Creating a video mash-up is not a task for one who has a tendency to give up easily!

Although I was not the biggest fan of the mash-up, I am grateful for the experience. I definitely learned a lot from the project. The main lesson I took once my mash-up was completed and I no longer had to think about it, was perseverance. My working through hurdles, in the form of topic choices, video retrieving, cuts, edits, audio levels, and uploading to YouTube, skills were greatly enhanced through the creation of this assignment.

Not only was I able to work through difficulties, but I was able to learn how to use new technologies. I learned how to use Windows Live Movie Maker and I have also mastered converting files into the correct format and uploading those videos to YouTube.

If you would like to read a more in-depth narrative about my Video Mash-up experience, please visit my Research & Argumentation page which includes two reflections on my mash-up.

My Video Mash-up page shows each of the drafts of my mash-up from the first to the last and a short description about each.

I think there is always room for improvement, but since there are due dates in college and I need to adhere to them, my mash-up is as complete as it will be. Are you interested in the topic of ethics? Do you simply want to watch a somewhat comical, somewhat serious mash-up? You can watch my Video Mash-up below. I hope that you enjoy it!

I would love feedback, on either the YouTube video itself or on this blog, regarding my mash-up or any other aspect of my work that is displayed on my website. My website's homepage gives you links to every other page. 

Chapter 3 from Mamet's book On Directing Film, is mainly about structuring a film. The chapter is useful to writers in that it focuses on a lot of different aspects of writing. Writing is writing, whether for films, essays, or blogs. There were a number of terms that Mamet brought up that I had not ever heard before and therefore did not know the definitions of. A few of these were "shore up", "neurosis", and "juxtaposition". 

Shore up is a phrase that means to sustain or hold. 

Neurosis, as defined by Mamet is, "the attempt of a disordered mind to apply the principle of cause and effect." Another definition for neurosis - ordering of unrelated events, ideas, or images in favor of an overriding preconception. Mamet gave an example of this: "I am," for example, "an unsightly person": that's the over-riding preconception. Then, given any two unrelated events I can order them to make them mean that. "Oh, yes, I understand. This woman came out of the hall and did not seem to notice me and rushed into the elevator and quickly pushed the button and the elevator closed because I am an unattractive person." That's what neurosis is. 

Lastly, juxtaposition is the fact of two things being seen or placed together with contrasting effect. 

This YouTube video titled "Opt Out - The Exam - Creepy Uncle Sam" is about opting out of Obama Care. The video portrays a great example of juxtaposition - the images in the collage at the very beginning of the video are all organized together and fit on the screen in a way that makes the viewer think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7cRsfW0Jv8. 

I'll leave you with this photo that I think depicts juxtaposition in a very direct manner..

McKee's chapter on structure and meaning was so beneficial to me. I gained so many new tips and understandings about writing through this chapter. There were many key terms that were highlighted and explained. One key term was aesthetic emotion, this is what the reader feels from a story. To tie in with McKee's chapter, Professor Kopp created a Prezi presentation that further elaborated on and described what McKee was saying. He essentially put McKee's concepts in different words in order to help us to better grasp the concepts. One thing that I thought was really important from McKee is that conflict between a counter idea and a controlling idea will draw your readers in. A controlling idea is a value plus a cause, it is a statement in which some value results from some activity, it is something that leads to a winning value. One of the descriptions for controlling idea that McKee offers is this: "A Controlling idea may be expressed in a single sentence describing how and why life undergoes change from one condition of existence at the beginning to another at the end" (page 115).  A counter idea is also a value plus a cause, however, it is something that leads to a losing value. 

Professor Kopp brought the text to our level and incorporated an example about something we were all familiar with, the Lion King movie. I found this example to be very helpful. After having a class discussion about it, where we talked through the controlling and idea and counter idea from the Lion King, I was able to have a much stronger hold on McKee's chapter. To sum it up, the story line goes back and forth throughout the movie, but in the end the controlling idea prevails. This controlling idea was that no matter how far one strays from the truth, life truly becomes fulfilled once one submits oneself to the circle of life. Obviously, Scar was going against this through the movie, he did not want to conform to the circle of life and looked down upon it. Then, for one second, he tells the truth, and this is when the controlling idea wins. I really liked this example, I am able to fully understand new information when it is presented to me through a connection with something I already know. Making relations is a huge factor in learning.

This link http://palc.sd40.bc.ca/palc/Archive/writingtips/controllingidea.htm offers some tips to writers and focuses on controlling idea. I thought it was pretty interesting, they used different words than McKee or Professor Kopp to explain the definition of controlling idea, like "A 'controlling' idea is an idea that makes a reader ask a question. Any time a topic sentence has a good 'controlling' idea, the reader will have his or her curiosity raised." Although the term is defined slightly differently it has the same general idea to it. I think that there are a few ways of looking at controlling idea. I like the approach that was taken here, I think they offered a useful point, that strong topic sentences include a good controlling idea. I will use this in my own writing!