Friday, May 30. 2025

Today's schedule is CDAB

A Block Physical Geography - We are in the Learning Commons/Library for work on our Weather Forecast project. First, a reminder. You will only have this week to work on it as next week we look at Climate and Climate change. The following week you have a test and then your final exam to work on 

You may film in the class any class this week. Remember, the chroma key green screen in the classroom is in the middle of the room, facing the smartboard (the whiteboard thingy I use every day). You can project your script on the smartboard and read it there, while your partner video records you, this way, you'll not need to memorize your script. Try to stand a few feet in front of the screen so that you can avoid shadows. I'll have the front lights on but the back lights off. There are also Softbox studio lights on either side of the green screen all so that your background pops. A good general rule is to avoid any reflective materials in the shot. Jewelry and glasses can complicate this. If you know you need a green screen for a given shot, then you should keep tabs of what props are necessary and adjust as needed.

I will have a computer with the Windy webpage and you can adjust the filters to show what you'd like. Or you can put the windy image on the whiteboard if you've memorized your script (or have written it out on cue cards large enough to read). We can flip the image so that you can adjust your body accordingly. After you can snip or game DVR the windy moving image so that you have an active background image to use with the chroma key green screen video you record. Alternately you can have a static background and then all you need to do is have the image you want to be as your background. 

How to screen record in Windows 10 or 11

How to Capture Video Clips in Windows

There are lots of intuitive Chroma Key video editing apps for your phone or software for your computer for editing and rendering after. Also don't forget there's lots of royalty free weather forecast green screen Stock Footage Video...do some searching on-line. Above all get it done and have fun! like this... 

But seriously...

 

B Block Criminology - Some people think that since there is so much crime happening they feel the need to take on crime themselves. Often the story of Catherine "Kitty" Genovese is cited as an example. This classic narrative of human failing was in fact hyperbole. From the LA Times article... 

When Genovese died it was the New York Times that created the shocking narrative of indifference and apathy, with a front-page story two weeks after the murder that began: “For more than half an hour, 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens.” The story - and the number 38 - apparently originated with a conversation between New York City’s police commissioner and Abe Rosenthal, then the paper’s city editor. But the number was substantially exaggerated and inadequately checked before being allowed in the paper.

This created a moral panic/urban legend-myth that bystanders were apathetic to a woman's cries for help and ignored her - to the point that she died. Some saw this as a clarion call to act because others wouldn't.  (THINK, FEEL, DO). Some are some costumed "super-hero" vigilantes, like in Seattle - members of the Rain City Superhero Movement. Check out the Seattle PI article on them here. You can check out the article and video from Good Morning America on Phoenix Jones broken nose here. You can watch the Young Turks video on the Rain City Superheroes here.

 We'll watch some of the full doc today and Tuesday

For Monday's blog post I want you to track your media consumption for 24 hours. So for you, at the end of each chunk of time (8 am to 12 pm; 12 pm to 4 pm; 4 pm to 8 pm; 8 pm to midnight; and if necessary midnight to wakey time) that you are awake for one day I'd like you to write down what media format you interact with for that time and guesstimate how much time you interact with it. I know that you are a generation of multi-taskers (and that you are interacting with this blog right now) so try to be as honest as you can about what you consume/interact with.

I want you to explain how much you think you'll consume, then identify the actual amount. 

Next, identify what surprised you about your findings and explain how you consume it (do you multi-task - streaming video with listening to music while gaming and commenting about it via social networking? Do you single-task or immerse yourself in one format/content - watch one webisode or episode of something with no other media? Do you binge - save your media consumption for one dedicated time period? Do you nibble or graze - watch little bits sporadically throughout the day?). Do you mostly consume "user created" media product (You Tube, Tumblr, TikTok, SnapChat, Discord, Twitch) or do you consume "mainstream" media products (cable television, Internet websites, radio or online radio like XM, Spotify, Sound Cloud or Apple/Amazon Music, magazines or newspapers)? Finally, are you always "on" or do you "unplug" (in other words are you continually checking, reading, creating, consuming) How do the number of hours you spend online every day, the types of online content you view, and your motivations for where you spend your time online shape your everyday behaviour? 

Please review page 16 of the text (in the pdf it's page 52)  Media &Culture: Mass Communication in a Digital Age which deals with Media Convergence. From page 521 of the "Media & Culture: Mass Communication in a Digital Age" book linked above:

Many believe that media have a powerful effect on individuals and society. This belief has led media researchers to focus most of their efforts on two types of research: media effects research and cultural studies research....cultural studies. This research approach focuses on how people make meaning, apprehend reality, articulate values, and order experience through their use of cultural symbols. Cultural studies scholars also examine the way status quo groups in society, particularly corporate and political elites, use media to circulate their messages and sustain their interests. This research has attempted to make daily cultural experience the focus of media studies, keying on the subtle intersections among mass communication, history, politics, and economics. 

Feel free to use this Media Usage Calculator

Today's Fit...