The 2nd Draft

Here lies the second draft of the final project.

Soon to be sacrificed once more to the internet re-editing gods.

Anyways, here is the 2nd draft of my vid. Comments are always appreciated.

My thoughts/questions - I'm not sure how much I like the music or my voice editing over certain parts and am also unsure about the value of the long introduction to the idea of memes. Any suggestions or comments on any part of the video, especially the paris analogy, would be greatly appreciated.

I think I will let the video be for at least one day and then review it and begin to rip it apart once more.

Thanks all!

p.s. I love the rain!

For the Next Video

So! I have some feedback for my next video. We were sitting in class today and going over videos and throwing around ideas... For my own project, I need to do more of an ethnography and tell at least one really good story. I'm thinking that what I want to do is cut out the Paris example and all of that. Then I want to fill in with lolcats as an example of a really good meme that can lead in to how they became so big, how they are everywhere, Icanhazcheezburger, and then activism with perhaps a tie with Kenny Glen and the angry lolcats. Methinks this could make the meme idea better and also keep me away from the Chocolate Rain/Tayzonday story that just annoys me (the song gets stuck in my head, and I really really really don't like that).

General notes: I need to simplify a bit and then perhaps condense my argument and make my argument louder through the use of simplification and the meme examples.

Hrmm...

Any comments/help that anyone can offer me would be greatly appreciated! oi

Video... again

That should work now. I also edited in the correct link on the previous post. *sigh*

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok. So. I just realized that the video I posted in the post immediately previous to this post has no sound. I will repost a video with sound later... I want sleep now and I don't feel like having to render a video for the 4th time tonight... Computer! Be nice!

First Full Length Vid (OH THE INSANITY!!!!)

Internet memes...


So, that is the first 5 minute video. It's a good thing that it is a first edit. I think the video itself is not horrible. It's not mind blowing, but I have not quite figured out how to get it just the way I want. I think that I will need to cut/edit the rather long intro about memes and then work more on actually building the argument for media ecologies and delve more deeply into how they are manipulated.

I ran into issues when my camera refused to turn on... That is never good and then again when I kept having to re-download programs and plugins for my computer (I had to wipe my hard drive this past week, which then requires many many many many hours of reloading programs and discovering how much you really did just lose...).

Basically, I think that this video needs to work on the argument part of itself, the part where I try to explain HOW and why do memes develop (particularly through microcelebrity; not leetspik or any such thing).

Side note, I was discouraged by the Know Your Meme videos; I thought that they were quite clever and they humorously touched on a lot of relevant topics... Translation: The vids were awesome and I felt inadequate and a bit like someone restating an already cleverly done video. *sigh*

Script ideas for the video on Memes/Temes and their evolution

So I haven’t quite decided on what I want to do for my video yet.

As my last post suggests, my project has shifted a bit and I am trying to figure out exactly how I want to organize it. I do think that the silent video can be an extremely effective mode of conveying information and I think could be awesome, especially with some of the shots that are out there. The only issue that I might find with the speechless form of the video might be that music selection, images, and written words are much more significant and thus must be more carefully thought out. If I have enough time, I would like to try to do both ways and see which one is most effective. I actually really do enjoy the video editing portion of this project and so (if I have time) would really like to try to play with that… in case you couldn’t tell by my posting of two versions of every project so far.

The basic outline of the argument looks like it should stay the same. The only thing is that I frequently like to let a project take me where it will. I like to do a lot of background research, get a lot of data, multiple songs, and several videos and sound bytes to use for the video and then sit down and try to make a video that flows together well and manages to convey some sort of argument over multiple levels. The song will be integral, but also must mesh with the dialogue of the images, the text, and any spoken word. So, the following list is a potential script/screenplay for a video, but one that most likely will be edited and changed during production.

Opening:
Blank screen – Dan Dennet voice-over “what is a meme?...”
Images – Old memes (perhaps some voice-over or clips from Susan Blackmore’s Ted
Talks) moving forward to new memes like Tay Zonday, Boxxy, Kenny Glen, Anonymous masks, Oprah image, other memes
SUSAN BLACKMORE – “the temes are becoming something different… the temes are forcing our brains to become more like teme machines…”
These are new ways of spreading memes; the internet is used to create flash-memes and memes out of regular people – MICRO CELEBRITY

HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN – track memes as they evolve over the internet
Make Paris analogy – use “Can you hear the people sing?” soundbyte as transition into modern day meme-creation and user generated content.
Twitter, Digg, YouTube, messageboards, forums, etc.
use screen shots, articles, perhaps a talking head if one is found

S. Blackmore – “temes don’t care about us. They’re just information.”
Is this really true? Is there actually a conscience behind temes?
Jonathan Haidt talking head on the collective consciousness
intro to Anonymous – images, clips of “we are everyone, no one, etc.”
-power users on Digg; Anonymous collective action
Anonymous activism; good and bad examples
Kenny Glen – screenshots of website, effects, news reel clips
- he became a meme; he also became a new example of “does anonymity even exist on the internet?” (***Lead in to cryptography part…)

Ideas for the Film

So, my project has shifted directions... again. I am going to try to avoid any use of 'code' from now on. I have been told that referring to code as a way of encoding information gets confusing when speaking about the internet (which has a base-code of ones and zeros, etc. that create the structure). I am now working much more closely with memes and the evolution of them and the microcelebrities attached to them across the internet mediascape. In this instance, I will try to see how the mediascapes and the different media ecologies are manipulated to create these flash-celebrities. So, I must now track down the internet trail of Tay Zonday, Boxxy, Kenny Glen, and others... oi.

For my video, I am going to try to collaborate with our meme-er/language of the internet person and try not to overlap with her project too much while still showing a certain amount of continuity. I believe that the Parisian warren of roads metaphor will still work for this, and in fact will work for this, and so will be using something French Revolution-esque. It would be factually incorrect, but using clips from productions of Les Mis will be useful for the message that I am attempting to portray.

So ideas:
(hopefully memes already introduced... if not ->) What is a meme?
Micro-celebrity memes on the internet - examples of Boxxy, Tay Zonday, Kenny Glen (images and videos of them with Talking Head or me voicing over it...)
Rewind! How did they become this?
Paris metaphor, explore how ins-and-outs are used
Follow one or more micro-celebrities through Digg to YouTube, etc. and their evolution into memes.
Conclude with Kenny Glen as an example and lead in to cryptoanarchy and the ability to be truly anonymous on the internet...