Music Video with The Golden Butter Band

I am currently working on a music video for a class that will involve a local band called The Golden Butter Band. The location for the shoot will be outdoors mostly in a field with a shed among other props such as a Yuengling Van, a dog, a grill, and much more! For the most part there will be several shots of the entire band playing occasionally switching from day to night followed by close ups through out the video.

I talked with the band about what they wanted out of the music video, and they stated that they just wanted it to be a fun time but good quality. Which is exactly what I plan to do by displaying shots of everyday life and incorporating them with beats, solos, and time change.

Campaign for Dove

In Advertising we viewed some videos and articles in regards to the Dove Real Beauty Campaign. This campaign that Dove is advertising is an effort to show women that these ads with women on billboards and magazines are touched up to an extreme. What this does to self-esteem is quite damaging, so as somewhat of retaliation against extreme touch up Dove displayed ads portraying natural beauty. Dove used older models that had long since grayed, overweight models, and more to show women that these little things called imperfections are just the thing that does make women beautiful.

I chose this ad because its wonderful to see older women in advertisements, and she's naked which is invigorating to see the amount of self-confidence she has. This brings me to a certain sign in the ad. The signifier is nudity. The signified is the artistic expression this has been depicted in various works of art through out history. The state of being naked shows freedom, comfort, confidence, and beauty, which really works for this Dove campaign.

Ready the poster board!

The past several weeks have been intense storyboarding, scripting, and shooting but now that this project is nearing an end the design to put this work on display takes its course.

For the center of my board I would like to have the theory of Bloom's Taxonomy for my centerpiece of the board since this theory assisted in helping me put together my project. The rest of the board will consist of images from filming, sections of the script and storyboard, as well as character profiles. A laptop will be in place underneath Bloom's pyramid playing the documentary.

I'm currently in the process of editing the documentary and further using Bloom's theory to continue and ultimately finish this project.

Semioitics and Target

In Advertising and Imagery we were assigned to apply what we learned in class about semiotics to an advertisement of our choice. My partner Erin and I came across an ad for Target. Along with choosing an advertisement that appealed to us we also had to, separately, find five significations within the advertisement.

• The waffle iron the woman is holding is a signifier. The waffle iron signifies molding of an object from waffles, hair, or the image of the woman herself.
• Another signifier is the color of the clothing that the woman is wearing. Black signifies modern and sophistic characteristics, which with the two characteristics combined can ultimately lead to a position of power within the advertisement.
• A subtle use of type on the left side of the woman as well as the right side of her is the signifier. This small type that displays the price of both the black v-neck sweater the woman is wearing as well as the waffle iron signifies the importance of that which is being displayed. It's almost as if the price of the selected items is completely irrelevant to the Target ad that it must be nearly unnoticeable to allow viewers to concentrate on the woman and waffle iron.
• The hair of the woman is the signifier, both the curly and straight sides. This representation of two different styles signifies the different personalities a woman can have by changing the style of her hair. On the side that that is straight we can observe a sleeker and clean-cut personality, on the other hand, the side that has been mutated by the waffle iron has molded the once sleek personality into a more vivacious and lively persona.
  
• Finally, the word, "Waffling" is the signifier. The signified is that the true meaning if waffling is not that of making a breakfast treat but is referring to having more than one interpretation of something. This single word wraps up the entire ad into one diverse advertisement. Waffling not only ties into the waffle iron, but also supports the idea of having two different personalities via hair.
  

Blog 5, watch, listen, explore

The usual networks for news include Fox, CNN, or NPR, but one form of broadcasting the news was unfamiliar to me. Democracy Now, a website that delivers the news an unbiased manner those who seek it. I chose to watch a video on the Wisconsin Labor protests, an event where Michael Moore decided to attend and speak.

I watched the video, and read the description of the story below the video. What I liked about this description was that it was to the point, quick, and painless. Democracy Now didn't just apply this convenient feature to this story, this is how they show their headline news in neat little blogs. Now for those of you that desire that hour of news Democracy now does provide an hour of video to catch the viewer up on the events of the world for that day. They also provide segments of headline news via video if the viewer does not wish to wait for a particular story. This site is easy to navigate and the left side of the site is filled with topics of interest from "Don't Ask Don't Tell" to the "Uprising in Libya". I must say this is an interesting site, and when running late but yearn to know the status of the world, this would be a good site to check out.

Blog 3, comparing news stories

On April 5th 2010 an explosion occurred outside the small town of Whitesville, WV at the location of Upper Big Branch coal mine, owned by Massey Energy. This is the story I wanted to write about due to the fact that the security chief of Massey Energy, Hughie Elbert Stover, has been charged with obstructing evidence in "the investigation of a 2010 explosion that killed 29 miners" (FOX News). I will be evaluating news broadcasters Fox, Democracy Now, and NPR on how they delivered this story. Each of these stories is within a day of each other FOX and NPR being February 28 and Democracy Now being March 1.

In the case of FOX News presenting the story they start out by giving a brief description on the explosion of Upper Big Branch mine, and the number of fatalities to give the readers a refresh on the background of the story. They then begin to go into the charges Stover faces as well as his possible jail sentence. The story then proceeds into the statements on the indictment against Stover and Massey Energy saying that they, "regularly violated federal law by warning underground workers when governments officials arrived to conduct safety inspections at its mines...Stover and trained security guards g [ave] advance notice by announcing the presence of an MSHA inspector. Stover is also accused of ordering an unnamed person to dump documents dealing with security at Upper Big Branch in a trash compactor." A family member of one of the victims of this explosion, Clay Mullins, was also quoted in the story saying that he "expected it because that's just he way they run their operations." Mullins later stated that he sympathized with Stover's family but justice is needed. The article then gives notice to the reader about the Assistant Attorney General Lanney Breuer comments on the incident and that the U.S. Attorney's office has recovered the disposed documents.

Democracy Now's article is quite short simple, and to the point. They indicate a brief background of the explosion as well as Stover's charges of, "lying to a[n] FBI agent and a federal inspector, as well as ordering an employee to dispose of thousands of security documents". They go on to inform the reader about the length of the sentence Stover faces for lying and obstructing justice.

NPR begins the story similarly to that of FOX, but give the background of the mine disaster through out the story. NPR is not quick to jump the gun in telling the reader the charges Stover faces, and NPR does tell the reader information that neither FOX or Democracy Now informed us of. This being that, "Stover and his guards used a special radio frequency to warn miners underground when inspectors arrived at the mine. That gave miners the chance to mask or fix serious safety problems and avoid citations, fines and closure orders...Massey miners and federal mine inspectors have described this inspection dodge before." The article states the charges and description of the crime committed by Stover when he disposed of the security documents. NPR does tell the reader that Gov. Joe Manchin appointed an independent investigator, Davitt McAteer to the cause of the disaster, who currently resides and works in Shepherdstown. The article discusses the recovery of the disposed documents and ends with Stover's release on bail.

While all three networks delivered the basics of the story giving the reader the ability to obtain the knowledge they were looking for, all three networks delivered differently, and similarly. FOX delivered more statistical information in regards to previous mine disasters, Stover's roll in the case, and focused on dates of importance in the case investigation. FOX also seemed more assertive when delivering this story, stressing words like "lying" and repeating Stover's charges through out the story, thus showing FOX's opinion of Stover. Democracy Now released a much shorter and to the point version of the story. While this is a convenient and clear method for readers that desire a quick update of the goings on in the world; I feel that they could have been more thorough with details such as Stover's inspection policy and the recovery of the disposed documents. NPR, on the other hand, was more extensive with their research indicating independent investigators, and Stover's special code to tell workers to mask any noticeable damage that could result in fines or a shut down of the mine. NPR did deliver a more in depth story than the other two resources, and like FOX, their opinion of Stover showed between the lines of the article. This resource was also the only one that displayed an image of the mine during the sequence of events in April 2010.

Image by Bob Bird NPR


This story is a subject I feel strongly about and can relate with this being the reason behind my choice. All three stories delivered the information well and to the point, which is what all readers look for in a good news story.

Things are starting to "Bloom"

Image by James BonTempo

This week I am nearing the end of filming, which has been a wonderful experience. I used examples from Bloom's Taxonomy to assist me in setting up for the best shot for what I had to work with. I first had to acquire the knowledge of how to film in order to make the camera work for what I wanted to shoot. I watched documentaries and observed how the filmmakers would set up a shot when interviewing. Also, in Kevin's class, TV News, he lectures about 3 point lighting, blocking, audio, and how to adjust the camera's settings to get the best color quality out of the attempted shot.


I obtained as much knowledge as I possibly could within the time frame I had to work with, so I then needed to understand what all of it meant. I grabbed a camera and began to tinker with it using notes from Kevin's classes. In doing this I got the feel of the camera when doing the white balance, and positioning the camera to get the shot I desired. While this was a tedious process in setting up lights, checking sound, and camera settings, it helped me understand what I've been learning. I then quickly discovered that the more prepared you are prior to shooting the better the flow of the filming in its entirety will be. This helped me breakdown setting up for a shot into sections of importance. For example, the lights must be set up before any adjustments can be made with the camera, like white balance. I finally had to evaluate myself to distinguish whether of not I was ready to begin filming my final work for my college career. My decision, to lightly put it, I'm an amateur. I went to seek advice from a fellow classmate, and he gave me some helpful suggestions to ready me for my project.

In applying Bloom's Taxonomy to educating myself with the art of filmmaking I learned that it's better to take the time to learn step-by-step verses jumping into an unfamiliar topic blindly. I can say that I'm glad that I put forth the effort to continue this project and not give up and try something different. The interesting thing is I really enjoy using a camera, writing scripts, and storyboarding. In addition to that, thus far in my project I have shot almost the entire thing, with the exception of some outdoor shots. This experience of teaching myself, seeking assistance, and applying this knowledge to my project has been wonderful and demanding at the same time. I'm excited to begin editing next week so I can spend as much time as possible finalizing before handing over the final material.

Presentation is everything.

Image by RambergMediaImages

I enjoy receiving the news from different perspectives online. Usually I read The Huffington Post, CNN, FOX News, NPR, and occasionally BBC. Sometimes when I read through these selected interpretations some of the stories are strikingly similar, theses are mostly headline stories. However, each news station isn't entirely able to broadcast everything that occurs in the world on that day. This is why I like to take the time and read through each selection, because Huffington Post may not have the information that I currently seek on new music releases that NPR will most likely post.

All in all I'm unable to select a news forum that is my favorite. It all depends on the news I seek. For political information I will definitely turn to CNN and FOX. I do this because of CNN's slogan "The most trusted name in news" but just like saving a file I like to have backup, so I check FOX. Both of these resources are popular in the public eye, and some favor one over the other, but the more information I obtain on a topic the more genuine my opinion can be.

The website set up of these two broadcasters is very similar, and also easy to navigate through. The headline story is placed at the top of the page with a large image visually describing the story, and large bold type usually lies within the general vicinity of the image indicating what has occurred. The viewer may also navigate through both sites via tabs across the top of the page displaying areas of interest.

As one scrolls past the headline news a quick display of other recent developments in the world emerges, sometimes in text sometimes in images. One of my favorite things about both sites is that they display little subsections of world news, politics, business, health, entertainment, etc. This is what makes these sites so appealing to me their ability to present basically everything that you need to quickly know about the world today, and presentation is everything. I believe knowing what occurs in the world you live in is important, and with resources like FOX and CNN giving readers the option online to quickly acquire the information they seek makes this knowledge more accessible.