Sowing the seeds of love to offset the anger

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The level of static flooding YouTube lately has really gotten to dangerous levels and there needs to be something to balance it like in that Tears for Fears song "Sowing the Seeds of Love"



It would be better to do something before something happens to someone on YouTube like what happened to Rebecca Schaeffer when she was shot by a stalker just because he was obsessed by seeing her on the TV show "My Sister Sam"



Some the people commenting on LucyInLA videos have been getting downright scary in invading her privacy and tracking down her resume, phone numbers and harrassing her. For some reason they think they can hide behind screen names and be safe to take pot shots at her while they expect her to expose every detail of her life to danger and don't even realize the hypocrisy of that.

She and Kerim did stand a stand and as they put it "Set the record straight Why hate when you can create." by making 2 videos that explained their intentions and expressed their frustration with the haters She was certainly right to call them freaks and psychos from all the nasty things they've been cowardly posting




The sad thing is that no matter where you go an online community, virtual reality or just down the street to a bar, wherever people gather they bring their emotional baggage with them. If they have issues or problems they are going to take them out on those they interact with. A lot of times they don't see those online as being people with feelings that deserve respect just as much as they do even if they aren't in different avatars like in Virtual Reality. But I doubt they would show people they see in person any respect either since they are probably to selfish to think of others as deserving equal treatment or manners.

They seem to have all these false expectations of Lucy that they wouldn't have of themselves and somehow they think it's alright to put her under a microscope just because she's trying to become an actress that they wouldn't survive under either. That "can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen" attitude disappears very fast when the same standard is applied equally to them. The trouble is that even the big stars in Hollywood don't deserve the abuse that the paparazzi give them but they have a lot more resources to pay PR people handle the tabloids, assistants to deal with their mail and lawyers to deal with threats than Lucy does before she gets her big break.

It might be that they are jealous of the quality they can produce and think that only big production companies can do that but that's just sour grapes and excuses for them not to try to improve. He was right that a lot of it was film 101 and stuff I've been doing myself, although I really should ask him about the resolution and compression probs I've been having with mine.

A very big deal has been made about conspiracy theories and all the cynics and critics want to grab some attention by "exposing the fraud" of the next person on YouTube like they were Woodward and Bernstein breaking the Watergate story. Maybe they think they'll get more acclaim if they do or it fits their paranoid fantasies and delusions of grandeur. They love to fit any circumstantial evidence to their pet theory when it can have a lot of other explanations and they never even heard of Occam's Razor much less use it.

I did think of a conspiracy theory that explains the motives of the haters that has just as much evidence as they have against Lucy. What if the MPAA was feeling threatened of too many indenpendent people producing video of quality and they were afraid their profits were in jeopardy from losing the stranglehold on distribution that they've had in the studio system? Just like the RIAA has fought agaisn't P2P sharing of MP3, the MPAA is going after the most popular on YouTube by planting LonelyGirl15 to turn the people against the independents and setting the haters to flood the place with anger and hate to turn them off of watching. If the cynics have to believe in a conspiracy that one is better than some of the ones I've heard especially that lame contest idea.

I thought they made some very good points especially about doing something constructive instead of just being negative and complaining. Kerim did inspire me with that challenge to do something better and creative and being passionate about a cause. That's why it struck me that it would be a good idea to make some T-shirt designs with that idea, but I shortened it to "Why Hate? Just Create" to make it easeir to fit.

That idea does apply to a lot more than just Lucy, it covers everyone that posts on YouTube since they can hate on everyone they don't like for example. I've also seen some very creative stuff from someone called Happy Slip and if the tide of anger and hate isn't stemmed they'll probably start in on her when she gets more popular.

But I do think that there is something that the creative people can do to balance out the hate and offset the anger by rallying together around a common theme. I've been getting some positive response from commenting on others profiles that show support for Lucy and telling them about the T-shirts with the "Why Hate? Just Create!" slogan to wear in their next video and that will show the cynics and the critics that actually doing something to contribute is a lot better than just sitting back complaining about how fake it is.

If enough people do it then, the slogan could become as popular as the "Fair is Fair" one did in that movie The Legend of Billie Jean It's certainly something people could get passionate about creating is a lot better than the alternative. I figure it would be a good project for a Public Service Annoucement and since I need one for next assigment in my video editing class at Butte College I could one about the whole "Why Hate? Just Create!" concept, how it applies and the solutions.

Hopefully Clarifying things

I got that video of the animated storyboard for my story idea to submit to the Colbert Report to show LucyInLA so she can see the way it could be composited together with the footage that she would shoot.



I'm hoping it'll make it easier to see how the whole idea goes together and she decides to use it, since I think that it'll show off skills to get a wider exposure on TV but I'm betting Steven Colbert will also want to interview Lucy to clear up all the controversy she's had to go through. It's a shame that some people can only put others down for trying to be creative and just clamor for attention any way they can even if it's expressed negatively

I've already got the raw footage of Steven Colbert using a light saber for the challenge.

And I've adapated the plot of the Tek Jansen adventure to include Lucy in the next episode so it'll look like a sequel to it.



Next I'll need the video from Lucy with her footage that I can add with the 3D CGI backgrounds and monsters I do in Poser then I can put it all together in Adobe Premiere and After Effects.

Signal to Noise ratio very high

Unfortunately the amount of stuff you have to wade through to get to anything significant on the Net is considerable. Freedom of expression is a wonderful thing but the flip side of that is that "Opinions are like assholes, every has one and most of them are crap"

LucyInLA takes a good idea and runs with it, but then like usual forums, everyone has to add their 2 cents even if it's off topic or inane. It's good that they have a place to do that, but makes it harder to strain out all the chaff to get to the wheat so to speak. I figure that's probably 1 reason why it's taking her so long to get to reading all the stuff submitted for the story she's going to act out. I bet my script idea got lost in all the stuff she had to wade through.

I did see 1 video response with a great idea for a story and a great way of presenting it from someone called Jaci75 that I think I'm going to do something like it



An animated storyboard video would get the idea across a lot better than just text in a screenplay format, you'd get the gist and the range more fully that way. I did some video captures, of Lucy, Steven Colbert and Tek Jansen that I can put together with some 3D rendered backrounds to show how it all composites together since it might not be obvious from the screenplay. It probably would help in getting it more noticed from all the other waste of space there also.

In todays climate it's no wonder people are cynical, but some can take it to an outrageous extreme. You would think they never heard of Occam's Razor and invent "conspiracies" with explanations to support that are a lot more complicated than they have to be to fit the evidence. One such is from someone named jeffdotson and claiming that LucyInLA is a fake and backed up by an indie film company, the motives for doing this are a lot more vague than just a girl trying to get a break in Hollywood.




But with the arcane points he tries to make in nitpicking various details in her videos can have a lot simpler explanations than what fit his theories. I guess the only excersize some people get is from jumping to conclusions as they sit in Denial with the great view of the pyramids.



LucyInLA's latest video is a lot harder to fit their distorted view since, if it was a fake then they would have to hire at least 50 extras to play the tourists on the street, rent a wharehouse in Prague like they did in Alien Vs. Predator and make it up to look like a Hollywood Blvd. Isn't it a lot easier to accept it was shot in LA than make those assumptions?

I did see an article about YouTube soap operas that was interesting, since it was about how people interact in the comments and make videos to respond to other videos

Bambi Francisco: YouTube soaps

I suppose you could look at it like that if you were only considering YouTube by itself, but if you consider the wider effects then you could also think of if LucyInLA uses YouTube to build a large fan base and enough popular interest then she could bypass the regular agents and studio system to get backers to invest in a movie for her to star in without having to go through the stuff as usual

At this point, getting your name out there and some exposure of your skills is a lot more important than worrying about copyrights and getting paid. I'm not worried about that as much as some shortsighted people since I'd gladly exchange my rights to a story as long as I get credit for it whenever it is mentioned. I don't have to worry about using stuff from Steven Colbert since there is a liscence included in the site when you upload it and it deals with all the rights in the video when you submit it.

With all the controversy and stuff written about Lucy lately I would think that if I got something entered for that green screen challenge from the Colbert Report that Steven could do more than just show the video on his show, he might even want to interview Lucy to ask her about all the stuff going on behind it. It would be a great way for her to silence the critics and get the truth out there.

The Wave of the Future

It seems like when most of the Hollywood studios are caught up in doing remakes of older movies or TV series, because they have a safer proven track record that the accountants can do projections on. The more creative things are coming out of the independents and single people that have access to the home video cameras and basic editing software.




I found this on YouTube and it sounded like a great idea for actresses just starting out to collaborate with writers to get their scenes acted out for them. If you could get them to do that in front of green screens then it could be composited into larger projects and shared between other people across the Net to more talents and skills involved with it.

Since my wife wants to only be a voice actress, it would be better to combine her on the soundtrack for other characters the do sound effects and the ones who want to be on screen to do the live action sequences. They've done something similar at the fan site for Star Trek: Hidden Frontiers, since Paramount doesn't want to invest in more series, the fans have taken it into their hands and produced their own episodes.

Star Trek: Hidden Frontier - Boldly Going Where No Fan Film Has Gone Before

(Although I'd use Adobe After Effects instead of Final Cut Pro to get rid of that green line from the composite) But it makes the point of combining live action with other elements to get your creative vision expressed.

The Colbert Nation - Challenge

It would be funny to get Lucy to act out a scene to go with that green screen clip of Steven Colbert with a light saber. I bet it would be a great way to get some exposure on TV for it that's gotta help in getting a break. Another idea I had would be for her to act scenes for ads, promos and news stories for Current TV, since they seem to pay very well for submitted stuff and she looks extremely suited for anchor work.

Current TV // The TV Network Created By The People Who Watch It

As always these ideas have a lot of potential, but it takes a lot of effort to make them pan out. The point is that as Steve Jobs was saying it takes "connecting the dots" since I've aquired the skills to be able to do these kinds of things. One example is I already have a lot of plots for stories worked out so I have a wide range available to be acted out in all the coordinates I've filled in for the Universe Cube.

Plots

Lucy might also be good for the part of Cyan's friend she works with on the movie set in my story "Memoirs from Sideways In Time" I wonder if she can do a french accent too, but that's not essential to the character. It does open up a lot of possibilities though, if they can be capitalized on.

Considering a new direction

I was watching a video on YouTube about Steve Jobs speech to a college graduating class and it was very inspirational, it got me wondering if I should rethink my priorities and concentrate on other things I might make more progress on.



Since my story has been deleted off of City of If

City of IF : Forum Cleanup

and I've haven't been able to finish Chapter 4 since last March maybe I should concentrate on something else. My goal was to sell the CD with the animated comic and novel of "An Angel's Destiny" on Cafe Press, but is that going to do any good if I haven't been able to figure out how to market it 1st? It'll probably just sit there unoticed like everything else I have there unless I can figure out how to promote it to the right people.

In Art 39 class last week, Dan was saying that the publisher he uses was always looking for ideas for Design books and that he could help with the proposals and had templates for them. Maybe I should be focusing more on that since it's more practical than some of my other ideas.

What would be a good idea for a Design book though? Should I try and give techniques of how to make an animated cartoon in Flash like "An Angel's Destiny?" Should I find something else I love about design? Maybe I should do some more research on the kind of books that Dan's publisher does so I can come up with something more suited to what they do so I have a better chance of getting it accepted.

The problem with that speech was even though it was very inspirational and it had obviously worked for Steve Jobs, how would I apply those ideas to something practical to help me? He said "Do what you love" just like Dylan said that in Art 35, the trouble is, how do you arrange to get paid for doing what you love? I haven't been able to work that part out yet.

In that speech Steve talked about connecting the dots, that if he hadn't taken a calligraphy class in college then he wouldn't have recognized the need for that level of font types when they 1st developed the Mac. He couldn't see that need when he took the class but he could connect the dots after the fact when the Mac was done. His point was that you can't connect the dots looking forward but have to trust that they will join up in your future since that will give you the confidence to follow your heart even if you go against conventional wisdom.

There are some elements in that, that seem useful, but I suppose it depends on the kind of foundation you give yourself for the future. If you haven't given yourself enough skills to be able to handle what comes up, how are the connections going to be able to be made? It's a lot easier to connect the dots down the road to be successful if you're literate than if you didn't prepare 1st and never learned to read.

Although it does help to have faith and trust in something even if you don't know what it is at the time. When I had that dream about future worldlines and decided to move to Toronto. I couldn't connect the dots past a certain point and had amnesia at the recursive part. I think it was partially because of future choices obscuring the way the lines would connect. When I got to those choices, I did remember what those parts of the dream were, but that was 20/20 hindsight as Steve said connecting it backwards. If I hadn't had some faith and confidence in the course that dream showed I would've stayed stuck in the same rut and I doubt it would've worked out as well after.

The thing is what dots do you prepare to be connected down the road to achieve your goals? How do you know when you're just agitating the dots and not getting anywhere like in that Nextel Commercial?



Do you try to get the widest range of skills and experiences to make as many connections as possible, or more specific skills to get the connections in the shortest amount of time? It's really hard to tell, since trust only gets you so far and it's a lot better to have some guidelines to follow also.

Steve went on to tell another story about how he was fired from Apple. I always thought it was kinda ironic that the rebel company that made the comparison to IBM being a "Big Brother" in that Mac commercial then Apple had turned into another corporate monolith when they fired him. I guess that was one of the differences of vision he had with them. I'm wondering if it was Steve's idea to keep everything proprietary to Apple like Sony did with Betamax and left Apple as a niche market.

He had a good point that in being fired from Apple had let him develope Pixar into the most sucessful animation company and that it wasn't the business that he loved but the computers he engineered so he could still do that elsewhere. I agree that you have to do what you love since I've spent most of my life in jobs that I hated because I couldn't find a way to get paid for what I loved to do. Steve did highlight how important it was, but he didn't give any advice on how to arrange to do it. All he said was don't settle, but not how to pay the bills until you could be able to do what you loved. Over 20 years experience had already taught me how important it was, but not how I could make a living at it.

Steve's 3rd story was about how he was diagnosed with cancer and having to face a brush with death. He spoke about how that changes your priorities with thinking you can put off things until later when there might not be a later. But that is as it should be because it provides for renewal of the old and stale by the young and fresh. In other words, don't fear the reaper (or even the reefer)



He said he looked in the mirror each morning and asked himself "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to be doing what I'm going to be doing today?" and if the answer was no too many times in a row he would know something needed to be changed. I could answer that question no for a few decades, but that doesn't give me much idea of what to change to fix it. Maybe it's what I said in Art 39 class about fixing up my portfolio to include examples of DVD interface designs. Maybe it's something that takes more effort like sending out more emails and trying to get more interviews for jobs. Maybe to be able to do something as "Insanely Great" as Steve did with the Mac I have to take more risks to accomplish it.