Final Project Update

FINALLY the project is done. Unfortunatley, I kind of had to change ideas at last minute to finish. It is not that I could not do my other idea. It is just that I had some footage on one of my friends personal camcorders, and after Thanksgiving about half of my footage was erased and I had to start from scratch. However, I am pretty happy with the way my project turned out. It is a little cheesy, but it definatley has its moments. Also, I have liked the song I use for a long time and I am happy that I was able to create something with it. Although I could not do my other idea, I still knew that I wanted my project to be some type of video, and I am satisfied with the way it turned out.

Project Rough Draft/ Progress

Unfortunatley I have no video to upload on to the blog. Not because I have nothing on film, but I was not in class on Thursday and I had no idea this was due. I do not also have much to show, but I have everything ready to go. I have plenty of people to interview, professors and students. I am still working on being able to talk to the parking patrol, but here are some questions I have lined up for most people to answer:

• are you a commuter?
• How long have you been commuting on to campus?
• Have you ever recieved a parking ticket, (if so) how much in total?
• (if so) have you ever been towed from campus
• Do you park in the same parking lots ever time?
• How early do you leave your house/apt to park?
• do you think there is a solution for the parking madness?
• Do you know all the rules concerning Clemson parking? which times you can park in green, why students can or cannot park in visitors spots, the times on the weekends you can park anywhere...etc.

If not drivers

• how do you get to campus?
• has your bike/motorcycle/moped ever been ticketed? towed?
• how much is a parking pass for non-car drivers?
• if you do not drive a car because you have no car, would you rather have a car and park in a busy lot or continue to use alternative ways to commute?

Professors:

• As a professor, is parking any easier for you than the students?
• Have you ever recieved a parking ticket?
• Are the penalties worse/ more lenient for teachers?
• is there more courtesy amoungst professors in parking lots or is it still an every man for themselves type mentality?
• As a professor, what do you think is the best way to commute to campus?
• Do you think most professors know all the rules of parking or do they just follow the same routine everyday?

Aside from interviewing random people around the university, I hope to be able to expose how parking tickets effect the budget. Unfortunatley, I am a terrible researcher, and I have been unsuccesful in finding this information thus far. But thankfully the library is full of eager librarians and assistants to help students like me. If all goes according to plan, the video should be just as informative to students as much as it shows the parking knowledge Clemson students have.

Downfall

In my opinion, Downfall did an excellent job visually portraying the story of WWII from the German point of view. The actor playing Adolf Hitler did an excellent job. From the beginning of the film, the director shows exactly how dynamic and powerful Hitler's presence was. Mor importantly, he is able to illustrate the line between genious and insanity that Hitler so mesmorizingly flirted with. As we begin the movie, the group of girls waiting for Hitler in the hollow, cold, and empty room right away show the power of Hitler. Each girl displayed a nervous emotion on their face, mixed with almost an overwhelming joy to actually meet the man. The downfall of the German army at the battle of Berlin mirrors Hitlers downfall as an individual. As his army begins to deteriorate, so does Hitler. Within the first few minutes of the movie, we know that this is taking place during the last hours of Hitlers life. However, it is not until Hitler begins to understand the he is losing the battle and his city, that he begins to fall apart. On several different occasions throughout the movie, we notice Hitler holds his hand behind his back, in an elegant and sophisticated sort of stance. However, the audience can see that his hand is violently shaking as if he is sick or perhaps nervous.

The camera and mise-en-scene of the movie do a lot to further illustrate the downfall of Hitler. The city of Berlin is in shambles. As the Russian army approaches, Hitler orders the army to destroy everything. We see documents and papers and enormous piles of equipment and supplies being burned and pillaged, simply so the Russians couls not get their hands on it. The camera angles and frames often help to illustrate the situation. As bombs were dropping and exploding, the camera would shake violently, as it would for a soldier first person. In one particular scene filmed in the bunkers below ground, the camera zooms in on a glass of water sitting on a desk, that shakes and the water ripples as the bombs overhead continue to drop.

The director also is able to very powerfully illustrate the horrible effects the war had on the civilians, especially the children. Multiple times throughout the movie we see civilians running helplessly for their lives while bombs and guns are being shot everywhere. In the scene with the young boy who refuses to leave the bunker he is firing rockets from, we see how desperate Hitler's army becomes. In the instance of the doctor who ran into the hospital to try and retrieve medicine, we see him running down halls empty of people, yet littered with anything imaginable in a hospital. We can hear his footsteps echo throughout the hospital, and when he comes across the room with the old and dying people, we immediatley see how helpless and powerless the civilians have become. Not only is Hitler doing nothing to supply them with help medicinally, but they are helplessly stuck in a hospital that is in the middle of a war zone.

PROJECT PROGRESS

Well, to be honest, there has not been much progress on my project thus far. Everything behind the scenes is ready, like people to interview and questions to ask, it is just a matter of getting the wheels in motion. On a good note, the filming aspect will not take as long as first anticipated. I have enough people ready to give interviews and share ideas and stories related to parking. It is just a matter of getting the camera and shooting.

Sunday Picture

This is the picture i took at 12 noon on sunday. Well, it is not exactly noon but close enough. Anyways, my bedroom is right next to the front door, so after opening the door i simply pointed, and clicked. The railings and colomns of my front porch are visible in the foreground, with my car parked in the middle, my front lawn, and a car driving past the light pole just as i clicked, that is why it is blurry. I think for just a random picture, it turned out pretty good.

Movie Titles

The first movie title I looked at was from the 1984 classic Terminator. After a brief scene showing the chaotic war against the machines in the year 2029 and a short description of what exactly how this came to be, the title scene begins. The entire title scene is battle music playing while the letters which spell Terminator cross across the screen backwards, so that the R-O-T-A-N come from left to right, and the T-E-R-M-I come from right to left. Initially, it is unclear what the letters are doing, or if the images on screen are even letters. However, by the end, the camera zooms out and The TERMINATOR is clearly written. Although the graphics are from 1984, you can tell it was the directors effort to make them look as high tech and futuristic as possible since the movie is suppose be about a war taking place in the future. Also, I feel that the letters are a similar representation of the movie because they are unclear to the viewer until the very end, which is similar to this movie. The answers to the audience's questions are not fully revealed until the end of the movie.

Diana George- Deflecting the Political

Everyday on the news America is updated on the war in Iraq, whether it is telling us we now control a certain city, or perhaps it is just a tally of the death count for that day. Either way, Americans are only exposed to a small fraction of the actual action happening in the war. If every American had total access to seeing the war every step of the way, do you feel like we would still be in this war? And if not, how long would we have lasted? If every American had that type of technology during the times of teh Vietnam War, do you believe a Desert Storm or War in Iraq would have even came to be?

Do we naturally sympathize with the execution of women, even if their crimes are equally as brutal as those of men? Is it easier to see a man be executed than a women?

Font

As far as fonts go, I feel that the Tekton Pro Ext font fits my personality. It is not the most professional looking font. I do not think any document of high importance has been published in it, but it definitely fits for comic strips and cartoons. It comes off as having a sort of laid back look, yet it is very distinguishable because it is somewhat bolder than most regular fonts. If this font was at a party with other fonts, I think Tekton Pro Ext would be hanging out with Comic Sans MS, Kozuka Gothic Pro, Papyrus, and all the Wingdings, ‘cause everyone knows how crazy those wingdings are.

Timetable

October 5:
I hope to at least be able to get around campus and film the scenery of Clemson: Tilman Hall, Hendrix center, Student Union. Also, I hope to get some scenes with lots of people walking between classes, traffic either around campus or downtown, and scenes of full student parking lots. Eventually, I plan to have a voice narrate over these scenes by the time the film is finished.

October 12:
I hope to get a lot of small, quick interviews with many students. I know certain friends of mine who have had bad parking experiences, but i also hope to interview random kids, freshman and other people who have cars but do not commute on to campus every day, and students who commute to campus but use other transportation other than a car.

October 19:
I hope to get interviews with at least a dozen professors. I know a good few teachers from past semesters who would not mind giving a couple minutes of their time to answer some quick questions about such a higly debateable topic. Also, I hope to interview certain teachers who do not always drive a car to campus

October 25:
This is probably going to the most difficult part- interviews with the parking enforcers and parking office workers. Also, by this time I hope to have gaining the information necessary from the budget, and have made some comparisons and observations from the info.

Proposal

For my semester project, I am going to continue to work towards making a video on the parking enforcement here at Clemson. I plan to start my video with some scenery shots of Clemson, followed by some shots of traffic, full parking lots, and people circling the lots searching for spaces. Next, I plan on using information recieved from the Clemson Budget to show exactly how much Clemson is profitting off tickets compared to other things like athletics and dining. Next, I plan on walking around almost like a reporter, and explain exactly where people can and cannot park, the difference between spaces, and the times people are allowed to park in certain areas. Next, I will interview random people and people I know, asking weather they 1) fully know and understand the parking situation at Clemson, 2) have ever been fined my the parking enforcement, and 3) whether they agree with the way the parking is set up at Clemson or if it could use some changes. Also, I will interview students who use alternative methods of transportation. After inferviewing students, I plan on asking the same questions to teachers and faculty around the campus. Because most faculty have been and will be here longer than most students, I hope to get different answers than what students said. Finally, if allowed, I hope to interivew the ticket distributers themselves and the people working inside the parking office and ask them questions like 1) how often to people complain and put up huge fights over tickets, 2) do you think the parking set up is fair. Ultimatley I am trying to keep my personal opinions out of the video, and try to expose a broad idea of what the feelings on campus are towards the parking situation.

semester project

For my semester long project, I have decided to create a video about the parking enforcement at clemson. I hope to create a sort of parody, which at the same time helps educate the viewers on what exactly the policies and punishments are for campus parking. I will try to gain access to the clemson budget, and try to find out exactly how much clemson makes each year from parking tickets. Also, I hope to possibly get interviews with parking enforcers, and people behind the scenes in the parking office. If all goes according to plan, the end result should be a funny video which will hopefully help prevent viewers from getting future tickets.

My Friend Ted's 'Facebook'

I chose to create a make believe facebook acount for my friend Ted because he is the only one of my friends who does not have an existing account, and I feel like I have no bias towards how it should look. Also, I have known Ted since the beginning of high school so I have known him for long enough to know what sort of things he would have on his page. Beginning with his picture, I believe it would be one of two things. Because he has been in a serious relationship for nearly 3 years, I imagine he would have a picture with him and his girlfriend, probably just simply smiling at the camera. If not that, than he would have a nice looking picture of himself. He is not a flashy guy, and semi- shy towards people he does not know. This is why I think he might simply pick a nice picture of himself. Considering he does not have an account now, I imagine he would most likely put as little effort into the page as possible, so he would want a good picture that he does not have to often times change. He would post that he is in a relationship, and would show the usual information such as birthday and sex and such. As far as personal information, I believe he would post his interest in sports that he enjoys playing such as football, basketball, and tennis, and also sports teams which he enjoys watching such as Virginia Tech, Redskins, Wizards, and so on. As far as things like favorite movies and music, I know for a fact that he is a huge movie and music buff. this would mean one of two things. he would either list the basic movies that he has always loved since a kid, such as star wars and the sandlot, or he would not list anything at all. same with music. either he would list the bands he has known forever or he would list nohting at all, because he can't choose certain bands over others. and theres no way he would list them all. way too lazy. Finally, he would not have any sort of applications, and most likely not many pictures. He has no digital camera at this point, but has a girlfriend who does.

What is Visual Communication?

Visual Communication is something that has been a part of our lives since the day we were born. Before we were able to talk and understand language, our parents and guardians would communicate with us through toys, sounds, pictures, silly faces, and countless other ways. To me as a 21 year old student, visual communication encompasses anything meant to be seen by people in order to convey some sort of message. Companies and markets communicate with everyday people thru billboards on highways or commercials on tv. My dog visually communicates with me when he looks at me, then stands by the door and stares, signaling his intent to go out. Likewise when I show my dog a treat he gets excited and understands it is time to perform tricks. I am visually communicating with you right now! visual communication often times occurs when trying to break a language barrier between people of different language. Ultimatley, visual communication is a timeless device used to help get a message or idea across.