Final Artefact/ Final Thoughts

Here is my final Artefact

This module so far has been productive for me as it has helped me in so many different ways. I thought I would sum up over all what I have gained from this module and where my final major project stands at the minute.

I’m going to start by saying that I’m not the most academic person in the world and I struggle with articulating myself properly when I write.   I come from a practical background in media and have always dived straight in to production based work .Other than Script writing  I struggle with my spelling and grammar and academic writing is still really new and challenging for me.  I believe that this module with the amount of writing has kept me constantly trying to get better at the way I present my blogs and how I word and reference. I hope that this is evident from the beginning as I feel like I have improved a lot. I have left all my blogs untouched from the start as I feel that the journey of learning is just as important as the module itself.

With that being said I can move on to my Final Major Project , from the start of the module I had the idea of ‘The Scarlett Massacre’ But I had no idea it would evolve in to the position it is now. With out producing different types of artefacts I wouldn’t have been able to see the film idea I had on any other level , let alone making it as trans media project.

The way the module is structured helped me to consider different areas of media and look at different topics which allowed me to think out of the box about the product.

I’m happy with the project idea that I have now and with even more challenges ahead I can evolve the story of ‘The Scarlett Massacre ‘ further and adapt it in to a Transmedia product. Eventually pulling the footage together to make a film to showcase. The film at this point will not be forty minutes long like I thought it would be initially. However I do plan to make a minute film in the style that I presented in the pitch.

 

FOR SUBMISSION : Context (Artefact 3)

The first podcast falls in to a few different genres, the artefact has a comedy element, a serious message and is informational.

 My target audience for this podcast was mainly aimed at a wide range of people that find it difficult to understand some of the more intellectual stations. I wanted to make it fun for a listener and use humour to ease in a topical issue. In my feedback a few of my class mates said that the humour was a great way to bring in the serious topic but others thought that it needed to be more serious. I produced a second version of the podcast which has a more serious tone for hand in.

One of the main points that was reoccurring in the feedback was that my viewers believed that content of the story I told about ‘The Scarlett Massacre’ in the podcast was real. I believe that this makes the podcast have more relevance towards my Final Major Project. This is much like the initial The Blair Witch Project (1999) Marketing Campaign where a Website was designed to create the story of The Blair Witch Project before the film was released. Marich (Marich, R.:Pg 274) states that film used a clever Marketing plan to make the Film look more real. He continues to state that the audience is becoming wise to this kind of campaign here

 “The Strategy was held out as a model that other films could use, but in reality similar successes are rare because the public is now wise to such movie stunts.” ( Marich, R: Pg 274)

 Even though these marketing stunts are becoming more expected that doesn’t mean that they are to be disregarded .Being able to use similar techniques represented in marketing The Blair Witch Project (1999) could help to bring my story to life. By using other forms of marketing over a wide spread of media channels could be what the project needs to become more real.

 Another idea given to me in my feedback was that my Idea could become a transmedia product as the strength of my project lies within the story I’m telling.

 

Transmedia is a story that’s elevated over different forms of media to tell a story in a more realistic way. As described here

 “Transmedia storytelling uses multiple media platforms tell a narrative across time. Each media piece—whether it’s a comic, novels, video games, mobile apps, or a film—functions as a standalone story experience—complete and satisfying. Like a giant puzzle, each piece also contributes to a larger narrative. The process is cumulative and each piece adds richness and detail to the story world, such as character backstories and secondary plotlines.”(Rutledge, 2014)

 Furthermore the idea of a multiplatform story through the eyes of different media is challenging and compelling. The Podcast could be a great instrument in helping to tell and evolve the story of ‘The Scarlett Massacre’ and keep the Audience informed of this story. Evolving the film over different mediums can be a great way to interact with an audience and the podcast will stand alone as a form of information/media.

Final podcast/Final Artefact

References

 

The Blair Witch Project. (1999). [film] United States of America: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez.

Lee, M. (2014). Mark Lee Final Artefact. Available at: https://vimeo.com/112957680 [Accessed 26 Nov. 2014].

 

Marich, R. (2009). Marketing to Moviegoers : A handbook of strategies and tactics. 2nd ed. United States of America: Sothern Illinois University Press/ Carbondale, p.274.

 

RUTLEDGE, P. (2014). What is Transmedia Storytelling?. [online] Athinklab.com. Available at: http://athinklab.com/transmedia-storytelling/what-is-transmedia-storytelling/ [Accessed 19 Nov. 2014].

 

 

 

 

FOR SUBMISSION: Research (Artefact 3)

 Research

In this area of my artefact I spent a lot of time looking at different types of podcasts to gain some knowledge of how they work. The first podcast that I looked at was Professional wrestler Chris Jericho’s ‘Talk Is Jericho’ (Podcastone.com, 2013), I’m a wrestling fan so this was enjoyable for me to listen to the different stories he tells about wrestling and life in general. Podcast one describes Chris Jericho’s podcast as

“Recorded from all over the globe, multiple time world champion pro wrestler, lead singer of Fozzy and New York Times best-selling author Chris Jericho rocks the podcast world with “Talk Is Jericho,” his unique, weekly take on all things pop culture and life in general.” (Podcastone.com, 2013)

Here’s an example of one of Chris Jericho’s Podcasts

I also looked at the wide range of material available from

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts

There are a range of downloadable podcasts on BBC website (Bbc.co.uk, 2014) including Topics of Comedy, Children, Sports , factual etc and each radio channel has its own path to download the best bits from the DJS and talk shows from that day. Podcasts are not exclusive to just the BBC all sorts of different people make podcasts for their audience. The issue with some podcasts is the only stay online for thirty days so you can lose vital information once they are deleted.

 

Ricky Gervais has produced podcasts and he specifically uses comedy to make the subject more entertaining for the audience. Here is a link to a preview of one his full length Podcasts where Ricky and Steven Merchant discuss different laws in a preview to The Ricky Gervais guide to law and order Available at:

http://www.therickygervaisshow.com/podcasts/the-ricky-gervais-guide-to-law-and-order-preview.

Feedback

In my feedback for my third artefact I had a varied and helpful in my research to develop a better final artefact and overall a better Final Major Project.

Reoccurring points in my feedback

• enjoyed the jingle
• quickly spoken
• relevant current topics
• funny
• serious
• great way of telling a story.

This was a mixed response to my artefact but I understand how people got mixed signals from my artefact. I tried to incorporate both Comedy and Serious elements in to one podcast that was three minutes long.  This confused my audience and the whole point of my final major project doesn’t revolve around comedy , so changing the theme and reassembling a stronger serious element towards my artefact helped focus the point .

 

 

 

 

Webography

Bbc.co.uk, (2014). BBC – Podcasts and Downloads. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts [Accessed 15 Nov. 2014].

 

Gervais, R. (2014). Preview: The Ricky Gervais Guide to Law and Order. [online] Therickygervaisshow.com. Available at: http://www.therickygervaisshow.com/podcasts/the-ricky-gervais-guide-to-law-and-order-preview [Accessed 16 Nov. 2014].

Jericho, C, Aaron, S, (2014). Chris Jericho interviews Triple H. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2TugP4u_qA [Accessed 16 Nov. 2014].

Podcastone.com, (2014). PodcastOne – Podcast One is the Destination for All the Podcasts You Really Care About. [online] Available at: http://podcastone.com/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2014].

Podcastone.com, (2013). Talk Is Jericho. [online] Available at: http://www.podcastone.com/Talk-Is-Jericho?showAllEpisodes=true [Accessed 16 Nov. 2014].

FOR SUBMISSION: Process and Development (Artefact 3)

Process and Development

The process of making my third artefact is the most interesting development for me as I decided to step out of my comfort zone. In my opinion my main two singular strengths are creating stories and editing video. I have other strengths such as camera work and writing music however an area that I have always wanted to learn more about is Radio/Podcasts. My final Major Project will rely heavily on different mediums and using the idea of radio could help elevate the story to new heights.

For my final artefact I decided to produce a three minute podcast which includes the story that I want to make for my FMP. what is a podcast? This video By Chris Pirillo (Pirillo, 2007).   gives a background look on the file type of podcasts and where the meaning and idea comes from.

 

 

This website shows a step by step guide to how to record a podcast.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2006077_record-podcast.html

After my research(explained further in research blog) I produced my Podcast by using a zoom recorder and attaching a rode mic to it for a clearer sound. I decided to use my guitar and voice to record a mini jingle for the show I also recorded this song the same way as I recorded me speaking.

The key ideas that I wanted to have in the podcast were as follows

• The Scarlett Massacre story that I have created
• A fun and easy podcast, that the listener could follow and interpret the story.
• Informative and raises an issue that is believable.

I prepared a script of what I would speak about in the podcast. However when I recorded the piece it was seven minutes too long and I had to re-write the content to make it fit.

Here is the first attempt of my podcast

 

Due to my feedback I decided to Regenerate my 3^rd artefact and submit it as my final Artefact. I believe by making my content more serious it will bring the story of ‘The Scarlett Massacre’ to life and make it more believable for my audience.

I decided to use a few images to accompany the podcast as I have seen a few podcasts with images to accompany them mainly on YouTube. For example This video with guest star Simon Pegg(Nerdist Podcast Network, 2013)

The video uses images while they talk , these images may not be relevant to what they are talking about but its still something to keep the viewer interested.

I employed a photographer Sharon Little(Little/Watts , 2010) a few years ago to take some concept photography for me.

I think the images are still a good tool to be included in this stage of development, even though a couple elements may not appear in the final script. For example in some of the shots there is an emphasis on playing cards on each body.

Here is the final version of My podcast which is a preview of a larger podcast.

References

Ehow, e. (2014). How to Record a Podcast | eHow. [online] eHow. Available at: http://www.ehow.com/how_2006077_record-podcast.html [Accessed 21 Nov. 2014].

Lee, M. (2014). Mark Lee artefact 3. Available at: https://vimeo.com/112064776 [Accessed 26 Nov. 2014].

Lee, M. (2014). Mark Lee Final Artefact. Available at: https://vimeo.com/112957680 [Accessed 26 Nov. 2014].

Little/Watts, S. (2010). Scarlett Massacre Photos.

Nerdist Podcast Network, (2013). Simon Pegg: The Nerdist Podcast – Episode 100. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZRKvZCDdI8 [Accessed 24 Nov. 2014].

Pirillo, C. (2007). What is a Podcast?. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WzA0RDae24 [Accessed 24 Nov. 2014].

 

 

Mark Lee Pitch/Pitch Document

 

https://vimeo.com/112743639

CW1 PITCHING DOCUMENT

STUDENT NAME: Mark Lee

 

TUTOR NAME: Mez Packer

 

1.      Title and Format The Project Title – even if it’s a working title   Project Format – give a clear idea of the genre, the intended duration and intended audience.	The Scarlett MassacreIntended audience 15+Transmedia/Found footage/ Horror A selection of online content / Videos Resulting in a 40 minute feature film
2.      The (Killer) PitchA short summary of your idea THAT AIMS TO TELLS US WHAT IS – appealing, intriguing, surprising, revelatory OR questioning – ABOUT YOUR IDEA.  Don’t tell us the story or detail of your idea!   Sum up what is unique, interesting, different or exciting in a couple of lines.	My idea is different as I will be creating a story that ranges through different forms of media to form the world of my story. It will use the process of transmedia to create the illusion that ‘The Scarlett Massacre’ is real.
3.      RationaleTell us why the idea is worth producing.This is a brief description of the main issue/subject, which your project will examine. Explain what gives the project its integrity and credibility and the question you want to ask. What makes your project interesting? Give a sense of the approach you intend to take including any filming styles or techniques that you want to develop.   You can use visuals, audio, props, graphs, costumes as part of the pitch.	The project focuses on real life issues in a unique way documenting a missing person case, evolving into a serial killer story that’s filmed and vocalised through different types of media. Also showing that the world is forever evolving and advancing in technology and how we can view certain things in the world.

The purpose of this pitch is to sell the idea of a media product. (This can be for any kind of media production – if it uses a form of media you can pitch it!)

You should include the genre, style, duration, and any distinctive elements to the narrative.

This is likely to be your FMP idea but could also be for one of your produced artefacts.

Symbolism in TV

Symbolism in TV

For this task I have decided to focus on symbolism in TV. I will be looking at a few popular TV shows to see how they use symbolism to show the feel or tone of their show.  I will question whether these methods work in the way the film maker intends and if the message is clear or subtle.

Dexter

The Dexter(2006) opening sequence shows closes up of Dexter’s morning as he gets ready for work. The show Dexter is about a serial killer in Miami who uses his urge for killing to bring justice to the world. Dexter takes people who have caused other people pain, research’s in to their life and then decides whether or not they deserve to be alive. In the intro for Dexter we get an idea of what content the show will become through symbolism.

• Dexter cuts himself while shaving and the blood trickles down his cheek, this shows that there will be blood in this show.
• The way he cooks and slices his bacon and symbolizes cutting up flesh.
• He puts his t-shirt on slowly and he gasps for air symbolising suffocation.
• Cracking an egg sounds loud like things breaking and burning.
• Squeezing the orange juice could symbolise squeezing the life and blood out of someone.
• Tying his lace tight shows aggressive style or could be strangling

Here is the Dexter Intro sequence

Not only in the show its self but in the promotional images used for the show especially the front covers of the dvds. One of my favourites is the cover for season six where Dexter is shown with blood stained angel wings, showing a religious connotation to the series. Season Six was heavily religious as the main bad guy was using passages from the bible and religious themes to bring a revolution. Killing of victims in religious sacrifices.   The Walking Dead The Walking Dead(2010) intro is another  great example of the use of symbolism. The show set in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and the intro is a variation of shots showing run down elements of the world that’s left. The images along with the theme music makes you feel on edge.  It uses suspenseful music that helps alongside these images build the title sequence.

These Images are heavily stylised and show more about the world that is left after the zombies have attacked rather than images of the zombies themselves. Giving the show a sense of  mystery and fear, which I believe works with in the shows dynamic.

Breaking Bad Breaking bad(2008) is one of the biggest shows of the last few years specifically to be released on Netflix. Breaking bad uses colours to symbolise feeling of the characters present in the scene. They use  colour to emphasize a characters feeling or mood of the scene, They do this in the clothes the characters are  wearing but also in the objects around  the character. For example Marie in the picture below is wearing purple clothes and has a purple bag. The colour purple is explained here by  Villapaz

“Marie Schrader (Betsy Brandt) is certainly given to delusion and self-deception. Characters wearing purple in the series tend to be in a position where they’re being misled. Walt was misleading Skyler for a while about what he was doing to secure his family’s future.” 

Villapaz (  2013) further explains in this web article  what each colour represents just to name a couple The character Walt can be  represented by the colour green for greed. Red is a colour that always has meaning and in this show it symbolizes aggression ,violence and murder. These images and colours play a part in how we feel are supposed to feel  in a scene. This is something that I would like to take on board  in to my final major project to represent moments and feeling in my film. My film is called ‘The Scarlett Massacre and  the colour red plays a part in the story. Firstly Scarlett is the main character of the film and secondly there will be murder and blood so the wordd Scarlett has a double meaning within the title.

Reference list

Television

Breaking Bad. (2008). [DVD] United States of America: High Bridge Productions, Gran Via Productions, Sony Pictures Television.

Dexter. (2006). [DVD] United States of America: Showtime.

The Walking Dead. (2010). [DVD] United states of America: American Movie Classics (AMC), Circle of Confusion, Valhalla Motion Pictures.

Webograpahy Villapaz, L. (2013). ‘Breaking Bad’ Color Theory: The Subtle Symbolism And Meanings Behind The Colors In AMC’s Hit Series [PHOTOS]. [online] International Business Times. Available at: http://www.ibtimes.com/breaking-bad-color-theory-subtle-symbolism-meanings-behind-colors-amcs-hit-series-photos-1411632 [Accessed 12 Nov. 2014].

Images

Anon, (2014). [image] Available at: http://series.upyim.com/dexter-season6-ep-1-12-%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%9A/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2014].

Bing, (2014). [image] Available at: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Breaking+Bad+Purple+House&Form=IQFRDR#view=detail&id=833E085EADAE5F32C24D4CA10F842DB698A480DA&selectedIndex=1 [Accessed 10 Nov. 2014].

Bing, (2014). [image] Available at: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=dexter+opening+sequence&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=93586264F041CDDF3D909CE56708EF7D6391B9EF&selectedIndex=0 [Accessed 10 Nov. 2014].

Comicbook.com, (2014). [image] Available at: http://media.comicbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/credits-andrew-lincoln-640×320.jpg [Accessed 10 Nov. 2014].

Video

Showtime, Youtube, (2006). Dexters :Morning Routine.

Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej8-Rqo-VT4 [Accessed 11 Nov. 2014].

Artefact 2

Artefact 2

This is the video of my second artefact.

I wanted to experiment with a few different styles for my final major project and replicate some of the things that I’ve talked about before in my blog posts.

Firstly I wanted to show some elements of my film story with in this second artefact so I decided that this video would be through the police eyes looking over footage and other evidence in a missing person case.  Mainly focusing on some Evidence that is present indicating suspicion on the main character Scarlett’s Boyfriend Steve Reid.

The first thing I decided to do was show a video clip filmed by Scarlett of her Boyfriend Steve Reid becoming aggressive towards her, implying that he has a temper and could have something to do with her sudden disappearance. This video would take techniques from YouTube style videos  for example this one from Alfie Deyes (pointless blog,2014) Specifically footage from (2.56- 3.14 mins) as an example of filming someone else

This video has also touches on something that I could steal for my Final major project at 8.03 -9.05mins Alfie Deyes walks in to his old apartment to find the door unlocked. He automatically  feels scared and unsure of what is going on . As he walks around an empty apartment as an audience member you also feel scared as this is his reel life. I will be doing something similar to this in my film as this was a suspenseful scene.

Secondly I wanted to try another techniques and include messages that have been left on Scarlett’s phone.  I wanted to see if I could create a little mini story with in this video show slight implications of Steve with in this case. The voice mails show Steve’s apologetic side then as time goes on he gets upset and frustrated with Scarlett for not returning his calls.

Through out the video I placed text on the screen and I want this to replicate the text that Is used in Paranormal activity(2007) .The text I use speaks about when Scarlett Disappeared, when the video took place , when the voice mails were recorded and when Steve was seen by Scarletts mother bringing back Scarlett’s bag a day after she was last seen in the public eye.

I think after using these techniques I did create a story but I’m not sure it kept my audiences attention as much as it could. The first video segment kept the attention of my audience , however the other evidence such as the voice mails and pictures lost interest. I think this was mainly because the video wasn’t brought back in to the artefact like expected.  Next time I should have separate these styles up for separate artefacts instead of combining them as one artefact. I do think my artefact works as an evidence piece but maybe not as entertaining for the audience.

If I use audio on its own again I will use it while a character is in distress calling the police , this would add and element of fear to the character and the audience. I also think that accompanying the voice over with subtitles might help. Or create a visual  frequency images to go alongside the voice over this my add a different touch to the visuals.

Back to the first part of the video where we see Steve push in to the camera . For this shot I had to film it in a certain way for the scene to work. We had to do several practice runs to get the fall of the camera and the push in to the camera to timely fall to the ground and still look realistic. I’m really pleased with how the technique came across at the end of the scene.

One thing I would of done differently I  would have had the character of Scarlett at the scene to read her lines at the same time as filming. I had trouble blending the voice over with the scene so that’s something I can improve on next time.

Videography

PointlessBlogTV, (2014). Finding A Burglar In The Flat… Published on 6 Nov 2014. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkRA8DkHQEQ&list=UUnEn0EUV13IR-_TK7fiIp3g [Accessed 12 Nov. 2014].

Lee, M (2014) Artefact 2 . Simplee Film Studios : Coventry

Paranormal Activity. (2007). [film] United States Of America: Oren Peli.

Artefact 1: Context

My first artefact did generally come together like I wanted it to  . There are  a few things I could do better and there are things I think worked well. In this blog post I will discuss my artefact further and talk about some of the feedback that I was given in class.

The audience  for my artefact is aimed at any one that wants to become a YouTube star  or already is a YouTube star. The video is made as a warning to show that there is a different side to YouTube that isn’t discussed. The video shows a good side to YouTube then at the ends shows a creepy/unsettling side and this was my intention. Watching it back I think I could have changed the point of time where the video changes styles as the creepy element only comes in for the last thirty seconds . This might have worked better  as a shorter video.

By the end of the video I wanted to give impact this time  that someone is watching and I placed  the camera in position to capture the computer screen. Then in the frame I sat in shot to show someone watching the video and leave the video with that creepy image , then after I shot the scene I changed the last clip in editing and I used an effect to change  the image turning  it red for danger.  This is quite a simple concept to put in to a video, this has been tricky to put together  due to the idea being a bit ambitious and I feel that it was hard to give the message that I want to in a short video. I believe that  the less footage I used at this point the better it was as its shown some mystery.

The music playing in the background is two tracks from the band I used to play for. We wrote loads of different tracks all in different styles. I felt like this video needed some music, one track to be background to the facts, this track needed to be calming and the second track needed to highlight the creepy feeling that I wanted for the end of the video. I believe that both tracks I used worked well.

Here is the link to my first artefact on vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/110130610

Here is the feedback I received from class mates and my tutor.

Feedback

I received feedback on my artefact and had a range of constructive criticism which I was quite pleased with. This was the first time I’ve presented something in front of a classroom full of people and have them give me feedback so I wasn’t used to this. The experience of getting feedback as a whole has really helped me understand how people see and interpret the videos that I make. This will help me delegate to an audience in a more cohesive way to get a better response in the future.

Negative feedback

• first section was too long before getting to the point of the video
• different choice of font needed
• could view all the facts online and watch YouTube videos
• 80 percent irrelevant

Positive feedback

• Nice use of music for both parts which set the tone.
• Using camera angles to film YouTube instead of just taking the clips.
• People got the point at the end of the video.
• Understood my message
• Twenty percent relevance on first artefact.

I was told by one of my  class mate to watch “catfish the movie”(Joost, Schulman.2010) and the film “Megan is Missing”(Goi, 2011) as they both reflect the story that I’m trying to tell. I will use both these films as another bed of research for my final major project,  This was a great suggestion and will help me build towards the style I want. I think the feedback I received  as a whole was fair , I don’t believe the start of the artefact wasn’t relevant though as I had to build the clip in to the feeling I wanted. I do see the point that I could have done it differently to show my idea more clearer. I’m happy with my first attempt and will take all the points given on board, this will in turn  help me  make the second artefact more relevant towards my FMP.

Reference List

Catfish . (2010). [film] United States of America: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman.

Megan is Missing. (2011). [film] United States of America: Michael Goi.

 

YouTube, (2014). Jim Chapman. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/j1mmyb0bba [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

YouTube, (2014). Miranda Sings. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/mirandasings08 [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

YouTube, (2014). PointlessBlog. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/PointlessBlog [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

Youtube.com, (2014). YouTube. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

YouTube, (2014). Zoella. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/zoella280390 [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

Artefact 1: Primary and Secondary Research

Here is my primary and secondary research that I collected for my first artefact.

YouTube

These are statistics that I collected from YouTube(Youtube.com, 2014) that shows the amount of interest and how popular the video upload site is today.

• More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month
• Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube—that’s almost an hour for every person on Earth
• 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
• 80% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
• YouTube is localised in 61 countries and across 61 languages
• According to Nielsen, YouTube reaches more US adults aged 18-34 than any cable network
• Millions of subscriptions happen each day. The number of people subscribing daily is up more than 3 times since last year, and the number of daily subscriptions is up more than 4 times since last year

These stats show that YouTube is a global enterprise that is constantly growing and gaining new audiences. YouTube is like a online world where people can escape. They can either watch their favourite YouTube users and videos or make and upload videos themselves either way its a form of escapism.

I also watched some films to gain inspiration on the feeling of being stalked or on edge.  The first film I watched was ‘The Strangers'(Bertino, 2008)  is based on a true story about a couple that are stalked at their getaway house by three strangers wearing masks. The film is slow and builds on the suspense mainly around the female lead until she starts to realises she is not alone in the house . The film uses slow camera movements following the actor around the house, then for the audience eyes the filmmaker brings the stalker in to frame very slowly and allows him to stay there watching her. This specific shot is what I remember about the film as it’s real and could happen to anybody at anytime.

Watching this film has gave me a better understanding of how to build up a story and allow the suspense to build with in the frame itself. It’s an element that I will be taking forward to my final major project.

I then looked up some definitions of what a stalker is online. Montaldo.C describes staking with the following

“Stalking refers to repeated harassing or threatening behavior by an individual, such as following a person, appearing at a person’s home or place of business, making harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or objects, or vandalizing a person’s property”(Montaldo, 2014)

That’s a pretty clear description of a stalker, it gives us a clear understand of how a person behaves when they do this to another person.  (Montaldo 2014) continues by talking about how these points can be taken even further, that stalking doesn’t just end here it can become obsession and get even more aggressive.

“Unfortunately, there is no single psychological or behavioral profile for stalkers. Every stalker is different. This makes it virtually impossible to devise a single effective strategy that can be applied to every situation. It is vital that stalking victims immediately seek the advice of local victim specialists who can work with them to devise a safety plan for their unique situation and circumstances. Some stalkers develop an obsession for another person with whom they have no personal relationship. When the victim does not respond as the stalker hopes, the stalker may attempt to force the victim to comply by use of threats and intimidation. When threats and intimidation fail, some stalkers turn to violence.”(Montaldo,2014)

This is something that can happen to anyone at any time , stalking is a serious issue and hard to control as we don’t know who has these behaviour traits.

The film Scream (Craven,1996) Shows a group of teenagers who are stalked and killed one by one by a killer in a ghost mask. What’s interesting about this film is that they stalk their victim’s first by calling their house phones and using a voice altering machine and asking questions about horror films to scare them. The film has a great back story and your lead to believe  that it’s a revenge story of a character that has been put in prison.  The stalkers/killers  in this film are cleaver and use other people to divert suspicion from themselves.

One Hour Photo (Romanek,2002) shows a lonely man who works at a photo developer. The character played by Robin Williams becomes obsessed with a family that develop their photos there. It’s a creepy film and shows how loneliness can lead to other things. This is also similar to my theme of being watched in YouTube videos. You never know who is watching  you at any time, much like Robin Williams character in One Hour Photo.

 

References

Montaldo, C. (2014). What You Should Know about Stalking. [online] About. Available at: http://crime.about.com/od/stalking/a/stalking_is.htm [Accessed 7 Nov. 2014].

One Hour Photo. (2002). [film] United states of America: Mark Romanek.

Scream. (1996). [film] United States of America: Wes Craven.

The Strangers. (2008). [film] United States of America: Bryan Bertino.

Youtube.com, (2014). Statistics – YouTube. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/yt/press/en-GB/statistics.html [Accessed 13 Oct. 2014].

Artefact 1: Process and Development

First Artefact

Process/development – What inspired you and how you developed your original idea?

For my first Artefact I wanted to make a brief video which highlights the facts about YouTube, with the main point building to an unsettling feeling .The video  reflects on how uploading your life on to YouTube although it can be quite exciting hardly references that doing this  can be dangerous . This may seem out of place for a first artefact but for this specific artefact it’s relevant towards my FMP development.

My FMP story revolves around a successful journey on YouTube,  A journey that comes to  an abrupt end when the YouTuber user suddenly stops posting her videos.  This issue I believe is something you have to consider when posting a video online, Not everyone has good intentions while watching your material, there is people that just want to “troll” your material or take it further and personally attack you. This issue doesn’t just exist on YouTube its something that happens over the entire internet everyday. The following Image sums the idea of not knowing who is watching you.(John Lund,2014)

A few of the main dangers that people think about while addressing the internet are as follows:

• Cyberbullying
• sexual predators
• grooming
• pornographic images

Our main concern is for the range of danger for children who have access to the internet. The following  quote elaborates on this subject.

 “The online world opens the door for trusting young people to interact with virtual strangers – even people they’d normally cross the street to avoid in real life. About 1 in 7 kids have been sexually solicited online, says John Shehan, CyberTipline program manager for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Virginia.”(Webmd.com, 2007)

Its not just children that are in danger from forms of internet abuse, anybody can be in danger from internet abuse and sometimes it doesn’t end there. The world of the internet isn’t as safe as some people believe , some people believe that its separate from reality and you can do and say anything you want and your safe with in that reality, but if someone knows enough about you theres no reason why the type of person talking to you , commenting on your videos/photos cant come in to your world especially if they take a liking to you.   That’s the angle I’m looking in to and exploiting for not only this artefact but for my Final Major Project.

One reason for me looking in to this theme is because of the status of some YouTube users and how their lives are becoming glorified over the internet, This can be worrying for them as sometimes the line is crossed. The Saconne Joly’s (The SaconneJoly’s, 2014) are YouTubers that have  constantly  filmed the last four and a half years of their own lives and uploaded it to their YouTube channel . Along the way they have shown their audience all the major events in their life, from their wedding to the birth of their two children.  They have experienced their share of internet and real life abuse and often remind their fans that they are real people living real lives .

For my artefact I wanted to show that YouTube can be fun and exciting and there is a lot of positives that out way the negatives on YouTube. In contradiction to those elements of happiness there is this other side of YouTube where there is risk and  not that many people know about the dangers . So I will be showing the stats, the entertaining prospects of youtube , and ending with a creepy element of someone watching videos from YouTube.

While developing my idea I looked at Youtube and wanted to copy the colour of the logo for the font that I used in the video when showing facts from YouTube.

I looked through different channels to see what content was available then I filmed clips from those channels to show in the video, I filmed these clips as if there was someone else watching. Here are the YouTube users I filmed.

• The SaconneJoly’s
• Pointless Blog
• Miranda Sings
• Jim Chapman
•  Zoella

This was a fairly easy idea to develop as I new quite early on what I wanted to make for this artefact.

References

Anon, (2013). [image] Available at: http://www.newstalk.com/Life-as-a-YouTube-sensation- [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

Lund, J. (2014). [image] Available at: http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/netiquetteonlineculture/f/What-Is-Trolling.htm [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

The SaconneJoly’s, (2014).

Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ESJoRrLW_8 [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

Webmd.com, (2007). 4 Dangers of the Internet. [online] Available at: http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/4-dangers-internet?page=3 [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

YouTube, (2014). Jim Chapman. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/j1mmyb0bba [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

YouTube, (2014). Miranda Sings. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/mirandasings08 [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

YouTube, (2014). PointlessBlog. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/PointlessBlog [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

Youtube.com, (2014). YouTube. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].

YouTube, (2014). Zoella. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/zoella280390 [Accessed 6 Nov. 2014].