MY LAST POST-- Review of Course? And the Wayne's World Trailer????

Wow what a semester this has been...

Anyways, instead of boring you to death about how much I loved this class, I should probably review something! How about the lessons I learned during the production of this trailer and other projects in general?

This trailer did take a while to make even though we did not finish it all. Through the process of the creation of this trailer, I have learned 5 unique things about the production of a project.

Lesson Number One: Cast The Right Wayne

Many students in my class wanted to be Wayne in this trailer, however, I am so thrilled about the actor we have chosen for such a big role. When I showed the finished project to my family, they all said that Carter played Wayne exceptionally well. His energy poured through into the trailer, always leaving me and anyone else who watches it smiling and laughing along with him. I could not be more happy about this casting decision.

I have learned to always wait until the perfect person for the role presents itself.

Lesson Number Two: Kaitlin Salole is not Meant to be a Director (or a narrator for that matter)

I love media and creating videos, do not get me wrong. I just hate directing people, bossing them around, telling them what to do and when to do it, how loud they have to be and for how long. I do not like controlling people (or at least trying to). I am a much better producer. While editing the footage I captured for the trailer, I felt sorry for everyone because I was so repetitive with what I was saying, "3.... 2.... quiet on set!...1... action!". I felt like I was too bossy and too "in charge". I much prefer to be the one behind the camera listening to somebody else take charge of the shot.

As for being a narrator? No. I cant. I would much rather be a news anchor.

Lesson Number Three: Always Save Your Work as Much as Possible

I CAN NOT STRESS THAT ENOUGH.

SAVE YOUR WORK AS MUCH AS YOU CAN.

Why?

This was not the first version of the trailer. My computer crashed in the middle of the first exporting of the file, and without a reason, refused to open up the original trailer.

Just take my word for it and save your work all the time.

Lesson Number Four: Take, Re-Take, Repeat

Fun fact, I took over 150 takes for this trailer that is not even two minutes long. Never underestimate the amount of takes you should take for each scene. Always change up the lighting, the settings on your camera and experiment to see what works best with your project. Get creative with the technicalities of the movie and have fun, after all, thats what it is all about, isn't it?

Lesson Number Five: Have Fun

As I said previously, have with the project you are creating. Have fun from the very beginning. When you are told that you have the chance to work with some of your friends on a movie of your own, have fun brainstorming ideas. Think of the most wild, insane, creative idea that you could possibly imagine and look forwards to having the chance to bring it into reality through film. Write the screenplay. Take your time with the script and have fun imagining what each character is supposed to say and how they will say it. Make your characters come alive within the screenplay. Have fun with it. Have fun with the storyboards for your project. Embrace that inner Hitchcock and pour your heart and soul into the drawings of your characters. Find the right people to work with. Be a team player. Work as hard as everyone else, take a step back and let others run with your ideas for a bit and see where it takes them and your characters. Cast the right people for the role. It may take awhile to find someone who matches the idea of your character in your head, but you will find your actor. But do not limit yourself and close your mind to someone who matches the character completely. If you are feeling risky, cast a fantastic actor who takes the role and adapts it to their own personality and makes the character their own. Sometimes change is good. Have fun with your actors, be patient with them. Not everyone is born a star, but if you work with them long enough and well enough, you can transform them and you will see them evolve into someone completely different (in a good way- trust me) by the end of the project. Have fun with that. Have fun with the filming. Use your storyboards but do not limit yourself to them. Look at the shots you thought of and then have fun coming up with different ones. Take in other peoples opinions too, you will need it. Have fun with that. Have fun with the endless hours of shooting one scene. Try different lighting, different angles, different anything until you get the perfect shot that you have been waiting for. Have fun bonding with your actors and building memories that you will remember forever. Have fun in post production. Have fun importing all of your clips to your project and being the first one to see the raw footage. Remember what this footage looks like before you work your magic and transform it into your masterpiece. Have fun spending hours and hours on your videos, putting off all of your math or chemistry homework so that you can edit a video. Tell your friends that this class is so much more than just an open class and the homework deserves more time than your university level classes because you know that this is so much more valuable to you than math or chemistry ever will be in your future. Its more than homework or a school project, its a life style. Learn from your profs (even if they mock your favourite artists). They know more than you do, so always have fun listening to all of the wacky stories that they have to offer. You will find inspiration in them. Have fun with that. Have fun editing and editing the footage, knocking it down to every last perfect transition between clips. Spend hours finding the perfect song. Once you hear it you will know. Have fun with the nights you lose tons of sleep so that you can do a power edit with coffee by your side because those are the best nights. Have fun showing your friends and family the finished project before you export it because there will always be something that you should change, or a change that has to be made. They have not seen it as many times as you have and fresh eyes and ears always catch mistakes. When you're happy with your project and you know its your best work, find the perfect title. Let it play around in your mind for a few days, have fun waiting and waiting for the perfect title to pop into your mind, it is on its way, trust me. Have fun exporting it and posting it on social media for all of your friends and family to see. Be proud of your work. You did this. You created this wonderful video that you have took the time and effort to make. You have earned all the praise that is coming your way. Have fun showing your family members and your friends. Have fun watching your old work and seeing how far you have come. Have fun and with every single living fibre in your body and experience your film. Make sure that you have expressed yourself through your medium of text because thats important. Almost as important as being happy and having fun with creating videos. Because after all, having fun is the most important part. And if you are not having fun, then what is the point of making the video in the first place?


#FunFactOfTheBlog-- I love making videos. It is as simple as that.


See you all later,

Kaitlin Salole

Blake Shelton Is Not BS!

I have no idea why, but my Media Studies class likes to make fun of Blake Shelton, and yes, I am going to review their wrong and inappropriate comments made targeted at the one and only Blake Shelton. I know that their rude comments towards Blake are actually them denying the ultimate truth- that they wish that they are as awesome as the man himself. Blake Shelton

Let me start off by saying that Blake Shelton is one of the best artists in the world. He is one of the very few artists who show the public their true self instead of hiding behind a mask. Blake is open and is not afraid to tell his audience that he is under the influence of different substances. Surely Blake has to be one of the most proud, gutsy people in the world. I know that I would never have the guts to tell the whole world that I am drunk or high. We must respect Blake for this reason, and I do believe that the involuntary rude remarks made by my classmates are them secretly admitting to the fact that they will never be as brave as Blake Shelton.

My "teacher" Mr. Sir Edwards likes to make rude comments towards
Blake Shelton's songs, saying that they are terrible. Yet, in the mean time, my teacher has previously attempted to create a country song. It did not go so well, and  quite frankly, I am not surprised. The issue here is that my teacher has not been blessed with the awesome talent that Blake Shelton has and uses to make country songs. Blake's songs are not all about trucks, booze and guitars (like my teachers), but they actually have a meaning behind them. Most of Blake Shelton's songs tell a story and have a story behind them. He has deep messages within his songs that have inspired his audience members to live life keeping in mind the lessons he had planted within his songs. Check out one of his biggest hits from his recent album that has a strong positive message!

Click Here! 

I would like to see Mr Edwards write something that impactful.

Obviously, my media class likes to hide behind rude comments towards an individual that they admire and aspire to grow up to be like the one and only Blake Shelton.

Talk to you later,

Kaitlin

#FunFactofTheBlog-- I am extremely tired right now and I have one more post to go up....

Everything Is Shining about The Shining, Well Except One Thing

 The Shining. Well what more can I say? This movie was incredible. In my opinion, all but one aspect of a great movie was achieved throughout Stanley Kubrick’s work of art.

This movie was indeed wonderful. It had an awesome director (that doesn’t even begin to explain how marvellous his work is) that worked so hard on this movie. His dedication from the very beginning of shooting to the end of postproduction remained consistent throughout. The screenplay, written by Diane Johnson and Stanley Kubrick was inspirational. The dialogue was true to the character assigned to it. The setting and the props used in the movie were incredibly detailed (well obviously, it’s a Kubrick film right?). Everything in the movie had to be just right for Kubrick. If something wasn’t right, if one picture was not hung straight, or if a flower was missing from a garden, the production crew would have to re film the entire scene.

Many people would say that this movie was bang on. Every little detail was considered into the making of The Shining. I would have to agree, except, there was one aspect to The Shining that I find questionably wrong almost.

Yes the movie did have an incredible soundtrack, an exciting setting and creative props with a creative director, but I do question one of the casting choices.

Steven King and I have one thing in common. We believe that Shelley Duvall should not have been casted as Wendy Torrance. I absolutely adored every other casting decision Kubrick made. For example, Jack Nicholson was an incredible actor to cast as the lead role. He matched the image of Jack Torrance that I made up in my mind while I was reading the novel. However, Shelley Duvall was not the actress for the role of Wendy. Heck I am almost certain that Danny Lloyd could have played Wendy better than her.

The problem with Shelley is that she seemed almost too weak and too helpless. I know that the character is supposed to be weak and helpless but I feel almost as if Shelley was over-acting and exaggerating everything. And then when she over exaggerated everything and is supposed (notice the word supposed) to be traumatized by her husband’s actions and intentions, she looks like she is quite frankly (and I hate to say this, but) constipated throughout her entire time on camera.  I found myself laughing out loud during the time I should be scared shitless.

IM SORRY FOR THE SWEARING BUT THAT PUN WAS GREAT WASN’T IT?

#FunFactOfTheBlog – I am a pun master

What I do not understand though, is that Stanley Kubrick kept Shelley, even though he hated her. Kubrick hated the way that she acted and knew that her performance was weak. Stanley actually had to taunt and traumatize Shelly to coach her and show her how she is supposed to act in the film.

Anyways, so as you can see, Stanley Kubrick was almost spot on with yet another one of his famous movies, and I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a horror movie that will not be distracted by the poor casting decision.   

Trailer!!

Psycho for Psycho

Psycho is a masterpiece that took the infamous Alfred Hitchcock and his crew 30 days to shoot, edit and produce. Psycho is said to have validated modern horror through its unique filming techniques.

Personally, I cannot get enough of this movie. From its insanely rich backstory, dedication from the director, to the acting provided by all of the cast members this movie will always be one of my favourites.

The effort that the production crew put into Psycho’s technicalities is absolutely phenomenal. The camera angles that Alfred Hitchcock sketched in the storyboards were so unique and fabulous. Anyone who watched Psycho can and will notice all of the hard work Hitchcock put into the shots. One of my favourite scenes in the movie where you can clearly see all of the hard work Hitchcock put into the camera framing is when Norman Bates and Marion Crane are sitting down in the motel lobby getting to know one another.  Throughout this scene, the camera takes turns showing each character individually throughout the painfully awkward conversation they are having. When the camera shows Norman Bates (played by Anthony Perkins—Perfect casting choice by the way! I never knew a folk singer could act like an insane young fellow as well as Perkins did) it was through an awkward low cantend angle. This gave me a set of un-ease when he appeared on screen as these angles occurred when the audience is just starting to get to know Norman. Now, if the audience members are as crazy as I am and like to analiyse the silly little things like camera angles, they will get an un-easy feeling about Norman Bates and suspicion from the audience members should arise. When the camera focus’ on Marion Crane (played by Janet Leigh) the use of level angles conveys to the audience that Marion is a very calm, proper lady. This is just one of the very many times that Alfred Hitchcock uses camera angling to portray his character, well, character.

Alfred Hitchcock knew what he wanted to be in the finished project from the first day of shooting. He knew what everything was going to look like and would not settle because of a no from anyone. He worked as hard as he could and his admirable work and effort he poured into his creation certainly payed off. I definitely recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys horror movies that have a bit of a twist.

#FunFactOfTheBlog -- When this movie was premiered in the theatres, there was a rule that Alfred Hitchcock enforced for the audience members. That rule is that everyone seeing the movie had to see it from start to end, that means that you could not buy a ticket after the movie had already started showing.

#FunFactOfTheBlog-- (#2) -- After seeing this movie, Walt Disney banned Alfred Hitchcock from Disney World because of (and I quote) "That disgusting film Psycho!"

Guess it just was not Walts cup of tea eh?

Anyways Adios,

Kait


CLICK HERE TO SEE THE TRAILER!

Meta What???

Meta Fiction! That's what!

Hola everyone looking at this (even though its probably only my English teacher). Im back!!

According to Google, Meta Fiction is;; fiction in which the author self-consciously alludes to the artificiality or literariness of a work by parodying or departing from novelistic conventions (especially naturalism) and traditional narrative techniques.

If you are like me and can not grasp that concept, I have a few examples that may or may not help you understand what Meta Fiction is. Some well known examples of meta fiction are: Vampires Suck, Stranger than Fiction, The Truman Show, and Spaceballs!.

I look at examples of Meta Fiction like this: a television show about a television show, a book about how to write a book, a country song about a country song.

** Warning, if you do not like country music, I would suggest that you stop reading now.

Blake Shelton (to the right) released an album titled Bringing Back The Sunshine on September 30th with a song called Good Country Song on it. This song is a perfect example of meta fiction, and here's why.

(Here is the link for the song--- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyt4aWp_BhA and here is a link for the lyrics-- http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/blakeshelton/goodcountrysong.html) 

Good Country Song is an example of meta fiction because within the lyrics of the song, it is a good country song that references and talks about what needs to be included in a good country song. Here are some examples of lyrics that are included in the song that lead audience members to believe that
Good Country Song is an example of Meta Fiction.

I'm talking bout a good country song
Makes you smile, makes you hurt
Leaves you hanging on every word
A good country song
Makes you love, makes you leave
Raise some hell or hit your knees

When Blake is singing these lyrics, he is telling his audience how a good country song is supposed to make you feel when you listen to it. He talks about how it is supposed to make you smile, love, leave etc.

Yeah, it makes me think of days long gone
Miss my dad and call my mom
Run, laugh, and pray, and drink til dawn
When I hear a good country
A good old country, a good country song 

When Blake is singing the lyrics above, he is referencing what a good country song is supposed to make you think of. According to Blake, he believes that good country songs are supposed to make you think of your past memories (example-- of your childhood memories).  

When audience members listen to this country song by Blake Shelton, they learn that he is referencing what he believes needs to be included in a good country song. This adds to the overall learning and listening experience of the audience members because while listening to this song, they are given the chance to evaluate the lyrics in Good Country Song and see if they meet the criteria that Blake has left for his fans.

#FunFactOfTheBlog: Blake Shelton is one of my favourite artists, and I do not appreciate it when he does not tweet me back

Well, hopefully now you have a better understanding of the term meta fiction!

Stay golden,

Kaitlin

Next Door To Door Salesman

So You Want To Be The Next Door To Door Saleman?

WAIT!!!!!!! CHECK OUT THIS SUPER AWESOME WEBSITE http://kaitlinsalole.wix.com/sytycbtndtds

 
The intended audience for our reality show “So You Think You Can Be a Door-To-Door Salesmen” would be a rather large demographic. We hope there would be something in our show for everyone. Drama for the single moms, fights for people who enjoy the pain and suffering of others and door-to-door sales for businessmen who just aren't satisfied with what the rest of modern reality television has to offer. We also hope to attract audiences both young and old with mostly young and attractive contestants, sort of, almost, well-known judges who still seem to be fairly successful and minor celebrity cameos by people popular ten years ago and the occasional, out of place major celebrity guest. We think the best time slot to broadcast our show would be at around 7PM on weeknights because it’s the time of day when most people are at home relaxing and ready to watch just about anything.

 
SYTYCBADTDS pulls in the viewers with the interesting title and idea. How many shows have you seen about competing to be a great door-to-door salesman? It is set up like a normal show but has a bit of a twist to it. The twist is that the contestant does not know that the judges are behind the doors when they sell to them. Every week they sell something different and with our crazy characters you never know how they are going to sell the products. 

 
The focus of our show will be on a group of contestants competing every week in different challenges to see who will be the next top door-to-door salesman. The contestants will be some of the most-and a few of the least-promising young door-to-door salesmen. Our contestants will be from all different backgrounds, ages and genders. They may be just selling products door-to-door, but there will be enough drama to fill a teenage girl’s Facebook page.

 
Over the course of several weeks our contestants will compete in various challenges of their selling abilities to see who will come out on top as the next top door-to-door salesman. Every episode they will be introduced to their challenge for the week and then tested on how well they do. Each challenge will be judged and over the course of the week every contestant will have time to socialize, share their feelings and opinions on the show and the rest of the contestants as well as prepare for the week’s final judging.
The setting of the show is inside the contestant house and out on the streets at various homes. The contestant house is a place that kind of looks like it's getting renovated but is not where the contestants live or even stay for very long. The only time they are in the place is during shooting and for confessions about the episode once they watch it in the screening room. The houses selected every week are always in different neighbourhoods but everyone sells to the same house at different times with different judges. The setting isn't really important to the show because it is supposed to focus more on the products instead. That is the reason we chose a room that looks like it is being renovated so that viewers aren't so focused on the contestants house. Most of the drama is in the house because that's the only time everyone is actually together and interacting. The way the room, in my opinion, doesn't add to the drama because there is nothing in the rooms at all. 
 
At the end of each episode the judge picks someone to get voted off. The judges go into the judge corner and give their reviews on the people they are watching during the episode. After each episode there is a special episode for the elimination which happens in the main room of the contestant house with only a certain number of contestants. The contestants in the room will be the ones who were under the judge of the person who was officially voted off. In this moment the contestants find out that the people they sold to were actually the judges of the show which on its own would be funny if Jenifer was voted off or even Wynona. Once there is  only one person left on the show that means we have a winner and the winner will become head salesmen for buyourcrap.ca meaning they will make 100,000 a year. 
 
Every week the show has a new product that companies sponsor to have on the show. Each item is as unique as the people who are picked to be on the show. This will make viewers want to see who is selling what and how they are going to do it for weeks to come. Each season will have an updated cast and a whole bunch of new products! With a fun new cast and a whole whack of crazy products the show will be able to hold an audience for at least 3 seasons. In a recent pole* this show was picked more times than another show on the network (KaitRocks Inc) and will be making its way into their second season while the other show will not. This tells me that our audience is true to the show and will continue to be for seasons to come. The show has a weird kind of drama that is funny and interesting to watch. I think that this amount of drama will make the audience stay because of how unique it is and how much you don't see it on t.v. now. An example of this would be when Michelle hits Jenifer in the face after finding out she was talking behind her back. 

 

*a pole of our classroom consisting of 19 people where 11 voted for our show and the other 8 weren't thinking very clearly that day. 
 

Music Video Analysis

Going To The Mall Sparkles

On November 20th 2006, the creators of How I Met Your Mother released the ninth episode in the second season that reached 8.85 million American views and they also released a song that became a comical hit. The music video for the song is below.


 

The song above, Let's Go to the Mall, is sung by a fictional sixteen year old Canadian popstar named Robin Sparkles. Lets Go to the Mall was the single that launched her singing career. After the making of the music video and performing the song at endless malls while on tour, Robin developed a serious fear of shopping malls that lasted for many years.

Lets Go to the Mall was released on Robin Sparkles only fictional album titled "Make It Sparkle!" in the year 1993.


Construction of Reality:

The version of reality portrayed in this music video is an exaggerated yet realistic view of the world. The music video creates a realistic view of the world because it shows teenagers hanging out at the mall doing "teenage like" activities (such as flirting with other teenagers, eating food, goofing around and shopping). This music video does a fantastic job in glorifying going to the mall. In all honesty, going to the mall is not anything particularly special, it is more an ordinary and common thing to do. No one has THAT much fun at a mall.

This music video also portrays a world in which it is normal for attractive teenagers to participate in a random flash mob occurrence in the middle of a mall. The directors of this music video have portrayed reality in this way for Robin Sparkles. One of the reasons as to why they must have done this is because of Robin's fan-base. Robin Sparkles fan base is mostly composed of 13 year old girls. Since most 13 year old girls love to go to the mall with their friends, many teenage girls can relate to this song.

Creeds and Values:

There are quite a few creeds and values that present themselves throughout the song and music video. One of the creeds that are presented in the video for Lets Go to the Mall is that people always have a blast when they are at the mall. This video makes it seem like shoppers will NEVER have a bad mall experience (ha! I wish!). Another creed that is in the music video is consumerism. The video shows the audience that spending money is a good thing and is an enjoyable activity.

Codes and Conventions:

Thanks to the codes and conventions in this video and the lyrics, there is not a doubt in my mind that this song does not belong to the pop genre of music.

One of the codes and conventions of music video of a pop song that the music video director included was background changes. In most music videos for pop songs, the background or setting will change quite frequently. I recently watched a famous music video for a pop song called Celebrity Status by Marianas Trench and counted how many times the background or setting changed in the video. I counted 58 times! If you do not believe me, click the link below for the video out and check for yourself!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSRUDnw9uoc

Another common code and convention for pop songs that are often included in music videos are background dancers. In almost every music video for a pop song the artist is surrounded by back up dancers. Here are a few popular music videos for pop songs that have appearances made by back up dancers.

Taylor Swift- Shake it Off: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfWlot6h_JM
Jessie J- Price Tag:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMxX-QOV9tI
Micheal Jackson- Thriller:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA

Finally, the last code and convention of music videos of pop songs that I observed in the video for Lets Go to the Mall is that whenever a member in the band playing behind Robin Sparkles had a solo in the song, the camera man would do a close up on that artist that was playing the instrument. This happens in many music videos for pop songs. Check out the ones below and see if you can spot this convention!

Van Halen- Jump:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwYN7mTi6HM
Flight of the Conchords- Carol Brown:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cGoDns8wTA
Bon Jovi- Its My Life:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx2u5uUu3DE


Commercial:  

Unlike other music videos, the music video for Lets Go to the Mall by Robin Sparkles was not created to sell the song. The music video for the song was made to further develop a character (named Robin Scherbatsky- picture on the right)  on How I Met Your Mother. This music video was an effective way to develop her character because it gave the audience a sense of her childhood. On that note, the obvious target audience of this music video are fans of How I Met Your Mother. 

In my opinion, I do believe that the music video fits the song. The song is very cheesy and playful and in order to have a successful music video, the video has to be just that. With the help of Robin Sparkles funky hair-do's, wacky outfits, and Canadian jokes scattered throughout the video, this music video does indeed does this song justice.

#FunFactOfTheBlog: I really really like How I Met Your Mother. Like alot.