Blog Post # 1

I'd have to say very few, if any website that I visit has any self generated content. I kill hours when I should be working watching Youtube videos, reading Wikipedia pages, checking up on Facebook, or looking at Cracked.com. I like the variety user based content gives to the media that your viewing because instead of having opinions channeled through one solitary set of values, what you get is a combination of a whole.
I'd have to say very few, if any website that I visit has any self generated content. I kill hours when I should be working watching Youtube videos, reading Wikipedia pages, checking up on Facebook, or looking at Cracked.com. I like the variety user based content gives to the media that you’re viewing because instead of having opinions channeled through one solitary set of values, what you get is a combination of a whole.
I think my favorite aspect of sites based off of user input is the proliferation of comments sections. This allows of course some crazy or weird people to vent madness online but for the most part it does make articles better. There are many times when a video or article’s response is more funny than the actual content that I went to the site to obtain. I usually try to post every once and a while in the comments section, if I have a good joke or someone is saying something completely wrong

Blog Post #2: Editing Analysis.

For this assignment, I chose the opening scene for the Fox Atomic Film "28 days Later". The movie is a sequel to the movie 28 days later in which the "rage virus", which is not too far from a mutated for of rabies, infects a large portion of the English population. The opening scene shows various people living in a boarded up safe house, keeping quiet, and using candles to; one try to not attract the horde; and two to deal with fact that all utilities are non operational.Seeing how the majority of the film is spent with the protagonists fleeing the horde, the editing here gives a sense of balance and control that is present in few places else.
The short controlled shots set up each character, and gives a quick glimpse into both their former lives, and also how they brought element of that into the safe house. The use of MCU and CU shots add a feeling of tension and oppression in the otherwise almost sentimental scene. The tight framings of the shots magnify the facial expressions of each character, highlighting how every action must be planned to avoid attracting attention and almost guaranteed death from the infected.
The cuts are drastic but add to the feeling of uneasiness in the scene. While they subjects may be totally different the shots all have a gloomy feel to them, and none stray to far each other. In each cut, another aspect of a person is revealed. When there's a knock on the door, the reaction in the faces of the characters show there motivations, and whether they are willing to risk themselves to save a little kid.
From the moment he knocks forward the shots change rapidly as the situation in the dining area becomes hostile, and the choice whether or not to save the boy is made. Once he is inside and begins eating, the shots get longer and closer mirroring the anxiety the survivors are feeling after saving someone who was being chased by infected. At the end of the scene the anxiety was proven to be for a reason, as the horde the boy was feeling finally caught up to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHf6Th-E3kE

Design I Like

When I was trying to pick out a "design i like," I tried to think of an advertisement that had quickly gotten my attention and made me think about the story behind the product it was selling. Thinking in that way, I chose the poster from the RPG game Fallout 3. The poster is simple, not overly flashy but does a really good job at attracting my attention, and the fact that the only hint that it is referring to a game is the company and studio names at the bottom, forces you to scan the whole picture to look for information

The basic picture, a family playing football during a picnic, has a 50’s era depiction of family life, with a husband, wife two children, and a dog. The text at the top, prepare for the future, written in a retro font, combined with a smiling cartoon figure in the back gives it a feel of a life insurance ad from the era. First viewing this however, the juxtaposition of the words “prepare for the future,” with a weathered and damaged looking poster show instantly that something bad has happened and the “future” to be prepared for has already come. Then when you think how this represents a in world poster, the fact that nobody has changed It, combined with the ageing of the paper and the weathering implies that whatever happened was a major event. Looking further down and seeing the words Fallout 3 brings te whole thing together and changes the feel to a Cold War era bomb shelter ad, for a threat that turned out to be real.

Museum Trip

The Museum of the Moving Image had many artifacts that detailed the progression of movie and television production from its infancy to the present day. One of the first areas that I saw contained a multitude of filming cameras. Just by looking at their changes in construction materials, size, loading method and lens style from one camera to the next, I was able to see the progression of the cameras from bulky, fragile models to the compact and portable ones that we use today. The music mixing room was interesting to me as it highlighted the significance of music in the ability of movie to properly convey its message. Just by changing the instrumentals on a video clip of an alien spaceship emerging from a cloud bank from the movie Independence Day, the entire feel of the clip could be changed. It was an ominous feel with the original track, but the other samples had you rooting for the aliens or happy that they have returned after being gone for so long. The museum really made the effects of technology on media production apparent. Signals went from analog to digital, pictures went from black and white to color, and movies went from Kinetoscope films of people flexing or sneezing, to full length features with plots, action and music.

Second Post

This is my second post, YES!!!.

First Post