Hello, everyone! Since winter break has started, I no longer have the excuse of college to explain my disappearance from this blog. Which means I should get back to it. Erm... haven't seen you in a while.
Of course, things are only awkward if you make them awkward. And I went there. Now, let's talk about what's been going on recently.
I'm going to break up everything I've been doing into sections based on different forms of media, so you can only read the stuff you are interested in. I'll start with the personal stuff, first.
My life.
I am at CSU Fullerton, partying it up! If by partying up you mean taking the train and spending three and a half hours on public transportation getting there and back. It's pretty fun, though, and I'm enjoying my time. I started taking courses in my Radio-TV-Film major already (Intro to RTVF), and I can tell that I'm really going to enjoy those classes. It feels like finally going to Hogwarts, except the only wizardry I'm learning is film wizardry, and the only witchcraft I'm learning is how to be a corporate sellout. Good times! Other brief accomplishments:
- I started a radio show. Yeah, that happened. More info in the Music section below.
- I attempted to write a novel in a month. Yeah, that also happened. More info in the Writing section below.
- I got an internship at Warner Bros. Studios. No, that didn't happen. I'm working on it.
Film.
Hoo boy. This will be interesting. First, I'm going to show off a collage of videos I uploaded since the last blog post (I hope it's not a measly amount).
| What I like is that there's been an obvious increase in quality over this time period. Enlightenment, I Should Be Sleeping, and Thanks Gillette are vlogs, the last one being the first in a while with a high quality setup. It is the last vlog of 2014 as well. 2015's vlogs, which begin in March, will be of much higher quality. I want to write them out like stand-up comedy routines rather than telling stories/complaining impromptu, and generally put a lot more thought and meaning behind them. |
Winter Promo plays in front of every video now. I have three promos, which change depending on the time of year and tell the viewer what my schedule is from first glance. It also reflects the direction I've been moving my channel into - moody black and white with a modern touch. I'm trying to move away from the cute fonts and vibrant colors to reflect a more thoughtful process in making my videos. Of course, this doesn't mean that every video will be moody, black and white, and have minimalistic fonts. Only things related to the channel directly, such as ads, promos, and pictures, will have this format. It represents the idea that I want my humor to be dark/satirical, and my art to have meaning and style. I'm going to make a channel trailer which reflects this style at the beginning of 2015, so keep an eye out for that. What a loaded paragraph about a three second video!
5/5 and Porn in Public are short comedy sketches. Porn in Public is interesting, because to me it is a failure. We'll start with the name. Originally it was meant to be called Park Bench. My lead actor, Anthony, thought it would be a funny idea to change the name to Man Watches Porn in Public. I struggled a bit with the title, and eventually went for Porn in Public, reasoning that it would be funnier to more of the internet audience and that it would attract more attention, especially with a thumbnail that looks like a hidden cam video. So basically, it is a clickbait title. I'm sorry. Normally, I would do a clickbait title to troll the viewer or make a satirical joke. But this one was sincere in trying to get views. And the random viewers think it's going to be a hidden cam video, so they click away when they see it's not. The video also garnered about half the likes I usually get. I believe that it is because my audience isn't used to such blatant sexual/crude humor from my channel. I was focusing on cinematography while making it, too, so I believe it suffered a bit in the comedy area. The original idea was just a man talking gibberish on the phone, and some improvised humor on the set took the video in a completely different direction which I'm not sure was right for my audience or my original idea. The video wasn't heavily promoted at all because of how unsure all this made me. That being said, I still think Anthony pulling up the moaning sounds without notice was a stroke of comedic genius. He is a king at improv and strange characters. This turned out to be another loaded paragraph.
The unboxing and acapella videos are developing some new ground for my channel. The acapella video is a continuation of another one I made a while back, which was a cover of Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc. It was a friend's suggestion to do John Cage's 4'33", which is 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence. I think it sets the tone very well for a series of parody videos. The dilemma I face with this series is: as a series of videos designed to be so bad that somebody giggles and then clicks away, how can I sustain the gag? I'm afraid I can't make a prolonged series out of this format. I think I'll have to leave it at four or five videos, each one getting a bit more creative/weirder. This is where the unboxing videos come in. I believe completely serious unboxing videos of completely unexpected products (such as a box of Kleenexes) can be an easily identifiable series which I can continue indefinitely with. This is exactly what I'm looking for. A subscriber to my channel needs to have something to look forward to and get excited about. With a bunch of completely unrelated videos, they don't have any common thread to associate with the channel. If I have two or three ongoing series, or "bits," then fans would be more easily engaged and involved. I have another series of this type planned, and one already started called Random Rednesday, which is a series of random and surreal videos. Older series like Dufus Netwerk lack the quality in the first two videos that would immediately engage somebody. That is why I want to end it at a trilogy. You'll see someday, hopefully. As for the videos that started the channel, the Epic Meals? Well, they involve copyrighted music or music I have to make myself. And they'll have to end at some point.
My big goal for the channel in terms of series is to have one huge thing that the channel would be known for. You'll see. I have ten days to meet my goal of planning it, and I think I can make it.
Now I am done talking about YouTube. If you are scrolling down frantically trying to get past this crazy business mumbo-jumbo, I hope you noticed the bold lettering and stopped.
I just finished my first semester at CSUF, and one of the classes I took was Intro to RTVF. It basically was about the history of Radio, TV, and Film and its effects on the world. Exciting, right? Hell yes. Shout-out to Professor Baldwin; she made this stuff interesting and opened my eyes a bit wider to how the media can be changed for the better, inspiring me to actually make a positive difference. Thanks! I am more motivated than ever to make a positive change and make media that means more than just entertainment. I'll get there eventually.
Music.
This post is getting ridiculously long, huh? I guess that's what happens when you don't update a blog for a really long time. The biggest visible progress I have made regarding music is scoring a radio show. It's called The Glitch Hour, it was on for the whole fall semester, and it focused on awesome electronic music.
This was my last show of the semester, playing the best music I had found doing the show. And I found a lot of good music.
I got the show by going to the radio station and requesting a show. It was that easy. They sort of threw me into the station to fend for myself, and over the semester I got better at doing it. I didn't have many listeners, which is one of the reasons I'm having trouble deciding whether or not to do the radio show next semester.
Pros
| Cons
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Alas, I'll update you on whether or not I continue on this very blog.
Non-radio stuff. Squdlum's doing great, though! I've been improving a lot in my knowledge of the production process, and I feel a lot more confident in my ability to produce quality music. I haven't uploaded anything since Absence, but trust me, I'm working almost every day recently on music. I'm making as many tracks as I can, and then choosing the best for a minimal techno EP. That's the genre I've been mostly producing, and I'll give out the EP for free/donations when I'm done with it. This is a track I'm almost finished with (the link might not work, depending on when you are reading this). The EP will be licensed under a Creative Commons license too, so that means people can use it in videos without copyright infringement! Isn't that fantastic?
Yep, that's about it for the music. More news on the EP will come when it's close to completion. I've been meeting a lot of great producers like me, who are just getting started and making great stuff. It's a pretty exciting time for me in music, and I'm certainly getting better at this networking thing. I also took a music theory class this semester. I already knew everything, but hey, at least I can read music now.
Writing.
If you didn't know, November is National Novel Writing Month. I attempted it.
I was doing good for about two weeks, then I fell off at an alarming rate. I was rewriting that novel I promised I'd rewrite a while back. Doesn't mean I've given up hope yet, though! I WILL FINISH IT EVENTUALLY!!! In other news, I've just been analyzing everything to see how good storytelling ticks. I feel it's important to understand how to tell a good story. I've been doing a lot of worldbuilding, too, so that's fun.
Games.
HA! You expect me to make any progress in games?! You are foolish! I did write a soundtrack, but that should actually go in the music section. The soundtrack, unfortunately, might never see the light of day. I'll just let it be known that I've been heavily influenced by H.P. Lovecraft and Charles Fort while thinking about this game.
That's it! Thank you so much for reading and supporting me, even though I've been neglecting you in some ways! I hope you're convinced that I've been keeping myself busy. I'll see you next Thursday! Five day until Christmas, everyone. Just reminding you.