Videos on the internet.

If you haven’t heard of the internet phenomenon known as Youtube, you’ve probably been living underneath a rock for the past five years. For the uninitiated, Youtube is a video hosting website where users (that’s you, chief) can upload and watch user created videos. Youtube, and other services like it, can provide journalists with a better means of communication. However, you shouldn’t go overboard with your newfound power. Clips are better if they’re kept short and sweet. If you’re clip is over five minutes you might as well be showing an ADD kid a documentary on the intricacies of the FCC, given the nature of the internet today. So clips should be short, sweet, and informative.

Recently, on the homefront, a college group held a Regency era ball. It sounded somewhat interesting, and I wanted an excuse to film something and get up on our website. So I grabbed my camera, a reporter, and went to the ball. The clip’s short, not even three minutes, and could have been lengthened with what footage I got, but I felt that it wouldn’t have added much. Well, see for yourself:

That was by no means a work of art, but it is a start. I could have gotten the instructor’s name, and probably should have, I could have interviewed two other individuals who were waiting to play music. However, I wanted to make sure this clip stayed under that three minute mark. Now, given the situation, I could have split the whole thing up. I could have kept that clip the way it is and add two more: a clip with the musicians and a clip with the dance instructor. This would make the event a series where the user could choose which clip they wanted to watch at their own leisure. But hey, there’s always next time.

Again thoughts and criticisms are welcome.

Online Journalism Blog

The Online Journalism Blog has put up an interesting series. It’s entitled BASIC principals for online journalism and it covers every aspect a journalist should know for the online realm.

Here’s an excerpt:

It shouldn’t have to be said that the web is different, but I’ll say it anyway: the web is different. It is not print, it is not television, it is not radio.

So why write content for the web in the same way that you might write for a newspaper or a news broadcast?

Organizations used to do this, and some still do. It was called ‘shovelware’, a process by which content created for another medium (generally print) was ‘shovelled’ onto the web with nary a care for whether that was appropriate or not.

It was not.

Paul Bradshaw does an excellent job outlining what should be done and why. Give it a read. Now.

An experiment of sorts…

Well, here we are with a fancy new blog thing-a-ma-jig to fool around with. So as an on-going type of experiment, and for a reason to update this thing, I’ll be posting programs, examples and other things that show off internet journalism; hence: New Age Journalism. Expect a lot of multimedia showings, examples and links to other sites with exemplary showings.

Also, expect some less than stellar showings. Yep, some young foolish wanna-be journalists will be posting their shabby video/picture/audio/article nonsense on this site. And as always, critiques are welcome, as are suggestions and requests.

We hope you enjoy New Age Journalism and its ongoing experiment.

Sincerely,

Michael Mayday

Editor-in-whatever

Movie Review: The Fallen

“The Fallen” is a small independent-film set in World War II. With little production value it’s hard to recommend this movie against the sea of other WWII films with a budget.

“The Fallen” attempts to make up for its lack of flashiness by telling the story of the common soldier. The movie features a unique perspective by showing three sides of the war: the American, the Italian Social Republic and the Nazis.

The film is non-biased; it portrays the daily lives of soldiers in each army as WWII rages on around them.

But the constant alternating between each side is more confusing than enlightening. For the first half of the movie you cannot connect to the characters on the screen.

Some characters are just clichés bundled up in a uniform and told to act. For example there’s the gun-crazy American, the bald strong guy and the tight lipped officer.

The second half of the movie finally develops an emotional tie as the Americans advance around the failing German and Italian armies. The Italians and Germans are desperate, the Americans are scared, and you finally care.

And for caring you’re awarded. Towards the end there are moments that really catch you up and make you glad you bothered to watch, but those scenes are too few and far between the monotony of the rest of the film.

“The Fallen” is not rated, but is no worse then day-time television.

Videogame corner: Indie-games

There are a lot of Indie games out there. Some games charge money to play, but most are free. The Collegian has compiled three free simple games to give readers a taste of the booming indie game business on the Personal Computer. You can download each of these games by following the links on the Collegian website.

Knytt Stories:

“Knytt Stories” is an Indie game created by Nicklas “Nifflas” Nygren.

Instead of one storyline, “Knytt” has different worlds with different stories. These stories are very simple and serve the game well.

The game falls back onto the “Super Mario Brothers” formula, so there’s a lot of jumping and a lot of deaths. But it never really gets frustrating. Instead, the game’s atmosphere compels you to explore the world and gain new abilities.

There are many worlds for you to explore, too. Each one is different and challenging in its own way.

In fact, when you’re done with the first few worlds you can create your own.

“Knytt,” comes with a fairly complex level editor, however, you can download levels created by other users.

If you enjoyed “Super Mario Brothers,” you should enjoy “Knytt Stories.” It’s a very simple, but enchanting game, and better yet, it’s free.

Passage:

“Passage,” created by Jason Rohrer, is a very curious game. You only have five minutes to play it. That’s it. Five minutes for you to live your character’s life.

“Passage” is an artsy game and operates on many levels. If that’s not your cup of tea, then skip to the next review now.

That being said, “Passage” is more or less a game about mortality. When you die (and you will), the game is over. You can choose to marry in your life, or you can choose to live single.

Live single and you can access areas that you couldn’t if married, but this comes at a cost: you will enjoy far fewer “treasures” in life by yourself.

Get hitched and you’re stuck with your wife for you’re five minute life. Not only that, but you can’t access areas that you could if you were single, and navigating a maze with your wife can be very frustrating. But the points you gain while being married are much more valuable.

The goal of the game is to get as many points as possible, but this, like the rest of the game, is open to interpretation.

“Passage” is a great game for discussion and for the curious.

Synaesthete:

“Synaesthete” is a music based game developed by students at DigiPen Institute of Technology.

“Synaesthete” merges “Guitar Hero” gameplay [ßstet] with a shooter. And it works. Before long you’ll find yourself bumping to the euro-techno that evolves as you play.

However, there are a few problems.

“Synaesthete” has the annoying tendency to throw poetic-text onscreen as you complete each section within a level. The text is supposed to enhance the game, but it distracts more than anything else. Also, the difficulty is almost non-existent; you can go through the game without dying once. Also, you’re not penalized for missing notes, but this is just nitpicking.

The experience you get is ultimately rewarding even if it’s mostly because of the music.

Retro-Review: Samurai Rebellion.

Masaki Kobayashi’s “Samurai Rebellion” is a film set in feudal Japan. Made in 1967, the film follows Isaburo Sasahara, an aging samurai, who openly defies his lord’s orders.

The trouble begins when Lord Masakata arranges for Yogoro, Isaboro’s son, to marry a disliked mistress. Yogoro and the mistress fall in love, but Masakata demands her to be returned after his favored heir dies.

Isaburo and Yogoro refuse to return her, despite huge amounts of political pressure from both fellow clan members, and their own family. Throughout the movie it feels as if the whole world is against them.

And what’s haunting is the fact that it is against them. In a society that places honor before humanity and righteousness you feel the character’s chill of abandonment. There’s the foreboding feeling of no hope for our moral heroes.

And that very tension is what makes this movie so great. It grabs your attention and doesn’t let go. Throw a little twist in at the end and you have a surprisingly good movie.

Contrary to what the title may suggest there is surprisingly little action, at first. But when things finally heat up towards the end, the action is unrelentingly intense. And at the movie’s climax, you hope that Isaburo succeeds, despite the unrealistic odds.

You can find “Samurai Rebellion” in Mossey Library. The movie is in Japanese, but it has English subtitles.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, and have a happy New Year.

Oh, and I’m going to try to start this little thing back up. Ha.