Sustain Champlain Video Reflection

Here is our video for the Sustain Champlain projects.



I really enjoyed this project, especially since we had the freedom to put our own spin on the project. We basically could do anything we wanted as long as it pertained to the Sustain Champlain topic.

I think the heardest thing for us was the actual shooting. We had a few problems with the tripod and the weather was not the best for shotting. There was also a fairly heavy breeze during shooting, so we couldn't use any of the natural sound when we shot outside.

Editing took a pretty decent chunck of time, but it went by pretty quickly. The only problem we had with editing was actually finding the footage on the tape. We thought we lost all of our footage, when really it was just that Gregor forgot to turn off the camera before he put it in his pocket.

I think our video came out pretty well. We used a few of our power tools, like humor rhetoricial questions and others. The music fit the mood of the video perfectly, adding so much more to the video. The on screen text worked much better than any voice over in my opinion.

Top 10 Electronic Media Writing Revelations

REVELATION ONE: SO MANY JOBS!
I think my first revealtion would be how many different styles of writing there are for various types of media. I can't really quote a passage from the book because its pretty much the whole book that made me realize that there are SO many different styles and techniques for EVERY type of media. Each one has a different method or style, and it really just opened my eyes and made me realize that wow, there is more than your run of the mill movie script. There is something for everything.



REVELATION TWO: TV shows, simple entertainment or complex and in depth?
My second revelation has to do with TV shows. I learned so much this year about TV shows that I never knew before. While watching I never really realized all of the different things that go into TV shows. Like when Hillard states on page 21, right off the bat he states that a TV writer doesn't have to know all of the elements of the production, just basic knowledge of shots and angles. This was one of the first things I read from this book, and it really stuck out to me as something that never even remotely occured to me. There is just so much stuff that I never realized was happening, especially when it was something so familiar as TV.



REVELATION THREE: Power Tools!
My third revelation has to do with the power tools. I never knew that there were so many underlying techniques to commercials and such to try and get us to feel a certain way without even realizing it. It just blows my mind that a commercial can influence the way I think when I don't even realize it. Its truely amazing that this is happening everytime I watch an ad on TV, which if I'm watching a long program or a sports game, could be a lot of ads. Its also fun that I now realize these things and can say "Oh, that commerical is trying to get me to buy their product by using an attractive woman. Beautiful people!"



REVELATION FOUR: Scripts, Scripts, Scripts
My fourth revelation is about the scripting. The different methods of scripting really helped me out this year. I had no idea what a two column script was, or that I am supposed to have the audio in a certain format and the video direction is a different format, but then when Hilliard went and showed me, it was really useful to know, especially when I need to write scripts for other classes. These different types of scripts really helped me understand what to do, and probably got me better grades, just because I knew the correct format for a certain type of script. I now know a whole lot more about scripts because of this book than I did before.


REVELATION FIVE: Twitter-The Social Media From Hell
During this class, we have used Twitter on several different occasions. Let me tell you, this has just reinforced my raging hate for Twitter. I can't stand it. I, in no way, want anything to do with Twitter. I don't care what some celebrity did today. Oh, Ashton Kutcher went to see some obscure movie? Cool, I don't care. Little Jimmy had eggs and ham for breakfast? Awesome, let me throw him a party for EATING BREAKFAST! Everything about Twitter just frustrates me. If I wanted to know what one of my friends were doing, I would ask them, instead of getting "Tweeted" at or notified everytime someone says something. Its a huge waste of time, and personally, I think it is an invasion of privacy. Everyone doesn't need to know everyone else's business or what they are doing. End of story. I do understand the positives to Twitter, but my endless cloud of hate makes me bias. Yes, it can be helpful for work, yes. I might have a better chance of finding a job if I used Twitter, but honestly, I don't care. I. Hate. Twitter.



REVELATION SIX: Facebook.
Facebook has become one of the largest and most influential social sites of all time. And unlike Twitter, I don't hate facebook with a firey rage of a million angry gods. Quite the opposite actually. I think Facebook is a great site, and because of this class, I have learned even more about it and how it has been helpful. Personally, I use it to keep it touch with people from back home. I'm not going to call my friends once a day to talk to them, that would be creepy and a waste of minutes. Instead, I can Facebook chat them, making it much easier and convienent. Facebook can also update people on upcoming events or things like it. Facebook can be extremely helpful and is generally a great site for social media.



REVELATION SEVEN: VISUALS AND MUSIC
Music has influenced a large chunk of my life. When Hilliard made the statement on page 314 about how visuals need to be integrated with a program to hold the viewers attention, it instantly made me think of music videos, and I realized how much this is true. A good music video can boost a song infinite amounts because of the viewing it will receive on the airways such as MTV or FUSE. The same could be said about a bad video, if it has a bland, boring video, it may not do as well because TV stations won't play it as much.



REVELATION EIGHT: INTERVIEWS
When reading the section on interviews, I learned a lot of good things I never would have know without this book. I never knew that many, if not most large interviews were not on the spot, but rehearsed beforehand. While this may make sense, I always thought that the beauty of interviews had to do with the on the spot answers, and that's what made them good, so when I found out many interviews were rehearsed beforehand, it kind of took away a bit of the interest in interviews for me.



REVELATION NINE: DOCUMENTARIES
While reading the chapter on documentaries, it made me realize that documentaries are probably them most unappreciated form of film. I may be going out on a limb to say this, but I would say that when most people are presented with the idea of a documentary, they immediately are opposed to the idea, even if it is a film that has won the same awards as a feature film. They are just viewed as boring educational tools, instead of interesting films that take just as much, if not more effort to make than a regular feature film. But when presented with a well liked documentary such as the most recent series, Life, most people don't even realize that this program is in the same category as all of the boring films they watched in middle school.


REVELATION TEN: ALL OF THE AREAS SOCIAL MEDIA IS USED
During this whole course, I was really awakened to the fact that social media and electronic media writing is being used in almost literally every job these days. In some way or another, something I have learned in this course will be applied in any future job I may have. Whether it be my job from hell (using Twitter all day) or something as simple(or not) as a potential job checking your Facebook to see if you have any "incriminating" evidence, it is now a prevalent force in the workplace, and having more knowledge of these things could boost anyone up from having a job or not.

Media Meditation III: Miracle at St. Anna

I watched a movie a few weeks back called Miracle at St. Anna. It was about a black group of soldiers in WWII. It was a great movie in an overdone genre.



There have been countless Saving Private Ryan knockoffs since the movie first came out, most of which crash and burn for being a lame excuse of a war movie. But Miracle at St. Anna was different. It was like a breath of fresh air in a giant pit of garbage.

This movie is about four black soldiers in WWII who get stuck in a village in Italy after their company was attacked. They develop relationships with the villagers while trying to keep from killing each other. There is everything a war movie should have, from great action, to excellent character development to that final battle scene in every single war movie that has ever existed.

It was also definitely refreshing to see black soldiers being the focus of a movie, instead of the typical white battalions that are portrayed in the other war movies. Even if it wasn't perfectly historically accurate, it makes the movie stand out from your run of the mill WWII movie, which was quite nice. The movie also focused more on the characters and their predicament and how they dealt with it, rather than just senseless battle scene after battle scene of American soldiers slaughtering Nazis.

This movie made you think a bit, which really focused on the limbic and neocortex brains, but it also had its fair share of good action scenes which made your reptilian brain scream out in awe and wonder. The three together fit perfectly for this movie, just increasing its value of a movie.

This movie was a great movie. You really get attached to the characters, which is always a plus in my book. The action scenes are excellently done, giving it another wow factor. Pretty much all aspects of this movie were well done, from the acting to the directing to the writing. An excellent movie that stands out among a very, very large genre.

Media Meditation II: Dance of the Dead

I recently watched a movie called Dance of the Dead. It was hilarious.



This movie was probably the one of the best low budget zombie movies I have ever seen, if not the best, and I have watched a lot of zombie movies. It incorporated so many things I love in a movie, and it did them all extremely well, especially with such a low budget.

It is a typical zombie movie, where some phenomenon makes the dead rise from their graves, on the endless quest for the living brains...and limbs...and organs. Pretty much people in general. As the zombies wreak havoc on a small town, it is up to a group of dateless prom goers to bring the news their fellow classmates before it is too late.

The brilliance of this movie is that it is almost like a typical teen movie with the same humor and plot, but while the teens are trying to get dates and worry about how they will look for prom (You know, the important teen issues) zombies are trying to eat everyone. It also incorporates the typical zombie movie, with the blood and over the top gore of people getting eaten and zombies getting wrecked in awesome fashion. There are also some very startling parts in this movies, which just adds to the awesome of this movie. With the combination of all these elements, it makes it into a perfect horror comedy, with enough laughs to counter the scares.

This movie targeted every part of the brain. It had scary moments where your reptilian brain kicked in, but then it had other parts where your neocortex and limbic brain did its fair share of work. It worked all three parts to a perfect level, making it one of the best zombie movies I have seen.

RSS feeds: Information Finding for the Lazy Man...or Woman.

RSS feeds have been one of the most helpful tools for me this year. Here is a simple video explaining what they do and what they can do.



Once leaning about RSS feeds and what they do, they have helped me in countless papers and other school related topics, in several classes.

This semester I had/have a quite large research paper due. It is on America's foreign dependency on oil, and I needed sources for research. So I went to my Google Alerts and typed in my subject, and not even five hours later, I received an alert saying how an online magazine had published an article on my exact subject. Bam. One source done. The next day, I checked again, and lo and behold, another source! If I hadn't have tapped into this relatively unknown resource, I would have had a large amount of research to do, where as now, I have cut the amount of work almost in half, if not more.

RSS feeds can be helpful in other ways too. I have used RSS feeds on several website that are constantly being updated, so whenever something new is posted or updated, I know about it. This is very helpful, and saves me the trouble of checking a bunch of websites and finding out there is no new info or updates each day.

RSS feeds could also be very helpful in the business place. If you are selling a product you could use a keyword to find other products or updates on products you are trying to sell, before anyone else does, therefore giving you the upper hand in whatever market you are in, which could mean the difference between staying in business or going out.

There are pretty much countless uses for RSS feeds, ranging from recreational use, like wanting to know about you favorite sports team, to school work, to using RSS feeds in the business place. They are an extremely useful tool, and one that is often overlooked, when it can save a lot of work for anyone.

Midterm...fInally! Part dos.

Thesis:
Technology is hindering many students in college, especially when the classes are not teaching students what they really need to know. Much of it is useless information that is just added work.

Five facts:
-200 hundred students made 367 edits.
-Only 18% of teachers know students by name.
-Students had to read eight books for class.
-Students will have to write 42 pages of homework for class.
-A student can listen to music up to 2.5 hours in a day.

Triune Brain:
Neocortex-Reading the facts and words displayed on the video.
Limbic-Analyzing the facts in the video
Reptilian-The sounds of the doors, other sound effects.

Seven Principles:
Production Techniques-Camera angles, editing techniques, sound effects, ect.
Individual Meaning-Each student had a different fact, each student can interpret the video in their own way.
Value Message-The video is a value message about college and its classes.
Pacing-Each message was spaced apart in about the same length of time.

Eight Trends:
Aesthetic-
Epistemological-Its a Youtube video, online.

Six Persuasive Techniques:
Testimonial-Guy in first quote.
Group Dynamics-Its a classroom full of people.
Symbols-Writing on pads of paper, using laptops, all relates to subject of video.
Repetition-Use of notebooks or laptops.

Midterm...FInally!

1. After studying media for eight weeks in this class, what have you learned? Be specific.

I have learned a lot about Web 2.0 and its benefits it can have in the workplace. The web can help just about any business do anything it needs from advertising to actually doing the work.

2. What is the most important thing you have learned about yourself as a 1. Critical reader 2. A writer, and 3. a critical thinker in this class so far?

1. I realized i can analyze text much better than i thought I could.
2. I learned that my writing could use a bit of improvement.
3. As a critical thinker, I need to delve deeper into things and not just look at the aesthetics but the deeper meanings.

3. What is one thing YOU would do differently this first half of the semester if you were to take this class again?
Manage my time better and get work in on time.

4. What is one thing you would like ME to do differently this first half if you were to take this class again?
Maybe a bit more work time in class, so if we have any questions we can ask you right there.

5. Please comment on the usefulness of the course blog, your personal blog, our films, and our book as learning tools.
I think the blog is a very useful tool. It saves a lot of work and hassle by just putting work online. On the other hand, I'm not a fan of the book. It just isn't written in a way that catches my attention or sparks my interest.

Shutter Island: Mind Blowing. Media Meditation Two

Here is the trailer for Shutter Island, directed by Martin Scorsese, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.


This movie was absolutly brilliant. It has so many twists and turns that it is worse than a Vermont back road. I was sitting in the Roxy movie theater, watching this movie, and the whole time all I could think about was how Scorsese absolutly hit this one out of the park. It was so well done, I was simply amazed.

It starts out with a federal marshal coming to a mental hospital for the criminally insane because a patient had escaped. It goes through his investigation, and throughout the movie, you learn little parts of DiCaprio's character's history and background. THese little parts are crucial, and looking back at the movie, there were so many little hints that you wouldn't think were important, but really built everything up to the ending, which will blow your mind.

the movie used a lot of subtlety, and doesn't ever reveal anything until the very end. It is almost frustrating how little they reveal to the viewer, but it is all worth it in the end.

This movie made you use all three parts of your brain, in various ways. You use the neocortex to view the movie, and analyze the actors movements and words. The limbic brain is used pretty much the whole time in the movie, because you are always trying to figure out what is going on or what is going to happen next. Then the reptilian brain is used in a few parts because of the suspense in the movie. You are scared at times, and that makes the reptilian brain kick in.

Writing for News Story.

Here is a video about a school shooting in Deer Creek Middle School, Colorado, where two students were injured.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

MID SHOT
ANCHOR: For the faculty and students of Deer Creek Middle School in Colorado yesterday must have seemed like the replay of a nightmare. The school in Littleton, three miles from Columbine High School, the scene of one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. Tonight, residence are thanking a teacher for saving lives when another shooter opened fire on a school full of kids. Our story from NBC's Reporter #1

ESTABLISHING SHOT OF SCHOOL

ESTABLISHING SHOT OF POLICE TAPE AND ROAD
REPORTER #1: An eerie calm at Deer Creek Middle School today, amidst a tangle of yellow police tape...

MID SHOT OF BACKPACK
REPORTER #1:...and backpacks dumped in a hurry.

CLOSE UP ON SQUAD CAR MIRROR
REPORTER #1: As students left campus yesterday...

LONG SHOT OF STUDENTS RUNNING
REPORTER #1:...a lone gunman pulled out a high powered rifle, and suddenly opened fire.

CLOSE UP OF STUDENT
STUDENT: I was really scared, cuz I knew I could die at this moment.

LONG SHOT OF STUDENTS AND FACULTY LEAVING CAMPUS
REPORTER #1: A horrific scene, the images all too similar...

CUT TO COLUMBINE TAPE
REPORTER #1:...to what happened just three miles away at Columbine High School in 1999, when 12 were killed.

LONG SHOT OF BUILDINGS AND FACULTY
REPORTER #1: At Deer Creek, two students were shot in seconds...

MID SHOT OF TEACHERS
REPORTER #1:...but quick action by a team of faculty members avoided tragedy

END OF ONE MINUTE

One observation is they definitly try to connect this shooting with the Columbine shooting because of the closeness in distance. They are probably trying to evoke empathy from the viewer.

Another observation is how they had quite a few shot changes. I felt like there were more shots used in this piece than in a normal news segment. It changed almost once every sentence or statement.

My last observation is how they really tried to emphasise the heroic actions of the teacher that tackled the shooter. Instead of trying to make this a tragic case, they tried to make it into a heroic case, with the math teachers bravery.

TV Shows of the 21st Century - Media Meditation One

How is something like this appealing or entertaining?



As I was watching TV while doing my homework in my dorm last night, something hit me. TV these days is so trashy. I know everyone probably knows this but I don't think they understand the full trashiness of today's TV programs. I was unfortunatley watching a show on Bravo, mostly because my roomate hates sports, and its his TV, but thats not the point. These shows were some of the most ridiculous, asinine things I had ever seen.

One show was just following around a bunch of housewives in California, and all of their petty little drama. These women were probably the least intellegent women I have ever had the misfortune of watching. The things they were arguing about, or the problems in their life was just so pointless compared to what is really going on in the world today.

I would say most of these trashy shows are so popular because it is showing a lifestyle of the rich and famous, and that is what a lot of people want. A great example is "Cribs." All Cribs is is an excuse for super rich people to show off all the extravagant things they own and probably don't need.

I just think a good portion of shows these days are promoting values that is contributing to the way our youth is acting. All of the trashy MTV shows where young girls go and be super disrespectful to their parents, or go have unprotected sex, is giving off a message that is the "cool" thing to do, which is not how TV should be these days.

So I guess that yes, you can blame a lot of today's problems on trashy TV programs. You can't blame all the problems on the media, but personally, I would say a good portion could be contributed to what the networks air these days.

Mash Method Scripting...Part Two.

So here is my video. It was an ad for the Super Bowl by Doritos.



OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT
Knocking at the door
Door Opens

ZOOM IN TO MID SHOT OF WOMAN
WOMAN: Hi! Aww...thank you.

CHANGE TO SIDE MID SHOT INSIDE OF HOUSE
WOMAN: Have a seat. Kyle, Jaylan, Jaylan, Kyle. Jaylan, you play nice. I'll be right back.

CLOSE UP OF WOMAN'S LEGS AND BUTT

CHANGE BACK TO SIDE MID SHOT OF KYLE

ESTABLISHING SHOT OF JAYLAN

CLOSE UP OF JAYLAN'S HAND, DROPPING VIDEO GAME CONTROLLER

CLOSE UP OF DORITOS IN BOWL

BACK TO A MID SHOT OF KYLE AND JAYLAN
KYLE: What's going on little man?

ESTABLISHING SHOT OF KYLE AND JAYLAN ON COUCH
KYLE: I see you got your game skill down pat.

ZOOM IN TO A CLOSE/MID SHOT
KYLE: You might have your hands full once I pick up the controller over there.

KYLE GOES TO PICK UP DORITO
Slapping noise

MID SHOT OF JAYLAN
JAYLAN: Put it back!

EXTREME CLOSE UP OF JAYLAN AND KYLE
JAYLAN: Keep your hands of my momma, keep your hands of my doritos.

CUT TO DORITOS LOGO
WOMAN (O.S): Jaylan are you playing nice?

MASH METHOD SCRIPTING!

So here is my script for the godaddy.com commerical that was not aired at the SuperBowl.
Here is the video:




ESTABLISHING SHOT WITH DANICA AND LOLA
CHEESY PIANO MUSIC
DANICA: Meet Lola

CLOSE UP ON FOOTBALL PORTRAIT
DANICA: The day he retired from football...
(Change to mid shot of Danica)
DANICA: Lola started chasing his biggest dream...

GROUP SHOT OF LOLA WITH MODELS
DANICA: A business of his own.

PAN LEFT, FOLLOWING DANICA WALKING, WITH A SLOW ZOOM
DANICA: Lola's first step? We built his website at GoDaddy.com

CLOSE UP ON LOLA'S FACE

MID SHOT OF DANICA AND LOLA
DANICA: And, with GoDaddy's easy to use "e-commerce" tools...
(Change to over the shoulder shot of Lola and computer screen)
DANICA: Lola was soon selling his own line to the world.

CLOSE UP ON LOLA
LOLA: WOOOO!

ESTABLISHING SHOT ON DANICA, WITH LOLA IN POOL IN BACKGROUND
DANICA: Lola dreams big, and who's to argue?

GODADDY LOGO
DANICA: See more now at GoDaddy.com

State of the Union Address

So. Here is the State of the Union Address given by the one and only, President Obama.

Yeah. Pretty interesting stuff.

1. This video touches upon the triune brain in several ways. It touches upon the limbic brain because of the emotion he uses in the speech, and the speech drew emotion from the viewer. It touched upon the neocortex because you had to think about the speech. Neurons had to fire, and the viewer had to process the information Obama was saying. I was unsure if it touched upon the reptilian, and couldn't think of any way it did because it didn't involve anything that makes me think of fighting, flighting or mating.

2. I think the main trend this video used was the fact that it was on YouTube. This was the first presidential speech to be put on YouTube by the White House officials, so I would say that is a pretty big trend right there.

3. For the 7 Principles, there was obviously production techniques used. There were multiple shots that were used, as well as various other techniques with the audio and video. There was also very obvious Value Messages. Pretty much the whole thing was a value message about the current state of the U.S. There was also some emotional transfer used, with the whole losing jobs and homes thing, and how our soldiers are needlessly dying.

4. There were many of the 29 techniques of persuasion used. The really big, important ones I found were group dynamics, by using the word "we" instead of "I". Nostalgia, because he talked of when things were better. Scientific evidence, whenever he stated a fact. Warm fuzzies, with the mention of children. Plain folks, talking about how everyone is in the same boat together, no matter who you are. Humor, because he cracked some jokes. Maybe, because he wasn't would use words that weren't totally definitive. Testimonials, because he used people's stories of hardships in his speech. THose were the really big ones that I saw.

5. I think the thesis of the speech was how things are bad now, but they will get better with the countries support and we will all live happily ever after.

6. Three facts to back up his thesis are:

-How bad the unemployment rates are and have been.

-How the house market has been so bad, and people are getting evicted left and right.

-How things have been getting better, like the unemployment rates are going down, and the economy is getting better with each passing day.

Numero Uno

So...this is my first blog post for class.

My name is Ryan Moraski. I'm a DFM major and I'm from Barre, VT.

Over break, I saw Avatar. It was really well done, and 3D gave it so much more power. It was probably the first movie I've seen that has used 3D well.

I don't like how everyone believes everything they see on the news, or read about in an article. The media will try to sway the masses a certain way and will bend the facts to get people to see that way.

I do like how easy it is to find something these days. I don't need to go to a library to look up a fact in an encyclopedia, which is always nice.

In the future, I really want to be a tattoo artist. I have wanted to do this since I was probably 12 or 13 years old. But if that doesn't work then I want to direct movies.

Here is a few of my tattoos.







I'm really into music. Listen to this super awesome band.



Lastly, this is an awesome comic.

So yeah. Thats me in a nutshell. Thanks....for viewing my page...and stuff. Yeah.