Concept Map: Film Production

I've attached a bubble map that outlines the various social media options that could be used in Film Production.  Here's the concept map.

Full Link is:
http://www.gliffy.com/publish/2249224/

Week 5 Blog pt 2

Open source software was the topic of the second part of this weeks material (the third part being word clouds).  I had heard of open source software before but didn't really know what it meant and I don't think I would have ever known had Stephen Fry's elegant British accent not informed me.  Open source software is software where the source code is not locked, rather open.  People can not only see the original programmers' source code but they can also modify it.  The GNU and Linux duo set out to provide an open source option to people because the creators felt it a right for the people to have an option that can be altered to fit their specific needs. 

Open Source software can be relevant to telecommunications and film production.  Editing Software can be very demanding on a computer and Composing software even more so.  Being able to customize a computer to suite these specific needs might be beneficial in these circumstances.  I could see how a large production company would be interested in this because it gives them versatility.  All people using their computers would have a custom layout designed to fit that companies needs.  All editing bays would be set up for editing, all pro-tools stations would be for composing, Autodesk Maya stations for 3d modeling and animation, etc.

http://www.b-independent.com/production/foss1.htm

The article I've attached talks about how open source software is redefining the roles in the movie industry.  Within the last few years affordable programs have come out on the market that allow pretty much anyone to perform basic editing and post production tasks.  The article talks about how people are using open source software to optimize their needs and streamline their work environment.  It gives the example of Firefox's email service Thunderbird as an open source program that is completely free off of the internet.

Week 5 Blog pt 1

Understanding learning behaviors was the topic of the material covered in the first part of week 5.  The slide show presentation explained the different learning theories, including behaviorism, information process learning, and constructivism.  Classical conditioning was discussed as a way to use repetition and pattern to reinforce specific rewards.  There is a sort of cause-effect learning relationship.  In information process learning the brain is thought of as a computer.  There is a focus on inside the brain as it registers information, processes, stores and retrieves information.  In Constructivism people are allowed to construct unique knowledge as they learn through experiences.  Activities with meaning create authentic experiences.

Thinking about how people learn can be very helpful to my major and profession.  In telecommunications I am asked to present ideas and pitch things to groups of people.  By understanding what is effective in getting my point across I can be much more effective in my pitches.  This also applies to marketing and commercials that I do.  By knowing what people learn from it is easier to market products to consumers.  Through use of repetition people can become familiar with a commercial and are more likely to buy that product.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Educational-Marketing---Learning-Styles-Across-Cultures&id=4037811

The article I've attached describes how learning styles translate across cultures.  Different learning styles must be used in order to obtain a broad reach of information.  By using multiple techniques for example, a marketing firm, can appeal to many different cultures with the same advertisement.  On the contrary if a product is designed for a very specific market segment, using limited learning styles may target then better and separate them from the rest of the crowd.

week 4 material

After going through the week four material, I learned a lot about the differences between hypermedia and multimedia and how they contrast mixed media in fine art.  Where mixed media used multiple forms of art to create a single piece, multimedia is even broader.  Multimedia is inclusive of audio and video as well.  Hypermedia uses links to move a user around in a non-linear fashion.  One of the power point documents describes a benefit of multimedia as being the ability to accommodate many different learning style's at once.  Hypermedia promotes proactive learning, meaning a user will have to organized their thoughts in a unique ways that should provide some insight within the user.

This material is very important to people in my major and going into my profession.  Film production and telecommunications are based on visual and audible stimuli.  Being aware of how these elements are formed and crafted to create meaning can be very important.  Also, as more and more content becomes web-based, its is of increased importance to be able to match the quality of competition on the web.  People on the internet don't settle for a what a newspaper can do, provide a single article, they want links to sources, or videos, or even audio clips.  Being able to organize multimedia is very important to telecommunication majors.

http://www.hypermedianews.com/CNN/tabid/69/Default.aspx

The link I've attached above shows the importance of hypermedia in news.  Through the portal, hypermedianews.com, a user is able to move through all major news networks and scan over their major stories.  By clicking on a linked story the user to brought to the web page where for instance, a large weather Doppler ticks away at the top of the page under the words, "Karl now a hurricane."  The site also provides video web casts from meteorologists.  They make it very simple to go back to the portal site and explore other news outlets if a different side might be needed on a particular news story.

Embedded video

Here is a video that was shown to me in my computing in the business environment class.  It basically goes over all the copyright laws and fair use guidelines by cutting up Disney movie clips (possibly a breach of copyright in itself).

Week 3 Blog

This week I watched all of the mac and pc commercials and read the articles that explains the OS operating system and the introduction into how a mac and pc are different.  The articles used diagrams and showed how a desktop is laid out for a mac and explained how to create, move, copy, and reorganize folders and files.  There were a list of shortcuts in lesson 3 that show how to do common functions without using the mouse.  I learned how mac used its user friendly interface and reliable attitude to market themselves to schools and educational institutions.

This material is very relevant to my major and profession.  I am a telecommunications major and make commercials and films for a living.  Having switched from AVID to Final cut about 8 years ago I've been using macs extensively.  The shortcuts are helpful in script writing and the organization of files and folders is critical when dealing with terabytes of data.  I did not know that you could put applications on the desktop of a mac like you can with a PC.  I'm sure this material will influence my major in some aspect. 

Outside resource: http://www.wikihow.com/Pimp-Your-Windows-XP-Desktop-to-Look-Like-a-Cool-Mac-Desktop

This article shows how desirable the reliability and ease of use the OS operating system layout really is.  People are downloading software and using specific desktop settings that allows them to imitate the OS operating system on a PC.  Their computers still runs windows but looks like OS.  Imitation is the purest form of flattery and clearly Vista took a few notes from apple when designing the operating system.  Vista is much more similar to OS then windows XP was and I don't see Apple trying to share any similarities with windows.