presentation

introduction to myself

I am Ka Sin Leung. I am visual studies year 2 students. I am not familiar with computer or technology so that i seldom explore or admire digital work. But i really appreciate people who use photoshop to draw. That is awesome. The software i come across most if Microsoft office, Adobe premiere. i have learnt to use photoshop. however, it seems that the photoshop doesn't want to make friend with me. So, this course may challenge my knowledge on digital media.
To me, digital technology is kind of machine that help people to work. but it is not reliable accordance to my experience that the information stored in computer would easily loss as long as any part of the computer is broken. therefore, i prefer hardware. I prefer to be simple.

see how dull it is

internet and digital media

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZwNb11n9zk

• What is the primary source of news for you?
for me, my primary source of news is from internet, the Yahoo News.
because what are printed on newspaper is also uploaded on internet. Therefore, i don't need to buy newspaper. even i do not use the internet news, i will take the free newspaper. this is the era that we can access information and news without paying money.

• Do you think that ‘mass media’ will some day be totally replaced by digital media / internet?
I　do think we rely more on the digital media then now. this is the era of digitization. we use the internet to access what we need and want. we usually read newspaper in our leisure time. therefore the free newspaper are usually distributed in transport station. however, we prefer playing on the mobile phone rather reading newspaper. we can also easily attain the news from internet that wifi is around us. therefore, traditional mass media especially newspaper may decline.

Digital Knowledge Sharing

1) What is a brief history of the encyclopedia?
Encyclopedia has appeared for almost 2000 years as summaries of extant scholarship in forms comprehensible to reader. the oldest work is Naturalis Historia which is written in ca. 77 CE by Pliny the Elder. Encyclopedias were written by clergypersons in Middle Ages. there are different encyclopedias from various countries for example, China, Japan and so forth. Now, the encyclopedia has been globalized . The free and digital Encyclopedia has also appeared on internet for user to read, download and quote.

2) What are some key features of that encyclopedia
a) according to Wikipedia
Encyclopaedias can be general, including articles on the topics of every field but from a particular cultural, ethnic or normal perspective

the aim of encyclopedic is to convey the important accumulated knowledge for the subject domain, such as an encyclopaedia of medicine, philosophy, or law.

the systematic method of organization is essential to making an encyclopaedia usable as a work of reference. they are the alphabetical method and hierarchical categories.

there is increasing effect on the collection, verification, summation and presentation of information of all kinds in modern multimedia and the information age.

b) according to Encyclopedia Brittannica
a multivolume compendium of all available knowledge, complete with maps and a detailed index, as well as numerous adjuncts such as bibliographies, illustrations, lists of abbreviations and foreign expressions, gazetteers and so forth. it is expected to include biographies of the significant men and women so that many people with their own language would have involved editing.
Encyclopaedias hace also come in all sizes , from a single 200-page volume written by one man to giant sets of 100 volumes or more.
the range of coverage of knowledge has varied according to the time and country of publication. Illustrations, atlases, and bibliographies have been omitted from many encyclopaedias, and for a long time it was not thought fitting to include biographies of living persons.

3) Which encyclopedia was most useful for this research?
i believe Encyclopedia Brittannica is much more useful than Encyclopedia. it is because of the historical background that Encyclopædia Britannica has been providing knowledge and information to people for almost 250 years. some scholars also have contributed to this Encyclopedia Brittannica such as Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie etc.
furthermore, the source and information are much more abundant than wikipedia.
therefore, because of its reliability, abundance of information and history, i would think Encyclopedia Brittannica was most useful.

4) Can you trust this encyclopedia (the one you used) 100%? Why or why not?
though this encyclopedia are useful, i still can not 100% trust in it. it is because there is a function that everybody can edit on the information. and i am not clear about the structure and functioning behind these encyclopedia. the reliability of these pages are still not higher than searching on books where we believe the author has done serious research on. after all, internet is so easy to access that the information can not be treated seriously.

generated digital meida

a) How many viewers are estimated to have watched the you tube video?
until 30/11/2011. the accumulated watching rate is 41,961,194.

b) How would you rate the video?
I think this video is very annoying that the man (Chris Crocker) pretends to be a woman and keep screaming and crying in the clips. I don't really know the purpose of the movie, but i can see his enjoyment from making this clip. from the point of technique, the techniques he used is so simple. so if i rate it from this perspective, it's low.

c) Is it of high quality in technical terms? Is it interesting aesthetically e.g. camera angles, use of light, the narrative, and so on?
in the whole video, there is no various change of the camera angle. the room light is used as the source of light. it is obviously that we can not count it as high quality in technical terms.

d) Does it raise interesting socio-cultural issues?
when i first watch this video, i have no idea on his purpose of making this video. but actually he is raising the issue of privacy and freedom of artist. he is criticizing the public and paparazzi who are violating and exploiting freedom of his idol, Brittany. he seeks for freedom for Brittany and calls on leaving Britney away by making this video.
apart from protesting for privacy of artist, by reading the comments made on this video, people care much more on his gender, homosexual or not. it also raises the concern on cross gender issue. actually, he can accuse for this by his male identity. But he blurs his gender that audience thinks he is a woman. is it because it is more convincing to be so emotional by acting as a woman?

e) Do you think deserved the attention that it received from the Internet community?
from the comments under this video, we can see that the audience concerns about the gender of the man, the proclaim of leaving Britney (generally speak, the artist) alone. these are the controversial issues that appears in reality. so, it deserves the attention.

d) Briefly describe the video
In the video,the man with woman-like make up repeated saying " leave Brittany alone" and crying for this. He is depressed that people want to earn money from Britney without considering her own feelings. it is sad that the public is so unfair to such professional. he begs the public and paparazzi to leave Britney alone.

e) Find at least one interesting video, based on Crocker’s or Bus Uncle, and upload it to your blog

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mfPkU_UJu0

f) Report some positive and negative comments about this new ability for computer users to make and widely distribute and respond to online films (such as the above three videos). (eg see Leadbeater, We-think, xviii; Burgess and Green, Youtube, Cambridge: Polity, 2009, 10…, 21-30).

positive comments:
yo i just busted out laughing when she said i ma gonna shit my pants
starranker21 1week ago

lol this is an awesome remake thank you so very much!!!! :) mad my week.
Xanderge21 2 weeks ago

Before I started to hear singing I was like- :o?
When the song started I was like- O.O
Then I wwas like- XD
RandomUploader12345 3 weeks ago

negative comments:
Idiot homo, I love parodies and lady gaga but this is just insulting to all!
bozcro 2 months ago

This is sooooooooo weird! @ first I didnt even kno if this wuz a boy or girl! lol.
Dinomiters 2 months ago

Modern Times: pros and cons of new technologies

• In a couple of paragraphs, summarize the way that Chaplin is affected by new technology in the beginning of the film Modern Times.
firstly, the new technology separates every process of work. it fragments every step of work. for example, the only work Chaplin needs to do is to tighten the screws on the pipeline. the repeated work makes Chaplin out of control of his body even when he stops. but this work is so simple that every one can replace him. new technology doesn't require exclusive professional.

secondly, Chaplin's movement is limited by the machine that he needs to catch up with pipeline to do his work. when Chaplin misses once, he needs to catch up with it and start his work again. New technology is not a live machine that can facilitate human being, but people need to follow it.

• Then discuss any similarities or differences in the way you experience common digital technologies such as computers and the Internet.

the second characteristic particularly impresses me that when i am almost running out of time and is about to hand in paper which is being finished by computer, the computer suddenly stops and the work is gone. i can not control the computer (the machine). instead, because of the accident, i need to do it again. the computer controls my time, my progress.

that is also true that everybody can be able to manipulate the program in computer. as long as we have learnt the basic knowledge of the program, everyone can do their work with the program as it does not change or vary. in other word, every one can replace me unless they do not how to operate the machine.

interview

Constructing Identity Online: Classnotes

1 What is identity?
Identity: the fact of being who or what a person or thing is, the characteristics determining this. (Concise Oxford English Dictionary)
2. Interview classmates:
How many online identities do you have? What are they like?
One. A name which attracts girl. E.g. sweet heart, Handsome


On your blog write a two paragraph report on a class member who has an interesting set of online identities (you may use pseudonyms ie fake names)

my interviewee is Lui Ka Yi. she got several fake names online. she usually used it in forum or chat room where many youngsters sought for boyfriend or girlfriend. her fake names were designed to attract people to talk with her. for example, Honey, sweet heart, your man, etc. such identity had great difference with her real identity. She changed her gender and act as a boy to talk to the girls to gain excitement from 'role play'.

the fake identity confided her to talk more and created an ideal role which she could not play in the reality. she was so dedicated into the role that she was confused with the fake and the real identity. the fake identity was more adorable and attractive to her that she got lost in the self identity. She even wondered if she was lesbian. But finally, when forum and chat room reclined, she also stopped this game. Now, she uses her real mean in the factory.


Contemporary understandings of identity are changing. Nowadays identity is thought of in more complex terms:


“In sum, the selves that we have are composed of multiple identities and contradictory experiences. In late-modern society, it is almost impossible to have a fully unified, completed and coherent ‘self’; rather, we all tend to have fleeting, multiple and contradictory selves”
(Charles Cheung “Presentations of Self on Personal Homepages”, p45)

Digital Photography

1. What is the difference between analog photography and digital photography?

digital photography is about a set of numbers scored in computer. therefore, it can be displayed on screen or used to create a print. Digital photography is also a complicated set of relationships among reality (the captured reality), data derived from that reality and the electronic processes of a computer. digital photography is encoded in the computer and then output to a screen or a printer as a bitmap with a set of binary digits. in short, digital photography is a process of creating, storing and manipulating numbers in a computer and then rendering them into visual images.

in traditional analog photography, photograph is created by a piece of film in camera exposed to light, then developed to produce a negative, which in turn is used to produce a print. it contains silver halide crystals or dye that are color and tone, a bitmap contains only zero and ones.


2. What use is digital technology to photographers?

digital technology facilitates photographers to edit on the body of work instantly without having to develop film and printing it out in advance for amendment. The liquid crystal display (LCD) shows the actual digital image created by the camera so that photographer can review the photographs that they have taken immediately and throw out those images they don't need or want. it dispenses the time of waiting of the photo in the darkroom. apart from the change of the tool, the computer programs also facilitates to manipulate images once they have been created by a digital camera. photographer used to make changes on a physical object. but for digital photography, the computer software helps to change the numbers that compose the photograph's bitmap. it offers photographers a greater degree of control over their work than before and it is easier and less toxic than traditional techniques. they can see the changes instantly on the screen where photographer see the result of the balance of the contrast or the color of an image.Finer tune can also be made. furthermore, changes are cheap to try. Also, many different versions of an image can be created too. in color photography, digital technology offers even more advantages because it gives the photographer control over saturation and contrast and the colors where that are impossible in the traditional darkroom.

3. Is photographic truth at an end? Has it every existed?
since the digital technology has appeared, photographers have higher possibility and ability to manipulate and amend on photograph they took than the traditional camera era. there is a tendency that the technology becomes more familiar and convenient to user, truth can therefore be changed and controlled. audience would become harder to distinguish what is true and false.
however, in my opinion, even the digital has not emerged, photograph can only reveal the part of the reality (the truth) because the camera limited audiences' view by the frame. the final photograph can only be regarded as representation of the reality.
in traditional photography, photographer can use their technology to change the photo for example, Lenin had purged the people by moving out them on the photo. therefore, this is not about the digital technology to make the photographic truth at an end. instead, photography itself has limited the scope of truth.

Digital Games

1) According to the film, what are some pros and cons of playing video-games for individuals and societies?
pros: educational value
digital games are a new way of learning that new generation can feel reward and accomplishment. they are also able to experience a multiplicity of situations in complex environment.
apart from it, the video game can help the patients who are suffering from leukemia to let them realize their illness and the treatment followed. this can motivate them to fight the disease.
besides, video game can develop personal skill such as thinking faster or reacting faster etc. it gives an example of korean professional gamers. such personal skill helps player strike a job.
finally, it helps to recruit soldiers. it has been used as a tool in US millitary.

2) Should governments have the right to ban certain games? Why or why not?
yes i do think government have the right to ban certain games especially if the game involves racism and violence. the games also play the role to educate the children.

Animation

1) What are the Pros and Cons of Computer Generated Imagery?
Pros: look real, inhabited character can not be seen in the movie, can put something which is hard or impossible to control into movie, e.g. ape, monster, still life, CGI can give life to them, cheaper and more convenient that producer doesnt need to build a real setting for shooting.

Cons: look fake, less skill acquired for the filmmaker. rely so much on the technicians, body movement matters more on body movement than acting which can be manufactured by CGI

2) Will Computer Generated Imagery make actors obsolete? Yes or No? Why?
it is imposible that computer generated imagery would totally replace actors. basically, they are different form of thing. our focus would be put on the emotion, acting and expression of the actors. but for CGI character, we focus on the technology used. The technique and the technology earn admiration.
would human being be replaced by robot in the future?

3) Should digital characters be nominated for acting awards competing with humans?
the criteria to judge whether the actors deserves an acting award is most depended on the acting and the performance of the actors. they are highly praised when the actors can incarnate the virtue character created by the script writer convincingly to audience while audience get touched by them. what makes audience get touched should be the familiarity between the character and audience themselves. since human actors live in the same world that audience do, actors can communicate with audience through characters. However, digital characters are created or manipulated by the designer through computer. they can not really experience what human beings do. even the desiner can imput the formular into the digital character so as to acheive the sedired emotion, they are not all rounded and just formular. in this case, how can we put higher value on the mechanical-digital actors than human actors? if we do need to praise the performance of the digital actors, the designer of the digital actors should be awarded rather than the creation. moreover, it is inappropriate to compare human actors and digital actors.

4) What are the advantages and disadvantages of motion capture?

advantages: captures specific style of real people; help create more lively character but inputting real people's motion; can capture all fine details of human motion

disadvantages: expensive for the technique and equipment; time-consuming for post production stage; lots of equipment, spaces, and actors; not easy to edit and generalize

5) Should animation strive for photorealism?
It is hard to say 'should' or 'should not'. it is all about what the director wants for the movie. to strive for photorealism or not depends on the style of the movie. It is no doubt that audience desire realism on animation movie. however, animators should not merely strive for photorealism. they should balance between mimesis film and abstract film. it is unadvisable to pursue photorealism to show the skill on technology. this sometimes happens in 3D film where 3D is not necessary for the film.

Digital Cinema

Case Study: Voices of Iraq (2004)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2a6gV_JsWo
Discussion questions:
a) What is the ‘filmmakers’ role in the film

create a platform for the Iraqi to speak out and show the situation of Iraq. the filmmaker is like an observer and recorder, but at the same time, he is also one of the Iraqis. It is like true man show. for me, it seems it is much more convincing than other filmmakers who are not the local people.

b) What are the key enabling technologies that allow this to be produced?
the knowledge of operating the video, the angle of the camera and also the skill of editing.

c) Whose reality is being shown?
though it seems it is representing the reality of Iraqi, the eyes of the filmmaker matters more. because i do think the filmmaker has selected what to capture and the conversation which relates to the theme. therefore, i would suggest that this movie is capturing the reality regarded by the filmmaker.

Mission to Earth
1) What is new or different about this example of digital cinema when compared with a) traditional ways of telling a story b) and constructing a film?
Mission to Earth is a movie made by Lev Manovich. it belongs to soft cinema. there are 4 ideas that soft cinema explores:
the first idea is algorithmic editing of media materials. it uses a series of rules defined by the authors so that the software controls the screen layout and the number of windows as well as their content. The authors have the total power to choose to exercise minimal control leaving most choices to the software; also, they can decide what the viewer will see in a particular moment in time. becasuse the editing process is performed in real time by the program, the movies can run infinitely without repeating the same edits.

the second idea is Macro-cinema. In Soft Cinema, the computer program breaks the screen into a number of square regions of diffeirent dimensions and show at the same time on screen. During the playback, different clips are assigned to diffirent regions. In this way, the software determines temporal and spatial distribution of a work.

the third idea is Multimedia cinema. video is used as only one type of representation among others including 2D animation, motion graphic etc. rather than simply using different types of representation for a simple visual effect, Soft Cinema investigates whether it is possible for fictional narration to use them.

the forth idea is the Database Cinema. the elements of the movie is based on a large database to construct many different narrative films and even the different versions of the same film.

these ideas are totally different from the traditional way of story telling and film construction.

reference: http://www.softcinema.net/form.htm
2) What other art (film, digital art, painting etc) does this film remind you of?
this reminds me the collage animation. it also collects the data (the fragmented pic) first and than put them together to form a work. soft cinema and collage animation requires a large database.

experiment

original

photoshoped!