December 3rd Blog

We are beginning the filming of our draft today. We reserved the camera again for next monday and tuesday, and will be re-shooting what we need or filming the scenes we don't finish today and tomorrow. The draft has not been started yet, but with the filming and editing we're doing the next few days it should be ready to go by monday!

Blog 11-18-10

Where is your group in the video production process? What needs to be completed? What is working out well? What have been the obstacles?

I figured it's time I get around to remembering these things (thanks to Ben Kise).
We've cast a few of the roles in our PSA, since me and Ian are running a two man crew we're not going to be able to do much of the "acting" ourselves. There is still some casting to be done, though. We need to figure out the exact time we'll be filming, and organize the equipment rental.
The biggest setback we had was having to pretty much re-make our entire idea. Other than that, things have been relatively smooth sailing, but this week I was either sick or busy pretty much the whole week, so we didn't get very much done.

BLOG #2

Everyone's seen the GoDaddy superbowl commercials. They're relatively random and unrelated, and rely almost completely on sex appeal to attract the viewer to their product. Now, the product they're advertising has nothing to do with sex (most of the time); internet domains. I haven't seen any other commercials for advertising domains, because there isn't a whole lot you can do with the idea. If you want an interesting and attention-getting ad, you want to do more than just tell what your company is and what they do. That's the overall goal, but doing it in roundabout ways is more memorable and has a greater impression on the viewer. Here, the sole important part of the ad campaigns released the last few years by GoDaddy is that there is a woman, in a bikini or a similarly skimpy outfit, simply being attractive.

Advertising doesn't have a great impact on the materials that I buy. I don't watch much television, and I usually don't pay attention during commercials. Advertisements online, in newspapers and in magazines are primarily a nuisance to me and not much more. The one exception is food commercials. If you're caught at the right time, a commercial for a new XXL pizza with every topping you can imagine can give you a bigger craving than you've ever had.

BLOG 1

When Alex and John visited our classroom over the last few weeks, we talked about interepereting media and being able to look deeper into something as simple as a commercial.
Although commercials and PSA's are relatively short compared to television shows and movies, there is still a lot of planning involved.
There are 7 steps before production, including synopsis, treatment, storyboard, etc. The two times we met helped me get a grasp of different camera angles, seeing it in a real situation was helpful rather than trying to make the shots ourselves without real examples. I have more of a clear understanding of how to create a storyboard as well.
For my critique, I will be using a clip from the movie, Zeitgeist. I haven't yet decided which section of the movie I'll be using; it covers religion, 9/11 conspiracy and bank control. I will probably be using part of the 9/11 portion of the movie, as it is the most powerful and dramatic part.
Media literacy is extremely important. If you aren't informed about media literacy, you brain is basically dormant while you're watching television. You have to excersize your mind to get a good flow of thoughts running or nothing you see will matter or stick with you. It's just a good thing to be more educated so you can get yourself deeper into subjects and topics than you would be able to otherwise.