I would feel sick if I didn't get a chance to show you what I am capable of producing outside of what I have been able to create in my MDIA classes. Since I am applying for music production, I feel obligated to show you something I've made since I've only been in one audio based class which started this semester, therefore I have only made two very basic projects.
Whether you listen to this or not, I just want you to know this is something I produced, recorded, and mixed from scratch all by myself in my bedroom. This is just one of 17 songs I put on an album I worked on last year. I understand if you disregard this post, but I hope you take this into consideration and focus on my early production abilities during the application process.
ENJOY!
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/flock-roll-over-rollin-song.833775.html
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Item 1
Item
1
Your
Voice
The story that
Flaum illustrates by his fifth grade classmate Nick Thompson highlights how
people are constantly trying to change themselves and their environment because
of a lack of happiness. The caged tiger that Nick wrote about represents us as
human beings and how we are never satisfied with what we have or who we are.
The tiger plans an escape from his first cage at the zoo, only to find out that
he is jumping into another cage, and another. He repetitively feels trapped
each time he escapes his current cage and ends up in a new one. The cycle of
the tiger escaping, but never really becoming free is similar to the cycle that
many of us humans are trapped in.
“To be yourself in
a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest
accomplishment.” Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke these words in reference to being comfortable
with the person that you are. In today’s society, many people believe that they
need to conform to a certain lifestyle. It is rare to find someone who is happy
and satisfied with themselves anymore. People are always looking for ways to
change themselves or their surroundings due to many reasons. Whether that
reason is to impress someone else, rise to a different authority, or to become
more successful, trying to escape yourself will never result in long term
happiness. Although being comfortable with yourself and confident enough to
show it may be the hardest success in life, it is the key to reaching happiness
and self actualization. Whether or not achieving this goal will lead to the
picture perfect image or millions of dollars, it will lead to the most important
goal in life; happiness. Jumping from one location or mindset to the next
hoping that we will find something more satisfying will only lead to temporary
happiness or just disappointment. Feeling comfortable in our own environment is
the only way that we can be truly satisfied in life. This is very prevalent to
todays lifestyle because of how the media portrays actresses and models. People look up to models and want to look
just like them thinking that will make them happy. Those models are so skinny sometimes it is
hard to look at, but for some reason people think that if they change
themselves to be just like them, they will end up happy. I know that for me personally, I try my best
to just be myself no matter what or whom I’m around. I know that changing who I am wont
necessarily make me happy, so I’d rather achieve happiness by being myself
which makes me pretty comfortable in any situation.
Item 2
Item
#2
Tomorrow
is another day
As the King’s right hand man, it is
my honor to welcome you to the mystical land of Athenar, where the grass is
always green, the sky is always blue, and the people are always overwhelmed
with a feeling of ecstasy. People come
from all around the universe to experience the city’s flawless scenery and
inevitable feeling of bliss. You may refer to the King as any Athenar citizen
would, King Jeffrey Red-Fur. The name
Red-Fur comes from his eloquent cape made from the fur of the rare southeastern
ginger Bobcat. From watching the King
and his royal family grow first hand, I can assure you that they aren’t much
different from a family like yours or mine.
Even though they are the regal family of this beautiful land of Athenar,
they still have family dinner like us, go on vacations like us, and even fight and
argue like us. The King’s son, Prince
Eric Williamson, has always thrived to be just like his father in every way
possible. Being the King’s son, he is
always expected to live up to the same standards as his father would, which
could be very tough for a young kid like Prince Eric. His father, being the well respected King he
is, casts a huge shadow over young Prince Eric, and all the Prince ever wanted
was to prove to his dad that he is worthy of taking over the King’s chair after
he has stepped down from power. I’m here
to tell you the story of the Prince’s journey to his father’s respect and
trust.
Prince Eric just needed that one
heroic act to prove to his father that he is worthy of being a king, and the
only way he could think of was to travel north to the eerie, haunted community
of Nelsonvillage. Every Athenar citizen
knows the one rule of Athenar citizen safety, “No matter what, don’t ever enter
Nelsonvillage”. Many have entered this god-forsaken village in hopes to slay
the dragon, but none have ever made it out alive. Ignoring all the rumors, Prince Eric embarked
on a journey to Nelsonvillage in hopes to slay the dragon and earn his fathers
respect. He set up camp right outside
the village and entered fearlessly. On
day 1, the dragon showed himself instantly and defeated Prince Eric with one
flick of the tail. He wouldn’t give up
that easy. Day 2 came and ended with similar results. Prince Eric knew he had to put his failures
in the past and start every day fresh. Day 7 arrived, and Prince Eric was
feeling beaten and battered. With little
hope left, he arose on day 7 and used his mistakes as a learning tool to defeat
the dragon. After being whipped by his
tail every day prior, he learned to anticipate the whip of his tail. As the dragon’s tail swung around to strike,
Prince Eric jumped over the tail and flung his sword at the dragon’s neck. The dragon let out a howl that all the land
could hear.
Prince
Eric did it. Even after failing 6
straight days, he kept in mind the advice his father always gave him, “Tomorrow
is another day”. Even though he felt discouraged, he learned from the past and
woke up every day with his father’s advice in mind. In the end, he gained his
father’s respect as a trustworthy future king of Athenar.
Item 3
Item
3: Media Critique
Warm
Bodies (Opening Scene)
If
it weren’t for my freshman year in the School of Media Arts and Studies here at
Ohio U, I would have never realized the amount of critiquing and analyzing that
could go in to any piece of work.
Whether the work is a song, book, film, or any other piece of creative
work, it can be critiqued and analyzed from top to bottom by anyone. It took me a while to find something I’d
enjoy to critique, but I finally found something specific.
The
piece I chose to look at was the first four-minute opening scene from one of my
favorite zombie movies, Warm Bodies.
This isn’t your typical zombie movie however. The creators flipped the zombie sub-genre on
its head by having the point of view be from one of the zombies. Throughout the whole beginning of the film
the narration is of what the zombie is thinking. Although he sounds intelligent to the
audience initially, he admits that he can’t remember his name, family, job, or
any of the norms that people live with everyday. Professor Eric Williams teaches my MDIA 1020
Media and Creative Process class, and I remember being intrigued by how he
taught us to “categorize” creative work.
He mapped out what the creator of a movie must keep in mind when
deciding what audience the film would attract, and what specific type of film
the piece will be. He laid it out in this order: Kind, Type,
Genre, Sub-genre, sub-sub-genre and Approach.
From watching and analyzing this film, I categorized the movie in every
aspect as Professor Williams taught us.
The first aspect
of the film we must look at is “kind”. The kind of film is the broad term of
Horror. Although this opening scene I am
analyzing seems pretty calm, every other aspect about it screams horror. In this scene you’ll notice that everyone is
a rotting, decaying zombie with blood on them.
When we are introduced to the “Boneys” it really puts the icing on the
cake in terms of the film being a horror film.
These nasty creatures would never be found in any other kind of
film. The second aspect is the “type” of
film. Type refers to whether the film is
an indie film, TV show, straight to DVD, etc. This movie was released in
theatres so we can easily tell it’s a theatrical type of film. Next is genre. What genre does is provide
expectations to the audience. From
watching this scene or even the trailer, an audience should easily expect a
fictional film. Anyone and everyone
depicted in the first scene are of the walking dead, so identifying the genre
is not a difficult task. What I didn’t
realize before MDIA 1020 was that “sub-genre” exists. Initially I would assume that genre would be
“zombie film” but what sub-genre does is break it down for more specific
categorization. The sub-genre would be
gore from watching this first scene.
There’s blood everywhere, dead people everywhere, and that guy sitting
on the wall peels his face off. From watching
this first scene not many people could argue against the sub-genre gore. Professor Williams broke down genre even one
more time with the existence of “sub-sub-genre”. Finally we can call this a
zombie film thanks to this category.
After laying out the specifics, we can now be able to take everything
prior into effect and call this a zombie movie.
Lastly, Professor Williams talked about the approach the creator must
take. Approach could mean a musical,
animation, spoof film, etc. but for this specific movie the approach would be a
color film for teens to adults. A film
like Zombieland took the same aspects as Warm Bodies, but added
the approach of a spoof by making their zombie film humorous too.
Critiquing
anything can be an interesting way to take a different look at something; a
more analyzed and detailed look. Before OU I would just watch films to watch
them and just follow the story, nothing else.
Now I feel the urge to analyze and critique ever little aspect of a
movie thanks to my MDIA 1020 class and my MDIA 2010 class.
Item 4
Item
4
Personal
Essay
Technology
is changing all around us everyday. As a
part of this quickly moving evolution of technology, it’s hard to imagine life
before I was born. Technology
advancements have been most important to the aspect of communication over the
years. Before I was born, communication
needed to solve some problems before it could be efficient: distance, speed,
and quality. Samuel Morse paved the way to eliminate these issues with the
invention of the telegraph. With this
invention, it eliminated the connection between transportation and
communication, making communicating to people around the country possible
within the realms of your own home. This
invention opened the doors to endless possibilities when it came to
communication. Now everyone has phones
that can fit into their pocket so it can never leave your side. You look around now and see almost everyone
zoned into their phones not paying attention to what’s going on around them.
With this new age comes possibilities, especially in modern day media. What I intend to do with my education in
Media Arts and Studies after I graduate is to use everything I’ve learned, use
all my experience, and use all my knowledge of prior media advancements to be
in the front of the pack of this fast paced, growing industry of media, doing
something I love.
One
thing I will always remember after I graduate with my degree in Media Arts and
Studies is what Professor Eric Williams told us in class on the first day of
the semester. He told us that when it
comes to getting a job in this industry, no one will focus on what you majored
in or what grades you had, what they really care about is what you’ve
done. This industry is a growing one
getting bigger and bigger everyday. With
growth comes competition. The more
people that join this industry, the more difficult it will be to get a well
paid job and make a difference. The main
focus I have in this school is to hands down get the most out of my experiences
here and do everything and anything I can in order to build my resume and gain
confidence in this field. I don’t know
what it is about audio, but for some reason ever since I was little I would
always be searching for new programs to use and new strategies and tactics to
create what I called art. My dad bought
me a semi cheap USB condenser microphone for my birthday one year, and I
thought it was coolest thing ever. I instantly started making new sounds and
experimenting with the microphone, until eventually I started making music by
myself. I would literally sit in my
room, record myself playing instruments and mix them together different ways
over and over. Ever since I found out
that there was a major called “Music Production” at Ohio U, I knew this is where
I had to be. My focus after graduation
is to use literally everything I have learned since day one of my interest in
audio production, and apply it to myself in order to get the job I love to
support a family. I want to seriously
make an impact in this industry because I genuinely love being able to be a
part of it. My grandpa always told me
before he passed to make sure I find something I enjoy and make a living out of
it. I couldn’t imagine doing anything
else and I truly look forward to applying everything I learn at OU to my job
after I graduate from the School of Media Arts and Studies.
Item 5
Item
5
Freak
Factor
David
Rendall’s article was definitely a good read for me. Identifying and eliminating my weaknesses
have always been an uphill battle for me.
The first time I was asked to identify my weaknesses was when I was
applying for my internship last summer at the Cumulus Radio in Toledo,
Ohio. I never really had to sit down and
think about my weaknesses before, and it definitely made me take a step back
and look at myself from another perspective.
In Rendall’s article, the first suggestion he listed was, “What’s Your
Problem” where he talks about identifying your own weaknesses and lists basic
options for self-improvement. I agree
with what he says in this suggestion from top to bottom. For me personally his suggestion is
perfect. After stepping back and
realizing my weaknesses, I needed to fix them while at the same time build my
strengths. I found myself however focusing on my weaknesses for the fact that
it would make me more successful. He does at the end of the suggestion made
note that he thought some of the tactic of fixing your weaknesses can be
ineffective, however I can honestly say after noticing my weaknesses, I
definitely improved on them and took a step forward towards being a well
rounded individual, which improved my ability to work with others such as being
in the studio working with others.
Rendall’s
named his third suggestion, “Flawless: There’s Nothing Wrong With You”. I tried to read this section with an open
mind, but I found myself disagreeing with him in some aspects. What Rendall tries to tell us in this
suggestion is that with every weakness comes a strength. He then lists a number of weaknesses, which
reflected with a strength. For example,
the weakness of arrogance also brings self-confidence. The reason I disagree
with him in this section is because I believe that the strengths that he lists
could lead a person back to their weakness in the first place. People judge others all the time, and if
someone’s impression of you was to arrogance, then the so called strength that
comes with it, self-confidence, could be looked at as the weakness in the first
place. I just personally think that in
this section, Rendall is trying to make the reader feel better about their weaknesses
by listing a positive that comes out of the negative, which isn’t necessarily
always true.
After
really thinking about myself in the eyes of someone else, I realize that one of
my main weaknesses would be following and not leading. I really would prefer to be the leader of a
project rather than someone being led.
In my head, I believe that I am skilled and confident enough to gather a
team, go in a studio and lead us to a successful piece of work. I’ve previously found myself getting irritated
when I am being told to follow the lead of someone who I think should be
following me. I think Rendall’s
suggestions really did help me take more steps in the right direction to
improving my weakness. I see myself
being a lot more tolerant to just being another team member, and instead of
feel irritated I do my best to give suggestions and find my role to help
benefit the team as much as possible. I
even noticed when I was younger being frustrated with something as simple as a
group book report if I wasn’t the one in charge. I didn’t probably realize it at the time, but
I know that if I would have just stepped back and discovered what I could have
been doing as a team member to benefit our group, then maybe we could have been
more successful. Overall this article
really got me to realize more about myself and it helped me discovered ways to
better myself as a whole. Whether or not
I’m in the studio or in the field, I’m ready to be an exceptional leader and even
a better teammate.
Item 6
Item
6
Creative
Work
The
assignment I posted is my Producer Podcast from my MDIA 1200 class. This particular section frustrated me for a
couple of reasons. Since I am applying
for Music Production and I have only been enrolled in MDIA 1200, my only audio
based class, for just this semester, I literally only have two very basic works
of audio to use for this application item.
I’m just really passionate about getting into this major so I wish I
could show you some of my works out of class.
However, for this assignment I took multiple audio samples from the
hip-hop producer Cardiak, and explained his importance in the hip-hop community
today. I recorded using the microphone
in the lab in room 265 of the RTV building, and mixed the project together
using Pro Tools. Although this project is basic, it can show off my fluent
mixing abilities and recognition of the program. Thank you guys so much for your time during
this tedious application process.
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