IDAT 101: My intervention

For my intervention, I have decided to juxtapose a video of Justin Bieber playing a character on CSI who gets shot dead with a video of the public mourning of Kim Il-Sung in North Korea, in reference to a 4chan campaign to vote for Justin to perform in North Korea, with fake subtitles added to change the subject to it being Justin Bieber's death rather than the Dear Leader's. The reason why I've decided to do this as an intervention is because I wanted to address the rivalries between fans and critics, the latter of which had made him subject to a vote in favour of a tour in North Korea, and also because an episode of CSI, where he gets shot dead, and the recent events on YouTube relating to a 4chan campaign last year inspired me to construct such an intervention.

The intervention is a satire of several memes, which include the aforementioned ones, but also incorporating an idea that has been used for the Downfall meme, where fake subtitles are added to make something in a foreign language sound like it was about something different to the actual, original topic. This time, the fake subtitles are used to give an illusion that Justin Bieber was going to perform in North Korea, but since his demise in the intervention, the whole public are extremely melancholic about his loss, and even mentioned the great effort that has been put to get him to North Korea, including building monuments, mass-purchasing tickets and even donning t-shirts. The intervention also covers the issue about rivalries between 'beliebers' (loyal fans of Justin Bieber, particularly hardcore ones) and Justin's critics, in which this intervention is designed to target. Often, the criticism is criticised by 'beliebers', who often use the excuse of jealousy to defend him, whilst critics would fight back and even take extreme measures to shock them, like for example, YouTube was hacked with messages against him, and even a fake banner informing of his 'death'. The intervention is designed to provide entertainment and irony, whilst at the same time shocks the most naïve of 'beliebers', until the most educated ones realise that it is just a spoof. The so-called reaction, depending on what angle it is taken depends on these aforementioned factors, whether or not it will be just a humourous response or an excuse to pontificate defences, which would be most likely be seen in hardcore fans, especially younger ones.

See here for the intervention: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LtVa0MR2g0

IDAT 108: Film project with Skyzon Studios: Social Killer

As part of our project in IDAT108, we have decided to do an interactive film, which, under a fake-and-non-existant NDA (non-disclosure agreement), I can't say much to spoil the storyline (and the anticipation people are probably expecting for the film!) apart from the fact that the film features Facebook and a storyline that is decided via interactivity using Flash.

The experience of the meeting was very good as I've had a taste of what will be coming in the project, and how film projects in general work. Since then, I have been assigned the role of cameraman, and many things are starting to take shape: we now have a schedule set for preparing scripts, filming, editing, and the premiere that will take place after the film has been complete. All of that is within a given timeframe that has been set just in time for the last day of modules before the spring break, and before the SOFT131 exam and the workshops that are going to take place during May. We have also organised a party as a tie-in with the filming, and to create scenes that will be used with the film project.

IDAT 101, IDAT 108 & SOFT 131: Interesting stuff and a snake

Yesterday's and todays lectures brought many interesting things to my mind; more stuff about spaces and a cube that recognises your voice and adjusts accordingly (imagine saying 'antidisestablishmentarianism' into the cube?). Then there was more about the history of photo and video (even in history, someone can prove that high-quality images equivalent to what we can get now was actually possible back in the day) and then more about JavaScript and guess what? A snake came along to the lecture, and at first I didn't see the link about what we were learning until it was explored: literature about keeping snakes is in Fahrenheit because it came from our friends the other side of the pond, so therefore, a converter must be created in order to then change the units to Celsius, which we, like the most of the world, use.