine) about what the data is supposed to represent.

On the x side of the graph we have the amount that the movies made, while on the y side we have the names of the movies themselves.

The intent of this graph was to show the current trends in movies. What kinds of films are popular, and what tends to draw moviegoers in.

Of the twenty highest grossing films of 2014, thus far only three of them were original properties (not directly based off a preexisting brand or movie), those being Neighbors and Ride Along (both comedies) and Lucy (a sci-fi film). This means that the 17 remaining films were either based off already pre-existing properties (The Lego Movie, Maleficent, Godzilla, Mr. Peabody and Sherman etc…) or were sequels (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, 22 Jump Street etc…) to already popular franchises.

Compare to this a previous year such as 1995, where of the 20 highest grossing films of the year, only seven of the highest grossing films were based off pre-existing properties or sequels.

Additionally this chart shows that comic book movies are the most popular type of film out there, as of the 20 highest grossing films six of them were based off comic books. Those being Guardians of The Galaxy (the highest grossing film of the year), Captain America: The Winter Soldier, X-Men: Days of Future’s Past, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and 300: Rise of an Empire.

Of note is that the three highest grossing “original” films were sold on star power (the main actors who tend to star in more hits than flops and are considered box office draws by the major studios).
What this research and graph tells me, is that this most moviegoers are tending to play it more “safe” these days when it comes to going to the theaters. Speaking with their wallets the average moviegoer is going to sequels and films based off pre-existing properties that they liked previously, because the effort to go the movie theater just isn’t worth it any more due to rising ticket prices.

Based off this graph and chart, Hollywood will continue to rely on franchises and sequels for years to come, as well films based off star-power. Most original movies will likely come from independent studios and filmmakers instead.