Low morale: Creep Questions

1. What is the plot of the video? The plot of the video is of a guy who is basically living life day by day and is uninspired by his job and what is going on in his life.

2. What do you think of the technical quality of the video? I think the technical quality of this video was AMAZING, i loved how the animation was continuous and how things where every detail was being shown differently but then erased and you can tell how important this project was to the person who made it because it was very detailed.

3. Was the message of the director/animator imparted clearly or not, and why? Yes i think the message of the director was imparted clearly because he/she used a plant growing then dieing to kind of show the passing of time an then used everything being drawn slowly to kind of reflect how the character feels, which is that his life is being slow and depressing, and then the director drew people talking and totally ignoring the character to push the point across that the character feels invisible.
4. How effective was the choice of music to the story? the music fit the story perfectly and since there is no dialog you really get a feel of what the character is feeling by the lyrics and tone of the music.

5. If you were the director, will you do the video differently? Or not? Explain how and why you would do it. I would have not done the video differently because I thought the video was basically perfect and I thought it was really really good.
6. Can you relate (or not) to the character in the story? Why? Give an example based on your personal experience. I think everyone can find some part of themselves or an experience in that character. I personally have felt like that character a lot, especially as a teenager you sometimes feel like you are all alone and no one understands you and days pass by where you feel like nothing is ever gonna get better. I know that this video reflects many peoples feelings and not jut teenagers.
7. Do you agree (or not) to what happened to the character in the end? Please explain. I think that what happened in the video really pushed the whole point of the video even harder and it really hits the person with of the reality of it, but however i do not agree with suicide whatsoever because killing yourself is never the answer to your problems.
8. If you were to make your own version, what do you think are the challenges that you are currently facing? I think that my video would be based on the whole “small fish, big sea” idea where you feel like you are lost in a big world with so many people yet you still feel alone. I know that not only do i sometimes feel this way but others too.
9. If you are facing low morale or burnout, how do you deal with it? I try to remind myself that i do have great friends and a family that loves me and even though sometimes i feel alone i know that in reality im not alone and i think that the best way to pick yourself up is to surround yourself with people that truly love you for who you are.

-Danielle

Today 7/15/08

Wow well I haven’t blogged for a while and i think thats because I’ve been so busy here at work!! These past few days at work have been very busy and i wouldn’t have it any way else. Yesterday was fun because i was the floor manager for a show for a lady named Bernice or “Boom Boom” as she likes to be called, and it was so much fun but i was a little disappointed that I had to leave for my SYEP workshop because I wanted to stay but I know I’ll have another opportunity some other time. Also the other day we had to go around the office and interview people with questions from the top of our head and i did some of the interviewing and I thought it was lots of fun and I’ve come to realize that I’m pretty convincing. So maybe I want to be an interviewer when I get older but so far I’m still undecided. But today me and Jazmen finally got to edit our Say No video and me and her had a blast!!! The video came out so funny and me and her learned new things about avid pro so in the future when I have to edit something myself i won’t have that much of a problem.

-Danielle

Today 7/9/08

I barely woke up this morning after a night of little sleep, now last year with my summer job on mornings like these I would be complaining and bickering about WHYYY do I have to go to work, but with this job I actually look forward to going to it so I don’t mind the mornings. Today was a interesting day for me, in the morning we did interviews and in the afternoon we did debates. All of this was filmed and as we were setting up i feel like I’m getting more comfortable with all the plugs and cables and how to set certain things up and also how to strike it down. I was the first to be interviewed and I thought it was loads of fun, I’m not that against being in front of the camera so I did not mind going first. I answered questions according to my point of view and it was fun getting my thought across with the questions I was being asked. In the afternoon we filed us debated about two topics. our4 first topic was abortion and whether it should be legal or not and our second topic was whether it should be pushed that teens practice abstinence. I’m definitely glad i choose this job because it’s different then a lot of other jobs out there and it is everything I ever wanted in a workplace.

-Danielle

Today 7/8/08

Today was such an experience!!! I worked behind the scenes on my first shoot and i thought it was so much fun. I learned where a ton of different plugs went and where to put them. I even got to put on a headset and work behind the camera!!! I was having a great time and I didn’t want it to ever end and I kind of got my wish when we had to re-shoot the whole thing because of audio problems. This is a job that I know plenty of people would want and I am grateful to have this experience because I know that later in life this is going to be helpful and interesting time in my life. Also i met Patrick who is going to be basically our teacher for the next month and it seems like he has a lot to teach us so I am looking forward to working more with him in the future.

-Danielle

Today 7/3/08

I can already tell so far that today is going to be a great day, and it’s only 12:30! I was a little scared that today was going to stretch out because of my late night at the Yankee Game (by the way the Yankees KILLED the Rangers 18-7!), but so far time is flying by so fast. We started our rehearsals for the day and it was a lot of fun the actors are great and they are good improvisers and even though my voice is basically gone from last night I still laughed pretty loud during the whole rehearsal. I can’t wait for us to actually go out and shoot this for real, I know I am going to have an amazing time.

-danielle

Editing And Brainstorming

Today was so much fun and very educational. We learned how to edit a video and it was fun cutting different pieces of footage from different stories and trying to put it all together into one big story. We had to work in pairs and I ended up working with Tiffany, we had a great time and shared a good laugh about the ridiculous people that were in the video. By the end we decided that we wanted to show our final cut to everyone and it felt good showing other people the video that we had just pieced together. After we went to lunch and when we came back we learned the differences of body shots that can be filled. There is the “close up” which is basically from the neck up, then there is the “medium shot” which is from the waist up, then finally there is the “full shot” which is the whole body and some of the background behind the person or people. Then we had to brainstorm on what story or idea that we wanted to film tomorrow. I decided to be the producer, my job is to make sure everyone is following through with the vision and to make sure all the camera angles are what I want them to be. The story that we came up with is called Say No and it is about a boy who is confronted by a drug dealer trying to sell him drugs and while the boy is in the middle of deciding what he wants to do he thinks back to earlier when his sister told him that its always better to just say no, and then he tells the drug dealer to leave him alone and he walks away. I can’t wait to film this tomorrow it should be a lot of fun but I know that the best part is going to be actually watching it and putting it all together.

-danielle

First day of Internship

This summer I decided to get my summer job through the Summer Youth Employment Program which helps teens get jobs and also learn skills for their future careers. When it was time to choose which job I wanted to have for the summer I had a hard time making a choice, the Summer Youth Employment Program offered everything from being a camp counselor to working at a convenience store. But when I saw BCAT I knew that, that was what i wanted to do. BCAT is short for Brooklyn Community Access Television which teaches and shows people how to produce and also direct television shows that are about events and news happening in Brooklyn. The programs that are shown deal with health issues, Brooklyn sports, Brooklyn politics, teen issues, special events, and many more. I wanted to intern at BCAT because I am a high school senior and I am still unsure what I want my major to be in college. One of the majors i was thinking of was Communications/Media Studies and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to learn more about the media world and to see if this is what I really want to do in life. So I expect that hopefully by the end of this internship I will be more educated about media studies and everything that deals with producing and directing. At BCAT i will learn many techniques that deal with producing a show, I will work with cameras and all the equipment needed to produce a show. I will also help edit programs and maybe even go out on an assignment somewhere in Brooklyn. Today was my fist day and I learned the basics with working a camera and I also was shown around the building and various rooms that will be very important in these days to come.The people that I have met that work at BCAT are extremely nice and I also noticed that this is their passion and that they truly believe in broadcasting REAL programs and shows that deal with REAL issues that REAL people here in Brooklyn go through everyday, without the corporate censorship or sponsorship. I am happy that I choose to work at BCAT and I am excited to learn more about it.