my video concept

So I’ve decided to do the music video. The song I have chosen to do is “My Body” by Young the Giant. I chose this song because I feel it has a good beat, and really can be taken in so many ways, it’s not so literal so I would have more wiggle room with my video, and my interpretation of it.

So when I listen this song I usually play it when I’m in my room getting ready to go out with my friends and go party. It’s a nice song that makes me feel good and gets me pumped. So that go me thinking about the words, and he is talking about being a kid, and the chorus says “my body tells me no, but I want more”. And that line being repeated totally makes me think of when you go out at night, and you’re drinking and you’re partying and you’re walking all over town, party after party and at first you feel invincible but by the end of the night it’s like you’re losing a fight with your body and the liquor.

So my idea is to sort of show that and make the audience feel that way about it. I want to show video from like the fifties, black and white footage, of kids getting ready and going out, and mash them with modern footage of kids now a days going out to parties and raving. I think it would be a great idea to mash footage of the two generations together because they are both so different. One is all black and white and our footage is color, so you get that Wizard of Oz feel. And it shows how partying is universal between generations, but you also see how vastly different young adult society has changed over the decades.

So what I guess I plan on accomplishing with this video is to really just portray the fun teens have and how much we just feel so invincible at our age.

Berthoff and Whitehead

I find that Berthoff and Whitehead’s “The Way We Live Now” are very similar in their way of thinking. Berthoff talks about concepts and how words and language can categorize objects and sort of group them together in ways, but by changing your wording or by adding or subtracting a word can then exclude an object from that category or may add to the category, or may even call for a whole other category to be created. Whitehead talks about New York, and he speaks about how one person’s New York, is not necessarily someone else’s New York. Someone may have lived in a part of the city where there was a pizza shop, or ice cream shop and they may still picture that ice cream shop and be nostalgic over it, although it may be replaced with a small travel agency, and that agency is then part of someone else’s New York, one who may never have known about that old Mom and Pop ice cream shop or pizza shop.

I found both of these excerpts to be very interesting because they both suggest that really ideas are all up to the individual. One person may remembers where they grew up, and another person who may have grown up next door to you or moved in ten years later will probably remember a different place than you. Well, not exactly a different place, but remember differently than the other person. I find this concept to be very interesting. It reminds me of a discussion I had with my friend. We had gone to the same high school, but she grew up in a more rural area than me, and I grew up in what’s known as “The Village”. Just recently we were talking about her younger sister, and she was complaining about the friends she was hanging out with, and my friend went on to expound on the fact that they were all from “The Village”. She ended up seeing “The Village” through a negative connotation, which I really didn’t understand too much, but then again I seemed to view the area where she grew up as a bunch of country bumpkins. Which I guess could be taken in a negative way.

The idea that you can categorize these places any way you want, but that someone can categorize as something completely different is sort of mind blowing for me. Because I’m sure, just reading Whitehead’s excerpt that he has a sort of fondness for New York, where I have heard other, more negative comments towards the city. The two ideas together are just extremely interesting to think about.

taking a walk

So I discovered while living on campus and having no car, it is quite impossible to get anywhere without walking. I mean, I tried the bus once, but after an hour long bus ride, there and back, in the rain, I don't think I'll be running out to buy myself a bus pass any time soon. So I didn't really no where to walk, because frankly I walk all day, I didn't know where to go. I walk to work all the time which is across campus, and I do this at night. I suppose I could talk about all the underage drunken college students I run into while I walk to and from work all the time.
But I wanted to walk somewhere different. So I walked to Burnett woods. It wasn't really a far walk. It was across campus the other way, so I was used to the distance, but it was somewhere I hadn't gone before.
I walked the whole way with my mp3 player, and that just made the walk all the more better, because it was like  my music was synching up to how calm and pretty the day was. I took a lot of pictures and I noticed that I took a lot of pictures of nature. The walked really helped me notice nature. I was in love with the sky and took a picture of the sun behind the clouds as many times as I possibly could. And I took pictures of trees and pretty things. I felt like a flower child.
But that was really my walking experience. I went to the park. I went down the slide instead of using the steps. I sat and played on the swings for the longest time, then I went back to my dorm to finish the piling mound of homework.
It was the good day, and I managed to swing by the public library and get myself a library card and some books. So all in all, I'd say that was a good walk.

Listening to the audio narratives

My experience listening to some of the other’s audios was very interesting. I found them to be more refreshing than the ones that I listened to on the websites. I feel they were far superior to the one that I had made, but that could just be me being self-conscience about my project.

I felt there were a few audios where the background noise definitely overpowered the speaker. It was difficult to listen without having to turn the volume down, and when I did this it was difficult to hear the speaker. I also really liked when they posted their words with the audio. Only because I find that when I only listen to something I tend to not follow along well, and lose interest. So having those words there to follow along really helped. It was easier for me to not lose my place and not get mixed up in their narrative.

There were definitely some funny ones that I heard, and some sincere. I didn’t hear anybody who I felt was trying to be somebody else, or trying to pitch something. Nobody really went off topic, or digressed any. I found the one about polygamy really accomplished the humorous tone it was going for. I definitely found myself giggling to myself. I also found I liked the audio about music and driving, because that audio narrative is one that can relate to a lot of people, and she seemed completely sincere about her topic. Not to mention her choice of words really flowed well.

Over all I found the experience of listening to the audios to be more interesting than I originally thought it would be. The project really helped open my mind to more options outside of just writing with pen and paper or just typing on a word document. I really look forward to the movie project, although I feel that one will be a lot more difficult to accomplish than this one.

my reflections over the project

So, after this assignment I do believe I have reached amateur savvies of both audacity and soundcloud, or at least I was kind of forced to. I’m starting to think blogger is just a fail really.

But changing topics over to the assignment, I think I did well with it. Considering I live in a dorm and the walls are paper thin I decided to go outside and record. And the Burnett Woods Park wasn’t exactly as empty as I was hoping, considering it was fabulously beautiful outside, but I managed to choke out the words anyways.

The only problems I had doing the actual recording, other than the sound of birds in the background, was articulating my words. I would read the page, and sort of know in my mind what was next and my tongue would get all tangled trying to jump ahead. Practice really did not help me much. My aim was to sound sincere, but at first I sounded like I was selling something, and then my next few takes I started sounding crazy. So in the end I think I sound just pretty much fake on my recording. I had the whole persuasion thing going in my head, thinking “I need this to sound convincing. I need this to make kids want to drive a beat up old Chevy.” So with that whole mantra going through my mind I ended up coming off as one of those people on those local TV commercials. The whole “SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!” sale people, who are all like “One time, and one time only!” even though they run that same add every month.

I think the one on one definitely helped a little. The feedback was good. I think if the set up was more organized and not so much as a jumble it would have been easier to give and receive critique though. Truthfully my essay pretty much stayed the same as it was when I first came to class. I think I did well with my topic, and definitely feel it is better when read, or perhaps if Morgan Freeman had narrated, or Sean Connery, or John Wayne. I definitely feel my paper would have sounded good narrated by a good country accent like John Wayne. So I would say my strength was the topic and the writing, and really the weakness would be my own narration, for lacking the skill to really sell my paper, and sound authentic doing it.

So all in all I found the experience to be different. I was forced to learn new media, which in the long run is probably best for me. I learned that my voice is too terrible over recording. I no longer sound incredibly childish, like a baby doll. I don’t think I would ever really want to record myself again, unless I really took time to prepare myself. I’m also now starting to dread the whole movie project, because I’m sure if I suck over audio recording, I’m going to suck over film.

But we will see…

I believe in driving a beater

http://soundcloud.com/abellanizzle/i-believe-essay-i-believe-in

I believe kids should drive crappy cars...

So I think for my auditory literary thingy I'm going to do the "This I believe..." format. It just seems more organized, and makes more sense for my topic I think.
The topic to my "This I believe" auditory essay thing, will be "This I believe: I believe in driving crappy cars". My idea in more detail being, I believe new drivers should drive a crappy car. My audience would probably be more focused towards parents of new drivers because what new driver wants to drive around a tin can when their parents can buy them a (insert awesome car here)? The story I plan on telling is how my parents forced me to drive a rusted 1989 Mazda all through my high school career, which was not only a stick shift, but had busted shocks (and I don't even know what that means).
My goal for this project is really just to get parents to feel nostalgic for the cars they use to drive. Having a "my first car sucked" story actually is something people can bond over. Also, I think it's ridiculous that kids just roll around in brand spanking new cars right out of the BMV parking lot. Driving around in a crappy car teaches kids humility and modesty and how to survive in practically any car break down situation, because lets get real, in a crappy car you are gonna break down at least once in your drivers license life.
I hope the audience responds in wanting to give their kid a crappy car. Something with a bad paint job, or a cracked window, a whacked out air system, or still has a tape deck. I know to this day I am SO happy my father forced me to learn how to drive a stick shift. When given the chance to get a new car after graduation, I chose a stick. And so my cute lil' 2010 Cobalt is in fact, a stick shift, and I wouldn't trade the memories I had in that gosh darn 1989 Mazda for anything.
I chose to tell this story specifically because I didn't see one like it yet on the "This I believe..." website. And I think it would be a good out of the blue topic. Truthfully, I just want more kids to drive crappy cars so that I wasn't the only one haha!

Auditory Literary Essays

When it came to writing there is always one thing I absolutely hate…writing an essay. There’s just something about being given a specific topic, and specific guidelines and a specific deadline. It makes writing seem almost torturous. And this happens with a lot of people. There isn’t a high school or college student I have yet to meet who actually enjoys writing a research paper or even an argumentative essay, well very few ones that is. And I don’t think it’s because of the lack of liking the act of writing but the lack of liking restrictions. But I found watching and listening to these audio literary essays were really inspiring.

While going through the “This I Believe” essays, I chose “Peace Begins with One Person” and “Being Content with Myself”. I didn’t really find myself relating too much to these two stories. One is about a young waitress working at a Texan diner, who met a homeless woman who she loaned money to and three weeks later the woman returned the money. This experience made her come to the conclusion that everyone should try being nice to each other and the world would be a better place. I found the topic to be a bit clichéd, and reading the text without the audio, is not entirely enthralling. And I have to admit, the main reason I even chose to keep listening to the essay was because the author had a nice voice. Which brings us back to typing vs. writing vs. speaking. When it came to the text I was uninterested, but once I heard the author’s voice I became more engrossed. http://thisibelieve.org/essay/9527/

The second essay on “This I Believe” that I ended up listening to was “Being Content with Myself”. This essay was about a high school student who is black, but in “society’s eyes” did not act black. He goes on to explain how he never gave into the pressure to act in any other way than how he felt he wanted to act. This essay also can be relatable with people. Especially with me being a child from a mixed race couple. My situation was not quite the same, but similar in ways when it came to “fitting in”. This essay I found caught my interest, but what was more surprising was the voice of this author took this essay to the next level. When compared to his picture, I would never have pictured the author’s voice as it was, which added to the essay even more. His point of not fitting in was made even more powerful due to the fact that his voice had not quite fit what I pictured it to be. By just reading text I never would have gotten that minor detail which entirely changed the essay for me in a bigger way. http://thisibelieve.org/essay/10490/

For the DALN I chose to read “The Girls who don’t write at school keep journals” and “Running ASL”. The first essay was about this woman who observed these girls who didn’t exactly come from the best background and when asked to write for academic reasons would only write a few sentences, but then the author found out that the girls kept journals at home, and would write so much in them. With the DALN essays they weren’t as organized, and were more off the cuff. So what caught my attention with this essay is that it seemed as though I was just sitting around, talking story with some friends and relatives. The woman was obviously educated and although telling the story without being organized was able to put her thoughts in order without getting jumbled. http://daln.osu.edu/handle/2374.DALN/504

The second essay called “Running ASL” is about this girl who had a cousin who was deaf and she learned to sign by running. This time the essay wasn’t as organized, and you could tell that she was telling it off the cuff. This author was jittery and sort of nervous when telling her story and I found it sort of interesting just to listen to her being candid. And truthfully if the story was in print, verbatim how she told it, it would not be considered a well thought out or even organized paper, but the fact that she was candid and was speaking made it seem okay and right. http://daln.osu.edu/handle/2374.DALN/559

These essays are able to reach people in a more emotional way. We spoke in class how perhaps typing vs. physically writing something out can take away the emotion of the writing. It can change the whole delivery of it. Well I feel writing vs. speaking is the exact same way. There is more emotion when someone is speaking. You can pay attention to moments where they can stumble and stutter over their words from getting too excited. Or listen to them ramble only to find their way back to their original point. So why only limit the question to writing vs. typing, when speaking has just as much as an impact as either of the two.