Comedic Silent Film

One of my favorite projects that I assign kids to do is a "silent" film. "Silent" as in no dialogue is allowed. Sound effects, natural sound and music are allowed to tell a story. Check out this movie from a talented group of juniors.

Commercials.

This is another example of my students' work. Please feel free to comment. And again, can you believe these are juniors in high school? Amazing.

Class projects

As you may know, I teach a video broadcasting class. Many times, my kids amaze with the projects they produce. Look for more in the coming weeks. Until then, enjoy the following. Please feel free to leave a critique. The first music video is a song by Blink 182 and the second is by a group called Frou Frou.

Leave Britney alone!

Ok, it's officially gotten out of hand. Have you seen the video of Britney Spears shopping at Target? Some shoppers actually got in front of the media horde and yelled for them to "leave her alone!" I applaud that.

This weekend, I attended a media law seminar at Kent State University. It was thought provoking. We spent a decent amount of time on "invasion of privacy." Two things factor whether or not an invasion of privacy is justifiable. One, is it newsworthy? For example, publishing Cleveland school shooter Asa Coon's school records. And the the second thing that can justify an invasion of privacy is the public's right to know or our demand for the knowledge. I brought up the Britney Spears shopping at Target episode. Why is it our right to know that she shopped there? And WHO is demanding to know this? Is her life that important that we know that she shops at Target?????

Larry King

So Larry King jumped on the Britney bandwagon Monday night with a huge panel of folks discussing the ramifications of Spears losing custody of her children to Mr. Ward Cleaver himself, Kevin Federline. Is it just me or has Larry King lost whatever credibility he had? I cite recent examples of my thinking that he has slipped as his softball interview with Paris Hilton when she was released from her short jail stay. King failed to follow up several times with on several items that were crying out for tough questions. No doubt, Larry's audience was huge that night as Paris was the main draw. My wondering is this...is Larry trying to widen his demographic? I highly doubt many people in the audience even watch King on a regular basis. And certainly his audience isn't full of 12-25 year olds.

O.J.

Just when I was hoping for a break from the non-stop Britney Spears coverage, I got it! But now, I have non-stop O.J. Simpson coverage. Another angle involving Simpson is the release of his book, "I Did It," as released by the Goldman family, who now own the rights to the book. The book has gone staight to the top of the Amazon book sales charts.

My question to you, the blogging public is this: what will it take for us to be satisfied and be done with O.J.? If O.J. ends up going to jail for the charges he currently faces, will you feel some sort of satisfaction because he didn't get convicted of the double-murder back in 1995?

Internet. Good or bad?

Do you think the creation of internet many, many years ago has benefitted our society overall? Or has it been a huge negative?

The FCC does not regulate the internet. Should it? If so, how do you propose the FCC regulate the world wide web?

Personally, how has the internet made an impact on your life? Please explain how it has been a positive and a negative force, if applicable.