Mockumentary

Here's the one with the Fairy Use Tale intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuaLlyyrCoU

This video is a project that my students wanted to take up.For the documentary portion of this class I was very uninterested in the idea of a boring or straight forward documentary. I wanted something that was unique and perhaps humorous but informative. I also liked the method that Dr. Squire presented in class about turning the camera over to the subjects. If I did a straight forward documentary, it would have been about how my freshman view media and their new media literacy skills. Through turning over the process, they were able to pick an area that they were interested in make it their own and inject their perspective. What is revealed in the final project gets to some of the issues I would have raised...that my students come to the class with a utopian perspective of media and that a critical perspective needs to be fostered. This comes out in their formal research papers and this is the way their writing looks through video. I was pleased with the outcome.


Through it, they critique video sharing sites. I gave them creative flexibility so that the critique was theirs. I think one of the more interesting things that is revealed though this piece is that they are fairly uncritical of Google (Youtube) and don't get to the real issue of why Youtube is King....If i would have taken control of the project, YouTube might have been an evil King or even a sorcerer casting spells on people to secure its dominance. Their portrayal of Youtube as a benevolent King who could live peacefully with the other video sharing sites is similarly utopian. As these students are primarily advertising students and future media workers and not critics, this is not surprising. Doing this project gave me a better insight into how my students think.

From their perspective this is a fairy tale/mockumentary of Video Sharing Sites. For me it is a mockumentary/fairytale/critique of youth media literacy.

My first draft of this video I had an intro to the video with a Fairy Use Tale and and me mentioning that these were my students etc. I however like the video better without that add in.

On the technical side, because of all of the things that were going on for me at home with my father dying etc...I had to work remotely on this. Turning the process over also meant that I had to trust the students with the raw files. They lost the raw files and only had the version with the water marking over it. They couldn't figure out how to produce a video without the watermarking and this speaks to an issue in their digital literacy/skills as well as access. I like the watermarking because it is a reminder of this and it was a humbling issue that came up for my students who thought themselves to be Tech masters just months prior. The fact that they couldn't figure out a way to share their videos other than Youtube before this project (and then still shared via youtube afterward), everyone used blogger as their blog (as i am now), and most had android phones (also owned by google), had gmail email addresses outside of class... gets to how slight of hand the issue of media ownership and literacy are. Even my default decisions are googleized. They have never questioned their 'mastery' but it turns out they are only fluent in Google. Google search engines, sharing sites, applications etc and perhaps Yahoo...there is also some variation between pc and mac users.

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PRE PRODUCTION NOTES:

Inspired to do something related to media and something that can examine media that people interact with every day. I am teaching a media literacy class so something that is relative to that would be good. Perhaps issues that my students are having with tech literacy...I am considering letting the students pick the topic and letting the project unfold. I am a bit anxious about not controlling every detail of the project. Turning portions of the project over seems interesting and scary. I feel like i may be opening myself up for trouble, but here goes nothing. I will look at this video as a portion of something that i will do in the future which is compile videos of my students understanding of media from their own creative perspectives. I would then like to analyze them all. Therefore, these mini documentaries or mockumentaries would be a part of a larger documentary. I will let them to choose the tech amongst the things we have available.

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After talking to the students, they have decided to research video sharing sites. Which is good because I don't know much about them either. Initially they wanted to do something about Youtube soley...but I encouraged them to incorporate other video sharing sites...they looked dumfounded...OTHER video sharing sites? WHAT other video sharing sites? WOW I thought to myself...this is a project in in of itself. I told them to research video sharing sites other than youtube and pick which ones we should cast. They ultimately picked Blip TV, Vimeo, Daily Motion, Viddler--the top 5 video sharing sites. I expect there to be lots of conflict if they personify them. I am interested to see how these characters might battle. I can only imagine how nasty a Youtube character might be when it comes to competition:-). As far as the resolution, they want the piece to hilight the stregnths and weaknesses of the video sharing sites and ultimately why each one holds the position it holds in society. They want to use a basic macbook camera the tech they are used to. (Which surprised me since most say they are tech savvy...turns out they are not as savvy as they thought).


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Production Notes:

Questions: Which factors contribute to the dominance of one video sharing site over another? How do you envision the future interactions between the sites.

Style: They decided to do it in fairy tale style which I can appreciate because i didn't want a traditional straight forward documentary. They are going to use basic materials (markers, construction paper, straws, computer print outs ) to create a sort of digital puppet show. (Again this could be because they are not as tech savvy as they thought or because of time restraints etc. This should be fine because one of the students is a graphic design major and says she can draw. This is the plan B because they originally wanted to do use digitized characters. From what i understand currently, they have identified Youtube to be King and the kind will have brothers (the other sites) which will argue about who will take over the thrown. That sounds like its on the right track...I would be interested to see what the conversations these sites will have.

Something that worked well was just simply taping the paper on the wall...it looked better than i expected. The Mac camera was ok, but the lighting wasn't the best. We were able to adjust the audio and record in alternative places to reduce the echo effect.

I am particularly excited about the fact that they are controlling the creative process and therefore I will really see what they think about the lay of the media land.

One think I am anxious about is that I now have to work remotely because of my father being critically ill

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Post Production:

Well, my father died. I am now far removed from the process...hope everything goes ok.



I am impressed by the footage the students took. There is a water marking however over some of the material because of something that was done in the conversion phase and the student didn't know how to bypass this. Again, something that spoke to the tech literacy issue. They were able to send things to me via YouSendit. I have been debating whether or not to create a video around their interpretation or to just leave it be. Right now I think I am just going to leave it be. It will be then, their interpretations of the media landscape as a mockumentary fairy tale.


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Presentation:

Stregnths of this piece: creativity --I love the angle they took with the fairy tale. It was something unexpected and something I wouldn't have thought of. Research: I think there is decent research here based on what they found. Humorous: I think this is a light piece which is great. Coherency: I think the piece feels coherent and clear. Great under the circumstances: considering my father's death in the midst of all of this I think a great thing was pulled off.

Weaknesses: Utopian/Uncritical--I think the students didn't have a concept of media ownership which comes out in the utopian tone. We will have to cover this. Watermarking: couldn't get that off. Transition: At least in the piece where it leads with fairy use tale, transitions are a bit abrupt. I like the piece with out that add on a bit better because it doesn't feel as clunky but I miss the information...hmm....Sound was a bit muffled in some cases.