Mockumentary, the final presentaion

If you missed the premier of Mockumentary in class tonight, there is no need to worry, you can see it here. Pop some popcorn, turn down the lights, sit back, relax, and get ready for the best final presentation on Mockumentaries that you have ever seen ...



Great, wasn't it? And, the good news is, if that left you hungry for more information on mockumentaries, all you have to do is visit this website. And you will learn all you ever wanted to learn and more!

And now, because I am a wee bit behind in my posting, the criteria I would use to study a student's study of my final presentation.

1. The first criteria would deal with humor. Creating this video helped me to see how hard it is to make something that multiple people think is funny. I would grade students on their understanding of what makes something funny and why mockumentaries are funny. They could demonstrate this understanding either in a traditional paper or by making their own clip from a mockumentary.
2. The second criteria that I would look for is the ability to distinguish between a mockumentary and a documentary. Students would need to answer the questions: What makes them different? What different/similar purposes do they serve?
3. The third, and final, criteria would be an understanding of satire. Mockumentaries are an excellent way to help students understanding satire. Students will demonstrate their understanding of satire by making connections to examples of satire in a mockumentary and satire in an assigned text.
   

Music, and not of the protest variety

In light of last nights multiple presentations on protest music, I am going to pass on that topic (despite the fact that I was part of one of those presentations). Instead I am going to talk about my musical obsessions of past and present.

To begin my musical journey I must first mention Ben Folds Five, for it is this band that I credit with saving my musical soul. When I was in high school I was very much a fan of Top 40s and Pop music. Now, there is nothing wrong with these genres of music, but they lack the depth that I so greatly enjoy in the music that I listen to today. So, I was a big fan of KDWB and KS95, until my brother bought the Ben Folds Five CD Whatever and Ever Amen. I heard him listening to it and immediately fell in love. I walked the mile plus to Cheapo Records in Uptown and bought my own copy of the disk. I listened to it over and over and over. Ben Folds Five opened new musical doors to me. Ben, and Darrin, and Jesse taught me what real music was. And then they broke up before I ever had a chance to see them live. I remember when I heard the news, I was in detention and my history teacher told me. My little musical heart was crushed. But, I moved on and found many other artists just as awesome.

The band that I am most recently obsessed with is Cloud Cult. Hailing from around Minnesota (now mostly living in Duluth) Cloud Cult is an eclectic band. Their music encompasses electronic, alternative, folk, and more. Each song has a different and catchy sound. I first heard them on the Current. They were covering Mr. Tambourine Man. The song sound so surreal and calming that I immediately logged onto the Currents website to check the playlist. Lo and behold it was Cloud Cult. That night I downloaded the CD the Meaning 8. After listening to CD once it was clear that I was in love.

I recently got to see Cloud Cult in concert and it was awesome. Not only does their music sound better in person, but they also put on a great show. During the concert there were two artists on stage painting. They each had a blank canvass at the beginning of the show, and a work of art by the end. It was neat to see how the music influenced the art.

My Media Week

There are a few primary sources of media that I interact with in any given week, they are:


















I spend the vast majority of my time interacting with media either online or through the radio. These are the two sources that I have the most contact with. I am almost always near a computer, whether at home, work, or school. This makes it easy to constantly check for updates to my favorite websites. When I am not near a computer, I am either near a radio (in my car) or my iPod (where can't you take an iPod). My iPod listening is very much influenced by my by what I hear on the Current (bless their online playlist) and MPR (thank goodness for podcasts).

I think that I feel a special bond and affection for both the Current and MPR because I am a member of public radio. I very much enjoy knowing that I supporting a service that I use so much. I also like the feeling, that in someway MPR is responsible to me. They are responsible to create the best and most accurate programming possible. Their journalists and DJs must be of the highest standard, otherwise people like me will discontinue our support.

I very rarely watch television, at least not when it is broadcast originally. One of my splurges every month is a subscription to Netflix. I absolutely love Netflix because it fits into my busy schedule. I can rent movies and watch them when I want to. I don't have to worry about late fees or about getting to the movie store (any mailbox will do!). But, the real reason I love Netflix is for the T.V. shows. I like watching T.V., but I hate watching commercials. Netflix has allowed me to watch T.V. without commercials. It also allows me to watch T.V. without being made a slave to the schedule of a network. I love it!

Media in the Classroom

How would I use media in the classroom? Who knows ... I honestly have no real answer for this question. I am not up-to-date on what books have been made into movies, what movies were inspired by books, and what is appropriate to use in a classroom. I feel as if I should have a way better answer for this question (especially after taking this class), but there is so much out there that I don't know where to start.

I know that I really want to incorporate media into my classroom. And I know that I want to do it in a very specific and engaging way. When I was a student, movies in the classroom often meant nap time. I want to find a way to use movies without putting my students to sleep. One way to do this is to use clips of a movie. If I only show five or ten minutes of a movie, students have little time to get bored. This will also force me to make sure that the clip I want to show is valuable to the class. If students want to see the entire movie they can rent it or stay after school to watch it.

Besides movies, I want to bring in music and other forms of media into my classroom. Music is such a vital part of everyday life, no matter who you are. It is almost impossible to go through a day without hearing music. Whether it is on the radio, mp3/CD player, on T.V., or in a store, music plays a part in life. I would like to explore music with my students. How does it influence them? What parts of music do they pay attention to? Is it related to reading or understanding a text?

Documentary

If I were to make a documentary about anything in the world, it would be about the lives of reality T.V. stars after they are no longer on T.V. (Let us write this topic off to the rash of reality T.V. that I have watched as of late. I am normally not reality T.V. fan, but once and a while it is fun to indulge myself.)

Once, when I lived in Boston, I was waiting for the T and I saw a cast member from MTV's Road Rules. My friend who I was with immediately recognized this person. Once it was noted that we (we meaning all of us waiting for the T) and small commotion was created. The Road Rules star was quickly encircled and buried with questions. What was it like to be on the show? How did it feel to watch yourself on T.V? Did they portray you accurately? What are you doing now?

These are all questions that MTV and other networks try to answer. They want their viewers to feel well informed about the shows that they are choosing to watch. They also want their viewers to feel good about the television choices that they are making. However, I do not feel as if we can trust what a company has to say about their own show.

I want to make a documentary about how being on T.V. really affects a "real" person. Are they able to find work afterwards? Does it affect their personal life? Their romantic life? How are things different from before? Is post production/stardom what they thought it would be? For how long do you get recognized? Were you fairly portrayed on T.V.?

A movie about me

I was poking around my hard drive and found a movie that I made for a class this past summer. I find it pretty entertaining, so I thought I would share.

Rainbow Church of Love

For class we were assigned to make a fake commercial. This is what my blog partner and I came up with.