https://app.box.com/s/nx40pkqfu0xl1uoa1aoh


This is a song about Johnny Appleseed, an American icon, and
should not be considered for my media portfolio.

The Jerk Archetype

Opening #2

This opening and group of projects is much more interesting to me because they are much more music driven. The videos were very intriguing and I even enjoyed the video game videos. I had no idea that it was so difficult to get a game with a decent story line to be made by publishers. I also thought the music aspects were enlightening. I found out about a sight called HypeMachine which I had never heard of until now. It consists of a bunch of different artists from all sorts of genres whose music is shared by bloggers and rated. It is a great way to kind of filter through all the music there is out there today. The creativity video by Ted Talks was very interesting in the way she looked at creating new things. I thought it was a good way to keep things in perspective and not put too much pressure on ourselves though I don’t really know how I feel about it. If it’s not taken too literally and instead looked at for the message it’s trying to convey, I think it’s great advice. We’re all just trying to express ourselves through media and we have to realize that not everything we create is going to be a masterpiece. However, those countless mistakes are what lead to the masterpieces. So, when we make those mistakes we can’t be too hard on ourselves and when we see others make mistakes we can’t be quick to write them off as failures. It’s just like the theme of this class. It takes 10,000 hours to become truly great at something and even then who knows? And we also can’t be too quick to let our egos grow just because we create a masterpiece IF we create one. I think it’s important to remember both and that’s really what I took away from this opening this time around. It’s all about trying to keep things in perspective on both ends of the spectrum.

Mini Sagas

Lights, Camera, Deception

A space man makes a giant leap by taking a small step. Impressionable eyes glued to screens everywhere make it hard to see. A flag is planted. The masses chant in loud, nationalistic jubilation. Meanwhile, back at the moon or in a back room, a highly paid director yells, “Cut!”

                                                            Hot Dog Irony

As a child, Jon consumed insane amounts of hot dogs. His mother repeatedly warned that if he continued down his path of frank gorging, he would in fact turn into one. Jon fancied this idea in his youth. He’s now the mascot of Al’s Hot Dogs. He hates his mother.

Thoughts on Content

            There is much to be learned about the process of creating when it comes to the media industry today. After watching numerous videos for this class, I have noticed that getting into this business is more than just making things and putting them out there. A whole other side exists that involves copyrighting and extremely serious laws. I’ve also learned a lot about how there really isn’t a truly original idea nowadays. And how could there be? From such a young age, we are all exposed to many different ideas through endless forms of media whether it’s music, video, games, etc. This lack of true originality shouldn’t be frowned upon as a bad thing though because this communication of ideas simply builds on itself. I feel like this building is the best way for society to develop with such easy flow of everyone’s ideas.

            I’m extremely torn when it comes to the copyright law side of the business because on one hand yes, the creator deserves credit and I think it’s wrong to steal someone else’s ideas. However, chances are that the person whose ideas are supposedly “stolen” more than likely got their ideas from some other sort of media. For anyone to be so arrogant as to say an idea is 100% their own would be completely false. Everyday each one of us is alive we experience new media that shapes our consciousness which produces new ideas. While they are new ideas, they are not truly original by any means. So yeah artists deserve credit for their innovativeness but I don’t think their creations should be off limits for everyone else to manipulate and play with. Copyright laws limit the freedom of creativity, which is not something that should happen anywhere, especially not in America.  Though copyright is still a big thing now, I don’ t think it will be with the next generation.

            Artists like Girl Talk have completely flipped the script on what’s considered original and what is labeled as stealing. There is no doubt in my mind that what he is doing is original and his own. Yet he creates art in constant fear of being sued by businessmen living in the past. I think the documentary was right saying that the future can be different with my generation. I hope we as a whole recognize that the world is better for having these types of artists in it and therefore the copyright laws are simply outdated limits that should no longer exist. Not only that, but also even with copyright laws it’s impossible to stop everyone from illegally downloading music or doing what Girl Talk is doing. I think our generation will realize that these old laws are no longer necessary and it will be in with the new, out with the old.