Category Archives: Blog Post

Week Four Weekly Summary

Starting off the Week

Again, starting the week was rough. I had been sick over the weekend, so I am still fully recovering. While recovering, I thought I would get some work done, so I started off with the Daily Create of the day, as well as commenting on others posts. I also cleaned up my site to make it more personal and easy to look at. Lastly, I started to brainstorm some radio show ideas, and came up with a couple ideas but did not pick one yet. Some of the ideas were maybe a late night talk show or a murder mystery. I will decide later in the week which one is better.

Listening

In terms of listening, we had to listen to an audio story called Moon Graffiti. As I said in my blog post, audio storytelling can be difficult because if you need to convey a message or plot, it has to be done in a specific way where the listener can understand it. Moon Graffiti did this perfectly in recreating possible dialogue that Neil and Buzz could have had when they landed on the moon, such as their first reactions. I also listened to the ds106 radio show. I went more in depth in my blog post, ds106 Radio Show, but in summary, it was very interesting. The stuff that they were playing while I joined was a fictional podcast called “Limetown”. The plot was intriguing, and I was able to catch on since it was in the middle of episode 5. It got me hooked and now I think I want to start listening to the full series. I can’t want to tune into the ds106 radio show every once in a while, as I want to see what other podcasts, songs, or other media it can get me into.

Radio Bumper

For the radio bumper, I wanted to do something lowkey. As I said in my blog post, I wanted to replicate the lofi music lives you could find on Youtube that can play in the background while you are studying and doing work. It was weird to incorporate my own voice (as I do not like hearing my own voice), but it was still fun to make it!

Assignments

The sound effect story was one of my favorite assignments from this week! It allowed me to be a bit creative, and to think about what I want the story to be. For my sound effect story, I decided to do a day at the beach gone wrong. It was fun to find to the different sound effects and to think about the usual sounds that you would hear at the beach. Overall, I enjoyed this assignment!

For the second assignment, I did the soundtrack to Veronica’s life. I saw a lot of people were doing this assignment to share their personal music tastes and favorite artists, so I thought I would do it a bit differently. I would make a playlist of her 10 favorite songs in order to characterize and visualize her a bit more. To see the playlist and see my reasonings behind it, read Soundtrack to Veronica’s Life.

Lastly, I had Dr. Oblivion make a podcast intro for my podcast, Liv Loves Movies. As mentioned in my blog post, Dr. Oblivion Podcast Intro, my podcast was created for my introduction to digital studies class, and I have been planning on continuing it (if I find the time). His intro explained it perfectly, with how I dive into the pieces of media and cinema in order to analyze it’s significance and messaging. Dr. Oblivion’s wit also added the edge that it needed to stand out.

Daily Creates

Daily Create #1

The first daily create of the week was to do visual poetry. We had to pick a body part and draw it with words. So, I listed the five fingers, pinky, ring, middle, pointer, and thumb. I thought it was fun, and almost satisfying.

Daily Create #2

For the second daily create, it was to draw a t-rex, which was easy enough. I don’t consider myself the best artist, but I am proud of this drawing as I was able to do it free-hand.

Daily Create #3

For the last daily create of the week, it was to make a poem out of anti-spam words. Spam is universally annoying, so it was fun to get a bit creative to create a rhyming, quick poem. Here it is below:

Block, delete, report as fake
Phishing links? Big mistake!
No click, no trick, no shady site…
Spam be gone, out of my sight!

Overall

This week was a bit tough for me in terms of motivation, but the assignments themselves were pretty fun in terms of using my creativity and thinking outside the box in order to complete them. As usual, I think my favorite assignment from this week would have to be the sound effect story, as I found it amusing to look through the different sound effects and find the ones that would create a narrative.

Radio Bumper

For my radio bumper, I wanted to make the background music, more lowkey. I wanted to replicate the music you would hear when listening to the lofi radio on youtube. Something that you could relax and listen to while you are studying or doing work for class. I found the background music off of a free music and image website called Pixabay.com. I then included just a simple “You’re listening to DS106 Radio”, just to let the music have the spotlight itself. I found this to be fun, as it didn’t take me very long and I was able to figure out what vibe I wanted to go for pretty quick.

Radio Show Ideas

I have had a couple of ideas over the past week about a radio show. And I have still yet to think of which one is my favorite so I will list them all out.

First, I thought a cool idea would to be a late night talk show interview with each of the characters. It would sort of be like a “Jimmy Fallon” or “Stephen Colbert” style show, with one of the characters hosting and the others appearing as guests. The interviews could be a bit comedic or chaotic, while also staying within the tropes of film noir. We could also have segments of listeners calling in, or maybe some of the characters playing quick mini-games. It would be fun to try to imagine our characters who come from a genre that is quite serious and brooding, be a bit silly.

Another idea is to do a true-crime murder mystery. We could come up with the classic “Clue” tropes, and have it where one of the characters is murdered, and the others have to work together in order to figure out who is the murderer. This could be more serious, but have some humor sprinkled in here and there.

I feel that these ideas would allow the group to step out of the box, and to think of their characters and how they would act in certain situations.

Moon Graffiti

I think audio storytelling is a very creative, unique way to tell a story. It can be difficult, because it is harder to convey a message without the listener being able to see what they are hearing. The sound effects and dialogue have to have a certain tone in order for the listener to infer and connect what they are listening to, to the story. Specifically, Moon Graffiti was very interesting. The beginning speech immediately grabbed my attention. My first thought was, “I do not remember them dying on the moon so this is a twist”, but hearing that it was an actual speech that Nixon recorded in case they did not return was crazy. Also the details of adding dialogue between Buzz and Neil as they are trying to land on the moon was very cool. Hearing their first reactions to the little things, such as the how the dust moved made it realistic and really puts into perspective what it must have felt like for them to land on a different planet. Overall, I enjoyed Moon Graffiti, and listening to all these audio stories makes me want to look into more.

DS106 Radio Reflection

The radio show was so fun! I joined in a couple minutes late because time got away from me. But, I was able to connect the dots on what was playing when I joined. The audible ad was talking about a fictional podcast show called “Limetown”. After doing some research, as I had never heard of it before, to quote, a synopsis said “Limetown is about a journalist Lia Haddock attempts to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of over 300 people at a neuroscience research facility in Tennessee”. So far in the episode, which I am pretty sure it was episode 5, Lia was interviewing a woman named Deirdre, who went with her ex-husband, Max to be a part of an experiment. He was convinced by a man named Oscar Totem to participate in the experiment, where he would get an implant to talk to other people non-verbally. Only half the town has the implant, and the other half, the “Old School”, doesn’t, including Deirdre. This puts a strain on Deirdre’s and Max’s relationship. Max then convinces Deirdre to get the implant in secret, which the “Old School” group eventually finds out, causing a riot. This ultimately gets Oscar killed, and someone called The Man sending out messages in order to calm people down. It is then revealed that The Man is Deirdre’s uncle, Emile. The episode ends there. Overall, I was able to catch on to the story, and I found it pretty interesting. I would compare it to a Black Mirror episode, as it has the similar elements of advancements and technology and messages about our society. There was also a “film noir” shoutout, which I thought was funny since that is the theme of our class!

Week Three Weekly Summary

Starting off the Week

If I were to be completely honest, at the beginning of the week, I had little to no motivation. But, I saw that some of the tasks was just increasing our participation, as well as voting for our favorite creations in the class so far, so I decided to start working on that. This is one of my favorite things to do, because I like to see what my peers are doing and creating. It is also interesting to see how they interpret the assignments and the daily creates, and how they are all so different and unique. It was hard to pick my favorites for the voting form, since they were so many awesome digital creations to choose from.

Readings

I loved the readings and videos for this week. As mentioned in my blog post about visual design, it was very interesting to hear the thought process behind such iconic movie posters and tv show intros. The color, font, spacing, layout, pretty much everything plays a role in conveying a message that the viewers will engage in. Getting to hear the backstory or reasoning behind movie posters such as Star Wars, as well as the intro for Stranger Things was definitely very cool, and it makes me want to look into more about visual design and how it is used to promote media.

Photoblitz

I found the photoblitz to be fun, as the prompts were pretty random and allowed me to think outside the box a little. The prompts ranged from pretty straight-forward to interpretive, such as “your favorite color” to “what does disappointment look like”. Ideas came to my head quickly, but executing them was the more difficult part, but overall this was a fun, quick activity.

Daily Creates

Daily Create #1

Wednesday’s daily create was to create an Anti-Word-Cloud with a random book, which I chose to do Anna Karenina since I have never read it, but I want to read it!

Daily Create #2

For the second daily create, we had to pick our favorite sandwich, and determine how “woke” it would be. I chose a classic grilled cheese with ham, as it is one of my dad’s favorites to make. If I were to give it a woke rating, it would be a 2 as it is a traditional, American food.

Daily Create #3

For the last daily create for the week, the prompt was to do a photo with bad photoshop. What immediately came to my mind was to badly photoshop two celebrities. So, I decided to do Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, who were the stars of the biggest, pinkest movie of 2023, Barbie!

Assignments

For the first assignment of the week, I decided to do the destress and color assignment, as it was a great way to wind down and take a quick break from all the busy work I have throughout the week. To take a peek at what I colored, as well as my reasoning and thought process behind it, read it here at Destress and Color. For the second assignment, I did a “What’s in my bag?” for my course character, Veronica Malone. This was probably my favorite assignment, as it allowed me to be creative with what Veronica likes or dislikes, as well as what items she would want to have on her at all times. To read more on what Veronica would have in her bag, read What’s in Veronica’s Bag?. Lastly, I wanted to make a graphic for one of my favorite sports teams, the Buffalo Bills. I follow the team page on social media, so it was fun to make my own graphic that looks like it would be on their social media page. To see my beautiful graphic, click here Go Bills! Overall, I enjoyed this round of assignments!

Overall

I enjoyed the lighter workload for this week, as it was easier to manage my time and when to complete each assignment. If I had to pick one of my favorite creations, it would probably be the Bills graphic, as it was so much fun to play with colors and fonts to see what looked good. Overall, this was a good week, and I am ready for next week’s workload as well!

Photoblitz

Take a picture that reminds you of your childhood

A photo of a coloring book and colored pencils.

For something that represents my childhood, I decided to do a coloring book and colored pencils. When I was a kid, I loved to color and draw, which is an activity that I still do to this day.

Your favorite color

A photo of a green towel and a pink scarf.

I thought I would show my two favorite colors (since it switches every day), pink and green. Practically everything I own is in those two colors, so I decided to take a photo of my green tower and my pink scarf (which is very practical right now as it has been freezing outside recently).

Take a photo that includes objects near and far (deep depth of field)

A photo of a field of grass, with buildings surrounding it.

This prompt was hard to decipher, but I thought it would be cool to show Ball Circle, and how the actual field is so close, yet the buildings surrounding it are so far.

Make a photograph with your camera at floor level

A photo of two doors, as well as photos and graphics in between them.

This a a photo from the floor of my dorm room, showing my roommate and I’s closet doors, as well as some of the decoration we have up in our dorm.

A photo with a square aspect ratio

A photo os a dorm room, with a large window in the center of the wall.

For this prompt, I decided to take a 1:1 ratio photo of my perspective from up in my bed in my dorm room. My roommate and I have tried our best to make our dorm as cozy as possible, and it looks especially cozy throughout the rainy day. m

Represent 3 items

A photo of the Summer Friday's lip balm, the elf lip plumping pen, and the rhode beauty lip treatment.

This one I had to think about a little, but then I decided to show my 3 favorite lip products that I use everyday.

What does disappointment look like?

This one doesn’t really need an explanation, but my first thought when it comes to disappointment was “being thrown away” or “trash”. Especially this one which is dirty and wet from the rain.

Visual Designs and the Work Behind It

The readings and videos we had to dive into for this week were definitely interesting. Hearing the thought process behind what goes into making a movie poster or the intro to a tv show just makes you appreciate the work itself even more.

In the Vanity Fair video, it was intriguing to hear how the use of color and spacing on a movie poster can introduce what the movie is about. For example, if a poster has all white in the background with the characters in front of it, the focus is supposed to be on the characters and what they are doing. Or, in the iconic Star Wars poster, how the blue represents space and the universe, and the lights and characters represent the narrative. Movies that are more action, thriller, or horror will probably use darker colors, while comedy and romance will use lighter colors. It was also awesome to hear the backstory of the Stranger Things intro (firstly because it is one of the only tv intros that I do not skip), and also their thought process in paying homage to classic 80’s filters and font’s.

Visual design plays a crucial role in shaping the audience’s and viewer’s perception and anticipation for movies or tv shows. A well-crafted movie poster or tv show intro uses different colors, fonts, and imagery in order to convey it’s message and to get the viewers hooked onto it. It not only enhances the marketing, but also makes it more memorable and impactful.

Some of my favorite examples of movie posters and tv show intros come from a variety of genres. I put some of my favs above. First, the infamous Stars Wars poster for Episode I. It is so simple, yet is sort of menacing with how we see little Anakin Skywalker, as well as the shadow behind him of what his future is. Next, Knives Out is one of my favorite movies of all time. What I like about the poster is how it perfectly encapsulates the plot and vibe of the movie. It is a murder mystery, and is based around a wealthy family. The almost portait-like filter on it makes it look like it is a family portrait. Lastly, the tv Yellowjackets, which is a show about a high school girls soccer team crashing in the Canadian forest on the way to Nationals. The font of the word “Yellowjackets” emphasizes their relationship as a team, while also showing the darkness that is to come behind it.

Overall, as you can tell, I truly enjoy a great movie poster or logo, as it enhances the viewer’s enjoyment and excitement for it. The readings and videos make me want to look more into the decision-making process behind visual designs for media.

Week Two Weekly Summary

Starting off the week

For starting of the week, I decided to start customizing my website a bit to personalize it! I wanted to do something different than my other subdomain sites. I also started reading through the different tasks throughout the week, and planning out when I will complete each task. I think I did well at spacing out the assignments, while also doing the daily creates everyday.

Daily Creates

Daily Create #1

An inspirational poster with the message, "Every coincidence carries a message, but only the curious stop to decode it". Features a photo of a man standing on rocks, looking upon a beautiful sunset over the mountains.

The theme for Monday was “unintended consequences”, so I decided to do an inspirational poster. One that you would see in a high school classroom or in a doctor’s office. I used Canva to create it, and then posted it to Mastodon.

Daily Create #2

A bad drawing of Sammy D. Eagle, the mascot for the University of Mary Washington.

The theme for this daily create was “bad art”. I opened Instagram after opening this assignment out of procrastination, and saw a post from Sammy D. Eagle, to which I immediately got to work. Of course, it only took me a couple of minutes, and I am not much of an artist, but I am quite proud of it.

Daily Create #3

A photo of my shadow in the snow, and how the sun's reflection is making it long.

The challenge for this was to take a photo of your long shadow. As I was walking back from lunch with a friend, I saw my long shadow in the snow, and took the opportunity to take the photo. I thought this prompt was quite funny and also interesting, as the effect the position of the sun has on shadows is intriguing.

Daily Create #4

It is DS106 Radio’s 14th birthday so I thought I would share a classic birthday song!

Daily Create #5

Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!
Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!
Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!

For the last daily task of the week, we had to make a poem out of emojis. For some reason, this iconic chant from an iconic movie kept playing in my mind! I guess it kind of counts as a poem, there is repetition?

Tasks

Assignment Banks

I was excited to complete these assignments, as there were so many options that it was hard to choose from them. The first assignment I did was to find my dream home on Zillow, which I then decided to make a collage of my favorite photos of the dream house I found. To read more about my dream home and my thought process behind it, read My Dream Home. For the second assignment, I made a GIF from the movie Blade Runner 2049, as it is not my favorite movie of all time, but it is one of my favorite cyber punk movies, with a stacked cast and amazing visuals. To read more, read GIF. Lastly, or the third assignment I chose to do was “Who Said What?”, where I found three characters who share similar characteristics, and made a confusing graphic of them saying an iconic quote, with showing different aspects of the characters. I chose to do iconic characters in the cyberpunk genre, and to read more about it, check out my Who Said What? post.

Building Participation

I also got to comment on and view some of my classmates blogs! This assignment was pretty easy and fun, as I got to explore my classmates blogs! It was very interesting to see all the different themes, as well as reading their blog posts just to get a peek as to who they are. I am excited to see everyone’s work in the near future.

Course Character

This was probably my favorite task as I got to get creative in creating a character under the film noir genre. It came pretty easy to me, and the archetype of the hard-boiled detective immediately stood out to me. Then, ideas started flowing about how to flesh out the character into something that fits into the genre, but stands out in a way. It was also interesting researching the different archetypes and their common characteristics. Here is my full-fledged description of my new course character, Course Character.

Readings and Film Review (Dr. Oblivion!)

Overall, I enjoyed Dr. Oblivions input in the assignments that I used him for! The readings were interesting, as I completely agree with how we should use ethics and morals when navigating advancements in technology. To read my summary, here is my post Technopoly. With the film review, I was happy to go more in depth about the Black Mirror episode I watched. To read more about my film review, here is my blog post about it Updated Film Review: Black Mirror.

Technopoly

Ideas and Summary

I found the reading to be pretty interesting! In order to accept new technology, we should fully understand it, knowing its benefits and downsides. Chapter 1 really intrigued me as he emphasized how should avoid the extremes, between being a technophile or a technophobe. Technophile as in only seeing the benefits of technology, and technophobes only seeing the downsides, or just fearing new technology in general. Chapter 2 goes through the historical and cultural context of technocracy. Chapter 3 describes how technocracy transitioned to technopoly, where it reshaped the definitions of different societal concepts such as religion or family to align with technology. Chapter 4 outlines the change in how we access information, to where we didn’t have access to much information, to now having unlimited access through the digital age. Chapter 5 showcases and wraps up the reading so far well by establishing how society needs morality when we are navigating new inventions or advancements.

Dr. Oblivion’s Input

Dr. Oblivion said that it is important to incorporate how we must stick to ethics and morals in a technologically-advancing environment. He also said how it is “essential to embrace new technology, but also be wary of it’s setbacks”. Overall, he outlined the same points that I said above.