Senioritis

I discussed senioritis a little in my last post, but considering it is the foundation of my senior project, I wanted to find a source that explicitly dealt with senioritis. Though I plan to make a video and most of my research will be based on filmmaking, and I have real life inspiration to draw from, my particular experience might not be the same as others'. Also, many times when senioritis is discussed, it revolves around high school seniors and the truth is that college seniors experience senioritis as well- often times at a worse degree.
Vicki Nelson, Founder of College Parent Central, wrote an article titled "Is Your College Senior Suffering from Senioritis? 13 Reasons Why It May Not Be What You Think". Says Nelson, "We hear less about senioritis during the last year of college, but it exists.  Often, it looks much like high school senioritis.  Your student has been in school now for sixteen or more years, and he is tired of being a student, loses focus and motivation, skips classes, does poorly on assignments, and generally appears unengaged."
This woman gets it. The reasons she lists for possible college senioritis range from debt, to job pressure and even the comfortable "bubble" of college. I had already drawn up a rough outline for my movie but after reading Vicki's reasons (and her explanations for them), I have realized there are several minor details I could add in to make it that much more real and relatable.

Speaking of those "minor details", no details are too minor in my opinion. I love finding "Easter eggs" in the TV shows and videos I watch (an Easter egg is an intentional inside joke, a hidden message, or a secret feature of an interactive work). I enjoy watching advertisements and watching the narrative unfold. I have always been a creative person in that sense. I don't watch things just to be entertained; I live for the story.

David Bordwell, author of Three Dimensions of Film Narrative, says, "Whatever we call it, the study of narrative is very important. Storytelling is a pervasive phenomenon. It seems that no culture or society is without its myths, folktales, and sacred legends. Narrative saturates everyday life too. Our conversations, our work, and our pastimes are steeped in stories. Go to the doctor and try to tell your symptoms without reciting a little tale about how they emerged. The same thing happens when you go to court or take your car to a mechanic or write a blog. Perhaps storytelling is part of human maturation, since it emerges quite early in human development... We share stories with each other, assuring others that we have experiences congruent with theirs. Sometimes we tell a joke... to create a bond..."

Bordwell is right. Though I'll be behind the camera and not in front of it, this is my story. The way I experienced something. And I'll be sharing it with people who may or may not have similar experiences. Perhaps, in turn, it will prompt others to provide their own experiences, tying us together, creating that bond Bordwell speaks of, and building a community (as discussed in previous posts). That in itself gives the film meaning, in my opinion.

Bordwell, David. "Three Dimensions of Film Narrative." Poetics of Cinema (2008): 85-134.

Nelson, Vicki. "Is Your College Senior Suffering from Senioritis? 13 Reasons Why It May Not Be What You Think." College Parent Central, Mar. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.

Switching gears

As I have said in previous posts, I am not a concrete person. I start with one idea and it snowballs into 5 or 10 or 30 more ideas- some that coincide with the original idea, others that manifest from that idea but don't relate at all.
I like to draw inspiration from real life. Getting an amazing internship for a music magazine my senior year of college seemed too good to be true. It wasn't. However, as I am in my senior year and also have bills to pay, I don't spend too much time on my internship and therefore, am not as involved in the industry as I would like to be. I shot for the stars as far as what I wanted to do for my Capstone project and, after doing some thorough research and planning, realized what I wanted to do just wasn't going to be an option in the timeframe I needed.

I have been in a serious funk. For weeks. About school, about work, about life- both in the present and the future.
I have skipped a majority of my classes over the past several weeks. I sleep in as late as 12pm and just lay around my house all day. I see the assignments piling up. I see the laundry hasn't been done and there are dishes scattered about the kitchen. But I just can't bring myself to want to do anything.
This is my reality.
This is my inspiration.

Though senioritis has yet to be proven as a real disease, it can currently be described as "a supposed affliction of students in their final year of high school or college, characterized by a decline in motivation or performance".
Oh yeah. That's real.

What does this have to do with my capstone, you ask?
As a Communications major, I have had limitless opportunities concerning various forms of communication (social media, tv, music, art, etc.). However, one aspect I really didn't get to explore was filmmaking.
Last summer I took a course where I helped shoot part of a documentary for my university (I got to work the soundboard. It was rad.) Since it was a summer course it was only 5 weeks long, but we really only filmed for 2.
Since then my thirst for film has been rampant. I've always loved Youtube videos, but now I've tried to focus on more "legit" filmmakers, such as Casey Neistat. Not only is Neistat a Youtube personality and filmmaker (with almost 7 million subscribers), he is also a vlogger, co-founder of the social media company Beme, and co-creator of the HBO series The Neistat Brothers, along with his brother Van.

That's a lot to accomplish.
I've watched upwards of 500 of his videos (there are currently 754 videos on his Youtube channel) and have found great inspiration through him. He does a "Question and Answer" segment in several vlogs and the intro is just incredible. 
Anyone can tell you "these are the steps to becoming whatever" but it's another thing to see it working in action.
Neistat started "daily vlogging" around this time in 2015. In November of 2016 he decided to end the vlogs, as he wasn't feeling challenged anymore as far as his filmmaking ability was concerned. However, this past week Neistat decided to bring the vlogs back. 
I enjoy watching his videos (along with 6.8 million other people) and think he will be a great source for my project: a Youtube video.
Not sure how to describe it quite yet. It will only be 5-10 minutes long, so it's not a documentary or anything like that. I guess I will just call it a "short movie" for now.

In the article "7 Storytelling Techniques You Can Learn from Filmmaker & YouTube Star Casey Neistat" by V Renée, she features two videos: one from editor Sven Pape, breaking down 7 techniques Neistat uses in his videos, and another by Evan Puschak, who delves into Casey's creative force and the meanings behind those techniques. I will use each of these videos as separate sources (rather than using the article as a source), but it's nice to have everything in a central location.

Eggo Müller's "Where Quality Matters: Discourses on the Art of Making a YouTube Video" sheds some light on what exactly people use the video-sharing site for. Müller writes, "As the website's self-promotion goes and as commentators repeatedly affirm, YouTube is first and foremost a cultural space of community building and shared experiences. Many critics therefore lament the poor aesthetic quality and moral shiftiness of many of the self-made clips on YouTube, often recorded on the spot with facilities like mobile phones, webcams or digital photo cameras and then uploaded without "wasting time" on postproduction. YouTube is- at least for "contributing users" as opposed to "lurking users"- all about sharing moments online with a potentially world-wide audience, but actually a limited number of viewers," (Müller).
My video has the potential to reach a large audience with varied demographics: mid-lifers who want to relive the "easy days"; current college seniors who can relate right then; college freshman, sophomores and juniors, who remember their senior year of high school and realize they have senior year to look forward to; high school seniors who can relate right then; others in high school who will see what they have to look forward to, etc.
Though I will spend months on this project, both editing and filming simultaneously and then editing again in post, I do agree with Müller that Youtube is about sharing moments and experiences with those who can relate. Even if they can't relate, those viewers then have the power to share the video with their friends, and so on and so on.

Sometimes where you need to be isn't where you are, but sometimes where you are takes you to where you need to be.

Müller, Eggo. "Where quality matters: discourses on the art of making a YouTube video." The YouTube Reader 12 (2009): 126-139.

Renée, V. "7 Storytelling Techniques You Can Learn from Filmmaker & YouTube Star Casey Neistat." No Film School, 27 Aug. 2016. Web. 19 Feb. 2017.

 

Two cameras are better than one

Video blogging, or vlogging, has become a popular Youtube trend in the last few years. Several vlog channels have emerged and some Youtubers have even created second channels strictly for the purpose of publishing vlogs. These vlogs possess a certain level of intimacy that other genres of videos may lack. Beauty tutorials are directed at those who may want to try out a different look. Video game play-throughs are dedicated to enthusiasts who may feeling like watching how a game unfolds before spending $60 on it. Those people have information about something and are there to share it with their audience. However, vlogs- even those stemming from main channels- may not have an audience at all.  Michael Wesch explains this in his article "Youtube and You: Experiences of Self-awareness in the Context Collapse of the Recording Webcam", saying, "Like a soliloquy shouted into the ether or a message in a bottle set adrift at sea, these vlogs have no specific addressee... They are videos of people sitting alone in front of their webcams and just talking to anybody and everybody who care to click on their video," (Wesch).

Vlogs are real and raw, and their creators are free to film whatever they'd like without having to stick to the label of their main channel, should they have one. Vloggers are welcome to talk about their problems, their dreams and accomplishments without judgement- because they don't know if anyone's even watching. But we are watching. And that makes us feel good, as though we're a part of a secret club.
You don't know it, but I'm rooting for you, we think to our computer screens, willing the person on the other side to feel our empathy.

Wesch goes on to say that vlogs foster a sense of community that was deemed long gone with the emergence of social media, which hasn't been around long enough to have such a negative impact, in my opinion. We start with Facebook, which allowed us to connect with distant relatives and old friends in a new, user-friendly way. People begin posting daily updates on their lives, which becomes tedious- so Twitter is formed, allowing us to post about whatever we want in short snippets. Instagram gave us the option to broadcast our lives through pictures and videos without having to say anything at all. And along came vlogs. They encapsulate various aspects of each social media platform. Each vlog tells a story in itself and yet is only a small portion of a larger scheme, inviting us back again and again.

But how do they do it? How do they intrigue us day after day?
In a word? Clickbait.
And what is clickbait you ask?

Think about the last time you were scrolling through Facebook. You see an article and the description reads, "Couple receives terrible service at restaurant. What they do next will shock you!". And then you spend ten minutes clicking off pop-up ads only to find out they left a very generous tip because they were good people. Not what you were expecting, right? Well, that's the purpose of clickbait. To get you to click on the article or video and watch or read through the entire thing in the hopes that there will be some turn of events, some payoff, to make the three minutes you just wasted "worth it".

Clickbait is the Internet's cliffhanger.


Wesch, Michael. "Youtube and You: Experiences of Self-awareness in the Context Collapse of the Recording Webcam." Explorations in Media Ecology 8.2 (2009): 19-34. Web.

Music to my ears- literally

I have never been, and will never be, a person that is concrete. Some people can decide to do something and stick with it until it's finished and I applaud those people. I get an idea in my head, and then another, and then another... I am never just pursuing one thing at a time. So I am considering two different ideas for my project. The first is a website to launch my record label. It would be a digital label. This would work as long as all the bands I plan to sign record their music digitally. Being a Communications major and possessing skills in HTML coding puts me at an advantage because I could build it entirely from scratch and really set myself apart from other digital labels. However, I am extremely detail-oriented and fear I might get too wrapped up in the minor aspects of it. Another potential challenge would be that in order to do this I would need to rely entirely on technology. If a file gets deleted or there's no Internet access I won't be able to do what I need to do.
The next idea I am contemplating is a paper which will chronicle my experience as an intern for Appalachian Jamwich over the next several months. Appalachian Jamwich is a magazine based out of Shepherdstown that features "visual artists and mid-level bands in the jam scene", according to their website, which you can find here. Working for Appalachian Jamwich will not only give me insight on what it's like to run a business, but considering I want to work with artists in this region, they can set me up with some really great contacts. Team members at the magazine regularly attend festivals and concerts and even host their own festival each June- The Mad Tea Party Jam, which can be seen below.

Working alongside Co-owners Daniel King, Elise Olmstead and Taco Olmstead and the rest of the team at Appalachian Jamwich and attending these events could really help me break into the music industry. One challenge of writing a paper would be the size of it. I would have to condense several months' worth of work to make sure it's readable. It also wouldn't entail the visual aspect that I crave.
Now that I sit here typing this, another idea would be to vlog my entire internship. I may end up pursuing multiple ideas if I find that I can manage my time well. I would hate to just "pick" something and produce mediocre results because I end up resenting my choice. 

Disc-covering

Music is such a big part of our lives. We listen to it no matter what mood we're in, no matter what location or situation. It makes us feel things, connects us to others, helps us get through the bad times and makes the good times better. I'm listening to it as I write this.

I want to bring music to the world- but not with my own voice. Definitely not with my own voice.
So whose voice? Where will I find my artists?

Coffee shops, bars, street corners, the dark depths of the Internet, my college campus.
The genre? Good music from local artists. Call it homegrown if you will.
Where is "local"? Wherever there's good music. I know I just mentioned my college campus but if Gainesville, Florida has the next Tom Petty you bet I'd book a plane ticket.
I love the authenticity of local artists. You hear their struggle, you hear their pain. It's not a gimmick. It's real life.


I won't let anyone to tell me when or what I should be doing, or what hair color to have for that matter. I will do my own A&R. I will manage social media accounts for my artists, fulfill orders for their merchandise, books their gigs...
 
You may ask what a Communications major knows about music. Well, I know it's a major form of communication. And there are many great artists that don't get the recognition they deserve. They don't stand in line for hours in the hopes of auditioning to win America's hearts. They don't run into Usher at the airport. They don't just go "viral".

They work hard every day.

My dream career isn't about me at all. It's about small town artists just trying to make a living.

I would say Sir Richard Branson is a major influence for me. Branson, Founder of Virgin Group, which controls over 400 companies, achieved his status by realizing it wasn't about him. It was about those he represented. Said Branson in an interview for Inc., "...If the person who works at your company is 100% proud of the job they're doing, if you give them the tools to do a good job...they're gonna be happy and therefore the customer will have a nice experience".

Whereas Virgin Records represents several big name artists (think Fall Out Boy and Rihanna), I'm not worried about that amount of success. I just want to showcase other people's gifts.

What I love about Richard Branson is that he never stays in one place.
I want to do something different every day.
I want to:

• discover new artists
• run a studio
• build and run a website
• manage artists
• shoot music and promotional videos
• listen to podcasts on how to better engage my clients
• host interviews with my artists to help them connect with their fanbases

I would also book the artists to speak at schools in the area to teach local kids about music and how to achieve their dreams. Having a studio in a smaller town would hopefully generate enough revenue to provide aide to music programs in schools.


There are so many kids who have a hard time expressing themselves verbally so they use art. Music, writing, drawing, you name it. I want them to feel encouraged. I want them to know they don't have to use words in a formal setting to explain how they feel. And I want to remind adults that.

The Internet Paradox

The Internet is a nearly-indestructible source of information. Individual countries have no power to shut the Internet down because it is a "global shared system", as described in Episode 2 of "The Virtual Revolution"; However, that doesn't mean they don't try to.
Back in 2009, after the allegedly rigged election in Iran, the Twitter-sphere lit up with messages from half a million opposition supporters within the country, describing the events that had begun to take place after the election, including protests. Considering all media reporting inside the country had been banned, individuals were able to link up with users in other countries through Twitter and the Internet so that their struggles were broadcast and became widespread. These tweets, over 2 million within 18 days, as well as several graphic videos posted, became a wake-up call for outsiders, and a means of communication so that they could find out how to take action from the people living in Iran at the time. For example, when a video was posted of a young Iranian women in her final moments of life after she had been shot, people were outraged and felt it necessary to avenge her death. Things happened so quickly and even if there was nothing outsiders could do, having that connection to people inside Iran and being able to say "Hey, we see this, and we're here for you even if your government isn't" really strengthened a bond between different countries and races and cultures that may not have otherwise occurred.

The Web also enables users to route around censorship, and that is one way that it can divide us in a political context. Because of the luxuries we are used to in this country, it may seem totally outrageous to us that countries such as China and Iran moderate their Internet so heavily. For example, a man named Austin Heap created an encryption software called Haystack that allows users to bypass sites their government may have blocked. In the case of Iran, such sites as Facebook and Twitter were blocked after the massive uproar post-election. Haystack is secure and cannot be filtered, and there is no way to trace it back to its users, hence its name. This may seem harmless because it is allowing users in such countries to connect with us, but as so perfectly stated by David Runciman, "[The Web] makes various forms of national politics irrelevant because people can bypass them,". Undermining governments that aren't our own only results in harsher repercussions for the people within those countries.

The "Great Leveling of Humanity"

Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist, invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989. I don't think he had any idea it could amount to what it is today. Though the Web is only a portion of the Internet, without it, there would be no social media sites or blogs. In fact, half the pop music we have today wouldn't exist because the artists were discovered online (see: Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, etc.) However, the Web can be also be a dark and scary place- and I don't think Berners-Lee could have predicted that either.

How many times a day do you use the Web? For reading (or writing) blogs, looking up recipes, Googling the latest cat video or reading an article about the most recent celebrity scandal (talking about you, Obama). Most of our world today revolves around technology, considering we have an infinite information source right in arm's reach. But you probably don't just look at one thing. You look at related things. So you read blogs related to the type of style your write and you look at similar recipes to compare and you've probably Googled "cat video" more than one time and you probably said your piece in response to the latest celebrity scandal whether it was on Facebook or you talked about it with someone IRL (in real life).
The point is, the Web has connected us today in a way that nothing else has had the power to do. Everywhere you go you can find a group whether it's a forum for something you like or your Pinterest or your related videos on Youtube. And these tools were enabled to help us make the most of our technological experience. Finding and connecting us with people from all over the globe who share our interests.
For example, when I go to Youtube, I see that I would watch 7/10 of the recommended videos. Of those 7 I follow every person the videos were filmed by. So the Youtube Gods or robots or whatever they are know my interests, because they've tracked them. And they are now hyper-targeting me based on what I'm watched, 'liked' and commented on.

However, with great power comes responsibility. And therefore abuse of power can quickly occur. For instance, you may find Youtube comments on the videos I watch along the lines of 'You wear too much makeup!' 'Get a real job because you'll never make it in Hollywood' and 'Too fat'- and those are the nicer ones.
People take their right to free speech very seriously so if you use the Internet as an outlet for your own positing there's always a chance you will get hate for it.
Another example would be a blog that happens to be against your blog specifically or the type of blogs you read (whether it's for the stye or content).
You could let it go, but because of your right to free speech you may also comment/create your own post in response.
And that's when you give them the power over you. You will do anything to beat them in this "fight" and change their minds but they know they won't and so they're using you for whatever sick reason.

In closing, I'll say the Web is still a great tool that should be utilized often as technology is evolving every day. Just be prepared for consequences for the things you post.