Why Do People Like Books or Movies More?

          This week, I had to create a driving question for my project. My question is why do people like books or movies more? I am curious to know if people enjoy books more just because they do not watch movies or if they enjoy movies more because they don't read books. In my case, I like both books and movies, and it changes for each different book and movie to figure out which is my favorite. 

          What I am going to do is write a blog every few weeks about whether I enjoyed the book version or movie version better, and then I will make a survey for people to fill out so they can contribute their own feelings towards the book and movie. 

Schedule: 

          Every other week I will post a blog for one book/movie and post a poll. By the end of the semester, I am hoping to have five blogs done. 


My Rubric:

	4	3	2	1
Aesthetically Pleasing	Perfect	Lots of links and pictures but is a little unorganized	Some links, lacks thought and detail	No links and very unorganized
Navigation	Very easy to navigate	Easy to navigate	A little difficult to navigate	Very hard to navigate
Pertains to Central Question	Answers central question exactly	Answers central question for the most part	Answers a little of the central question	Does not answer central question
Embedded Links	Many easy to use links	Some embedded links	A few links but are not embedded very well	No links
Interesting and Entertaining	Very interesting, funny, and entertaining	Relatively entertaining and interesting	Slightly entertaining	Not funny, entertaining, or interesting

Stealing Like an Artist

This week, we had to find another blog that pertained to our projects. I found a blog called Beauty and the Armageddon and it is close to what i am going to do on my blog. It has a bunch of reading challenges for 2014 and has a lot of books that I have read and enjoyed or have not read but want to. Also, there is a whole section of book reviews, which are how I want to review my books and movies because they are short and simple to read but also get the point across. The reviews also have a brief description of the book, which is another thing I want to add in my blog. 

I really enjoy the layout of this blog because it is simple to navigate and also to read. Clearly the person using this blog is passionate about it and wants to make the reader feel as welcome to the site as possible. 

I want to make my blog very similar to this blog except I will obviously be comparing the book to its movie rather than just reviewing the book. I am also going to put polls and surveys into my blog, which this blog does not include. 

I really like the idea of putting in a reading challenge, even if it has nothing to do with book v. movie. I think that I could add it into another tab of my blog, and post all the books I have read this year along with books I want to read, and then maybe have another category just for the books that I want to read that have corresponding movies with them so people know which ones I will be reviewing in the future so they can read them as well. 

New Blogging Sites

This week, we have to find three different websites to work with and find the best one to build a whole website for. Since I am going to be blogging and vlogging, I am not looking for a website to make, I am looking for blogging websites. I found Tumblr, WordPress, and Weebly. 

I really liked Tumblr, but at my school the site is web-sensed, so it is hard to get into and isn't worth it. I liked the different themes to do and it seemed like a really user-friendly site, but I am not going to use it because it is too complicated for the uses that I need for this semester.

I disliked WordPress because for some reason, I was unable to get past the home screen. I logged in many times but I could not find how to direct where I wanted to go, so I decided I would not use it. 

I really enjoy Weebly. I think that I will keep this blog and use it for my semester project because it is very simple to use so far, it directs me exactly where I need to go to get it started, and I really like how many themes it had and how I could change the colors of them easily. 


Below is the link to my Weebly website. 

Book v. Movie

To name my website, I read a few different articles on how to think of a name that would fit my article best. One told me that I should first think of exactly what I was going to put in my blog. At that point, I knew I wanted to do book or movie reviews, but I knew that it was too broad of a subject for just one blog, so I had to make it more specific. I decided that my blog is going to compare the movies that I have seen that were made from books that I have read, and then open it up to the public to also decided by creating a poll that they can use. Once I figured out my plan exactly, the article said that I should make the name easy, short, and let the reader know exactly what the website was for, just by reading the title of it. I chose Book v. Movie because it is short and I think it tells exactly what I am doing in the blog. 

Popplet

This week I made a Popplet to help me figure out my plan for this semester.

My Popplet

First Blog of the New Semester

This week was the start of the new semester. We began by making a Twitter account, a Delicious account, and a Feedly account. 


Twitter

Account: @reedk719
People I'm following: 

• @brianlogandales
• Brian Dales is the lead singer to my favorite band, The Summer Set
• @IMDb
• IMDb is the largest movie website where I get all of my information on new movies and actors
• @BehindScenesPic
• This is behind the scenes of a bunch of famous movies such as Titanic, Wizard of Oz and The Dark Knight

Delicious

Account: @reedk719
Links I Have:

• Downton Abbey
• This is a blog about Downton Abbey, one of my favorite TV shows
• LifeHacker
• This posts different technologies and easy tips for everyday life
• My School Website
• This is where I find all of my weekly blog assignments

Feedly

Account: reedk719
Following:

• Rolling Stones
• This is where I find a bunch of newspaper articles online about the latest technologies and gossip
• Design Milk
• This is a site that posts different, cool designs for your home
• IKEA Hackers 
• This has many different ideas for what you can do with products that you buy from IKEA

Weekly Update #4

Since my last update, I have been very busy with my project. I finished recording my second song and filmed my music video. For the second song, I did not record the bridge part because I could not find time to meet with the cello player for long enough to record it since she has her own project to finish as well, which is why there is a long break between the third and fourth choruses.

Over the course of this semester, I have learned a lot about Logic Pro X and Final Cut Pro X. They are both quite similar in how to work them even though Logic is only for sounds and Final Cut Pro is for videos. I learned how to quickly navigate around both programs and have learned the basics with both now. I mostly learned how to use the programs on my own through guessing, but I also watched a few YouTube videos, one of which I posted to a previous blog post, and I sometimes asked other people if they knew how to do certain things if I could not find what I was looking for. If I do another project like this next semester, I will try to manage my time better and find more time to meet with the other people who I need to help with my project.

For this class, the main issue, even though I know that it could not be helped, was that there were more people than we had computers, so I often did not get a computer to use, which made me lose a lot of time to work on my project. Other than that, I think that the class was set up well because it gave me freedom to do what I wanted for my project and did not force me on a specific guideline or schedule. I feel that if I had my own computer everyday, I would be able to succeed fully in my project and not have any other problems.

I think that for the amount of time I had for the project and how much work I put into it, my project came out pretty well and as good as I was expecting it to be. Hopefully next semester, I can create a project plan that I know I can fulfill by the end of the year and actually fully complete it successfully and thoroughly!

Weekly Update #3

In these last few weeks, I have been unable to work on my project because I had Christmas Break at school. However, this week I have been working hard to finish recording my second song and creating an outline for my music video that I am making for the song. Next Friday is the end of this semester, so I have to finish the video by then, which means I will have to film the video by next Tuesday or Wednesday so I will have time to edit it. Hopefully I will be able to finish the video and upload it by the end of next week!

The first link below is a tutorial of Final Cut Pro X which is the program I will be using to edit my music video once I film it. The second link is someone's blog about how to make your own music video for free, which is really helpful for me because this is the first music video I've ever made.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flc5TQ2pfv4&edufilter=eI6X0UjkSUGg_FEQLVPvtQ&safe=active

http://thecreativeadvisor.com/how-to-make-a-music-video-on-your-own-for-free/

Weekly Update #2

Ok so clearly, I haven't exactly been following the "weekly" parts of the Weekly Updates, but I have been busy for the past few weeks working on the two songs by creating them on Logic Pro X rather than recording them. It was quite difficult at first since I had barely ever used the program before, which is why it took me longer than expected; however, once I got the hang of it, I finished creating the music for one song and have begun recording the vocals for it with the singer. I have also started making the drum beats and piano parts for my second song, the one I am doing the music video for, and I have talked to some of my friends who are doing filming in this class to help me record and film the video.

Weekly Update #1

Over the past two weeks, I have been very busy during my Music Technology class. Not only have I been working on my songs that I will be recording, but I have also been busy making the incentives for a Kickstarter campaign my class did last year. Therefore, I have not had as much time as I had originally expected to work on recording my songs, and so I have changed my plan to only recording two songs instead of three.

My Semester Project

My Semester Project

My driving question for the next few months is how will I create a well-made music video for one of the songs that I wrote?

For the rest of this semester, everyone in my class has to do a special project, and I am going to record two original songs with me playing drums and two other people singing and playing piano. One is songs that I wrote, and one is a song that the lead singer wrote. I will record and edit one song each week over a three week period, starting next week.

Once I am finished recording all of the songs, which will be in about four weeks from now, I will choose one and create a music video for it, and then edit it once I am done. It will probably take me over a month or two to finish filming and editing it, making it around late January when it is done, which is the end of the semester. I think that the filming of the video will take two or three weeks, which leaves me over a month to edit it.

The key skills that I will learn while doing this project will be how to use recording and editing computer programs such as Logic Pro X and Final Cut Pro. I will also learn how to use a professional video camera, and in my weekly updates, I will include the information that I learned that week from filming or editing.

Schedule:

11/1

Record the first song

11/22

Record second song

12/13

Design music video outline

12/20

Finish recording music video

1/15

Finish editing music video and upload it to blog

The criteria needed for each product:

1. Product: Videography-

I need to make sure that the camera is in the right spot at all times, isn’t shaky, and has the right lighting.

2. Product: Editing-

I need to make sure that everything is edited well without jumps between each change in scene, etc.

3. Product: Sound-

I need to make sure that the sound in all of my videos is good quality and cut together well.

	Skills Needed	Already Learned	Taught Before Project	Taught During Project
1	Drum playing	-----
2	Recording			-----
3	Video Taping			-----
4	Editing		-----

Tambourine History

The Tambourine

For the few of you who are wondering what a tambourine is, it is one of the simplest musical instruments ever made. It is part of the percussion family, is usually handheld, and can be played in virtually any genre of music because of how plain and universal the sound is. The metal disks are called “jingles” and are around the outside rim of the circle of wood. Throughout its history, the tambourine has barely been altered in its looks because of how simplistic and easy it is already to use.

The tambourine was first used in Greece and Rome during the 13th century in religious and folk songs. Since the late 1700’s, it has traveled around the world and landed in Europe, where Mozart began to include it into his compositions. Once the tambourine was heard in classical songs, many artists began adding it to their own work, snowballing the sound into nearly every song you heard until recently. Now, new technologies have enabled us to use fake sounds produced by computers, so most instruments are not needed in creating a song anymore.

The percussion consists of some of my favorite instruments because each piece of it has such a unique sound. Also, they are so important to music because they keep the time and add the structure to the song. The tambourine is awesome because even though it is so simple, it adds so much to a song and can have very complicated rhythms that add something special to each melody.

Bibliography

• http://www.x8drums.com/v/blog/2007/02/history-of-tambourine.asp
• http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=tambourine
• http://www.vsl.co.at/en/70/3196/3211/3215/5813.vsl
• http://www.promusicaustralia.com/drum/TocaImages/T-H_Series.jpg

What is the History of the Spotlight?

First, for those of you who are not familiar with a spotlight, a spotlight is the blinding bright light that shows specific things on a stage. For instance, when only one person is on the stage and the only light that is being used is highlighting only the person, that is a spotlight. A spotlight, or a followspot, is manually used so it can be more precise to the specific environment. The person manning the spotlight had a very important job because he has to make sure it is showing the right spot at all times and is not too bright or too dim. Some spotlights are able to change colors by using “boomerangs,” gel frames that are in different colors and fit to all different sizes of spotlights.

The history of the spotlight begins in the 1700’s. Electricity was invented by Benjamin Franklin around 1740, and the light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison around 1880, over 100 years later! The exact beginning of the spotlight is very shady because no one really knows who invented it first. At the start of the 1900’s, Garret A. Morgan invented the traffic signal, which is quite similar in shape and design to the spotlight. However, in 1919 Robert Juliat founded his own company that sold many different kinds of stage lighting, including the spotlight.

Currently, we are all under the spotlight effect. The spotlight effect is how people feel when they are the center of attention. When people get embarrassed, it is because they feel the pressure of people watching and judging them. It is mostly based on overestimating how much you feel you are being judged. The main point is to try and not feel like you are being judged, because then a lot of pressure will be relieved from you and you will feel better.

Bibliography

• "The UnMuseum - Who Invented the Lightbulb?" The UnMuseum - Who Invented the Lightbulb? N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.
• "Spotlight Biography: Inventors." Spotlight Biography: Inventors. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.
• "UNCOMPROMISING QUALITY SINCE 1919." ROBERT JULIAT. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2013.
• "The Psychology of the Spotlight Effect." Neurolove.me. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2013.

Vox Bells

Music Tech Time Audio

Music Tech Time!

            Hi everyone, I'm Kate. This year I am in a music technology class that allows us to use a bunch of programs such as Garageband, Logic, Final Cut Pro, and Adobe Creative Suite. I am very interested in this class because I am a songwriter and am learning the drums and piano, so with some of these programs, I can create my own songs. Also, I love music and bands, and have been to multiple concerts such as Ed Sheeran, We The Kings, All Time Low, Fall Out Boy, The Cab, and The Summer Set. 

            My goals are to create a whole album of my own songs, and have some of my classmates sing and play instruments in some of the songs with me. Also, I want to learn all about the programs listed above and be able to use all of them fluently because they will help me learn to play certain instruments and enable me to create full songs. I will be doing weekly blogs that will include things that I learn while studying the programs, so if you are learning how to use these programs as well, I hope I can help!