YouTube Videos

In my interactive journalism class we read and article called "YouTube Videos Pull In Real Money" This article is about how successful some people are on YouTube. Due to advertisements on their videos some people make a living off of videos. Michael Buckley has videos on YouTube that have become so successful that he even quit his job to focus on the show. Although his shows are only five minutes long he says they take a lot of work. His show is called "What the Buck" and he rants about celebrities the whole time. His jokes about celebrity comebacks and rumors have proven to earn him a living.

There are tons of YouTube hits on the web. I think the key to a YouTube hit is to be funny. I also think some of the best videos are the candid ones. People happened to have a camera at a funny moment.

Autobiography Project

In my interactive journalism class we are making autobiographies. I have incorporated narration, video, pictures and interviews. i show pictures while I narrate. The pictures match what I am talking about. Although my filming and sound aren't great I think altogether the video is almost done. I still need to work on adding music under my narration. I am trying to make the music match what I am saying. I feel that my project has evolved from a simple slide show to a video. I hope that my project will ultimately incorporate lots of interactive features.

Digg.com

Today in my interactive journalism class we went on Digg.com. One very popular article on the site was the "Most Disturbing Animals on Earth"(824 diggs). It included a Thyclane which is a cross between a kangoroo and a dog. For all of the animals there were pictures and some even had video which is very interactive. Another popular one was the top 10 searches in 2008. They included Britney Spears(1) WWE(2) Barack Obama(3) and more. This article had pictures of each of the top searches. Another interactive feature was a link to the search results.

Inside the Teenage Brain

Today for my interactive journalism class I was asked to watch the documentary "Inside the teenage brain". The first section called "Teenager' Inexplicable Behavior" was about why teens act the way they do. Doctors are trying to understand teenagers by studying there brains. The second part was called " The wiring of the adolescent brain" Some doctors are studying children's brains by putting them in an imagery machine. They talk about teenagers like they are some mysterious species. Teenage brains can acomplish a lot but they don't think about the consequences. The third part is about called "Mood Swings". They say that teenagers can go from being concentrated to angry in a short period of time. some cartoonists make cartoons showing experiences with teens. The fourth part is called "You Just Don't Understand" They had kids look at pictures of people showing emotion. The teens often say angry but they don't see sadness. Some teens talked about stereotypes of teens. Some people think that all teenagers are trouble and liars. I agree that these stereotypes are wrong. The fifth part was called "From Zzzz's to A's". When teenagers were brought into a sleep lab it looked like they had a sleep disorder. most teens only get 7 1/2 hours of sleep. A lot of teens stay up late but can't wake up in the morning. Some schools are making there high schools start later. I think this makes sense because it is easier to learn when you are awake. The last part was called " Are There Lessons For Parents". People are disappointed that doctors can't find much even with so much technology. Many parents were suprised that teenagers actually want to spent more time with their parents.

Boston.com

Today in my interactive journalism class we were asked to go to the eduction section of boston.com and blog about the interactive features. One of the interactive features is that there are a lot of pictures to go along with each picture. Also at the end of the articles there is a place to add comments. That feature is very interactive because it allows you to share your thoughts and opinions with others. There were also videos to go along with some stories such as the article about English High.

http://www.boston.com/news/education/

Terms used for videos

shot composition- the way you arrange visual elements on a screen.
wide angle- point of view with a 45 degree angle or more
low angle- point of view with a 45 degree angle or less
close up-zooming in
extreme close up- zooming in a lot
editing-
Film splicing- a splicing machine makes it possible to line up film and cut it.
tape to tape(linear)-film is copied from one tape to another
digital computer(nonlinear)- footage is put on to a computer and edited on there.
live editing- when live shows are edited
narration- someone telling the story
documentary- a film documenting reality
fiction- not true/made up
non-fiction- true

Out of Work in China
The narrator speaks introduces the situation in the beginning of the documentary. When people are being interview there is a close up to them. the shot composition is interesting At the end of the video a man is being interviewed but they show Chinese construction workers instead of the mans face.

Paris Fashion Week
The narrator introduces the subject and introduces a designer. The narrator is shown interviewing the designer. It is edited so that while a fashion show is shown a narrator is speaking.

My documentary
I will be narrating my documentary. The shot composition will change through out the video. Sometimes there will be videos and other times there will be photos.

Ny Times Videos/ Grapes of Wrath

Today I went on the New York Times website and looked at the video section. The movie I chose to write about was called "Critics pick: The Grapes of Wrath." It was a review of the old movie. The movie was about a family living during the dust bowl. The bank took their home away. The narrator talked about how this related to people today in this economic crisis. The video integrated clips from the movie with clips from the narrator. When the narrator is speaking a video of him is shown. He is standing still and the camera is steady.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/playlist/arts/1194811622313/index.html

New York Times

The New York Times coverage of the election is very interactive. It includes many videos. The site has both Obama and McCain's speech. There is also videos showing the reaction of people around the country. For both candidates there are interactive time lines. The time lines allow you to click on different years of each of the candidates lives. There are photos and writing to go along with events in their lives. There is a presidential map of the U.S. When you click on different states you can see the percent of people that voted for both candidates.

BBC website

BBC is a very interactive website. People from different countries can go to this website because you can change the language of the site. If you relate to one of the stories you can send in your personal story. For example their is a story called "Convoy delivers aid in DR Congo". The story discusses how citizens of Congo have been displaced due to fighting. At the end of the story it says: "Are you in the Democratic Republic of Congo? Have you been affected by the conflict? Send us your story using the form below: " This is a very interactive feature because it allows the reader to get involved in the story. Another interactive feature is being able to listen to the BBC radio live on the website. I also found that you can sign up for a weekly newsletter from the site.

The History of Halloween!

Halloween had its origin in the ancient Celtic festival called Samhain. In Gaelic culture it was a celebration of the end of the harvest season. They believed that on October 31 there were no boundary between the alive and dead. They thought the dead made people sick and damaged crops. During the festivals they had bonfires where they threw bones of livestock. Masks were worn at the festivals to act like the evil spirits. Today on Halloween the average consumer spends $38.11 on a Halloween costume.

What makes a good biography?

A good biography is one that keeps people interested. There should be lots a pictures and interviews. I think interviews make the biography more interesting and a better way to learn more about a person. A biography is more interesting when it focuses on big events rather than small unimportant events or details.

Its Monday!

On Friday I went to the movies and watched Saw 5. I haven't seen any of the other saws. It wasn't very scary but it was still good. It was very mysterious and unpredictable.

Who is Robert Swan?

Robert Swan has led expeditions to Antarctica. His goal is to educate and spread the word about global warming. He wants the group of travelers with him to witness first hand the results of climate change. Robert is also a motivational speaker. His successes and failures give him a lot to talk about and teach about.

What I learned from Elaine McArdle

Elaine McArdle was very interesting. She said that two important things to her in journalism are being fair, and accurate. I thought it was interesting how she just wants to tell the facts and the truth. Her goal is not to make people look bad or to tell her own opinions which some bad journalists do. This taught me that as a journalist your own opinions should stay out of the story. This way every reader can develop their own opinion about the subject.

Elaine McArdle

Tomorrow Elaine McArdle, a journalist is speaking at my school. She writes for the Boston Globe, Boston Globe magazine, Harvard Law Bulletin, and others.
Some questions I have for her are.....
Why did you quit being a lawyer?
What is your favorite subject you have ever written about?
What are your goals for the future?
What advice do you have for aspiring journalists?

Why is an autobiography important?

Writing an autobiography is important to being a good journalist because you have to know yourself before you can write about other people. You should know your own opinions and ideas before writing about someone. Ana autobiography makes you a better writer and journalist.

I can't wait until the weekend. Today the weather is gross and I'm really tired. Hopefully it will rain this afternoon and field hockey will be canceled. Well at least tomorrow is Friday!

My Long Weekend

This Weekend went by so fast. Saturday I didn't do much. Sunday I had a family party. Monday I had a field hockey game. We won 1-0! Then I went out for pizza. Not much exciting happened but it was a fun weekend.

Today my media class finished watching the frontline documentary, The Merchants of Cool. This part of the documentary focused on the marketing classification for a teenage girl called a "midriff." It think it is horrible that the media sells this unrealistic image of what women should look like and how they should act. It is saying that looks are everything. I think it is even worse that people buy into this stereotype by changing themselves. Also they showed clips from MTV shows such as spring break and I thought it was pathetic how people acted just to be on the camera. Even though it might be the medias fault for starting unrealistic stereotypes it is our own fault for believing them.

My Weekend

My weekend was pretty boring. I had a field hockey game on Friday in Burlington and we won 6-0. On Saturday I had a field hockey game in Belmont and we won 2-1. Then I went to my aunt and uncles for my grandfathers birthday party.

Field hockey

Yesterday I had a field hockey game vs. Belmont. As most people from Watertown know, they are our rivals. The game started off badly when Belmont scored the first goal in the first ten minutes. Luckily we were able to catch up just before time ran out in the first half. In the second half we scored again and won the game!

Mook

In the PBS frontline documentary, The Merchants of Cool, a mook is a marketing classification. It is a classification of a male "Characterized mainly by his infantile, boorish behavior, the "mook" is a perpetual adolescent: crude, misogynistic--and very, very, angry." In Miriam online dictionary I found a different definition. It said "a foolish, insignificant, or contemptible person." I noticed that Frontline described a mook as an American male but the Miriam dictionary only said a person.
http://aolsvc.merriam-webster.aol.com/dictionary/mook
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mook

What is "cool"?

Cool is a vague word. I think that things categorized as cool change a lot. If a trend is popular than it is cool. Trends change so fast that it is hard to keep track of them. One day something is cool and the next day it isn't.

My Weekend

My weekend was pretty boring. On Friday I went to the B.C. field hockey game. B.C. was playing Virginia and it was a very good game. The only problem was that it was pouring rain and the game was outdoors. The game went into double overtime and B.C. lost 2-1. On Saturday I was sick so I stayed home all day. Sunday night was the season premiere of Desperate Housewives and it was great.

Hello!

Hey I'm Nicole!
I love fashion and much more.
I hope you enjoy this fun blog.
This blog will keep you up to date on new fashion trends.