Class Notes - 11.15.07

Serious games: games with a message
entertainment games--can be flash

When we think about games, what do we think of? fun, education, pasttime, addiction, storytelling, corruption of youth, traditionally children's activity (before "real world" and jobs), the flow

how can you achieve education output? for adults?


Example of a game that is designed to make a political statement: September the 12th
you can't win, you can't lose, it's not a game, it's a simulation

goal of game: take out the terrorists, send in bomb, try not to kill civilians, every time you try to kill terrorist, create more terrorists and kill civilians
effective tool? more like visual aid, no answers, just illustration

Example of game: keep the flame alive, click on flame, keep the memory of the people who've died alive
difficult, hard to keep memories alive. did we learn anything? keep a few memories, not all
get frustrated while playing, provoke the emotion of frustration, power of the game

Powerful robot--robot online game www.powerfulrobot.com/web/index_content.html
there are a number of games on there when you click the tab "games"
The Howard Dean game is very difficult. It's hard to win supporters. Hard to hand out the pamphlets, knock on doors, get voters to see your sign, etc.
-want to give the impression that this campaigning is difficult, but the people are realistic
-there's only 3 things you can do, persistence is the key
made to motivate the campaign volunteers
gives the sense of what I do will matter!


Powerpuff girls: Use blue crabs to stand out from the orange sand, but blend with the water.


Powerful messages from silly games. Communication takes place in all games, all the time. Help you understand that games are not just entertainment. They are more that learning and entertainment. Need to learn to deliver messages in the most effective means. Games are most importantly visual (not sure that I agree).

Milestone 1

My project is only about a third finished.

I have a few interviews completed with Bryan and Jason, improvisers in Clemson and elsewhere. I asked them about women in comedy and their thoughts on what makes comedy. It's interesting to hear their different opinions. I'm still trying to organize a time when I can interview Meg and Brooke, also improvisers, from a woman's perspective on comedy. I've sent out an email for seven other people to assign interview times this weekend. Hopefully I'll have all the video footage I need completed by this Sunday.

Interview Questions

• What is comedy? To you? To society?

• What makes something funny?

• What’s the funniest thing you’ve seen/heard? The epitome of comedy?

• What’s your favorite form of comedy?

• Who’s your favorite comedian?

• Name five men in comedy. Name five women.

• Can women be funny?

• Why aren’t there more women in comedy?

• Why aren’t women as funny as men?

I'm hoping to edit this video to emphasize the prejudice in comedy against women. I figure this video needs to have a bias, and I'd like to represent the idea that people don't think women are funny. It seems to be a common thought. I want to shed light on it without making the people who verbalize these ideas sound like jerks.

I've finished the book Whose Improv Is It Anyway? and it was fascinating. It was written by a woman, and I'm planning to read quotes from it. I'm also compiling comedy figures to discuss briefly. Right now I have Will Ferrell, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carrell, Conan O'Brian, Robin Williams, Dane Cook and then for women: Ellen Degeneres, Rosie O'Donnell, Tina Fey, Amy Pohler. It's difficult to find funny women.

I need to find good background music, also. I'm hoping Final Cut Pro will have tools available for me to make this project look professional. I'm working on a storyboard to turn in by hand. It still needs a lot of work.

Downfall

This film was awesome. I'm usually skeptical of films professors show in class (except film courses). My professor showed a film called Downfall which depicted in German the story of WW2 from the German side.

It was fascinating to see Hitler as a strategic military leader, as an uncle to extremely cute kids and as a nice boss to young women wanting work. This is the story that should be told. The story we're told is that he's an evil man. Yes, what he did was evil and he had very evil ideas, but he was human like we all are. This movie really made the story of WW2 more intense for me. Scary to realize how human he was: that there are probably people like him in the world, that I could know someone like him. Hitler is shown as a good man. He gives these women typing jobs when no one else is hiring. He's charming and seems like a good guy. To these women, he is a good man: he gave them a job. He looked especially nice in contrast to the war scenes. Hitler never was in the war scenes. I'm not even sure that he ever killed anyone.

The war scenes were intense. To see children on the battlefield was so sad. These children thought they were doing the right thing. Saying that it is an honor to fight in battle. It's sad what these children and men have been told to believe, and more sad that they truly believe it. My favorite part was when the young boy realizes he's in war, that it's not just a game. He sees soldiers shot and dying all around him. Thankfully, he survives (I'm not sure I could have held myself together if he had died), but it was intense to see such innocence in a terrifying situation like war. I guess it's a little crazy to me that some of the officers would rather blow their brains out than admit defeat. This movie helps show the intensity of these men's loyalty to Hitler. I had no idea they were that into the "cause." It was sad to watch these men shoot themselves in the head, thinking that was the best option they had. I really liked the way the movie presented an almost documentary-feel to the film. The camera never seemed preplanned. No pleasinly cinematic pans or zooms. It felt very much like a voyeur was over in Germany filming these moments as they happened. It made the truth of the film seem more valid. It was intense.

Digital Remix

We had to digitally remix a picture for a class project. A digital remix is the digital alteration of a photo to create new meaning. My group did a funny one of George W. Bush. I did one also. It was the Lincoln Memorial statue with Obama's head on top. I wanted to draw the obvious comparison between Obama and Lincoln.

Digital remixes are done to lie, hoax, or fool someone. Or they're done to express solidarity or support. Or they're done to express political views. In this day of technology and the internet, digital remixes can relay important ideas or deliver laughs via email forwarding.

Movie Script

I don't know if this film idea will be a good one. I'm not sure how I can capture what I want to in a short film. I wanted it to be informative, but I'm thinking that it may lack entertainment value.

It's not funny. It's not action based. It's not plot driven. It's not life-threatening. It's just an inside look at people's thoughts on women in comedy. Should I edit them to seem worse than it is? Am I required to have a bias? Will it be worth watching without a slant? I ought to have a purpose, but I'm not sure what my purpose is. I want to expose the prejudice against women in comedy, but I don't want it to seem too calculated. I want people to be like-wow, I can't believe I do that, too. I don't want it to be-yeah, those people are just crazy. It's going to be a tough balance.

Noon on a Sunday

Taken from my back porch at noon today

Movie Titles

If I had to choose a movie with a title that tells the story, I'd choose Snakes on a Plane. It's so obvious what will happen in the movie. The premise is in the title. There will be a plane, and on this plane there will be snakes. You can tell it's an action movie because there really shouldn't be snakes on a plane. That's dangerous. And that's where Samuel L. Jackson comes in.

My favorite movie is Triplets of Belleville. Yes, it's a French film, but it's animated. What's so interesting is the movie seems to mostly be about the orphan boy Champion and his grandmother. Their relationship is the main focus of the film. It's odd that it's named after the three sisters who used to be this awesome Vaudeville group but are now this old quirky, odd jazz group. The triplet sisters are the ones that help bring Champion and his grandmother back together. The grandmother joins the sisters, and she discovers that her orphan grandson has been kidnapped. The title is perhaps named after the three sisters because unlike American films, the French like to be subtle in their titles.

Think of such French films as Amelie(about Parisian life), The 400 Blows(about a young trouble maker) and A bout de Souffle (about an American girl who hides a criminal). Compare these titles to such American films as Snakes on a Plane(about snakes that infiltrate a plane), Spiderman(about the superhero Spiderman), Monster In Law(about an unbearable mother in law), and Edward Scissorhands(about a guy named Edward who has scissors for hands). Perhaps the French subtlety is something I admire.

Possible Film Titles

Breasts are Funny
Giggles from the Back Row
That's What She Said
Bless My Bloomers
The Breast One for the Job
XY Comedy
Boy Meets Funny Girl
Out with the Old, In with the Women
Survival of the Funniest
When Pigs Fly
Sugar and Spice and Everything Funny

Any suggestions? I'm really at a loss.

The logistics

Time Table:
Meet with MTS - October 4, 2007 (Thurs)
Talk to random Clemson students - October 9, 2007 (Tues)
Interview MTS people - October 9, 2007 (Tues)
Begin editing - October 10, 2007 (Wed)
Find selections from text - October 19, 2007 (Fri)
Edit footage from Chicago Trip - November 7, 2007 (Wed)
Edit footage from November Show - November 12, 2007 (Mon)
Edit footage from 24 Hr Show - November 24, 2007 (Wed)
Add book selections - December 3, 2007 (Mon)
Finish video - December 5, 2007 (Wed)
Present in Class - December 6, 2007 (Thurs)

Milestones:
October Show - October 5
Video: first draft - October 11
Chicago trip - November 2-5
November Show - November 9
Video: second draft - November 12
Homecoming/24 Hr Show - November 19-20
Video: final draft - December 5

Work Completed:
· September Show filmed
· Interview with Bryan filmed
· read Whose Improv is it Anyway, Improvise, Impro, Truth in Comedy, Directing Improv, Improvisation for the Theater, Musical Improv
· recorded interviews with Molly Erdman and Wendy Mollneux


My project seems to be too broad. Here's a paragraph that attempts to wrangle the topic more towards women in comedy:

This film will explore women in comedy at two different levels: women in Clemson and women in mainstream comedy. Are women as funny as men? Are women relatively more funny in Clemson than in mainstream America? What makes women funny? Who thinks women are funny? There are many women types: Sarah Silverman (vulgar, outspoken), Ellen Degeneres (asexual nice) and Tina Fey/Molly Erdman (intellectual witty). Woman types in Clemson: sorority girl, artsy girl, intellectual girl, overly-sexual girl. Are any of these girls funny? Are they comparably more or less funny than men?

This video will feature a montage of interviews, examples of women in comedy and selections of reading which explore women in humor spotlights.

My Project Proposal

what:

• explain comedy, humor, improvisation

• relations of women versus men in comedy

• interview improvisers, find people who understand comedy

• have a film that is short, funny and informative

• create a professional look at comedy (inside edition)

why:

• discuss what makes something funny

• discuss what the difference is between men and women in comedy

• bring more discussion to what is comedy

• understand comedy

• showcase what I care about: improv

how:

• a video

• interviews with improvsiers, regular people

• provide information from comedy books

• mainstream comedy images

• clear idea of comedy: fun colors, fun music, fun people
  

A font to represent me

Papyrus

I really like this font because it's imperfect for a type font, but it's practically perfect for handwriting. My handwriting is never this good, but on good days it's close. When I type, I can have beautiful handwriting. I like that. I think the dots on the "i"s and "j"s aren't excessive, neither are the "t"s. It's simple, but it still has a cute sort of style of its own.

It says I'm simple, but I'm nothing obnoxious. You can read paragraphs and paragraphs of this font without feeling spent. I'd go so far as to say it's relaxing and relatable.

Clemson SecondLife

the ampitheater

Tilman hall!! and I can fly.

Underwater in the reflection pond. Woot.

The hair I've always wanted.

This is my updated Alyssa Vita.

I found her face!

I found the dragon, the torch and her face.

I still don't know what's going on.

SecondLife = Frustration

My Second Life account has been nothing but frustrating. I can't figure out how to change her clothes, her hair or even look at her face. It's so frustrating because it seems like learning how to do these things is very difficult. I can't really get the whole moving around thing either.

I don't think the tutorial is very helpful, either. It asks me to pull a torch from my inventory and put it on my person. Well, I search through my inventory, and I have no objects. Okay, so how do I put a torch up?

I can't help but hate SecondLife right now. It's not fun, and I don't understand why it's such a popular computer trend. When I first learned about it, I thought it sounded awesome. But that's just it--in theory it's a great idea. In reality, it's horrible. I hate it, and I'm not looking forward to any more work with it. I hope that we don't continue these accounts.

Maybe I'm just not an internet world kind of girl. I don't get into the discussion board thing, and I'm over AIM and the like. I understand the visual communications behind it though: anyone can present themselves as whoever they want. Men can be women, women can be thinner, kids can be adults, etc. It's a chance to really have a second life. But I don't think it's for me. I'll take reality, thanks.

New Lessons.

In class we talked about the four things that are essential to visual communications: color, form, depth and movement.

I think I will have to keep those in mind when I work on my film. My ideas are coming along. I hope to start splicing my interviews into a montage sometime this week/weekend.

Attempts at Final Project Idea

I know that I want to explore what comedy is. I think the best way to fully utilize the equipment of the MATRF lab and explore something I care about is to make a documentary about comedy.

I don't know exactly how it will be set up, but I know that I want it to begin with a montage of what people think comedy is. I want to interview lots of people and then string all their responses to "What is comedy?" together to create the opening.

I don't know what my purpose would be. I think I want to examine what people consider to be funny and hopefully a theme or purpose will rise from the footage I take. I video taped the Mock Turtle Soup improv show last Friday. Hopefully there are pieces I can use in my film.

There are a lot of things that are funny in life. Ideally, I want to focus on intended humor (film, television, improv, etc) instead of accidental humor (people falling down, friends, awkward situations, etc). I think this project will take a life of its own once I start putting it together. I hope to interview people on Wednesday. I want to ask random people on the library bridge, friends in my classes and improvisers on Mock Turtle Soup team. We'll see how it goes.

Communicating Visually

This course is helping me to realize how important visuals are. We looked at facebook and myspace accounts in class last Thursday. I didn't realize how my profile compared to my classmates. According to my class, I'm an gregarious, artsy, eclectic and public.

I think those are pretty accurate. I love meeting new people and keeping tabs on my current friends. I feel as though my tastes for music, art and film do tend to be more eclectic and artsy than the average Clemson student. That's only because I'm an English major and an improviser. Writers, by nature, are the odd ones. Everyone knows I'm a public person. I love for people to know what is going on in my life!

Our project was to create a hypothetical myspace for a friend. I chose my friend Fiorela because I think if I had to jump into someone's head, I would choose hers. We've been friends for years, and she's one of the few people from home I talk to regularly. I think she's such an intelligent girl, but she's a real artist. And I hope that my creation fully captures her personality and character.

I'm still trying to figure out what I want my film to be about. I'm working on a few ideas. I have some podcasts I want to use, and Mock Turtle Soup performs Friday. I hope to use some footage from the show in my film. I'm reading Whose Improv is it Anyway. I need to find out what sort of copyrights there are about quoting from books. I think as long as I say it's from this particular book I can quote it.

What is Visual Communications to me?

Visual communication is a way of presenting information in a visually appealing way via webpages, posters and videos. Through the tools provided in the MATRF lab, I expect to be able to create many methods of visual communication.

I want to do a video project on the idea of improv and humor. I want to have clips of Clemson's comedy improv troupe Mock Turtle Soup, professional improvisers and interviews with average people concerning their idea of comedy.

I'm really looking forward to using the technology in the MATRF lab to create a piece of communication. I'm not sure what I want to present about comedy, but as I continue to gather pieces for my film, a theme should develop.