When was the first time you heard something funny? Don’t remember? I thought so. You failed the first test. Do you know what ajummas mean? You do?! You failed again. Am I failure? Yes, no? If you said yes, you passed and if you said no, you think too highly of me. I failed, which is shocking for me because I’m the type of kid who cries at a B, but I learned something which will somewhat compensate my failures. So basically I’m not panicking as I would normally do or pressing the self-destruct button (not yet anyway).
Well, I think that while uploading my video I ran into my first major obstacle. Copyright. I used an excerpt from a song in my video, and while its only a small portion of it Mr. Burell is giving me a hard time about it nonetheless 
. I’ve been researching frantically trying to find some sort of loophole and I’ve noticed how messed up the whole process is. Anyway,
I found that there is a clause called fair use, which allows the user to use the owner’s material without their consent. One can determine if their use of copyrighted material goes under fair use by applying five factors. Even though I could argue that my use of my song could fall into the fair use, I could be faced with additional scrutiny because I’m not American (the irony of it all). So my options are slim.
I could make my own music, which in my opinion had its goods and bads. The good would be that I would be original and unique compared to other videos. But the bads are plenty. One I would be consumed in making music which would deprive me of the time I devote to making my videos. Another is that it might just be dreadful and the audience will quickly navigate away from the page. But I’m going to give GarageBand a shot, because the Apple nerds have a thing for making quality programs. My second alternative is finding a website which allows use of uncopyrighted music, much like Creative Commons. This would be the logical way but the quality could be second tier. My third option would be not using any music at all, which is a horrible option because it makes my video look horrible.
While I admit my production is not what I had expected at this point in time, I do have visions of a greater future. Okay, I just sounded like some kind of wacko fortune teller but I think I want to pursue a new sense of direction. One thing I want to do before the semester is over is have international correspondents do some cameos in my video. Although this was an idea Mr. B is suggesting for a while I need to get a flow of what I want to do before I start doing anything unique. Another, video I have been wantin
g to do for some time is doing an interview with Mr. B. The purpose of this interview is basically twofold – one is to show how rude and funny I can be as an interviewer, and the other is to raise awareness of Mr. B’s plan to networktizilate the entire world. Because I actually have goals in this video, I want to make this video after I actually get a little fame.
While my big mouth really speaks louder than my actions, I put a lot of burden on my shoulders. I have run into some unexpected obstacles, things that made me think. This isn’t easy. Expect the unexpected. Learn from your failures. Famous people are famous for a reason (except Paris Hilton). I try not to rush myself because, quite frankly, I prefer quality over quantity something that may make me look like a perfectionist. While my production value is not as high as I had hoped it would be, time has really not been on my side. I know that sounds horrible, selfish, and absolutely dreadful but it is the truth. While I certainly can’t take back all the time I devoted to something else, this month (I swear to God) is going to be different. So sit back and relax while watching the Won train do his magic.
Right now I am trying to figure out how to use a non – copyrighted music downloading site, obtained via Creative Commons, OWL Music Search. What this site basically does is, it lets me find the type of music I want by uploading similar music and selecting a portion of the song I want to find and then clicking search. It’s as confusing as it is painful. Although this site may save me from long hours of making music through GarageBand, it may also be the death of me.
Okay so this blog post, may seem in a my last desperate last ditch attempt to kinda boost up my grade up even a slightly teeny weeny bit. Well, you kind of guessed right. Although my production is not eye – poppingly amazing, it’s not like I slacked off. I want an ‘A’ and quite frankly I think I deserve it. Up to this month I have penned two (and a half) scripts, recorded two (and a half) videos, set up a YouTube account (one subscriber, my friend but yeah!!!) written two blog posts, and done a mountain of research (copyright, subscription info, how to get famous, green screen (which by the way I haven’t found except Ebay…..), 
and other bits of information that may prove to be crucial on my road to Hollywood). Looking over my progress report I actually did more this month then all the other months. Considering I had a play, a total of four tests, getting off the wait list, and juggling all of my other classes, I really haven’t devoted as much time to Advanced Multimedia and Writing (I guessed that’s what they call it now) as I would have liked. This is not the best news because, in part, I enjoy this class, I really, really do (this is not one of my feeble attempts to get an ‘A’). Although it’s been a rough ride, this class lets me express myself in ways I want to, to be quote honest – it’s a sanctuary from the horrors of high school. Mr. Burell is a school teacher who taught me more than school. He taught me the internet is not just games and social networking, but if you look hard enough it can be a community of individuals who come together under a shared interest. He criticized me (sometimes harshly….) nut only wanted me to succeed. And he taught me that school is not only a place for textbooks and boring essays but is actually a place for you to learn. Just the other day, Mr. Burell called me a smartass after reading my two lines of my blog post. I’ll take that as a compliment because dumbasses get nowhere.
Goals For the Month of May -
-Upload some videos (giving an exact number is not an effective goal, end up only limiting myself)
-Get back on Twitter and start engaging
-Pen some funny scripts
-Have at least one product a week (blog post or video)
-Campaign for subscribers (found out a bunch of ideas on how to do that)
-Use the green screen and international correspondents (if we ever get there)
-Fulfill my goals
Lastly, I plan on maintaining my blog with periodic updates, and making videos. I plan on doing this over the summer so this isn’t the end!
Photo Credit – jonwatson , Norma Desmond, ex.libris
