Blog 2

So we began the daunting task of watching Alphaville. I had no idea what to expect. The closest movie I had heard of that sounded like Alphaville was Alphie- a movie about a serial womaniser. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong in my initial comparison. Alphaville began as a black and white 1960's movie in French and German. Although there were subtitles, I found it hard to keep up with the content. Even now, after watching it, I cannot exactly describe what it was about. The main character kept moving around the town Alphaville in different scenarios with girls after sex and men after money. The whole movie was based on a futuristic feel from 1965. If we watched this movie in 1965 when it was released, I’m sure we would have been amazed by the new technologies and modern buildings presented to us in the movie.

The only relevance I can see that this movie could have with New Comm. Tech is the fact that we can observe just how much technologies have improved. Alphaville did not appear to be digitally altered, and no special effects were used. It is obvious that after 50 years, society has come along way in their technologies.

The task for today was to add class mates to our blog page. After discussing how to do this with Courtney and Alyce, we all managed to add people to out mate list.

How do I use new communication technologies to communicate with my friends and family?
I often use hotmail, MySpace and Facebook, to communicate with friends and family. I find these types of websites and networking sites convenient and easy to use. People from anywhere around the world can check out your photos from the weekend, and find out how I am.
Although I don't chat with random people I don't know, I have added people who I will be travelling with to Europe in July on Facebook. One of my fellow travellers set up a network for just us travellers so we could all meet and check out each other's photos and information about themselves. The difference between these people and my friends is just that- I don't consider them my friends just yet. They are people I know of and will get to know more when I meet them in person. I probably started using these networks in my later years of high school mostly as a way of keeping up to date with high school friends. I don't add people I don’t know on MySpace and Facebook and keep my profiles on private to deal with my privacy issues.

The readings for this week started with a screen and media study piece. Throughout this piece I read how techniques such as silence, volume, music and special effects all affect the sound of the film. The image is affected by framing, composition, depth and lighting, whilst the movement is affected by zooming and tilting. The final step of the film is editing. After completing Communication Practices last semester, I have observed most of these elements when presenting my piece to camera.
I also read some reviews on Alphaville and information on the French New Wave. The French New Wave started in the 1950’s when a younger generation of film producers introduced many new techniques and technologies to the film making processes.

Well, I'm off to start my extended Easter break now....
Laters Skaters....
Leish xx

Blog 1

Who is Aleisha? Sure, you were all thinking it but I said it. I am a one of a kind, full of energy, 19 year old chick, originally from Brisbane, currently residing on the Gold Coast. I worship my friends and family like they are angels, and would do anything for them. I love the beach with a passion, and am crazy for celebrity gossip. I will one day call Hollywood home, and be a correspondent to the stars! I am stoked to be travelling to Europe this year, to jump into my travel bug shoes. And that’s me in a nutshell.

Second Life anyone? I hadn't really heard of Second Life until the first lecture. I knew there were games on the internet that people could become members of but I didn't know the extent that some people go to. Second life is basically a three dimensional world where anybody can sign up, create a character and control what their character does. From sleeping with other people and stripping to flying and buying top quality wedding dresses, everything you ever imagined is on Second Life. I cannot quite understand the desire for some people to spend days on second life, spending thousands of dollars on their characters.

How often do we use email in the modern society? This point was thoroughly discussed throughout lecture 2. After observing our own course’s responses, all of us at least use email occasionally. Therefore email is not dead. However there are many negative traits of it. Spam is one major negative factor. Almost all of us have been the victim of spam. The term “Nigerian email” was actually new to me; I had always viewed junk mail as spam.

Are Bloggers Journalists? Another point which raised eyebrows in lecture 2. In my opinion bloggers are not journalists due to a number of reasons. I am currently blogging right now but I am not considered a qualified journalist. I am an aspiring journalist. Anybody with an opinion can write a blog, no matter what their qualifications are. People can lie on blogs, and provide misleading information, there are no boundaries as to what you can or cannot write about. Sure, journalists do write blogs, but not all bloggers are journalists. They are far from it.

The tutorial task for today was to design out own blog page. This was interesting as I had never designed a blog. I decided that MySpace and Facebook were not counted as I don’t actually write blogs on them! Following the basic instructions on www.blogger.com, my account was created. It was an easy step by step journey to open my account. I am still yet to jazz up my page, and add exciting links to the content. Within time, I believe it will get better, as my knowledge will improve. I am actually enjoying learning about blogs, considering my curiosity to the celebrity world; I believe blogs will be quite useful to me. Knowing that people like Perez Hilton started with an ordinary blog just like this one, makes me realise anyone can make it big by writing a blog. Even though I don’t intend to become famous from this blog, it is interesting to hear how so many other people rely on blogs in their everyday lives.