493 Blog #4

     If I were to organize my own crowdsourced project, I think I would want to incorporate music in some way, seeing as how nearly every aspect of every layer of a song pulls influence from many other sources itself.  I'd like to try and organize a project that sort of displayed the way vast and diverse pools of influence can come together to make music.  This is just an idea, but maybe, after gathering participants, gather them into groups and give them each an order in which they are to add a layer to the song (percussion, melody, vocals, bass melody, etc.), and other group members will eventually come to model their layer of the song to go together with the layer(s) already made for it.  This way, we would have people from all over the world coming together and combining their influences to create several 100% worldly songs, which would then be combined into a sort of "visual album," the visuals for which also being crowdsourced after the music's completion.  If you're gonna crowdsource, asking a large population to contribute to a project, I feel like taking the music route is also a good way to bring passion from participants to the table, as it's practically a fact that everyone on earth enjoys music to some degree.  In the end, I think it is a project idea that I could see bringing people together.

493 Blog #3

     As we move into pre-production, I would say that what I'm feeling most is curiosity.  I feel like our class has gotten so much mapped out regarding the concepts and script of the film, but so much of what the final product will be is hinged on content we are able to pull from people that participate in its production.  I find myself wondering whether enough people will understand the vision, and if they do, how many will be truly driven to contribute.  These are things to always keep in mind when devising promotional strategies from here on out of course, but also things that keep the image in my head of what the film will end up being constantly changing and unable to pin down really.  However, when it comes to personal responsibilities such as being newly put in charge of promotional sticker design, I realize it will take a considerable amount of personal vision on my end right along with everyone else, thus again reminding me that the this film's final form goes so far beyond one person's vision or perception.  Needless to say, I find such speculation exciting and look forward to what is to come.

493: Blog # 2

     I don't mean to zero in and expound on such a minor aspect of the related media that we were given as a class to give our thoughts on, but I apologize here and now because that is pretty much exactly what I'm going to end up doing in this blog.  The reason for this is because the article "2 reasons why the term 'crowdsourcing' bugs me" really struck a cord with me with regards to our class' project and my mindset towards it.
     The first thing about it that I think very much applies to all crowdsourcing projects, but particularly ours in general, is the level of passion coming from the community that ends up contributing to our project.  As examples of crowdsourcing in action, we were pointed to things like the Johnny Cash Project or Star Wars Uncut or Life In A Day.  But each of those projects have in spades something that I feel as though our project does not have nearly as much of at this stage: extreme devotion from its willing participants.  The music of Johnny Cash resonated with millions of people and still does to this day.  Johnny Cash is a musician with a fleet of passionate fans and enthusiasts who avidly enjoy his work.  Similarly, these qualities apply to The Star Wars Saga far more so even, as the influence of those films practically knows no bounds, having created arguably the largest fanbase on earth.  And even with "Life In a Day," a certain day was picked in which people from all over the world were encouraged to merely film parts of their day in order to have the chance of having their footage featured, even if only briefly, in a feature documentary.  One need only acknowledge what Youtube has become in order to see how widespread the human sentiment of wanting to be seen is.  What we're going to have to really put heavy focus on is getting people motivated to take part in the creation myth we're forging.  Get them excited about creating this project as a way of making the mark of our existence for possible future species to look back on and learn from us, or something to that effect.  Regardless of what it may be that is to get people involved, this is something that must be heavily brainstormed that I feel as though we have not acknowledged in class yet.  With the smaller scale of our project in comparison to the few I've previously named, we are going to need increased passion from our participants to make up for it in order to end up with not only a quality project, but one that people will be able to understand when they see it and actually have resonate with them.

493 Blog #1

     One of the things I found most fascinating about the readings was the importance of the number three to the human concept of sequence, in the sense of how basic early cultures' ideas of quantity were in comparison to humanity's later ability to give a tangible label to literally any quantity imaginable.  To think that for so long this concept was absolutely unused or unheard of by so many humans is so hard to imagine.  Also, the sheer unspoken nature of human beings' natural unconditional impulse for the number three to signify a sequence is just so strange in its universality.  We all know the number two isn't enough to signify a sequence and four is too much, but what is so interesting about this is that it was never taught to any of us.  We all just seem to know; it comes built in us that three is that perfect medium in that sense.  In this way, the number three is essentially instinctively represents balance to us.
     I feel as though the most significant quality of the number four is its constructive properties.  From grid measurements to building blocks, four is practically synonymous with order if nothing else.  It is the absolute central root to the way our world has been constructed and how our technology has been advanced.  As for the number five, I find its most notable aspect is its universal signification of excellence and honor in star imagery, as well as its plethora of supernatural connotations.  It seems to represent the broad concept of a higher tier, while still being half of a perfect decade.