Advanced Web - 15 - Carroll's website doesn't work for web.

Oh man that is the tiniest navigation that I've ever seen. I'm surprised that a school that promotes mobile tools like alerts for campus closing and stuff doesn't have a website that works well with the web. It just barely works in landscape mode too. Hopefully this is something that they think of in the site revamp.

Advanced Web - 14 - Tumblr Mobile

Here's the mobiel Tumblr page for a fan blog that I run. The content fits nicely to the width of the of the screen and it's easily readable from here. It's interesting that the mobile version of the page works better than the Tumblr app which I still have to rant about because it's the worst app that I've ever had on my phone. It is a bit annoying to have to scroll to the bottom o the page to log out. I'd like to see the menus like on the app where you can swipe sideways and get a menu to come up instead of having to scroll, and scroll, and scroll, and then miss the button when the next page of content loads.

Advanced Web -13 - Mobile Yahoo

I usually think that Yahoo's stie looks like complete garbage but the mobile version looks pretty good. It does look like one of the older versions of Yahoo which is kind of common I notice that unlike our project which doesn't even think about scrolling down the page most mobile pages take advantage of that and it's sometimes necessary when your site is very content heavy.

Advanced Web - 12 - Apple for Mobile

It turns out that Apple doesn't really have a mobile version of their website but instead the website uses fluid first or something to resize to they dimension of the phone screen. It's a bit difficult to click the navigation buttons but everything still looks clean and transfers over to the phone well. It especially hi lights the center area where the product is changed.

Advanced Web - 11 - What the actual fuck Google?

I guess google's main site is simplistic enough that you can visit it from a phone and not have a problem but when I go to m.google.com this is what coems up. Not a mobile version of a website but a website promoting the google apps for iOS and Android that actually looks better than the actual Google website. I have no idea if they're just so proud of their roots that they're afraid to go this direction for the main site but I like this a lot better, although the simplicity is what Google is liked for. It's where you choose what kind of search you want to do and then type in a word and get those results. You're not being barraged by information like "news" "weather" or stuff you'll never use *cough*Yahoo*cough*. This is just some little weird page on the internet that I was surprised to come across.

Digital Video - 21 - How many countries are there?

I've already commentated on CGP Grey's videos but this is one of the most well animated ones with a lot of content that stress how ambiguous the answer to the hypothetical question that is stated at the beginning of the video is.

There are even really good cut aways like his stick figure self rubbing his eyes in frustration to one of the topics that he has to cover to make the video more complete.

Advanced Web - 10 - Mobile Twitter

It's becoming really apparent that the mobiel versions of the website always draw from the style that the website had when it was first created. I don't see as much of these ugly yellows mixed with the bright cyan as much in the current design. Every time I see a mobile version of a website I end up thinking "wow this looks like it came from 2009"

Something I'll have to think about when creating my mobile site is to keep it looking streamline and modern instead of pushing the oldest form of the site into a mobile resolution.

Advanced Web - 9 - Mobile Facebook

We're going to start woking on mobile sites so I decided to access the mobile version of facebook from safari on the imac. On a totally unrelated note seeing a website designed to be like 300x400 at a resolution of 2500x1400 is just ridiculous.

Mobile sites do stay true to their originals while still simplifying. It's importnat to see the branding elements like the facebook blue and the fonts. There are also little elements taken from the original log in screen on the site.

Digital Video - 20 -Khan Academy

I had to use Khan Academy in my transitional algebra course for learning some sort of algebra and his videos are pretty interesting and do a good job of explaining concepts.
The typical video a marker like look being written on a solid black document page obviously done with a tablet pen. This is another example of education set videos and they're actually really useful for expanding the knowledge of our people because now people can look to free projects like this one that try to teach just for the sake of bettering and helping everyone. 
Now it seems that most of these are done in a single take so obviously he takes a lot of time to plan out the lessons ahead of time and with the only visual being on the writing area itself he can actually have notes and stuff off to the side to remind him of what he wants to talk about. 

Digital Video - 19 - Wrong software for the job

I want to take a moment to talk about different type of video editing software because while going through my subscriptions on Youtube I came across one of the LPers that i used to follow every update but have slowly backed away as their content no longer matched my interests.

Something I do remember about his though i that all of his LPs so far were edited in Windows Movie Maker which I didn't even know was possible because it lacks common tools like a razor tool or multiple tracks to get in depth with. Somehow he managed to end the clips at the times he needed to and make the cuts to a different shot.

I think we kind of take for granted what we can do with the tools were given but we also need to learn to use the tools very effectively because if not then we might as well be using Windows Movie Maker or iMovie

Digital Video - 18 - A fly on the wall in Cupertino

Microsoft released this anti Apple ad around the announcement of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. This is one of the worst videos I've seen. I'd rather spend my entire day watching YouTube poop than watching this again. It's hard to believe that a reputable company actually produced something like this. 
There's only one angle, the continuity is bad because they keep changing clothes even if it's for a gag, the acting is bland, and Microsoft should have learned from the Mac vs PC videos that attack based ads only make the attacking company look scummy and low. 
I didn't even think that I could think less of Microsoft at the moment but somehow between the Xbox One, Windows 8, and Nokia Lumia 1020 they managed to put this piece of shit together and make me feel like they should just give up and rebrand because the reputation they've gotten in the past year has just been awful. 

Digital Video - 17 - Tribe Twelve

Tribe Twelve is another Slender man focused series but it follows the story of Noah Maxwell (portrayed by series creator Adam Rosner) after the death of his cousin he puts up footage of his cousin Milo's last visit to see him and discovered that something paranormal was happening. He then goes around to find out what happened to Milo but is caught up by an organization centered around Slender Man and even a cult that worships him. Noah soon learns that Slender Man's influence over his family predates his own birth and seeks out Milo's missing mother and anyone that can help him overcome The Collective who seem to act outside of the laws of the universe and time itself.  Adam's series is very similar to Marble Hornets but his focus is on more sudden flowing cuts to show sudden change in location and circumstances to evoke the same feeling of confusing and frustration that his character portrays. There is also a lot more distortion and editing and it falls much more into the horror genre than the others series of the same subject manner do. 
In addition to the hand held shots there are a lot of tripod shots of "Noah" talking to his camera to break up the first person feel a bit as if he's addressing people to help him out. 

Digital Video - 16 - Marble Hornets

Marble Hornets is easily one of my favorite video projects on youtube following the slender man mythos. The protagonist Jay goes around with his camera piecing together the tall being that followed his friend Alex during the filming of their college film Marble Hornets. Jay then finds himself dealing with something more supernatural and the threat of many masked figures following him and pushing him along the path to finding out what happened. 
I chose Entry #52 because it is the longest entry and has the most diverse amount of footage. It is shot hand held in a Blair Witch style but unlike Blair Witch this is actually good. There are many jump scares in the series and there are episodes that are very tame and just add to the plot without being too gimmicky. 
With a being like slenderman the creator can go into a lot of distortion and other edits to make things scary but Troy Wager (actor of Jay and editor/creator of this project) doesn't overdo it. He adds in the proper amount of edits to evoke the feeling or push the audience into a realization and sometimes ends up pushing them into theories of the occurrences in the story. 
I find Marble Hornets to be a very good watch, kind of hard to get into but it has good editing, acting, and shooting that creates a comprehensive story that the viewer slowly figures out as the characters do. 

Adv Web - 8 - Personal Website

So this time I'm not going to link to a website but instead I want to talk about why I don't have many websites to link to at this point. Later on I'll be able to find more but for now I've come to realize just how many personal and professional websites are lessened by the reliance on social media sites. I also see a ton of people adding a custom domain name on top of Tumblr to make their blog more like a personal website (whether they actually purchase a domain or just slap a free on like a co.vu on top of it.)

I've already run into two tumblr blogs that have a co.vu domain name thrown on top of them for free which is nice but I feel that this capability is causing people to think less about creating their own websites to their needs and instead focusing on other options.

Now Tumblr can support custom HTML so in theory you could us it as a platform to make your own cool website with a custom domain name but I can see this being problematic especially when it comes to lazier and cheaper people.

Digital Video - 15 - Animation with 3D modeling

Going along with animation there is also a form of it with 3D modeling which will be one of the classes later on in this degree field. Here you can see the entire minecraft world rendered as models that can be manipulated as a setting for the animation. Focus was put on the feeling and emotion that the introduction introduced and the aesthetics of the 3D environment. I cannot stress how hard animation can be because if you make a mistake it can severely pull you out of the experience just as video but mistakes are twice as easy to make for inexperienced creators. 

Digital Video - 14 - Animation

Syndicate is the number one game commentator from the UK and to compliment his minecraft series which reached over 300 episodes he worked alongside an animator to turn his first episode into an animated web short. Animation follows the same ideas as video you have to pay attention to the different shots, timing, in fact it could be harder because instead of capturing objects around you- you are forced to create them through your drawing an models. It's also interesting because with this being a video before hand the pre production was to adapt this into a form that would match the audio and actions happening in the original but make it more colorful and interesting. 

Digital Video - 13 - Toby Turner one take lazy vlolgs

Here's another type of video for you. Toby Turner's vlogs are done in a single take with his iphone or hand held camera if his phone is unavailable. It's a very interesting style to do vlogs in because most vloggers pride themselves as video editors as well and want tos how off their skills and make a video the best they can. Toby instead focuses more on the content on the vlog instead of focusing on when and where the cuts are going to be made. This is kind of the exact opposite of Dan Brown's style. 

Digital Video - 12 - CGP Grey Leap Year

This is one of my favorite videos of Mr. Grey's because it has a lot of interesting visuals that add to the information given. When you're making a video to educate the masses you need to keep the attention of the masses to get the information to sink in. Here we see many visuals of a calendar, the days de-synchronizing with the year that we set, and many humorous elements that keep attention on the subject matter. 

Digital Video - 11 - Common mistake

An AARP commercial came on tv just a moment ago and the way the cuts were made I realized how nice it was how the shots flowed into each other and no single one lasted more than a few seconds long enough to recognize what was going on but not too long as to grow bored with it. The mistake of making a shot last too long is something that I've seen video production students make over and over again. It really puts things in perspective when you sit down and just pay attention to those annoying commercials that come up to interrupt whatever you're watching.

Adv Web - 7 - MalloryWeir.com

Stephen's wife's college website that she uses to promote her artwork. This is kind of what Stephen's website looked like when it was first created. The navigation is way too large a font and it looks weird falling down onto a second line and the logo is also way too huge. The site scrolls on forever as well. It's a clean site but it could definitely use a revamp.

Adv Web. - 6 - Stephenge.org

Alternatively Stephengeorg.com. Stephen is a vlogger and Lp'er that lives in Myrtle Beach (Longs) South Carolina with his wife Mallory. He recently revamped the website he made his senior year at Savannah College of Art and Design to act as a sort of home page for all of his projects and link to all of the other social network links. It was interesting because I was able to tell off the bat that this website was made in Dreamweaver because of the clean style of the layout and the size of the site itself; it's about 955 wide and somewhere around 800 tall. The top left links to the vlog channel and the right links to the let's play channels.

Digital Video - 10 - The Fox

Something about this video is reminiscent of Thriller for the ridiculous group dance scenes. There are a lot of good shots though in the forest during the second verse that have really strong cool colors and makes you feel like it's the middle of the night in the woods. The directors and editors obviously knew what they were doing even though the song itself is ridiculous.