Vlog Write up

For our ‘Self Portrait’ project we had to do a Video log (Vlog) about our theme. Our brief said it should ‘reflect on issues of self-representation through the traditions of the self-portrait and the context of the online blog’ so essentially, follow conventions of pre-existing vlogs in the production of our vlog.

I already follow a couple of vloggers on YouTube who follow the conventions of vlog. These are OutbackZack and nigahiga. OutbackZack is a vlogger who generally complains about everyday life issues and annoyances with his unique sense of humor. he does most of his videos in the setting of his bathroom an occasionally other people’s bathrooms, probably at a stab of originality humor. He films using a video camera, and edits his clips together himself. Unfortunately due to some copyright or partnership problem the vast majority of his videos were removed, but there is a playlist which has a couple of his videos left: OBZ Playlist. nigahiga is a sort of online personality, he is a vlogger but some of his videos are more like short film flicks. An example of his vlog style is here. He uses the no breath convention, well thats what i like to call it, so whenever you are supposed to take a breath you don’t, and you insert another clip in there instead to make it more punchy and exciting. The change in tone of voice is different and may sound strange at first but really does come effective if listened to for a good length of time. He is very upbeat with what he says as well.

I am a huge fan of the OwnagePranks channel, essentially OwnagePranks is a voice actor who uses Skype to prank call businesses and people around the world. He does these non-scripted pranks with his many voices to make very entertaining videos. He tries to provoke people for their reaction by annoying them until they snap, but not all the time in some cases he does it to confuse his victims by rapid change of voice. In this example he changes is voice 3 times, from English Nerd to Afro/American Guy to Chinese guy/girl. But what i have taken from his videos is his subtitles idea where whenever he says a word or sentence the text appears, fairly self explanatory really. He animates them to fit the way they are spoken, i tried my own variation for the start of the vlog to appear when they are spoken and fade for effect.

As our vlogs had to be based around our themes, my theme is journey and my original thought was to do a vlog on a journey that i have regularly or a train journey. However I thought that the end product would be dull and I went back to square one. In the lesson we were shown some past work and one of the works we saw was someone telling the story of their life. I was inspired by this because as soon as i saw it i had plans in my head of what to include in mine, all of which i did. This links to my theme because it is a ‘Journey of my life’ and every scene is another step on the journey of my life.

I started off by searching through old baby videos looking for some funny moments and came across me falling into a box and the sweeping one, and thought these could be use to show my really early moments. I then found a baby photo on the day i was born and used that to start my journey. The whole song idea came about from when i told my parents the idea of the vlog, they essentially said they remembered a song called ‘Man of the World’ and with a little bit of research found it was sung by Fleetwood Mac. The lyrics ‘Shall I tell you about my life’ really captures the emphasis on what the vlog will be about and with the ‘OwnagePranks’ inspired subtitled effect i found it made a good steady start to the vlog.

After the song, i show the video of baby me and narrate over the top with a dramatic ‘SPLAT’ which completely livens up the calm introduction. After this i show the box scene. I narrate over the top of this clip just to let the audience know these are my first steps and after i finish i play Timber by Pitbull ft Ke$ha, which again livens up the dull baby video as it is a fairly well known song at the moment, which also captures the attention of a young audience. I then show another baby video of me sweeping the floor, nothing very comedic i just felt i needed something else to help explain the childhood stage..

I then moved onto school, using the OwnagePranks subtitles as a  transition. Now in this part i wanted to get across that i hated school with an almighty passion, so i decided to burn my school tie. Sounds strange i know just burning memories like that but i’ve got enough memories from there and also it felt literally amazing doing it. I wanted this scene to be slow and steady to make the next scene a big shock to the system.

So the #Selfie scene, yeah thought it would be a good idea, because i wear woolly hats really often and i thought if i created a montage of historic and contemporary photos of me wearing hats i could put it to the song #Selfie by The Chainsmokers. Its an song that is in the charts at the moment again attracting the youth interest, which is all about taking photos of yourself (a selfie) and i just thought it would be a great idea, and i think it turned out pretty well, although i cant tell if sometimes the pictures are out of sync in the middle of the montage.

From here on in it gets a bit more entertaining. After #Selfie i put in another transition to the next stage of my epic journey, ‘my greater achievements in life’ none of which are true, but still. After this, i actually film myself talking to add another mark to the list of techniques i’ve used.  This was just a spontaneous idea to round the journey off, i’ve done the narration of my past and its now me talking live for the present/ future, so there is logic behind my ideas. Essentially i talk about what i might achieve in the future, i then fade myself out and fade in the #Selfie song and role on the credits in sync with the beats. After the credits i fade myself in so it looks like i’ve been talking to myself throughout the credits and then fade me out to finish. So i think i showed a good journey of my life, albeit not all true.

My vlog should be considered as a online digital media production, for starters it literally is an one. It is a media production, in the form of a digital video that is online on the platform of YouTube. I use some of the conventions and editing techniques that are found in other online media productions, such as: the subtitles on OwnagePranks’ videos, the narrating over the top of videos is a strong convention that i followed, the mashup/ montage is also common amongst vlogs. There is a certain comedic element about it, i mean it is obviously about the journey of my life but i try and do it by mocking myself, by showing the cute videos of my childhood, especially the one where i fall into a box. I try and spice it up, so i can keep the audience entertained, which is why i did the greater achievements in life scene and made up some obviously ridiculous stories to see if it makes them laugh. This comical idea is a regularly seen convention in online vlogs.

I feel my vlog suits the social network environment well because it is the sort of video that is commonly found on Facebook. Of course this all depends on what our socially connected friends post and which pages you decide to like, but fairly often in my own personal experience i have found that people will post these types of videos. I put the vlog on my wall, and judging by the view count on youtube, i would guess about 15- 20 people watched it, but i can’t be sure i was told by a few that they had watched it. I know that YouTube channel owners often set up a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts to let their fan base grow and to advertise their videos.

If i was to put this video on an online publishing format such as a WordPress blog, i think the blog’s theme would have to be relevant to the video. For example my wordpress blog has the theme of journey which is why i did the vlog like i did in the first place, nevertheless the vlog works with the blog. However if i put my journey vlog on a blog about caring for elephants, it would make no sense. Some blogs have very specific themes, and if that theme doesn’t relate to the vlog in anyway, the vlog won’t fit as it wouldn’t fit the context.

This is my Vlog.

Tumblr – Write up

For our Tumblr project we had to partner up with someone and create a series of 8 images (4 each) posting alternatively. The images had to relate to each others themes and the previous picture posted. I partnered up with Chantal, who’s theme is chocolate which doesn’t really relate to my theme of travel/ journey. I took photos with 2 cameras: My phone (Sony Xperia T) and a Canon SLR digital camera i also used another camera but i didn’t end up using any of the photos. I posted the first photo of a bus. Chantal responded with a ‘Double Decker’ chocolate bar. This picture is related to my picture quite literally. I then decided to respond with a picture of a car, which isn’t related to her photo but she responded well with a rocky road, which as the car with a 4×4 it worked very well. I then decided to keep up these groups of 2, so i started off another couplet with a boat image which I took in Portsmouth, she responded with a chocolate bar which said it was from ‘Coastal Ecuador’ on it which i guess means that you take a boat to Ecuador. The next picture that i posted was an aeroplane. Chantal then responded with a photo of a ‘Mars’ bar on it, so the message she created was, you take an aeroplane to Mars. Slightly unrealistic I know, but it made sense…… sort of. As A final image, Chantal posted an image of a chocolate bar called ‘Time Out’ and i thought i wouldn’t respond because it makes it a journey sort of, which fits into my theme well. So with the idea of journey, it would start off by getting a bus, then a car, then a boat and then a plane to Mars and finally you would have a time out after travelling so much.

We got good feedback on the whole. Chantal got the most feedback as her photos were in response to mine. Over all the feedback was positive, apart from the plane flying to mars one was seen as a bit far fetched, but the comedic element was easily found. The ‘Time Out’ chocolate photo at the end received some criticism as i didn’t respond with a photo. At the time i thought it was a good idea to leave it there, but in hindsight i think should have put a photo of a plane getting repaired or a broken car or something along those lines to end the journey.

The link to the Tumblr convocation is on the Tumblr page of my blog.

Podcast Write-up

Our brief was to do a 1-2 minute audio piece that uses strictly only field recordings of a certain concrete location. After recording we had to create a mix in Adobe Audition to show what our locations were through the recordings that we took. I chose a train station which coincided with my theme of ‘Journey’. I planned out what sounds were available to me, and if these were naturally occurring or if i had to provoke  nature slightly to make these sounds. I planned on getting the level crossing siren, the train rushing past, the platform announcements and the door opening and closing noises. All of these sounds would be unprovoked by me, the provoked sound would be buying a ticket in a ticket machine where to create the sounds i would have to manually put the money into the machine. I ended up using all of the sounds above apart from the door opening and closing noises.

When editing the clips together I made it into a sequence or a journey, meaning starting off buying the ticket, then listening to platform announcements, then hearing the siren and then the train rushing past, i realise this would have been better if i had the door noises instead of the train going past, but it turned out well regardless.

In Real Life By Beeban Kidron – A Review

In Real Life is a documentary about the internet and how it has changed the younger generation, for better and for worse. I feel the documentary was fairy balanced but did lean towards the internet being bad for our society with the use of some shocking scenarios. It covers the topics of: Pornography, Social Networks and General Internet Usage, Gaming, YouTube, Online Dating and Cyber Bullying. What is interesting about this is half of the actual content is based on teenagers’ opinions of these topics, granted they aren’t randomly selected teens… they are teens who are consumed within their field, in the hope of getting some honest feedback.

Pornography

Online porn through the eyes of a teenage boy is described as ‘a routine event’, when addicted. He says  that people watch porn for the pleasure but also to find the ‘perfect girl’ and to ‘try her out’ to see what to expect from her. He also explains many categories on some websites, when talking about webcam girls, he describes a game that he and his mates play when going on web camming sites to see who can get the best shots of girls’ features… the better the shot the more points are given. The boy also said that porn ruins love. He said that the themes and images shown in porn are to make you think that it is a normal activity, he says it ruins love because a boy is more likely to expect these sexual things from a girl due to their belief that a relationship is more about sex than love. Finally he talks about the ‘slag’ theory. He says if a girl wants to prove to a boy that she likes him, she will do porn related activities to him, the girl is then known as a slag for doing these activities. The boy doesn’t want to go out with a slag, so the relationship goes know further and the girl is left with a fake reputation and the boy comes out on top.

Internet / Social Media

This part started off with some facts and figures e.g. ‘90% of the world’s data was created in 2 years’ and ‘we look at our phones 150-200 times per day’ which is fairly interesting….. Privacy is lessened by peoples interests being broadcasted over the internet, with this info websites can create profiles of who you are to recommend you products through social media sites.

It then moved onto a 15 year old girl who was addicted to social networking sites, e.g. updating her status 10 times per day. I think she said she lost her phone once which led to her getting depression, but i can’t really remember. But her next story was the most shocking in the whole documentary. She said she was on the train when a gang of boys took her phone, she wasn’t going to let them get away with it so she followed them to get it back. She was then told by the boys that they would give the phone back if she came back to a house with them. She ended up doing anything they wanted to get her phone back. This just shows how addicted some people can get to their phone and social media sites, I’m not saying everyone would do this as her case was an extreme example, but it just shows it can happen.

Gaming

This part was all about a 19 year old boy who thought he could beat the system at uni by playing video games more than he worked. He was bright with A*s in his A levels, he got into Oxford with them. He then admitted he got kicked from uni for not completing the work, with the understanding that he didn’t have to and it was all completely optional. He plays 5 hours of video games per day with an additional 2 hours on average of YouTube browsing. He said that he wasn’t addicted to gaming, he just plays them because he hasn’t got anything better to do, which he did but probably doesn’t now.  The topic then shifted onto more general internet facts such as the attention span of adults to teenagers is completely different, teens are more likely to find a definition of something which is 1 line long that a 4 line long definition just simply  because they can’t be arsed to read it all.

YouTube

This topic focused on a channel owner named Tobuscus who’s videos are spoof or animation or songs with the occasional blog. He is interviewed and talks about the art of subscribing, saying that not every sub is going to watch every video but, its just a way of saying yes i liked this video please make more of them. Tobuscus also did a ‘meet up in the park’ which is where his fans congregate in a previously arranged location to essentially meet up with him. He then posts videos on it and other smaller YouTubers put videos up on it as well, such as:

It ended with quite a chilling idea, that google has record of every single site you have ever been on.

Online Dating

This one followed a boy called Tom who came out (gay) on Twitter. It essentially followed a touching story of how he came out and has a boyfriend who lives a fairly log way away but they text and video chat every day. He says he has never had a boyfriend before and he has never met up with his boyfriend in person. This topic brings up the question that, is it still a relationship if you haven’t actually met up in real life? This ends with the awkward moment of when they actually meet up in  person. Cute.

Cyber-bullying

This brief story is about a boy called Thomas. Thomas was bullied online for a long time, he was also bullied in school. The threats got so bad that he ended up hanging himself in his garden, to be found by his parents later that evening. This chilling story left us with a quote that ‘80% of people believe they can get away with bullying online’. Thomas died aged 14.

 

What is the filmmaker saying about the subject?

The filmmaker on the whole is saying the internet is a great invention but it has to be  respected and used with extreme care and caution. The underlying message is saying, song put personal information on the web because it can come back and bite you.

She builds her case for her argument by showing these extreme scenarios that i explained above to show that the internet has to be respected and used with caution. The most powerful messages she used were the death of the 14 year old boy Thomas due to cyber bullying, the rape of the girl who had her phone stolen and on the other end of the scale the emotional connection between Tom and his boyfriend meeting for the first time.

Do I agree with the material she has provided?

Yes, honestly i do. The internet is very powerful, it does need to be respected and used with caution. But i am not saying that everyone is going to fall into the categories if the internet is not respected, the examples she showed are the worst case or in fact in Tom’s case the best case scenarios.

Overall i think the film overall was very informative, it was easy to understand and it didn’t get boring like most documentaries do.  The choice of interviewees was cleverly decided, they had the right story for each topic.

 

This is the trailer for the documentary:

Review of another blog

Right, so we were asked to do a review of a review of someone else blog. As this makes no sense, I am going to do a review of a blog using helpful hints that our lecturer left us.

I have chosen to do a review of a blog with a similar theme to mine: Horror films. The blog’s name is ‘Bloody-Disgusting‘ and it has categories of posts about all things to of with the horror genre, such as: Movies, Video Games, Comics and Music. This blog is more of a website that has a Facebook, twitter, myspace and a Youtube account. It is described as a blog as it was entered into the ‘Horror Blog Awards’. Doing a bit of background (wiki) research i found that it was created by 2 people, Tom Owen and Brad Miska. this shows it is an independently run blog and there are no companies backing it.

So, on with the questions..

1. What kind of blog is it?

Well if i haven’t already answered this one in the paragraph above, i would say a very advanced blog all about horror films, video games and all things to do with that genre. I think the main part of the blog is devised around the reviews of horror films, including a 5 star (represented by skulls) rating system and a detailed written review of it. They also include detailed articles on film and video game news and interviews with actors and directors of certain films.

2. What guided you to the blog?

Simple really, I googled ‘Horror movie blog’ and it was one of the first listed but had the caption: ‘Your #1 Source For All Things Horror’ and thought ‘this is the one’. But because I’m a great media student i did look at some other blogs, but nothing compared to the size and detail that Bloody-Disgusting gave off. When you first see the site you think, boom – this is some serious stuff, not just some half wit random guy posting his opinions on a few films for attention.

3. What kept you at the blog?

Well as i said before, it looked like some serious blogging when i first looked at the page, that pretty much kept my interest. Even without looking at the site, you can tell that it will have horror weaved in and out of it. When i clicked on the catagories i was impressed at the amount of detail the author had given each post. For each film review there was a detailed written description and a simple 5 skull (star) rating system, i also noticed they post several times per day. It just beams out a message of this blog is cared for, it isn’t a light hearted, post when felt like, part time pointless blog. It looks like someone’s business.

4. Who is the audience?

Well obviously, the audience is anyone who clicks on the blog. According to their wiki page they got in 2007 ‘1.5 million unique visitors and 20 million page views each month’. So using this information although it is 7 years out of date, i can say they get a fair bit of traffic heading in their direction. But to put this into 1 or 2 groups of people… you could say people that enjoy horror films isn’t a bad guess, you could also say that film buffs would go on this site to get a good review of a film that interested them. In the Terms and Conditions it says to become a member if you are under 18 you need to have parental permission.. not that anybody will read that but it suggests that the content on the site is perhaps harmful to children. So essentially, the audience are people who like to read news on upcoming films and games or read reviews on films that already exist.

5. What features stand out about this blog?

I really need to read the other questions before i answer them in other questions… But anyway, as i have said before…. the mass of categories stands out showing it has sophistication. The background just screams horror, with the large amounts of back and red with the occasional skull, which appears to be their logo. But apart from the appearance, the other social networking sites and the detailed film reviews.. the time and effort that it must have taken over the years to build this blog – which now looks more like a website is staggering.

6. Is it easy to navigate and to understand?

Yes.

7. Any other comments and thoughts?

Lets just say, i’m hooked on this blog.