OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! I just can’t believe this. This certainly has to be the scariest and the creepiest digital story ever and it just couldn’t get any better at the same time. I loved it. I am impressed by the creativity and the complexity of the project. This is truly some dedicative production.
“Take this Lollipop” is a digital story which takes you to a much customized journey; it engages you deeply into itself, because it turns out to be a story about you.
It’s an app linked to Facebook and when you go to the website, you are required to give approval to connect with your Facebook account to let the action begin. Don’t worry, it’s a safe app and you can comfortably give your approval. What happens next is really interesting.
I screen grabbed the video that played when my digital story began playing (it’s without audio, so to get the real time full experience you will need to try it yourself).
Take a look
I was scared initially, but then I enjoyed the creativity of the project. It was intriguing and involved mind blowing effort. From the app design to perfectly directing the entire movie, it surely is a masterpiece.
There came a point after I shared it with my friends and kept looking at it repeatedly that made me feel insecure with the whole idea. This project was designed for fun, but all those apps that we blindly use on Facebook have equal access to our data. Facebook’s guidelines allow the app designers and the companies to peep into our private and personal stuff.
I don’t know how they go about it, but if my location is this easily traced down by any application, I think there is a big question mark about the guidelines that Facebook issues for its customers. The digital story is kind of an eye opener. It gives an insight of how insecure the virtual world is and how we just can’t trust anyone, any company, any virtual product online because we don’t know how our private data can be used or misused.
Nevertheless, it was an amazing effort on part of the team, absolutely flawless project and I give the team double thumbs up for letting me experience something so scary yet fun filled.
While researching for a digital story online, I came across a website called, “The Johnny Cash Project” , which is an interactive digital project designed by Chris Milk
The website is broken down into three parts.
Explore
Contribute
Credit
When you click Explore, you find black and white videos of Johnny Cash’s song where the frames are composed of drawings of contributors once credited. When the song starts playing, you find a timeline with mini frames at the bottom of the player window, they are the contributions made by the viewers.
By clicking one of the mini frames, you can see a drawn image in front of you, with a tutorial of how it was drawn once you click a play button on the image. You have the option to redraw that image by following the instructions of how you can actually trace the image by pressing shift button and taking the cursor along the pattern of the image you want to draw.
You get to produce a unique portrait of Johnny Cash as you click the contribute button, the website will direct you to frame options to select from, and with the help of editing tools you can play around the selected image.
Once you finish your drawing, you can contribute it in the video and if it gets selected, it will be credited by the website in the track that plays on it. You’ll be acknowledged as one of the creators.
I think the creator of this project did a fantabulous job. The interactivity made is so much engaging and enjoyable, and the way you can actually draw a frame using basic editing tools, makes it more amusing. The success of the project speaks for itself by the endless contributions that appear in the timeline by the audience.
It is a fun interactive website, where you get to experience a whole new different thing and the technological strength of it makes it readily stand out. I tried Explore and Contribute parts on the website and it sure was fun. I don’t even want to share the disaster I made in the end, due to poor drawing but the experience was unique for me and very engaging.
The battlefield of search engines seems to be getting intense, with so many options and consistent innovation, IT companies are stepping up to prove their uniqueness to the competitive global world.
This blog post however aims at putting forth a comparison of 3 search engines namely Google, InstaGrok and DuckDuckGo.
Google!
Google is our very own favorite, most commonly known and widely used search engine. I don’t know how’d I even survive without Google. I have to even enter HOTMAIL.COM in the Google search bar, before opening it up. “Googling” is our addiction towards using Google Search Engine for every online search. It just doesn’t limit to that, Google Search engine has expanded the horizons of searching on web. The services range from a simple web search to locating places, estimating travelling time through complex Google maps. Everything about Google seems to be on the fingertips of Internet users.
In order to understand the interface of these websites. I selected “Digital media project” as the key term to search in these engines.
The interface is very simple and user friendly. Google shows the best results on top and then takes you down to the less reviewed or tagged searches. However, at times Google tends to limit the search results being shown and going a couple of pages ahead you do tend to find what you’re looking for. But how Google is used extensively for online search can’t be matched. Our professor’s, friends and colleagues won’t request us to SEARCH something. We’ll always come across the term, GOOGLE up!
DuckDuckGo!
DuckDuckGo seemed to me a highly simple version of Google. As the interface is similar to that of Google but with limited options to quick search. However it was amusing to see the search results produced by the search engine, it offered more practical results and I liked the fact that there were no ads through out the web search. It made the visual search experience more appealing. However, it definitely lack most of the quick search options, for example Google has quick search tabs on the home page that direct you towards a more refined search.
instaGrok!
A very interesting search engine, with an interactive interface, when you put your search keywords, a brainstorm map pops up and your search results are broken down into multiple categories. It looks like a “GEEK” search engine, as it gets way ahead into making things complex by showing results that depict in depth analyses of the keywords and formulating the relevant categories.
I think using this website would be favorable for researchers, who’re involved in extensive, in-depth research and study. The interface of the website is interesting but difficult to get along by new users. It’ll definitely be a good resource for researchers.
Our reliance on a search engine is very much dependent on our home page and default search engine. If you want to analyze your prospects with any search engine. Simply give the search engine sometime and analyze its feel.
You can change your default search engine from Google to any other through the following settings-
It’s like a Jungle sometimes (http://itslikeajunglesometimes.com), is a very beautiful digital story. It depicts the reality of the world we are living in and how we tend to neglect some of the most important things that need our attention. The story is an interesting documentary interview of few people, who have problems in comfortably opening up to the world and they go through situations which are confusing and mind boggling for them.
The story is about three people, who wear costumes and isolate themselves from the rest of the world. They live in a world that has its doors closed for others. These characters are shy, sad and lonely deep inside. What keeps them in that state is how people around them never noticed that they’d probably need some attention to bring them out of the isolating world and make them see the beauty of this world.
The story is relatable and can be perceived in a million ways. I felt that, having to wear costumes of different animals also depicts them to isolate themselves from people who’re deep down alike, but apparently look different. The appearance discourages them to even try approaching one another, because it is understood that they’re alone and no one will understand them.
People tend to go through different trials in life. We’re tested one way or the other and a few of us are able to come out of the tough and heartbreaking conditions, situations and experiences, while a lot of us being extremely sensitive are unable to get back to who once we were. It is tragic that people around wouldn’t make an effort to know of such people and push them into further isolation.
This digital story is broken down into different series and episodes where an interviewer asks different questions from the three interviewees and spends some time with them. It’s like a therapy and counselling done through these series of videos where these folks are able to open up and talk about themselves, what they like and remind them of the good in their life.
By the end of the series, the animals start turning back to humans when they learn that it’s probably not that bad opening up and giving life another shot. They all find buddies around them who’re more like them, with some common interests, but it was only possible to hunt them down after trying to take the first step to talk.
I loved the series, it simply touched me and the whole idea of getting the characters to dress up like animals to depict their comfort zones and nutshells, and it was just amusing to hear their tales and the way they got their happy beginning.
I liked it how the team made their website, a very simple one with a video embedded that links it to their Vimeo channel: http://vimeo.com/itslikeajunglesometimes . The presentation is wonderful and the videos were beautiful. I liked the concept very much. However, I think it shouldn’t have been limited; there should be a way for people to participate in the project and share their stories.
The project has a potential to sustain itself in the long run, because it is based on a simple but sensitive phenomenon, of getting some friendly advice and counselling to pull you out of the situations where we would definitely need someone to bring us back to the real world. I think it can be an interactive counselling or story telling site which would definitely encourage viewers to participate.
Overall, I appreciate the creativity and the effort put by the team in coming up with beautiful digital story, it will definitely make me want to make an effort towards people around me by engaging myself in exchanging words.
Before I being saying anything on this WONDERFUL project, BEAUTIFUL story and EXCEPTIONAL cinematography take a look at this short film…. “In Sight”..
The breathtaking experience of looking at world from sight of a beautiful soul’s was exhilarating, as we get to walk in her shoes while she tames our curiosity with all the answers she gives, standing out as a strong and inspirational human. Its a motivational and eye opening short film that answers all the questions we have on our mind regarding such very special and lovable people.
The story of a lady who is able to see far stretched more than we ever can is an amusing ride that makes us realize all that we miss out on experiencing regardless of being able to see. This particular short film makes me realize how handicapped we are with seeing this world and taking our sense of sight for granted by not valuing it.
The story, location, setting and content is absolutely fabulous. I love how the camera angles and cinematography compels us to follow the story and follow the character who’s sharing her story. The video quality is superb with fine editing making it absolutely flawless. The team has come up with a professional piece and I believe it can definitely give a tough time to others in any short film competition.
The cut away shots are amazing in this video, you get a wonderful feel and its so much to cover in a 2 minute and 20 seconds video, but not even for a second, it felt as if they’re rushing through the film. It was a smooth and pleasant ride. However, being a little critical, I feel that there was a little too much editing in the film and from frame to frame the effects added kind of affects the visual experience.
The team put up an amazing work together. Impressed and very thankful for sharing such a beautiful story.
It is true that advancement in technology is continuously making our lives easier but it’s also very true that it is continuing to push us into an extremely isolating era. We’re less like humans and more like robots, with the gadgets in our hands and our eyes locked at its screen. It definitely makes us no less of a lifeless, restricted and a bound creature.
Our liberty of expressing ourselves has dropped down to a robotic level, where we can express ourselves by sending a message across our loved ones saying “I LOVE YOU” (Thanks to our life saving devices), but can’t really look up for even a second when our love is sitting right in front of us. We are full of emotions and expressions with all those “Awweee’s and EEEE’s” on all our favorite social networking platforms with the same people, who when hanging around with, could barely attract us with their real existence.
Having expressed the disappointments I have with our extreme unbalanced engagement with the technology, I would like to give a shout out to my mates who’ve picked up such an interesting topic for our digital story project. They’ve introduced us with a more human like and less robotic human figure, who keeps reminding us of the fact that, YES!! TECHNOLOGY FOR SURE CAN WAIT!!!
Meet JIM… Jim is a friendly looking, smart and highly intellectual robot. The kind who’d keep reminding you that there’s a lot in life that’s being missed out because we have bound ourselves to worship our gadgets by shutting ourselves in a nutshell with them. We do have a virtual access to the world.. but the real world is getting neglected by our behavior.
See the video series below and have a good laugh:
I loved the idea of keeping the videos in the series less than a minute of duration, and still being able to express so strongly what they want the audience to interpret out of it, with the use of short, crisp and powerful titles such as: Look up, SOCIALIZE and SHUT DOWN. It requires so much dedication and concentration to come up with a series of videos consistent to the theme and maintain that element of light and crispy humor in it.
The theme of producing short videos that have a strong impact on viewers being simple, concise and funny is just amazing. I love how these guys came up with the robot’s costume. It’s so unique with the metallic silver hand-gloves and the suit and the bow and every minute detail of the character that had been well taken care of.
The props, the set, the content, the framing and the theme was well placed throughout the series. It’s so catchy and addictive that I would want to see more of these videos spreading around because I am totally supportive of the concept that people need to put the technology craze to hold and look into other aspects of what life has to offer us.
I personally found the video quality to be really nice, but being little picky, I think the audio would’ve been better if the background sounds were somehow taken in consideration while recording, like the sound of heavy machines in the background. Although it’s just being critical but thanks to the time span that takes care of everything keeping viewers engaged every nano second of the video.
I also felt that the ending of the videos could be more smoother, instead of the door slam sound at the end (if that wasn’t intentional) in the video SHUTDOWN and then the incomplete expression of YURI (the guy sitting on left side of the table) at the end of the video SOCIALIZE, if would’ve been taken care of could have resulted in completely PRO professional output. But then the effort these guys have put up with the content, props and with wonderfully playing the characters they were in, simply makes you ignore all these minor glitches.
I’d say it again, that I loved it, every single bit of it. I am so up for more of these video series that I think these guys can totally get a slot as a segment for any comedy TV show. It will totally get all the attention and praise it deserves.
Having said that, I think the team can try being hands on with collecting real time anecdotes by engaging their audience in interactive discussions through their social media platforms, and produce more of such great videos that will definitely be loved by the viewers and will be far more relate-able and hilarious.
Thank you guys for putting up such wonderful effort and producing this amazing show. Loads of love for Jim!! Your project made me smile being so tired.. as I haven’t been able to SHUTDOWN my laptop from past 40 hours now. 😉
Life as I Experience.... 
