Internet barrier

This topic has been brought up time and time again, the wall we deal with when conversing over the internet. So much can be lost in a message whether it be on an instant chat messenger or email. Instant messaging atleast has a factor of time within it, while email losses even that. We draw conclusions when a response takes longer, this we cannot easily draw conclusions from during email because we are not sure when the recipient will look at the mail sent.

I use AIM often but it bothers me in terms of the way messages can be interpreted. There is so much that goes into communication and it can warp the intent of the message. A very simple example is sarcasm, it can be much harder to interpret sarcasm when we are only working with words. We do not have the rest of the message being sent, such as tone of voice and facial expressions.

I feel it is much easier to have miscommunication in this format then face to face. Telephone is a middle ground where we do not get the visual but we atleast have the audio to interpret tone and intent within the message. I personally have had much higher miscommunication through instant messenger than any other communication format. Does anyone else feel the same way?

3-D

We have seen a huge rise in 3D films recently, Avatar of course but other titles as well. Though some of them are not nearly up to the bar that Avatar has set, 3D technology is growing in popularity. Is this going to be a new industry standard for blockbuster films? I think so, there are so many films coming out now in 3D and the box office is showing that the audience want more.

The 3D technology I do not picture working across all genres of film, dramas I don't really see 3D tech working well with this genre and I don't think we will see a change to 3D within this genre. For action block busters and animated films, I feel this will continue to grow in popularity.

There are also the 3D televisions on the rise but I personally do not see them taking over the market. It is an interesting idea but it is way too early at least for me to predict if 3D television is going to be the new standard. I think there is a lot of possibilities with this technology and it seems that this will continue to grow in popularity. People are already growing accustomed to going to the theater and grabbing their 3D glasses on the way in.

Miyazaki Rocks

I just watched Miyazaki's newest film Ponyo which recently came to dvd. Another great one from the creator in my opinion. His films are really fantastic for anyone that is not familiar with his work. Hayao Miyazaki creates feature length japanese anime films, in some ways I can think of his films as Japan's Disney though a few of his are meant for a bit of an older audience.

Miyazaki's films have grown in popularity over in the United States considerably. The films have been re-dubbed in english by big name actors such as Liam Neeson and Billy Bob Thorton. These imported films are not even always realized they originated in Japan. I have met a few people as well as myself that had seen at least one of his films when they were little and had no idea that they were created by the japanese creator.

His films are really works of art and should be experienced, his stories are beautiful, truly unique and imaginative. Miyazaki himself believes deeply in the conservation of our planet, it plays a theme in many if not all his films. It is done in a way that does not belittle or villainies the human race, but shows the connection between human and nature is a strong one. Cannot recommend his films enough.

Distractions

I am sitting here trying to think of what to write about for my blog but keep getting distracted by surfing around the internet. I figured I might as well talk about how distracting media can be when trying to focus on work. I have the TV on and surfing around on the internet.

Media is all around me and it can have a major impact on focus. The TV is often on for background noise while working which I guess for me keeps the work from feeling too formal and isolating. It is easy to space out and get distracted on the internet with so many sites that we program into our routine for when we log on. We all have our rituals when we open the internet browser. Often it may even fall into a certain order of the sites we visit, prioritizing what we are most interested in seeing first. Which often seems to be facebook for many people. Thats a bit of a generalization but it often is near the top of the list for many people.

I am curious if anyone else gets as distracted as me through media technology, whatever it may be. The internet is at the top of my list, what about you? Any particular sites that draw your attention away from the task at hand?

The iPad hits shelves

The iPad hit shelves and it has been selling fast. Apple had estimated around 300,000 iPads to be sold on April 3rd. Will this momentum keep on going or is it slowly going to die down? I really don't know but I am interested in what people think of their new iPads.

I am wondering if the sales are because it is the next new shiny product to own or if there is some functionality that the buyer did not find else where. There is the book store app which is new for the iPad and it has been estimated that over 250,000 e-books have been sold through the app already. The keyboard is another function that I can see being a unique selling point, yes you can use your laptop but this is a more compact way of allowing for fluid typing that is similar to using a computer.

I have not used one yet so I can only speculate, the question I am asking is what is driving these sales? Is it the phenomenal advertising tactics by apple or does the product speak for itself? I am sure it could be a mix of the two but I wonder what is the dominant factor in generating sales. Anyone have a clue? I don't.

info taken from http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/04/apple-tops-300000-ipad-sales-in-one-day.ars

The phenomena called Troll 2

Troll 2 is known for being one of the strangest and most awesomely terrible movies of all time. If you haven't seen it you should atleast check out scenes of it from youtube. Me and my friends have been renting terrible movies for a very long time now and this among one of the most ridiculous.

What is so interesting about this one in particular is the pop cultural phenomena that this movie has sparked. It has grown increasingly in popularity by word of mouth of how hilarious this film is. In it's day now it is by far more popular than it ever has been. The popularity has merited a new documentary coming out about the growing popularity of this movie and what the people that were involved with making it are up to now. I find it amazing how this film was such a huge flop only to increasingly grow in popularity over the years. People just love laughing at this movie which I completely understand as watching movies like this has been such a huge tradition with my friends for a long time.

It is amazing to see one of the starring actors and what he is doing now, he is now a dentist and his experience with the movie had seemed to have been forgotten. Now 20 years later he has become a huge cult icon all of a sudden because of peoples love for this movie.

Here is the trailer for the new documentary...
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/44444

I also highly recommend checking out clips of Troll 2 on youtube if you aren't familiar with the movie.

Production

I thought I would go deeper into what our class is discussing this week with my experience in this area. I love being part of this process, I really enjoy it though it can be incredibly challenging for me. While attending Bridgewater State College my passion for film editing has grown and I really want to grow and develop my skills within this area of post production. I am still new to it but the more I work with it, the more enthralling it has become.

I want to learn all facet of this creative process, developing an idea in pre production and then trying to take what I have in my head and put it on film is incredibly challenging at times but also very rewarding and satisfying when it works out. A big constraint for me has always been finding people that would like to help along with the projects. I am always happy to accept help when it comes my way. Not that I never find help, When I have I greatly appreciate what they have given to helping put together these short films along with me. It really is amazing the amount of constraints that can come your way but I have found that the constraints have helped me to grow and think more critically of how I can obtain what I pictured in my head when those initial ideas for the film popped into my head.

The process is still new for me and I am need of as much practice as I can possibly get, it is challenging but very rewarding. I just hope to grow and be able to contribute to the process of film making.

American Movie

American Movie is a documentary that follows the life of Mark Borchardt, who is desperately trying to create a feature length film. I had heard about this film from a friend and was excited when I saw this was one of the assigned films for my media and studies class.

I found the film inspiring, it is a story that is heart wrenching in it's desperation. Mark Borchardt is truly driven to complete his dream despite the seemingly hopeless odds against him. His family and close friends all seem to have some role to play in helping bring Marks dream to life.

It is inspiring to see how determined a person can be when trying to complete their creative vision. The hunger can be immense when driven to fulfill their dream. I feel I can relate to that hunger to an extent, I am sure some of my close friends can as well. The drive to create I have felt along with my close friends through music and film. Mark Borchardt is an extreme case, but I feel we can relate and grow inspired by the determination this man has to follow through with his vision no matter how many obstacles come his way.

I highly recommend checking out this documentary, I found it inspiring, heart wrenching and hilarious all at the same time.

Messages from Water

I read about some research being done from a website called messages from water
here is the link for anyone who is interested http://www.life-enthusiast.com/twilight/research_emoto.htm

I found it fascinating, basically it is an experiment done by a man named Masaru Emoto that shows through the vibrational frequencies of our words and thoughts, the molecular structure of water changes. The website shows pictures to how the different words affected the look of the molecules. This was also done by playing music which also changed the molecules. The website goes further into details.

Now what is interesting to think about is that we have about 70% water inside of a person. According to the experiment, this shows how the interaction we have with others and the feelings we hold within ourselves could be creating a physical change in the molecular structure of the water that is inside of us. I find it really interesting in giving new perspective to how much communication can effect us in such a major way to shaping molecules running through our bodies.

I am very interested in hearing your opinion on this research, whether you can believe it or not. I think this research gives us a deeper understanding and awareness of how much we affect ourselves and others through communication.

Sci-fi and Fantasy popularity

I recently heard a statistic that the science fiction genre is more popular in the Western world, while the fantasy genre is more popular in the Eastern world. I think it is interesting to think about this, though I am just speculating to the reason. So what is the reason for this?

I feel that the reason for the popularity of the two can be linked to varying cultural mind sets. In our part of the world, the United States in particular, our culture is more rooted in scientific proof to explain our world, while the Eastern culture by tradition is more accepting of the supernatural and the spiritual realm. These traditionally focused mind sets could be linked to the popularity to these genres. Science fiction gives us a look into worlds that are based in technological and scientific advances based from our world in the present. Giving us a glimpse at possible futures and alternate realities. Fantasy on the other hand accentuates the mystic properties of our world to let the mind run wild.

I am a fan of both genres, a little hard for me to pick a favorite side. I am curious if anyone has any theories as to why these varying popularities may be I am very interested in hearing them. This again is just my speculation of why one genre may be more popular than the other.

Kwedit

I don't know if anyone else has heard about this website kwedit.com, I heard about it from a segment that Stephen Colbert did recently. This site is incredibly strange. Basically it is credit for kids so they can play online games. Play now, pay later is the slogan. This is really disturbing when you find out what the games are. Foo Pets is a virtual pet game where you have to pay real money for food and other virtual products for your virtual pet. If you don't pay to keep your virtual pet happy they will take it away. I can not even completely express how messed up I think this is. To get kids to borrow money that they have to later pay back in order to keep their online virtual pet.

I personally don't think that kids at such young ages in which this site targets, should be dealing with credit especially in such a manner. This kind of media technology is supposed to teach kids about credit, but what is it really doing? The kid is going to get in debt buying virtual products and the parents are going to have to pay their debt for them. They even explain this as "passing the duck", this means that if you don't have the money you can ask someone else to pay for you taking the responsibility off of the kid. This kind of media technology seems sketchy to me for a young child to be responsible for. I think the idea of this being an educational experience seems odd to me as well. I feel there is other ways to teach a kid about credit without having them buy virtual pet food.

John Carpenter's The Thing

One of my favorite monster movies The Thing by John Carpenter is a remake of the 1951 film with the same name. The basic plot is that a group of people stationed at an Antarctic research base come in contact with a faceless, nameless alien. It acts as a virus and disguises itself as the prey in which it killed. What I find so interesting and terrifying about this creature is that it poses itself as the creatures it has killed. Isolated from rest of civilization, the group does not know who amongst them is still human and who has become part of the creature.

What this film does brilliantly is play upon the fears we have of trusting one another, do we ever truly know someone? The group begins to grow paranoid and communication becomes more and more hostile. The once friendly group is now ready to point a finger at any one of the other members that they may have turned into the Thing. It is an omnipresent creature that plays upon our fear of the unknown. This film at it's core depicts what happens when fear takes hold of us and shows the way we treat each other when we are not sure if we can trust anyone. This film shows communication between the team of researchers as a vital tool for survival. They must communicate with each other to stay calm and calculate what they must do to survive.

I highly recommend this film to anyone who hasn't seen it, it is pretty freaky but if you like horror it is definitely worth checking out. It's from the 80s but I will say right now I think the puppetry/animatronics in this look way cooler than any cg used in modern day horror. It is absolutely crazy. This film is horror on multiple levels, it is quite psychological in playing upon our fears of trust and isolation while at the same time being one crazy monster movie.

Bridging the gap between video-games and the film making

The gap between movies and video games has shrunk. I have thought about this for awhile in the relationship between the two. As the technology for video games has been rapidly evolving so has the story telling. I believe there has been great examples of story telling in this format for a long time. For me the super nintendo was the first gaming system I ever owned and there are games with truly unique stories I have never seen anything quite like since. The lack of graphics and voice acting forced a narrative driven game to depend on it's personality alone. If anyone has played Earthbound for super nintendo, the game is incredibly simple in presentation, but in terms of personality and story, it is unlike anything else.

Today we are seeing advances in the way we can tell stories in this format, voice acting used to be a rarity for games and now it is found in almost every title. The Metal Gear Solid series to me was the first time I felt I was experiencing something that had a cinematic style that felt like I was playing a game and at the same time, experiencing a film that had an incredibly deep and complex story. We also see the development of motion capture through out this series, the first one had top notch voice acting but pixelated unmoving faces. With the 4th installment, we see how motion capture can give these characters facial expressions and actions that are mapped out from a person acting out a scene. This gives the character emotions and depth unlike anything we have seen before.

Video games seem to be coming closer and closer to blending with the art of film, while it has been successful for games to adapt facets of film making into itself, the video games that have had movie adaptations have failed miserably. There have been multiple flops when attempting to adopt a games story and style into a film yet people are still trying to successfully accomplish this.

I would love to hear examples of games that you have loved, that you felt adapted film like narratives and techniques into the experience. I would also like to hear your thoughts and opinions on video game adapted movies.

Franchise Reboots

Hollywood has been in a pattern of reviving old franchises, for example the batman movies. Christopher Nolan reinvented what Tim Burton started by directing Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. This was a franchise reboot and one that was creative and made sense to make. This is not always the case with films though.

Spiderman has gone through 3 films and Sam Raimi was going to be directing number 4 but when Raimi was being pressured for a summer release and didn't feel he could deliver a quality film by then he dropped it. WIth Raimi out so was Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. So what does the studio do? Gets a new director and plans to reboot the franchise.

Now with Batman the reboot made sense, Tim Burton made his films back in the 80s and they were very stylized films. Nolan needed to restart what had been built to create his vision. This Spiderman reboot is a back up plan for the fact that they cant continue Raimi's vision without him so they are rebooting it. It seems to be purely for a profit to push box office sales by having the Spiderman brand attatched to it.

This reboot is just feeding the audience the same thing they have been given before. I am worried that the popularity of rebooting franchises may lead to feeding the audience the same tasteless mush over and over again. This is a prejudiced rant I know, because I have not seen this new Spiderman franchise, but they are just restarting what was already built by films that were made not even 10 years ago. It hasn't even been a decade and they are sending Peter Parker back to high school because they can't think of anything else to do with him.

I hope that franchise reboots stay appropriate like some films have. Does anyone welcome this reboot for Spiderman? What do you think of the idea of rebooting film franchises?

The Virtual vs. The Physical

I have a question for you, do you go out and buy cd's anymore? I personally have not liked the switch to the non-disc era of music. I understand why others do like it, it is easy to organize your music through an itunes library and you can instantly download more any time you like. It can also be cheaper since most songs are .99 cents each while letting you buy that one hit you want off the cd without having to pay for the rest.

Now why I prefer cd's. There is a presentation factor when buying cd's or vinyl that gets lost when you download. I like to have something tangible in my hands. The artwork and booklet is part of the presentation of someones creative work. Some will argue there is no difference but the sound quality of a cd is richer than that of a downloaded mp3. The difference is even greater when your dealing with vinyls vs. downloads.

A factor that I account for is that when listening to a iPod or full library of music many are prone to shuffling around songs to get to there favorites. I do this to but this instant gratification can make you miss hidden gems within your library. Recording an album tells a story, a track 1 might not work as well as a track 8 or 9. Listening to a cd from start to finish will allow you to see the story being told in its whole. Often it helps me find a deeper appreciation for the music. Almost all my favorite cds were nothing special to me when I first heard them. I can be prone to wanting to skip to my favorite songs, but when I listen to it from start to finish a few times some of those songs that didn't seem like much to me at first will begin to grow on me and end up being a bigger favorite then the ones that I initially wanted to skip to.

I would love to hear anyone's opinion on this. Whether it is for or against the download. What do you prefer and why?

Theater Sales are up

Ticket sales for Movie theaters have gone up in 2009. Why this is interesting is because there has been a slight decrease in sales over the past few years and many predicted that dvds and downloads were going to slowly take over. The home theater becoming cheaper to create as well as better technology for a better picture and sound was thought to dwindle ticket sales but 2009 goes to show that this might not be the case.

I know that I have always loved going to the theater with my friends and am happy to see that others are sharing this love for the theater, but why has there been this overall increase? I can see a few reasons for this to have happened. IMAX for one has gained ground in its popularity. These theaters strengthen that gap between a home theater experience and an IMAX experience. It is not possible for anyone to recreate something like these theaters at this time. It offers a new experience especially with new technology that gives the viewer an even more immersive experience.

It could also be said that it is from the films themselves. 2009 had a lot of huge box office hits. Could it be as simple as the films themselves have been more desirable to see? I am not certain what the reason is for sure and I am sure it is a combination of a few variables. I am curious if it is the format itself that has growing back into popularity.

To me the theater can be looked at as a community experience, sitting in a dark room with others (friends and strangers) can create an experience unlike that of watching at home. Is it the experience itself that has grown in popularity? Is this a cultural change? Do you prefer to go out to see a film rather than staying in? I am curious what you think of going to theaters vs. staying home.

Apple announces iPad

Below is a link to apples introductory video of its new product the iPad. Overviews some functionality. http://www.apple.com/ipad/#video

Apple has recently announced it's new tablet, the iPad. Now what a lot of people seem to be saying is that it is just an oversized ipod touch and its hard for me to disagree. This seems like a fun new product but I can't see any reason for myself or many people to own one. It's not quite a laptop, not quite an ipod touch/iPhone.

What is new is the book store, where you can digitally buy books and read them instantly on the iPad. I am curious what your thoughts are on this. I don't really like the thought of reading a book digitally in this format except for text books. I still refuse to download music. I feel that you lose a lot of a cd by digitally downloading it but that is just me. It can be great for people and I understand why. The same situation is arising for me with the new iPad. It's certainly more convenient and I can imagine the books could possibly cost less since they are digital, but are we losing something by digitally owning people's creative works? I mean there is no right or wrong answer to that it is a completely personal and subjective question.

The iPad has a lot of other options also, a large keyboard for typing and apple is pushing that this is a great new way of surfing the internet as well as emailing and sharing photos. Also watching movies. The general message is that this new tech is going to function as a new, fun, innovative way of sharing and viewing media with one another on an entertaining, business and intellectual level. What are your thoughts of this new product?

The Rise of the Auto Tuner

There has been a rise in the use of auto tuners in main stream music over the past couple of years. What an auto tuner does is correct pitch in peoples vocals. where I see a problem is that artists have been increasingly reliant on using this to push out their big hits onto the masses. Not only is it being used more frequently but it has also been used to a heavier degree. Instead of a light touch to help correct a singers pitch, it is being used to the extent that makes them sound almost robotic. (Though this is often a type of sound the artist is going for often seen a lot in main stream hip hop today). Artists such as T-Pain and Lady Gaga are examples out of the huge pool of artists now following the auto tuner trend.

This technology is still new and has become a standard in the main stream music scene. It seems that the majority don't seem to mind this new trend and others see it as a cheap instant gratification for the artist to pump out hits. Personally I hope this trend does not last. This technology is new and may have unrealized potential still but in my opinion as a listener it seems like this technology just creates a wall between the artist and the listener. As David Byrne of the Talking Heads once said, "The better the singer the harder it is to believe what they are saying" comes to thought when I think about the mind set of the modern day popular music. It seems to me (though I do not wish to generalize about all artists since music no matter what will have its exceptions) that artists in the main stream are more focused on feeding the crowd an intoxicating melody to drill into their minds while hammered at a club than deliver an honest and heart felt sound and message to its fan base.

Bill to lower television ads

I recently heard about a bill that is trying to be passed through congress to lower the volume of television commercials. People around the country are complaining that the ads in between programs is louder than the programs themselves. I have noticed this as well and I agree that this is can be quite annoying. Your watching a show and all of a sudden theres a burger king ad blasting your speakers. The bill would set a legal limit making it so the commercials can be no louder than the program that followed. I think this is a great idea for both the marketer and the consumer. The viewer of commercials such as these is going to be irritated by the volume and because of this will be less willing to subject themselves to what is being sold. Turning down the volume or switching the channel seems to be the usual solution for me. So I can't imagine that pumping up the volume helps increase sales for the marketer in the first place so what are they trying to do? The benefit to the consumer is obvious, no more obnoxiously loud commercials. So overall this seems to be a win win situation for everyone. I would be interested in hearing what possible negative effects this could have so if anyones got some for me I would love to hear them.