Author: gravitystix

This has got to be one of the most TORTUROUS afternoons of my entire LIFE! Here I am, trying to be a good friend, staying after school to burn my friends’ wedding video onto a DVD while encountering many, many, many errors along the way, when I should be packing for my weekend trip, for which I depart in about twenty minutes. Jared and Ashley, if either of you are reading this, YOU BETTER LIKE THE VIDEO!
While I started waiting for this cursed DVD to burn, a light bulb switched on in my head and told me, “You could be doing your videomaker article right now, young man.” So I said, “Thank you, Mr. Lightbulb!” So here I am.
This article discussed four major aspects of being a pro video editor.

1. EDITING SUITE. A good editing suite can be found in any regular spare room in your house. One important aspect of your suite should be good air conditioning. It may not seem like a big deal, but it keeps you comfortable and keeps your equipment from overheating. Invest in a good universal power outlet, and make sure you research everything you’re going to put in the room, including a good desk and a comfy chair. There shouldn’t be any light coming in, so it would be good to paint your walls black too, so that you have a better sense of the colors, which is very important.
2. BUSINESS NETWORKING. While you may enjoy being cooped up in your office, you won’t have much to do in there unless you make yourself known. Join a local business networking group so you can get your ideas and expertise out in the world so you can not only build relationships but also get new business by word of mouth as well.
3. MOTIVATION. One good way to stay inspired is to find a good mentor or adviser, possibly a director or producer. Shaw, your computers are so stinkin’ dusty and it’s driving me crazy. Watching good movies regularly will also help you come up with new ideas and keep things fresh.
4. INSTRUCTION. You may think you’re an expert, but there’s always more to learn. Go to instructional seminars, festivals, and training events. Put aside money to buy new equipment and materials. It’s very important to keep up to speed with the new technology, while you may think that the old methods are the best.

I enjoyed this article for the most part and I think all of us can find some sort of application in the points it presented. What I enjoyed the most, however, was that this is the last videomaker OF THE YEAR! Peace out, video peeps!

Samstar

Mark Levy has written an article named “Who Owns Your Website? Unpleasant Surprise on the Internet“. In his writings, he describes many situations people find themselves in today. From copyrighted materials to the page creation, not all is as it seems. Even after paying or buying a domain/site, we may not necessarily own it.

In the case of music or media, the general rule of thumb is post, but do not share. This coincides with what Mark has to say. One may pay an author of a music piece or a banner of artwork, to post it and integrate it into our sites. However with the copyright acts, even though we have paid for the use, use is all we receive. Legally one cannot distribute (for download) to another group through their websites.

Although we have ownership over allowing other to hear the music or see the art, they cannot download it, but one still has slight ownership rights to that product. The real kicker is, who actually owns your site? This is where domain and contracts come into play.

When creating a site, a hassle is always present, which is why many private companies and business people provide their services to take what music, art and information you have and quickly convert it into a professional working website. Many times this “work” will cost a somewhat large amount of money and kick you in the rear.

Since you provided the money and resources (i.e. music and art), but they actually make the website… By law they are the legal owners of that website, of course different domain and service companyies may also put limitations on ones actual ownership of a site.

All in all, if you want to make your site your own, make sure to either create it yourself or add a clause into the contract bringing full ownership to yourself after completion of the job when possible. Remember that if you buy for the use of song or art, you are not given rights to distribute that medium for download. Lastly however if you are worried about it, just talk openly to those you are contracting out to create your new site.

I am doing this article, which gives tips as how to become a better editor. The article gives a few ways that will help any editor become better. The first thing that the article tells is to have a comfortable editing room. If you are in a room that is 90 degrees and has no air circulation, then it will make the editing process that much harder. As long as you have some sort of cool air in the room then you and your equipment will not over heat. Chairs, tables, desks and mouses are also important to have in a good editing room, if you have that then you will have no problem staying in the room for long times. The article also tells you to have the room look like a editing room, so paint the walls black and cover the windows, it will make it more professional. The next important part to becoming a good editor is to network yourself. People know who you are and what you are editing is very important to getting your name know. The article suggest that you join a business networking group. The article’s next point is keeping motivated and getting into a routine that will help you get as much editing done. Mentors will help with motivation and might even give you jobs. Watching movies is also a good way to get a grasp on editing. The last point the article talks about is get as much training as you can from the pros. The more training you get the better you will be.
This was a good article and I think that if the students in this class are able to do most of the things this article suggested then Winthrop will have good editors able of doing a wide variety of projects.

In the article Scriptwriting and Storyboarding Software Buy’s Guide I started reading it wondering if the program Celtx that I have been using for this class was a good program to use, or if there were any other programs that might be free that would be good to look into. But as I was reading the article it mentioned Celtx a few times and mentioned that it was a great program to use for freelance things, and it allowed a lot more program capabilities than other programs (that you need to pay for) offer. The article talks about how different programs might be good for certain people. One example they gave was that Script Wizard is similar to Microsoft Word and people who enjoy Microsoft Word might enjoy that type of program opposed to programs such as Celtx and Final Draft. It also talks about how many people like to jot down their ideas as well as make sure that characters are fully thought out and what programs allow people to do all these things with just one program. It also talks about how some programs allow people to story board and how important it is for storyboards to be used in indie films and small budget films. It is really interesting how much emphasis the article put on storyboarding.

Overall I’m really impressed by how high a standings Celtx has in the storyboarding software world. I didn’t realize that a free program that is available to anyone would be this good.

Junior year is nearly over. I recently found out that the Good Life results will be available earlier than we thought. The website said that finalists will be announced by the end of June and the winner will be announced by early July. This is really exciting because I think we have a really good chance. 

Ok, so when I first heard of this movie I wasn’t that impressed by the story line at all. My first impressions were not that great and I wasn’t that pumped about District 9. I generally speaking dislike movies that are in a documentary style, first person, or journal style. One example that defends my hatred for first person is Cloverfield. I was at first still disinterested when I started to watch the movie. I started growing on the style of the movie and as it continued on I became more and more interested in the plot and characters of the movie. I don’t know who this actor was, but I am very impressed with his acting skills for his roll.
The plot is very impressive. The movie is about a man named Wikus who was recently put in charge of evicting the Aliens that have landed and started to live on this planet. As he continues to try and evict them the Prawns( what they call the Aliens) start to show intelligence beyond what the humans originally believed. As the movie continues on Wikus gets hurt and becomes infected. Slowly he starts turning into a Prawn. Eventually it becomes evident to the government and they start to use him for alternative means. The movie continues on about how Wikus has to try and become normal, as he starts to become allies with the Prawns.
Overall this movie impressed me greatly. The Prawns were amazing, and they made a lot of sense. The cinematography was amazing as well and I really enjoyed how real the camera angles made the characters seem. I was curious most of the way though the movie about how the plot would end and the characters were very real to me. I enjoyed this movie to a great extent! It was really awesome! I would probably give this movie 16 points overall.

* Grace points are how many cookies I would give the director/people in the film. If I liked the movie a lot, they get a lot of cookies, but if I don’t like it, then they might very little cookies, or I might even steal cookies from them (as in negative points).

The article in the videomaker magazine “Tweeting with Video” talks about how many people have started to do something called tweeting with videos. It talks about how people can tweet with very small short clips. Use Micro-Videos, which are very very short videos videos that are even 12 seconds long. Not only because short is good, but because with the attention spans of many people, and the busy lives that people have many people can’t sit and watch the 5 minute video blogs that people create. The article gives a few different sites that show video tweeting without the bells and whistles that can be used. Video tweets can be used to just stay current with topics and just give out a thought. The article then talks about how some video companies are trying to take advantage of video tweets, in creating small video cameras that will allow people to create high definition tweets. But at the end of the article it asks if it is really necessary for people to make these small videos and to tweet in this manner.

I honestly think this article was rather informative, because I didn’t know that people did these types of things. Maybe we can possibly do this as a class assignment? Make a quick weekly tweet about what we learned in video production, or learned in other classes. Then teachers can know what students are really learning, and if they are on track.

Yes, I know I did the same article as another student, but I’m writing a summary that’s more pro-video blogging, so it COUNTS!
I am not a Twitter fan at all. I do not see the point of wanting to keep up with a person every SECOND of their lives. Seriously, I don’t want to go home, open up my slow internet browser, and log into Twitter only to read: “1:00 – I’m going to the store to get toilet paper. 1:15 – Just got back from the store. Totally awesome! 1:17 – Crap. Just realized I left my phone in my car. Be right back. 1:18 – Just got my phone. Boy I was worried for a bit there.” Facebook does that enough for me. Please, people. Write things that will actually be of interest to me. However, you can’t deny that it’s fun.
Video-blogging (which most people call vlogging) is no different. There are a number of growing sites that now allow you to post Twitter updates in the form of vlogs. One site only allows you to do so for 12 seconds while other sites will allow you to post in high definition. With a wide variety of posting options, hardcore vloggers will be pleased.
Overall, this article was pretty cool, but the only way I can think to apply it to this class is by suggesting that we post vlogs on this blog every now and then. Hmm? Something to consider.

Samstar

Usually, I find the movies from Marvel Studios pretty enjoyable. This sequel was no different. I saw Iron Man 2 on May 7th, the day it opened in theaters, not because I’m a obsessive fan and just HAD to see it on opening night, but because things just happened to go that way. I saw the first installment of the series and enjoyed it a lot, so I thought, “Why not?”
The first movie ended with Tony Stark publicly identifying himself as Iron Man. We know see him battling a severe health problem, while also facing the consequences of refusing to hand over his technology to the U.S. government.
Robert Downey, Jr. plays the lead role of Tony Stark and does an exceptional job, just as he did in the first film. His character is at times annoying, pompous, and ignorant, but Robert Downey, Jr. was able to prove to the audience that deep down, he has the right heart and knows what he is doing. His main love interest, Pepper Pots, is played by the brilliant Gwyneth Paltrow. Paltrow is one of my favorite actresses; she’s versatile, funny, serious, and very talented. Here she shows that no matter how much crap she has to put up with from Tony and his actions, she can’t deny that she loves him very much. Also, I’m not a huge fan of Scarlett Johansson, but she has a breathtaking fight scene that definitely won me over.
Iron Man 2 will certainly keep you on the edge of your seat. However, there’s not much about this series that leaves me wanting more or wanting to watch it again. For this reason, I give it four out of five stars. Still, it is without a doubt two great hours of entertainment and definitely worth a trip to the movie theater.

Samstar