B Roll

B Roll is a term used in film to describe the section of the film that wasn't necessary to the actual footage. B roll is additional footage that is worked into the main footage of a documentary or interview. An "A" deck refers to the tape containing the meat of the information, such the interviews and important material, whereas the B deck contains additional information such as possible interview commentary, questions or certain descriptions from the person that is being interviewed. B Roll can help to make your documentary stronger, with additional information you wouldn't have had otherwise.

B roll is often played around with by editors, to help improve the documentary. Often times, you will hear actors and actresses say "uh", cough, stutter or do along those lines. B Roll helps to find these imperfections, and eliminates them from the A Roll, and from being heard on the final version of the documentary. B Roll was adopted with the first linear based editing before non linear editing became widely used. The additional B Roll is used in documentaries and fiction for different purposes. It's used in documentaries to additional commentary, questions and anything that can interwork in the main purpose of the film. It's occasionally used in fiction to show flashbacks.

Blog #9-Final Project Brainstorm

We have absolutely been exposed to many different forms of media since the beginning of this class. We've learned how to make wiki pages, public service announcements, remixes, and I blogged for the first time at the beginning of this class. I really had a fun time with all of them, and in addition, every single project i've done in this class has been something completely new i'd never tried before. Looking into the future with the final project coming up, I'm not yet sure what I'd like to do. I know that all aspects of media interest me, but I'd like to go more in depth. The remix project was a really cool new media I liked. Maybe I'd like to pursue something with a remix project again, only with more detail or more in depth with different sources (different and more audio and visual). I do think an aspect of media that I'm very interested in is radio. Really more so, any medium in which I can speak, because I have a lot to say, and I think if I channel that into something beneficial for class, I could present a really well done project. I really did like the PSA for that specific reason. Perhaps I could do something for a final that relates to a PSA, possibly including video as well, just to make it even more visually stimulating. One more idea I can think of right now is something with photography. I've never been very good with photographs, but it has always been something that sparks an interest, that I could enjoy looking into. All in all, I'm not too sure yet what I would like accomplish with this project, because there are so many choices, but I think that when it starts becoming a topic we discuss in class, a lot of ideas will spark from hearing other student's ideas.

Documentary Proposal

Documentary proposals are very important when having the idea to create a documentary. The proposal is created in the pre productions stages of the project, and covers all aspects of the project as well. One of the main reasons for a proposal is the attempts to receive funding from funders, companies, or really anyone who was the power (and money) to help with the budget of the film you are trying to create. Often, a well presented proposal will tell the readers/viewers the story of the film, teach the viewers something new they didn't previously know, gain respect from the viewers while inspiring them, "make human truths emerge through images—not just verbal description" (Filmandmedia.ucsb.edu), and "present a personal, critical perspective on some aspect of the human condition" (Filmandmedia.ucsb.edu). In general, its important that you be interested in your project idea. If you're not interested in it, how are you going to make anyone else interested?

It's important to fill out your proposal completely before submitting it for viewing. Your proposal should include the length of your work and how it will be formatted. You should also include who you think your intended audience will be. This is important because your target audience is everything. When putting out any form of media, you want to have a target audience in mind because that's the audience you're wanting to showcase your stuff to, so make it good in that regard. You should also include what your goals are with the project. It's important to give a full outlined description, as well as the resources you'll need to work with. It's crucial that you'll want to include a timeline in your proposal, so everyone knows the expectations and (hopefully) follows them thoroughly. Lastly, it's very important to label everyone working on the project and their specific roles within the project.

Documentary Interview

There are different techniques you can use when interviewing someone, that'll add to the interview, making it exciting and compelling. While sometimes, yes the interview will take place in two seated chairs (one for the person interviewing, one for the person answering), you can make it more fun and exciting. You could use a hand held camera and follow them around as they do activities. Maybe interview them as they're working around their house, or at work, somewhere fun to watch that isn't too distracting. Also, you never want the person getting interviewed to look directly into the camera. During seated interviews, the person interviewing is on one side of the camera, so the person being interviewed never has to (and never should) look into the camera lens, just at the person questioning them. Another important aspect is that where ever you interview, make sure it's a quiet place. You obviously need the audio of the person speaking, so background noise is annoying and will take away from the whole interview. Make sure your lighting is done well; normally a light on their face is used to accentuate the eyes. If the eyes are lit up, it makes the interview and the person being interviewed seem more compelling and interesting.

Something interesting about interviews is that people are nervous during. Most people aren't very camera friendly, and tense up when they know they're being filmed. A really good technique while interviewing is to re-ask your first questions at the end of your interview. When people first start talking behind camera, they could be pretty nervous, but as the interview progresses, their nervousness tends to fade away and they open up more. Therefore, questions at the beginning of the interview might not have been answered fully, so if you re-ask them at the end, you're more likely to get a more in depth response. Finally, an important thought is to have your questions ready; have them written out so you know what your asking. In addition, you could possibly e-mail those questions to the person who will be interviewed so they're not caught off guard and have time to think of their responses in more depth first.

Editing Transitions Between Scenes

When making a movie, you have many opportunities to make it look as professional as possible. One example is to add and incorporate editing transitions between scenes. This process is adding a certain element to switch from scene to scene in a visually effective way. One could possibly use a dissolve method that makes the scene do exactly that; dissolve into where the other scene begins. This process makes switching from scene to scene look appropriate and in addition, the dissolve process could indicate a change of time, possibly a flashback. Whereas a fade transition (just quickly having the first scene fade to black and the other scene fade in from black or just appear in the shot) would just indicate a scene in current time. Professionals have been experimenting with the best kinds of transitions for years, seeing which ones fit the best for each scene.

For example, if you were to be viewing a slideshow of nature, a slow cross fade (which is moving from scene to scene in a slow fashion) would be the best transition because the scene is calming and the speed is not too quick to take away from the scene or from the viewer taking all the time needed to enjoy the shot. The video below shows an example of scenic shots and the slow cross fade, which makes the transitions seem more professional. Also, the video shows a quicker paced slideshow of motocross. Here, we are showed these scenes with quick transitions to be more visually stimulating to what we're seeing and how quick we're seeing it. All in all, what I learned is that transitions are very important. Not just because it looks well done when completed, but depending on the scene, certain transition speeds are important to making your movie look top quality.

Blog #8- Bootleg Culture

Rojas makes some interesting insights in his piece "Bootleg Culture." He says, "where turntables now routinely outsell guitars, teenagers aspire to be Timbaland and the Automator, No. 1 singles rework or sample other records, and DJs have become pop stars in their own right, even surpassing in fame the very artists whose records they spin" (Rojas 1) I thought this was really interesting, being a teenager now, and relating with the material I just read. To me personally, i'd rather have turntables than a guitar, just because I think I could get more out of a turntable. Why? Because where I am as a person, in the music I listen to, and where our culture is, in the music we as a whole listen to, the turntable is almost a better investment. I remember a line from a Jedi Mind Tricks song, "Anybody with a tape recorder can rap now." I thought that was thought provoking and related to "Bootleg Culture," in a sense, because it's pretty much true. With youtube out there, anyone can make any sort of media and put it out there to be viewed. To go back to Rojas, I agree with his points completely. The "man" of the industry, throwing out what is illegal and what isn't (to a very extreme certain extent) is stifling musicians creativity. Who's to say what truthfully is a creative work. Apparently, according to some, creativity ONLY lies in making something one hundred percent original. Those people don't take into account the time and effort mashup, remix or bootleggers put into collaborating more than one sound (often many sounds), making it sound professional, and making it sell. They believe it's just a crime, when really, as Rojas brilliantly put it, "Pop culture in general seems more and more remixed -- samples and references are permeating more and more of mainstream music, film, and television, and remix culture appears to resonate strongly with consumers. We're at the point where it almost seems unnatural not to quote, reference, or sample the world around us" (Rojas 1).

I choose two pieces of media. This first is a parody of the funny 1996 movie "Happy Gilmore" starring Adam Sandler. As we have all seen, or know, Sandler is a comedic genius, and his early movies were some of the funniest comedies to ever be released (opinion based). Given that, it would be silly to comprehend his movie "Happy Gilmore" to be anything but a hilarious comedy (which it is). However, someone used different scenes in the movie, and scary music, to make the movie look like a horror flick. I think if done well, it's brilliant. Now who's to say that isn't creative? My other piece is the famous rapper Notorious B.I.G, where his song, "Party and Bullshit" is played over the new song "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus. I think it's done well, sounds professional and it's catchy. What more could you ask for in a song? I'm impressed as a listener, and that should be enough without having legality issues brought in. The only thing this song could do (in terms of sales) is promote more for both artist. Seems like a win win to me. What else I think is done well, is B.I.G is purely gangster rap, whereas Miley Cyrus is very new age pop. I think it put together is harmonized excellently which is very impressive to me, seeing as their very different genre's.

Blog #7-Confessions of an Intellectual Property

McLeod, the writer of "Confessions of an Intellectual Property," has a few different thoughts on the copyright of today. He has this idea that copyright today is outdated. Do I agree? I'm not really sure to be honest. I find the whole concept confusing. For example the "Grey Album" by Danger Mouse was highly publicized and deemed illegal because he uses samples from other artists. McLeod says, "Under the current copyright system, owners insist that it’s illegal to sample without permission, even if one offers to pay royalties" (McLeod 2). However, McLeod discusses Eminem's tracks being put over an 80's pop song "Come on Eileen" and that's completely legal. In fact, McLeod adds, "His powerlessness illustrates how he, as an author, has little control over how his music is received and understood—that he literally does not have the final word, as Roland Barthes would say—no matter how hard he tries" (McLeod 6) I find this whole spectrum here rather confusing. Therefore, I suppose I do agree that copyright is outdated. There's so many different elements that come into play, that it's hard to even tell what's legal and what isn't. In addition, there's a lot of jargon that comes into play that might be used to confuse some, so they don't have the best grip on what is legal, or what needs to be obtained for legality purposes.

In terms of "mash-ups", I actually really enjoy them. There's a lot of people in the industry now that work with compiling different artists together, and when it's done well, it's really enjoyable. For example, lets look at the artist Girl Talk. Girl Talk is completely all just mash ups. He has four albums now, and every song is just artists on top of other artist's songs, and the way they all fit together is phenomenal; it's like the song was meant to be recorded that way in the first place. I chose the following example for a few reasons. One, Eminem has a part in this Girl Talk song (called "No Pause"), and Eminem was referenced in McLeod's piece, so I thought it would fit well together. Next, I find this song incredibly well done; if you go to wikipedia and look up the song, there's 26 different artists, all with segments of their songs playing over each other. However, it's compiled so well, that it all fits perfectly, sounds great, and seems like the song should have been made this way originally. I find this work incredibly hard to do, thus requiring much talent in sound editing. I applaud these types of musicians from breaking free of the typical norm of making music and finding a new medium that's interesting, sounds professional and is fun to listen and dance to.