Final Project Proposal

For our project, we are focusing on New Media in cinema. We have decided to compile Lev Manovich’s most provocative points and visually depict these points in a film segment that mixes digital film, old movie clips we find in “the vault,” audio voiceovers, and still images. New Media, as Manovich defines it, is not confined to the use of computers or digital technology, which involves reverse engineering as a means to break down the whole (which was a staple of Old Media) to instead construct images, digital video, websites, etc. from the most basic building blocks (namely, pixels and computer programming code). New media has five main components: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and cultural transcoding.
First, to show the idea of New Media’s micro to macro construction, we plan to start our video project with a close-up on a single pixel and gradually zoom out to show the entire earth. Complete with sound effects, of course. This introduction will illustrate the point that the pixel has become the starting point and most basic building block for New Media.
Next, continuing this “construction” theme, we plan to highlight the evolution of closed interactivity to open interactivity. New Media’s closed interactivity representation of reality uses binary. We will incorporate real images, such as a real tree, alongside binary equivalents, such as a binary tree, to illustrate the naturalization of closed interactivity. Transitioning to open interactivity, we plan to juxtapose a CGI image of a forest versus computer code. The will also help demonstrate the modularity aspect of New Media including fractal structures and that New Media lives on every scale, from the small (the individual tree) to the big (the forest).
Also, we would like to show the process as it applies to film and cinema, as this is our main focus. Through this we will show finished products alongside the actual process and true reality that goes into making these products. This will include showing how green screen is used to make complex images and backgrounds that would otherwise be impossible (or at least extremely hard) to show or represent in true reality. As this process is applied to many films, we will use clips from these films as well as pictures and clips of how they were truly shot to show the development of the finished product versus the true reality of what occurred. The automation aspect of New Media can be represented by this green screen versus finished product juxtaposition as it shows how human involvement in film (such as set design) has been (to some extent) replaced with computer programming of images.
After illustrating the live action versus production aspect of New Media, we will show the different aspects that go into making digital film. This will include live action material, paintings and drawings, image processing, compositing, as well as 2-D and 3-D computer animation. Just as we used a split screen for the live action, we will amp up the visual complexity yet again by splitting the screen multiple times for each component of digital film.
To bring in multiple forms of media and clarify what might otherwise be an eclectic compilation of images (as confusing as Blair’s WaxWeb), we have decided to use voice-over dialogue to explain just what we’re proving with these processes.

The process of our project will mainly be focused on old videos that we ourselves did not create, but rather will have to use to help illustrate our point. We will have to find effective video and images through searches and research and collect, edit, and incorporate them into our finished product. We have several films in mind: Alice in Wonderland (Manovich references this a lot to underscore the “rabbit hole” effect of New Media; we plan on muting the audio and adding our own discussion of New Media), The Matrix (to show a completely digital reality), Star Wars (the first fully digital feature-length film),and The Polar Express (Tom Hanks acting in front of a green screen for the whole time).
This will require us to use the video editing training we have received in this class to create the final product. Also, with the voice-over explanations, we will need to use the audio recording technology and equipment we have used in this class. And finally, we might even have to use our photoshop ability to manipulate digital images.

Video Project afterwards

so the day after we presented our project, my mom called me and asked me if i did a video project. apparently the high school wrestling coach (who was my football d-line coach) found the video and sent it to several teachers and coaches. eventually vince's dad, lodi, found the video and has been sending it to relatives and friends. as of last night, the video had 80-some views on youtube

Response to Glenn's Q

2. Is a viral campaign, such as the one used by The Dark Knight, a form of media?

Yes, I believe anything that informs and/or exposes the public to something is a form of media regardless of medium. New types of media like the internet (youtube) and street art (guerrilla advertising and graffiti) which are uncommon to traditional standards yet have become a popular form of expressing ideas, providing information, and advertising.

Video Project

Video Project essay

I enjoyed how the creative process in this project worked. Eric and I went into this project with ideas on how we wanted this video to turn out. We each had visions in our head of what the video would look like. When we went to film, we got a good amount of footage and (at least I) realized that the final product would not be a carbon copy of the original image.
My first idea was to follow the day of a Division-I athlete: from earlier morning workouts, through class, the practice, then late night studying, and everything in between. When I talked to my friend, Vince, got permission to film him, and found out what I could film the idea began to change.
When we shot the footage, we got something’s that I was expecting going into the shooting, such as an interview with Vince and footage of wrestling, but we also got things we didn’t expect, such as an interview with Coach Johnson, and didn’t get things we did expect, such as hard core conditioning.
We both began thinking of how we wanted to edit and mix the footage to get it as close to the new ideas that came into our heads. This technical part of the project is the part I personally found most difficult. I am not a very computer-savvy person and I am even more uncomfortable with Mac’s but we were able to create a good project. This was also the part were we had to take all the raw footage that we had and mix it together to create the idea we were going for. It was a very long process to take the clips and make sure they transitioned right and were didn’t cut off.
I found it interesting how my idea changed from walking through the day of a D-1 athlete to the documentary style final product. With the exception of the basis of the project, the project definitely had significant changes through the basic conception, shooting, and editing. Some ideas that were a major part of the final product did not come about until after the shooting happened. For example, I had no idea how I wanted to end the film until we saw the clips of Vince when he said he wouldn’t not wrestle, him jogging on the mats with a determined look, and Coach Johnson’s clip of saying that through hard work good things will come.
Overall, the most interesting part of this product was the changing ideas through the different steps in the creative process. From my original idea of how this would turn out with my basic conception of the project, through the shooting and what footage I wanted to get, to the editing and forming of the final product, the ideas of how the project will turn out changed significantly between and during each step.