Saturday 20 March 2010
Friday 19 March 2010
Friday 19th
Todays lesson was cut short because Nick was in London so we had nobody to take the second half of the lesson. This meant we only had one and a half hours of lesson. Barney used the first 45 minutes of the lesson to talk to us about Media in the online age and Viral music videos.
He showed us videos like Lady Gaga's 'Telephone', the modern day equivilant of the leading popstars music video epic (it's 9 minutes long).
After we had watched a few videos and disscussed them etc Barney let us have the rest of the lesson to work on our articles, correct feedback ect, or in my case finally make some headway on writing mine!
He showed us videos like Lady Gaga's 'Telephone', the modern day equivilant of the leading popstars music video epic (it's 9 minutes long).
After we had watched a few videos and disscussed them etc Barney let us have the rest of the lesson to work on our articles, correct feedback ect, or in my case finally make some headway on writing mine!
Thursday 18 March 2010
Thursday 18th
Today we were unable to use our normal classroom again due to the other class needing it. This was a bit of a problem because we couldn't even access the internet in the first lesson meening we were unable to make any direct progress on the project, so intead we discussed how things were going, gave feedback to each other and planned what it was we needed to do next.
In the second lesson we were able to have use of a computer room, this meant we could access our emails and articles to make some more progress on the project.
David Gauntlett has finally replied to my email so i was able to read through the reply and plan what i was going to write.
Davids reply wasn't AS usefull as Simon Panruckers, but still very usefull, here is the email he sent me;
Hi Sam
Thanks for the email. I have answered the questions which were relevant – see below – and deleted the other ones (e.g. I wasn’t making videos before the internet, so I can’t comment on that) … which means it ends up being only 4 questions long. Hope this is ok. You can send me a couple of follow-up questions if you want.
Would you be able to send me a copy of the newspaper when you’ve done it, please? It would be nice to see it.
(David Gauntlett, School of Media, Arts and Design, University of Westminster, Northwick Park, Harrow HA1 3TP)
Good luck with the project.
Many thanks
David
------------------------------------------------
David Gauntlett - http://www.theory.org.uk/david Professor of Media and Communications, School of Media, Arts and Design, University of Westminster d.gauntlett@westminster.ac.uk
------------------------------------------------
Did you make videos for an audience when you were at college or university?
No. Back then, around the start of the 1990s, it was reasonably hard to get hold of video cameras etc – although I might have been able to borrow one – but in any case there wasn’t much point making videos because you couldn’t show them to anyone. Well, you could show them to people you knew, if you could force them to sit down while you popped a tape into the VCR. But otherwise getting an audience was almost impossible – unless you happened to own a TV station.
How long have you been making videos?
Only for the past two or three years. I realised that YouTube would give me a good platform to share ideas and presentations with others.
How has the internet changed your current career?
I’ve been making the Theory.org.uk website – a site about media studies – since 1997, which is 13 years ago now. This made a substantial difference to me as it got my work and ideas noticed. I didn’t start doing it because of any particular hope of professional reward – in fact the internet was a kind of minority interest at the time, and colleagues perhaps wondered what I was doing wasting my time on the internet. But of course the internet turned out to be at the heart of media and communications today (as I predicted!).
How would you describe what you actually do?
I’m a professor at University of Westminster, so I teach and I do research studies and write about them, and write books which are often connected to those studies, in some way, but are about ‘bigger’ ideas. The internet is another way of spreading information about this work, and making arguments in a public forum.
In the second lesson we were able to have use of a computer room, this meant we could access our emails and articles to make some more progress on the project.
David Gauntlett has finally replied to my email so i was able to read through the reply and plan what i was going to write.
Davids reply wasn't AS usefull as Simon Panruckers, but still very usefull, here is the email he sent me;
Hi Sam
Thanks for the email. I have answered the questions which were relevant – see below – and deleted the other ones (e.g. I wasn’t making videos before the internet, so I can’t comment on that) … which means it ends up being only 4 questions long. Hope this is ok. You can send me a couple of follow-up questions if you want.
Would you be able to send me a copy of the newspaper when you’ve done it, please? It would be nice to see it.
(David Gauntlett, School of Media, Arts and Design, University of Westminster, Northwick Park, Harrow HA1 3TP)
Good luck with the project.
Many thanks
David
------------------------------------------------
David Gauntlett - http://www.theory.org.uk/david Professor of Media and Communications, School of Media, Arts and Design, University of Westminster d.gauntlett@westminster.ac.uk
------------------------------------------------
Did you make videos for an audience when you were at college or university?
No. Back then, around the start of the 1990s, it was reasonably hard to get hold of video cameras etc – although I might have been able to borrow one – but in any case there wasn’t much point making videos because you couldn’t show them to anyone. Well, you could show them to people you knew, if you could force them to sit down while you popped a tape into the VCR. But otherwise getting an audience was almost impossible – unless you happened to own a TV station.
How long have you been making videos?
Only for the past two or three years. I realised that YouTube would give me a good platform to share ideas and presentations with others.
How has the internet changed your current career?
I’ve been making the Theory.org.uk website – a site about media studies – since 1997, which is 13 years ago now. This made a substantial difference to me as it got my work and ideas noticed. I didn’t start doing it because of any particular hope of professional reward – in fact the internet was a kind of minority interest at the time, and colleagues perhaps wondered what I was doing wasting my time on the internet. But of course the internet turned out to be at the heart of media and communications today (as I predicted!).
How would you describe what you actually do?
I’m a professor at University of Westminster, so I teach and I do research studies and write about them, and write books which are often connected to those studies, in some way, but are about ‘bigger’ ideas. The internet is another way of spreading information about this work, and making arguments in a public forum.
Tuesday 16 March 2010
Email from Simon Panrucker
This is the email Simon Panrucker sent to me
Hi Sam,
Thanks for your email - I'm very flattered to be asked! Here are some answers to your questions:
Did you make videos for an audience when you were at college?
When I was at college I made mostly silly songs. I uploaded these to a rubbish free angelfire website account, and they became pretty popular on the net. The website is still up!
If you're curious you can check it out here:
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme3/grubnuts/
The songs are kind of in bad taste, so be warned.
I made a couple of videos around this time, but only one was successful. If you search in google for "Atari Geeks" you should be able to find it, as it spread all over the web!
Did you make productions for an audience just after college e.g. at university?
While I was in my first year of University, I became aware of Vimeo. It was in its infancy back then, and was more of a place for people to post videos from their digital cameras, for their friends to see, or for people across the world to share moving snapshots of their lives. I started posting small clips, mostly with a sense of humour, and started connecting with people on that site. As the website grew, the type of videos I made changed and I started posting more short sketch style videos.
At university I studied Creative Music Technology. In my second year I had the opportunity to take a module focussing on multimedia production. At this point I started making more videos with songs or music I had written, as that was the requirement.
If so, how did you get them known?
Just by being part of the community really, I've never been one to pimp myself about. I prefer to be friendly, and for people to want to tell other people about me just because they like what I'm doing.
How long have you been making videos?
I've been making videos since my parents got a home video camera when I was about 13.
How did the introduction of the internet change how you distributed your videos?
It's the only method of distribution I know, really! When I was making videos on my parents' camcorder I suppose I would just show them to my friends, but no-one really watched them. We made a couple of birthday videos for girls, and gave them those heavily compressed on a CD, but the internet became widely used as I was figuring out how to make videos and music myself, so it's really been a part of how I make and distribute things since I started.
How did the introduction of YouTube/Vimeo change your audience?
See above.
How has the internet and 'torrenting' changed your current career?
It hasn't really. I'm still very early on in my career, and I don't feel like I know what it is, or what I want it to be yet. However, for the first time in my life I am able to pay my rent through freelance work alone, video editing and composing music, and I suppose the internet is partly to thank for that. I get work through my friends, but they would have seen my stuff on the internet and thought I was someone they'd like to work with.
I do not make any money directly from my output on the internet. I have made about £100 through download sales of an album I wrote and put up for sale, but that's it.
I've been approached by a couple of advertising agencies asking me to remake a video they liked after it went viral, but so far I've declined as that's not the reason I make these videos. I make them because I think it's fun, and I like to share that fun with no ulterior motive woven in. I hate the idea of taking the joy my videos seem to bring people and abusing it by trying to sell them crap they don't need. Maybe this will change if I have kids and realise I can't feed them with just baked beans and expect them not to have serious problems!
How would you describe what you actually do?
I make silly videos and music for fun. For money I get hired to edit and compose music for videos, run workshops, and hunt vampires.
Has the way you advertise your products changed as the internet grew in popularity?
I don't really have any products to sell! I have an album up for sale which I sell via bandcamp.com. It's a pretty sweet site as it allows independent musicians to upload their music and sell it for whatever price they want. At the moment they don't even take a cut! All the money goes to the musician, less paypal transaction fees. It sure beats giving Apple more money!
Also, I don't advertise this album. This is partly because I don't like the album and I don't think it deserves promotion (I've got better stuff up my sleeves, I'm sure of it!) and partly because I figure my videos that get sent around to other people bring them to my website. I don't like this culture we're in of constant bombardment, from advertising, from people on myspace trying to get more fans by spamming them, it's all just noise! I feel like people will share stuff that they like, and if they don't share it I don't mind - I'll keep trying until I make something people do want to spontaneously share with others, without my constant self-promotion.
I hope some of this has been useful. My answers about why I make videos, and my reluctance to go with big companies or 'sell out' may well change in the future. I'm pretty conflicted and confused at the moment, trying to figure out what my principles are and all that hoo-ha. I quite like the idea of being an champion of independence, but I also have terrible business skills, so maybe I'll end up being a champion of homelessness.
Best of luck with your studies, Sam. Say hello to Barney and Tom for me!
Cheers,
Simon
Heres a screen grab of the email
Hi Sam,
Thanks for your email - I'm very flattered to be asked! Here are some answers to your questions:
Did you make videos for an audience when you were at college?
When I was at college I made mostly silly songs. I uploaded these to a rubbish free angelfire website account, and they became pretty popular on the net. The website is still up!
If you're curious you can check it out here:
http://www.angelfire.com/extreme3/grubnuts/
The songs are kind of in bad taste, so be warned.
I made a couple of videos around this time, but only one was successful. If you search in google for "Atari Geeks" you should be able to find it, as it spread all over the web!
Did you make productions for an audience just after college e.g. at university?
While I was in my first year of University, I became aware of Vimeo. It was in its infancy back then, and was more of a place for people to post videos from their digital cameras, for their friends to see, or for people across the world to share moving snapshots of their lives. I started posting small clips, mostly with a sense of humour, and started connecting with people on that site. As the website grew, the type of videos I made changed and I started posting more short sketch style videos.
At university I studied Creative Music Technology. In my second year I had the opportunity to take a module focussing on multimedia production. At this point I started making more videos with songs or music I had written, as that was the requirement.
If so, how did you get them known?
Just by being part of the community really, I've never been one to pimp myself about. I prefer to be friendly, and for people to want to tell other people about me just because they like what I'm doing.
How long have you been making videos?
I've been making videos since my parents got a home video camera when I was about 13.
How did the introduction of the internet change how you distributed your videos?
It's the only method of distribution I know, really! When I was making videos on my parents' camcorder I suppose I would just show them to my friends, but no-one really watched them. We made a couple of birthday videos for girls, and gave them those heavily compressed on a CD, but the internet became widely used as I was figuring out how to make videos and music myself, so it's really been a part of how I make and distribute things since I started.
How did the introduction of YouTube/Vimeo change your audience?
See above.
How has the internet and 'torrenting' changed your current career?
It hasn't really. I'm still very early on in my career, and I don't feel like I know what it is, or what I want it to be yet. However, for the first time in my life I am able to pay my rent through freelance work alone, video editing and composing music, and I suppose the internet is partly to thank for that. I get work through my friends, but they would have seen my stuff on the internet and thought I was someone they'd like to work with.
I do not make any money directly from my output on the internet. I have made about £100 through download sales of an album I wrote and put up for sale, but that's it.
I've been approached by a couple of advertising agencies asking me to remake a video they liked after it went viral, but so far I've declined as that's not the reason I make these videos. I make them because I think it's fun, and I like to share that fun with no ulterior motive woven in. I hate the idea of taking the joy my videos seem to bring people and abusing it by trying to sell them crap they don't need. Maybe this will change if I have kids and realise I can't feed them with just baked beans and expect them not to have serious problems!
How would you describe what you actually do?
I make silly videos and music for fun. For money I get hired to edit and compose music for videos, run workshops, and hunt vampires.
Has the way you advertise your products changed as the internet grew in popularity?
I don't really have any products to sell! I have an album up for sale which I sell via bandcamp.com. It's a pretty sweet site as it allows independent musicians to upload their music and sell it for whatever price they want. At the moment they don't even take a cut! All the money goes to the musician, less paypal transaction fees. It sure beats giving Apple more money!
Also, I don't advertise this album. This is partly because I don't like the album and I don't think it deserves promotion (I've got better stuff up my sleeves, I'm sure of it!) and partly because I figure my videos that get sent around to other people bring them to my website. I don't like this culture we're in of constant bombardment, from advertising, from people on myspace trying to get more fans by spamming them, it's all just noise! I feel like people will share stuff that they like, and if they don't share it I don't mind - I'll keep trying until I make something people do want to spontaneously share with others, without my constant self-promotion.
I hope some of this has been useful. My answers about why I make videos, and my reluctance to go with big companies or 'sell out' may well change in the future. I'm pretty conflicted and confused at the moment, trying to figure out what my principles are and all that hoo-ha. I quite like the idea of being an champion of independence, but I also have terrible business skills, so maybe I'll end up being a champion of homelessness.
Best of luck with your studies, Sam. Say hello to Barney and Tom for me!
Cheers,
Simon
Heres a screen grab of the emailTuesday 16th
Today college is closed so we are all working from home, most people will be making changes to their articles, trying to make the improvements suggested yesterday. Simon Panrucker finally replied with a very lengthy email, which was well worth the wait, he has answered all of my questions all with pretty in depth answers. With the email i can now start to draft out the first part of my article.
I have a University interview in Cardiff tomorow and due to the length of the journey i am leaving at about 2pm today and staying over night, this meens i wont be able to do a huge amount of work on my article today or tomorow but i will just have to try my best.
I have a University interview in Cardiff tomorow and due to the length of the journey i am leaving at about 2pm today and staying over night, this meens i wont be able to do a huge amount of work on my article today or tomorow but i will just have to try my best.
Monday 15 March 2010
Monday 15th
Today most of the class were annotating each others articles and suggesting changes to them, i was unable to do this because i STILL haven't recived a reply from Simon or David in order to write my article. because i couldn't do my article i spent the lesson doing little bits like helping Alex whilst he set the others work and researching Simon and David some more to give me an even better insight to what they're about.
I helped Alex by setting up the newspapers email account and adding all the contacts we needed on it etc.
the email address is 'MediaMeNewspaper@googlemail.com'
I helped Alex by setting up the newspapers email account and adding all the contacts we needed on it etc.
the email address is 'MediaMeNewspaper@googlemail.com'
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)