Prison Valley

      Prison Valley is an interactive web documentary about Cañon City, Colorado, where 13 prisons are located. The documentary was made by David Dufresne and Phillipe Brault and has since won many awards around the world. 
      This documentary is very rare, as it uses not only the web to show case it, but it uses interactive media that lets the viewer connect to it with Facebook or Twitter as well as letting them decide where to go and what to do next, all while getting tidbits of information. It even allows you to interact with other viewers through message boards and comment sections. 
      Prison Valley is one of the few of a new wave that's taking the world. Society is connected by more than one device and mode of communication and people want to have a say; they want to be included. This, and others like it, is the future of media. Constantly, things and people that get viewers/fan involved, are becoming more and more successful, such as celebrities like Lady GaGa who tweets, uploads videos and communicates with fans on Facebook. 
      
You can view the website here.

The Character's Journey

     Something related to what I talked about in an earlier post about creating realistic characters, is their journey. To properly showcase your characters and what they're capable of is to throw them into a series of events that create an interesting plot line. Without a plot, the characters are left to aimlessly wander about. 
      A plot always has to start with the main character's ordinary life so the viewer/reader can compare it to something once the character reaches the next step -- the call to action. This call to action is what forces the character into the real plot of the story. Once this call to action has been established, the character most go through or accomplish a list of other things to complete a successful journey and make a believable plot. 
      The only problem with this is to find the formula that can help a story become successful. There are many ways to go about this. Some of which are: the Hero's Journey, The Seven Point System and Propps Folktale Functions. They each basically tell you the same thing, just in varying degrees of detail and what's considered important to creating a story. 
      It's vital that when making any type of story -- especially a more complex or longer one, to follow the guidelines. It doesn't have to be exact (as everything can be interpreted), but making sure to hit the important points will definitely help a story along. 
      As illustrated in the link and the picture of J.K. Rowling's notes while writing Harry Potter, it takes a very long time to flesh out a story line. Many things must be considered to get a plot to make sense and flow well.









 You can view a list of how to create an interesting plot here.

Job Requirements

      These statistics show the impact of social media over the younger generations. Social media has changed life forever. No longer is the only way to advertise your company through ads in the paper or television, but now to get noticed it has to be a constant update of what's going on with the company and its products. It has to be done on every major and many minor networking sites such as: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and even sites like Vimeo and Tumblr. If the company does not, then they face the failure. There are tonnes and tonnes of competitors for everything and the only way to get on top is to be noticed. 
      Unfortunately, being picky like 56% that wouldn't accept the job, will lead to lost opportunities. It's a lose-lose situation because the perspective employee loses a job and the company loses business and the possibility of a talented worker. It's also a good thing though because it gets your name out there if you can use social media sites.
      This can also apply to the film industry. Getting your name known and out there, as well as the work you're capable of, will leave you open to many more job opportunities.  
     
You can view more information here.

Character Balance

      One of, if not the most important things in any type of story is character. You can describe the landscape or the sky to your heart's content, but if you can't make a real character, it's very unlikely your story will be any good. This is something many writers forget, as evident in stories like Twilight. Bella Swan is a certifiable Mary Sue; she's clumsy and everyone loves her though she's done nothing to earn it. Plus she's somehow gained the affections of the only 'unattainable' guy in the whole series though she's basically described as nothing special and he's some type of Greek God. Even though these characters are poorly thought out, the authors portrayal of what they go through and how they act around each other is what entices people to want to read it. It's what the characters do and their love for one another that draw readers in.

      Something I've personally noticed when viewing a story, is that if the plot line's bad, you can oversee it, but only if the characters are relatable and well thought out. Of course, everything has an exception, such as Twilight (as I mention above). If a story has this problem, like the BBC show Torchwood, you can save it with how the characters are written and performed. To do this, they should be very interesting and leave you wanting to know more about them. The viewer should want to see what happens next and want to grow with them. In Torchwood, the characters compliment each other and serve a purpose to for moving the plot forward. Someting the creators of these stories may not realize is that the audience is smarter than they may appear. They can tell when a character's not needed or under developed. 

      This Character Balance Sheet will help those who are aspiring to create memorable and realistic characters. It will help them know they are on the right or wrong path to making a character viewers or reader will love. 

you can view more information here.

Sharlto Copley

               Sharlto Copley was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1973. He gained fame with the 2009 movie, District 9 where he played the main character Wikus Van De Mewre. He started his career in film by producing a directing music videos, short films and commercials, but he didn't really get into it until 2005. Before this, after he'd graduated High School he met now director Neil Blomkap and allowed him to use equipment at his production company. This would lead to being one of Sharlto's best decisions.

      Copley was shot into fame with his movie District 9. This lead him to co-staring in the revamped A-Team as Murdock, a show and character he idolized when he was young. He is now set to star in two more movies set to release sometime after 2012. 

      All of this good fortune led to Copley wanting to spread it. On his website, here, you can pick the option of sending Sharlto a movie idea. Even though the link suggests it, he wants to support ideas for comic books, movies, tv shows, scripts, animations, etc.. He states he wants to help people break into the industry because he knows how hard it is. 

      I think it's amazing that he's willing to help people break into the industry. Very few others even try to help or care about the potential of those who haven't made it. Doing this can make him even more successful and help someone else fulfill their dream. 

      

     

Writing a Story

   


       Telling a story is an easy thing, but telling a good story is not. To tell a good story you need to come up with something interesting; a unique or compelling idea. There's nothing more in this world that I hate in a book or movie than when the characters or plot are obviously unoriginal or not well thought out. You're not doing yourself any favours by doing this. 
      Once you've come up with this (hopefully good) idea, you're gonna need to research everything from names and locations to dialect and symbolism. All of these things contribute to the quality of your story and the hard work will pay off in the end. Once these things are gathered and you're satisfied, you can begin to write the story. 
      Possibly the most important step would be to make an outline following some sort of dramatic structure such as Freytag's Pyramid. Your story must start off with introducing the main character and the main problem. After this, the rising action begins. At the height of the rising action is the climax. Once the climax is finished, there's falling action and then the denouement/resolution. 
      Once you've gotten the basic story down, you need to hash out the characters, setting, and a more detailed plot. Make sure they're realistic to the world it's set in! Having a blue haired, small town girl who can see the future when wind blows and has a vampire boyfriend, is NOT original and is extremely annoying. 
      Following simple steps and actually thinking through your characters, plot and settings will drastically change your story for the better.  




More information can be found here.

Methods of Storytelling

 

      The medium in which you tell a story is very important, as it can drastically change it -- for better or worse. Certain mediums can showcase more of a specific aspect of the art world which can end up being beneficial.

      If you want to showcase your story a certain way, you should be sure what it is you want people to notice. If you're focusing on a particular theme or emotion, a photograph or photo essay may be best, as it can really hone in on it. If you want to tell a story that includes many details, then writing a book or short story maybe what's best. 

      Choosing the wrong medium can be disastrous. If you have too many ideas you want to cram into one art piece, such as a drawing, you may ruin it trying to include it all. 

      If you already know how you want to create your art, it's probably the right choice. Make sure you choose wisely though. Changing to another medium could increase the appeal or get your message across more clearly, but only if you can apply it properly. 

      After picking your medium, you have to decide what elements and principles of art are important. For example, the photo at the top of this blog entry wouldn't be as effective if it was in colour, as it would take away from the shock factor. Or the lines leading to her face, emphasizing her lifeless eyes. 
      Every little detail counts, so making sure you have at least the right medium picked out will help a lot. 

More information here.

Hero's Quest

      

      Story telling is a very important key artifact to anthropologists. It reveals what characteristics and values are important to humankind, more specifically, the societies they came from. 
      A more specific type of story telling that I'll be focusing on is the Hero's Quest. The Hero's Quest reveals that human's values haven't changed too drastically since its formation. People still admire the strong (usually male) protagonist who must go through a series of dangerous events to reach their worthwhile goal. 
      Stories like Hercules and Harry Potter are Hero's quests and are some of the most popular stories to date. They all start with a nobody who yearns for more -- something better. Then, a rude awakening brings them to a realization of their higher calling. During their quest, they normally gather companions, gain a magic artifact or weapon and find out who their foes are. Along their journey, they go through a series of events that force them into finding their strengths and weaknesses, as well as a loss of innocence. 
      The Hero's Quest is very helpful to an author or script writer in understanding story telling and structure. It can teach them about what audiences like, therefore furthering their success. 




You can view more about the Hero's Quest here.

Character Transformation

   

         I believe, that without universal character transformation, a story cannot be successful. There are countless stories where this is proven; like almost any action or horror movie with a female character. A more specific example would be of Mia Toretto from the The Fast and the Furious franchise. In the fifth movie, her main role seems to be having a reason for the three of them to stay together in Rio de Janeiro and providing the others with non-pertinent information. Now, I realize this is a movie geared toward young males, who don't really care about too much character development, but if you care, even a little, it's really hard to watch and enjoy the story. 
         Unfortunately, it seems that if you're going to have badly developed characters, the women are always the ones that suffer. If you took Mia out of the story, it wouldn't effect it. She's pretty much useless; just another reason to make the men feel more useful and manly. 
      Having characters -- especially ones who are supposed to be important to someone vital -- who are not properly developed or have no transformation, is dumb. It ultimately makes the main characters seem lacking. How are they supposed to be smart and able-bodied when the company they keep can't do or say anything useful? Having two-dimensional characters that are supposed to have a some sort of importance, ends up taking away from the story in the end. 
      Without character transformation or development, especially in women characters, the story can seem lackluster. It can easily make or break your production.



You can view extra information on this topic here.

The Wilderness Downtown

         There are several different ways to incorporate an audience into your digital story. The more ways you find that work, the more successful your story is likely to become.
         One of the most effective and memorable ways I've ever seen it carried out is something called 'The Wilderness Downtown.' It's an interactive music video for the band Arcade Fire for the song "We Used to Wait." It uses different interactive methods to get the audience more invested in what they're watching. When you first load the page, a very unique type face is brought up, as well as a tree, sun and animated birds. Under the title, there's some basic information about the video which includes: the director, the song and what it was made with. But, the most important thing on the whole page, is what's under that. There's a box where you can enter an address, preferably of the home of where you grew up.
         I believe entering that address is the most important thing because it makes the video so much more personal for the viewer. Without the personalization, the video loses its connecting factor, making it less interesting and making the viewer less invested.
         Something else that includes the viewers further, is the fact that you can share your video, or the website in general, with your friends on Facebook or your followers on Twitter. They also give you information on how it was made and first designed to the company's that made it happen.
         Once you put in the address, a new window pops up with a video of man running, as the video progresses, new windows consistently pop up with animated birds and Google Street View. This draws the viewer of the video in more, because of the recognizable material.
         In conclusion, the more you can involve the audience, especially on a personal level, the more successful and entertaining your video will be.




You can view the website here.