Youtube: BUS UNCLE

1a) How many viewers are estimated to have watched the Youtube video?

Since Youtube is very popular in Hong Kong, most of the computer users in Hong Kong are estimated to have watched the video. By the influence of mass media and millions of individual bloggers, after it released, it was spread across the city and even the other countries. Everyone around the world can access to it and make comments on it. It turns out to be the 'inspiration' for people who do parodies or funny pictures based on the original source. Instead of doing a remake, some choose to make reflection on the behavior of the two 'victims' in the video. It's unbelievable becoming such a big hit on internet where people all pop in to watch the video of two ordinary people quarreling with eachother which is not much a big deal that we see situations like this happens all the time.

1b) How would you rate the video? Is it of high quality in technical terms? Is it interesting aesthetically eg. camera angles, use of light, the narrative, and so on?

It's supposed to be a raw videotape by a hidden camera that there's no artistic quality in it. However we can  tell there are some special effects even it's not much of an artistic piece with decorative settings nor use of visual effect. After the material was edited on the second stage of processing, it resembles a film with subtitles and black frames on the edge of the screen. Therefore, the guy and 'bus uncle' in the video become the main characters. With the magic of digital editing the video was turned into a dramatic piece!

1c) Do you think it deserved the attention that it received from the internet community?

Yes, i think so! It looks silly and unworthy to pay much attention to the video. It is not an art film but just an video of an old man getting mad with a guy. Period. However in fact the impact it causes is unexpectedly huge not because its ridiculousness but because its consequences which arouse discussions on the behavior of the people. The viewers can reflect on themselves through the offensive behavior of Bus Uncle. That's the value of sharing videos on YouTube!

  

Screening: "Mission to Earth"

"Mission to Earth" is a good example to illustrate the features of digital cinema utilizing not only live-action footages but also other creative forms of visual images, for instance, the animation (the abstract animated graphic art) and the frames dividing sequences happening at the same time. In digital filmmaking the practioners create images and animations which have never been produced before the time of traditional cinema. With the help of technology they are promted to break the rules of traditional filmmaking by making something creative and surreal. Instead of presenting sequences one by one orderly the filmmaker of the film composed them into saparate frames along with sounds (music and the voice-over) and animations. Thus one has to follow all of the elements simultaneously. In the traditional ones most of the materials from a film are already made, for instance, scenes which must be construct before the final stage of film editing. However in "Mission to Earth", those were random footages deprived from a database. Therefore the digital visual representations replace the ones  originated from photographic lens.

It seems that in the new way of filmmaking the live-action footages no longer serve as the main element in film editing and processing. According to  "What Is Digital Cinema" an essay about digital cinema, "In digital filmmking, short footages is no longer the final point but just raw material to be manipulated in a computer..." With the development of animation, digital photography and film editing software digital filmmaking becomes accessable to people. We can make films as much creative as we like with the help pf digital devices from not being constrained to make films only using old film camera. As the same passage mentioned, "Rather than filming physical reality, it is now possible to generate film-like scenes directly in a computer with the help of 3D computer animation. Therefore, live -action footage is displaced from its role as the only possible material from which the finished film is constructed. Film editing becomes much easier to people who use computer to do the cutting and jointing of scenes or to add special effect with a snap of your fingers. In the passage, the processing becomes "as easy as arranging sequences of images in time. Both simply involve 'cut and paste.'"

The films we usually watch are structured orderly the way in which they start with a beginning, continue with events in the middle and end by a resolution of the privious events. The storyline and plot points are clearly identified without much efforts. However in "Mission to Earth" the 'plots' were attributed to the randomness of the footages from the database that pause suddenly and turn to another one so that they didn't cohere smoothly with the pace of the narrator.

Class discussion: Photography

1) What are some photographic effects that can be achieved using digital or analog (darkroom, film, lights etc) technology?

Using digital technology:

1. The color and tone of pictures can be changed in a snap!!
(eg. filter, contrast, black and white...)


2. Pictures invented which would never exist before:(eg. Biogensesis by William Latham: http://www.animateonline.org/stillsfull/biogenesis01.jpg )

3. Objects can be superimposed onto unassociated backgrounds in order to create strange and funny effects. (eg. A funny pic of Bush:  http://www.weirdomatic.com/wp-content/pictures/bush/funny_bush_03.jpg )

4. Pictures are composed of pixels which can be expanded in size.(eg. Pixel Mario: http://www.doobybrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/pixel-mario.gif)

5. You can add text onto pictures.
(Cool design!: http://picfor.bildero.net/001DCA1/Typographic-Beer-Directions-by-~Smooth-as-Sandpaper-on-deviantART-beer-design-typography-digital-art-Text-Art-tupo-art-Misc-Text-poster-%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BF-%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82-typographica_large.jpg)



Using analog technology:

1. Double exposure photography!
(eg: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scxhildgen/2769545703/)

2. Pinhole photography: The pinhole device is like a peeping Tom whose subjects in the pictures are being spied on.(eg: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_woOiNNueFPA/Sfaji19ptRI/AAAAAAAAARM/4kBXOdApdO0/s400/claire_ilfordbox.jpg)


3. Light leak: Allow little light to leak in the camera to create red and orange glare on the film.(eg: http://www.image-restore.co.uk/Blog_Images/fix_light_leak_1.jpg / it can be even more artistic!: http://www.spiritsociety.org/images/album/lightleak2.jpg)



2) What are some photographic techniques that can only be done using digital technology?
3) What is the difference between analog photography and digital photography?

photoshop!

Wikipedia vs. Traditional Encyclopedias

I would choose the traditional encyclopedias as the only tool to be accessed since I believe they are more reliable than Wikipedia that the materials in the traditional ones are supported and checked by experts who make sure every information put in them is accurate as those who publish traditional dictionaries do. Although Wikipedia is more accessable as well as more easy to read some of its information provided by unknown sources may be wrong and misleading and some might even publish scams and tabloid articles to cause chaos. The modern one no doubt contains up-to-date materials with large quantities which can be changed any seconds but in terms of accuracy and usefulness it can be quite confusing and troublesome to us that we may be questioning wheather these Wiki's materials are real knowledges derived from correct sourses. If they are doubtful we cannot learn anything even the accessability is enhanced a lot by modern tecnology.

Comments on "Modern Times"

Modern Times (1936) seems to me an typical example of how tecnology effects our lives. In the film the boss of the factory was benifited the most from technology. With the help of machines the moniter for instance time is saved. The boss inspected his employeers and made commands at his office by the machine without walking around by himself. What's more by taking the advantage of machines and mass labours much profit will be gained as the production increases. Thus the boss takes it all!

As the one who gained the most was the factory owner himself, unfortunately the working class was subject to the whole system. They had no choice in the technology-driven world who worked like robots with an overwhelming workload. Let's take the character played by Charlie Chaplin for example who was restrained by the machines and ended up becoming compulsive. He was out of control keeping his hands busy with the gears since he had been working non-stop at one stage repeating the same thing for ages.

It seems that the character shares the similar situation with us who hardly can avoid tecnology in our lives. We need eletricity, computer, cell phone and transports and so on everyday. If living without tecnology the whole world will break down. It seems that we are more or less depending on it. It's possible our behavior, mood and health might be affected by tecnology addiction. I believe that most of us at least have once experience sore shoulders and back when we overuse computers. Thus we need to keep ourselves from tecnology obsession and never let it to control us.

Welcome!

I'm Stacie.

Digital media is amazing!

I always like discovering fun and creative stuff through Youtube where people around the world making their own tapes and share them on it.