Here is the final version of my parody video made about the ignorant views some people have about the homeless in the United States. The intended audience this video is trying to reach are those who have ignorant opinions about the homeless and young kids who have yet to form an opinion about the homeless.
The video is encouraging these people to learn the real truth about the homeless by going to a popular homelessness website called: homeaid.org. Well here it is:
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Tutorial for Unit 3
Here is my tutorial for my Unit 3 project. It is told in an address by President Obama.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Screenplay: Read and Respond
The excerpt written on how to write a successful screenplay was very helpful. I feel like I would definitely like to move my story in the direction of a short movie if I have the resources to do so.
Even if I do not decide to take my homelessness story in the direction of a screenplay, the reading was still very helpful. I think the two most important takeaways from the reading was the explanation of how to write visually and the description of a successful conflict.
The reading taught me that if I decide to write for a "movie" medium that I should not only write what my characters are saying but I must set the entire scene. This is a very challenging type of writing. That said, if I can successfully show my story without just coming out and telling my story it could be much more effective.
The second and most important takeaway from this article is to write a story that has conflict. Not only conflict, but conflict that people care about. I think that if I go down this route I will have to alter my story to have a stronger conflict for it to succeed in this medium.
So far, I am in the process of deciding whether or not to use imovie or xtranormal. Either way, the reading on screenplay writing will help me to better tell my story through the visual narrative medium.
Even if I do not decide to take my homelessness story in the direction of a screenplay, the reading was still very helpful. I think the two most important takeaways from the reading was the explanation of how to write visually and the description of a successful conflict.
The reading taught me that if I decide to write for a "movie" medium that I should not only write what my characters are saying but I must set the entire scene. This is a very challenging type of writing. That said, if I can successfully show my story without just coming out and telling my story it could be much more effective.
The second and most important takeaway from this article is to write a story that has conflict. Not only conflict, but conflict that people care about. I think that if I go down this route I will have to alter my story to have a stronger conflict for it to succeed in this medium.
So far, I am in the process of deciding whether or not to use imovie or xtranormal. Either way, the reading on screenplay writing will help me to better tell my story through the visual narrative medium.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Zimmer Twins
Today in the Multimedia Writing class we looked at another animation tool somewhat similar to Xttranormal. It is called Zimmer Twins. Here is a quick project I made on the Zimmer Twins website about my favorite cereal.
Other Homlessness Stories
Here are some other multimedia stories concerning Homelessness:
This here is a pretty cool video that goes out into the community to get real voices of homeless people. As she says it, she is giving the homeless people in America a voice.
I enjoyed this next video because it does a great job of evoking emotion through music, photos and facts. It persuades audiences to feel sympathy for people that are less fortunate then they are.
Here is a link to another story done on CBS News. com. I thought this was very cool because it is talking to a man that is actually making an effort to bring the issue of homelessness to the main stream. His blog is called invisiblepeople.tv and it also has a lot of great information and use of multimedia concerning my topic of interest.
The blog uses video to give people insight on how individuals across the country are dealing with homelessness. By talking to "real people", it gives the site more credibility and it gives it a more personal feel.
This use of multimedia makes the site not only more interesting but more effective than just spouting statistics about the homeless. Invisible people tv uses blogging, twitter, facebook, and youtube all to tell this story.
Whether or not you care about this issue, this blog is still really cool and unique.
This last video is another presentation, but I like it because it takes a look at a specific demographic of America's homeless population...children.
This here is a pretty cool video that goes out into the community to get real voices of homeless people. As she says it, she is giving the homeless people in America a voice.
I enjoyed this next video because it does a great job of evoking emotion through music, photos and facts. It persuades audiences to feel sympathy for people that are less fortunate then they are.
Here is a link to another story done on CBS News. com. I thought this was very cool because it is talking to a man that is actually making an effort to bring the issue of homelessness to the main stream. His blog is called invisiblepeople.tv and it also has a lot of great information and use of multimedia concerning my topic of interest.
The blog uses video to give people insight on how individuals across the country are dealing with homelessness. By talking to "real people", it gives the site more credibility and it gives it a more personal feel.
This use of multimedia makes the site not only more interesting but more effective than just spouting statistics about the homeless. Invisible people tv uses blogging, twitter, facebook, and youtube all to tell this story.
Whether or not you care about this issue, this blog is still really cool and unique.
This last video is another presentation, but I like it because it takes a look at a specific demographic of America's homeless population...children.
Play and Respond: Xtranormal
For this unit's play and respond, I chose to look at Xtranormal. I would first like to say that I think it is one of the most creative and user friendly tools I have ever encountered. As I played around with the program and developed a simple scene, I realized that there were tons of cool things that can be done to make not only a successful cartoon version of my story, but also a very unique presentable one.
I think that Xtranormal could be a good tool for my particular story. I could use it to almost recreate part of my anecdote, which is my arguments with other people about the homeless. Or I can use it to make dialogue thatt correct myths about the homeless.
My entire reason for doing the topic of my story has to do with my discussions with certain ignorant friends of mine and recreating this through animation would help to prove the points that I proved in my particular discussions.
Xtranormal's strengths would have to be that it is extremely user-friendly. It takes almost no time to gain expertise on the program. The program also allows you to make your animations pretty customizable and unique through camera angles, sound effects and settings.
The only drawback to doing my particular story with this tool would have to be the sound of the voices. They are very monotone. I know this sounds like nitpicking, but I think my story is driven by emotion and the sound of the voices makes the dialogue seem somewhat impersonal and awkward.
That said, I think that Xtranormal could still be useful in telling my story, but I would definitely like to hear some of my classmates feedback on other tools.
I think that Xtranormal could be a good tool for my particular story. I could use it to almost recreate part of my anecdote, which is my arguments with other people about the homeless. Or I can use it to make dialogue thatt correct myths about the homeless.
My entire reason for doing the topic of my story has to do with my discussions with certain ignorant friends of mine and recreating this through animation would help to prove the points that I proved in my particular discussions.
Xtranormal's strengths would have to be that it is extremely user-friendly. It takes almost no time to gain expertise on the program. The program also allows you to make your animations pretty customizable and unique through camera angles, sound effects and settings.
The only drawback to doing my particular story with this tool would have to be the sound of the voices. They are very monotone. I know this sounds like nitpicking, but I think my story is driven by emotion and the sound of the voices makes the dialogue seem somewhat impersonal and awkward.
That said, I think that Xtranormal could still be useful in telling my story, but I would definitely like to hear some of my classmates feedback on other tools.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Homelessness: Is the U.S. doing enough?
Here is a presentation using the presentation tool prezi. This presentation is to inspire people to fight for the less fortunate when their government will not. So here it is:
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tutorial #2
Using prezi, which is the same tool I used for my project, I created my second tutorial. This is a simple diagram showing the steps that it took both me and my classmates to get to our final presentation projects.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Tutorial
Step 1: Look At Examples- Here we looked at examples of types of professional stories in the world today, both on the web and in print form.
Step 2: Pick 5 Topics Of Interest- We wrote down on a piece of paper five topics that interest us and why they interest us. For example I wrote topics including homelessness, environmental issues, abortion, football, and accuracy in the media.
Step 3: Narrow Topics To 3- Then we narrowed the topics to three by choosing the three with the most personal effect on us. Mine were narrowed to the homelessness, the media, and the abortion topics.
Step 4: Narrow Topics to 2- Here we then eliminated one more by proposing what call to action can come from the topics. Here I chose homelessness and media. We presented our steps 2-4 to a small group of peers to get help on defining what are professional story should be.
Step 5: Pick 1 Of The Ideas And Write 1st Draft- Here we began to write our first draft of the story. We had to write it using zero multimedia. We wrote it in the most "primitive" form possible...with paper and a pen. I decided to do my story about helping the homeless by striving to break inaccurate stereotypes about them.
Step 6: Present To Class- We were to read our first draft aloud to the class and in turn our classmates were to give us feedback on a sheet of paper.
Step 7: Create A Blog- We began tapping into the multimedia aspect of professional writing by creating our own blogs on blogger.com. I chose to name mine Ray's Blog.
Step 8: Use Presentation Feedback And Revise Story For The Web- Here in the final step, we used our feedback from our classmates to revise our story. Then we put our story onto our blog pages.
And that is how you go about writing a professional story for the web. Just follow these eight steps and you be there!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Homelessness: Breaking The Stereotypes
It is no secret that most stereotypes stem from some truth. But I am here to tell you about a stereotype made up out of total ignorance and convenience. I am talking about the stereotypes that form many peoples opinion of the homeless population.
In my life I have studied and worked with homeless people through class projects and volunteering. Through my interactions with the people in the homeless shelters I have found that a lot of our society's view of the homeless population is distorted. Yet, countless times I hear people say "Oh homeless people choose to live on the street..." or "Homless people need to stop being so lazy and get a job!" If I had a nickel for every time I confronted one of these people about their jaded opinions...well I would probably have enough money to feed the homeless population.
Okay, not exactly, but that is because there are over three million people without a place to live every year in just America alone. I feel that those who call the homeless lazy don't realize that half of the homeless in America actually do work and most of that half work more than one job. Also many homeless do not work because they are children. Yes, a recent study showed that one third of homeless people in America are in fact children.
Many like to justify the lack of help the government and the fortunate people of America give to the homeless, by saying that "it is their choice" and "they can get help if they wanted it." This justification could not be further from the truth. First of all, the most common causes of homelessness in our country is not choice and laziness, but factors such as untreated mental illness, lack of affordable housing, poverty, and loss of job (for reasons such as injury or downsizing).
Secondly, a recent survey shows that contrary to popular belief, most cities claim that they do not have the resources to provide help and shelter for homeless persons. 52 percent of the cities surveyed say that their shelters turn people away some or all of the time.
So what is it you can do to help your fellow man that some of our society views as lazy, worthless and less than human? Well, I am not asking you to give your life savings to the next homeless person, but I do have some ideas of how you can help to combat an increasingly terrible problem in the "land of opportunity?"
For starters, you can help to curb the ignorance of those who buy into the incorrect stereotypes of the homeless by presenting the facts. You can also go out into the community and donate your time and resources to local shelters. And lastly, and most importantly, when you come into contact with a homeless person, treat them with compassion because chances are they are either very sick, or have been through hardships that most of us fortunately do not encounter.
In my life I have studied and worked with homeless people through class projects and volunteering. Through my interactions with the people in the homeless shelters I have found that a lot of our society's view of the homeless population is distorted. Yet, countless times I hear people say "Oh homeless people choose to live on the street..." or "Homless people need to stop being so lazy and get a job!" If I had a nickel for every time I confronted one of these people about their jaded opinions...well I would probably have enough money to feed the homeless population.
Okay, not exactly, but that is because there are over three million people without a place to live every year in just America alone. I feel that those who call the homeless lazy don't realize that half of the homeless in America actually do work and most of that half work more than one job. Also many homeless do not work because they are children. Yes, a recent study showed that one third of homeless people in America are in fact children.
Many like to justify the lack of help the government and the fortunate people of America give to the homeless, by saying that "it is their choice" and "they can get help if they wanted it." This justification could not be further from the truth. First of all, the most common causes of homelessness in our country is not choice and laziness, but factors such as untreated mental illness, lack of affordable housing, poverty, and loss of job (for reasons such as injury or downsizing).
Secondly, a recent survey shows that contrary to popular belief, most cities claim that they do not have the resources to provide help and shelter for homeless persons. 52 percent of the cities surveyed say that their shelters turn people away some or all of the time.
So what is it you can do to help your fellow man that some of our society views as lazy, worthless and less than human? Well, I am not asking you to give your life savings to the next homeless person, but I do have some ideas of how you can help to combat an increasingly terrible problem in the "land of opportunity?"
For starters, you can help to curb the ignorance of those who buy into the incorrect stereotypes of the homeless by presenting the facts. You can also go out into the community and donate your time and resources to local shelters. And lastly, and most importantly, when you come into contact with a homeless person, treat them with compassion because chances are they are either very sick, or have been through hardships that most of us fortunately do not encounter.
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