Blog Post 8–Transmedia Franchise Spiderman

I chose to look at Spider-Man as an example of a transmedia franchise. Spider-Man was first introduced in the Comic Book Amazing Fantasy issue number 15 in the year 1962.

1. Spreadabilty vs. Drillability– Spider-Man started off as a comic book character from the famous comic book franchise Marvel Comics.  Since then, Spider-Man has erupted into the most commercially success superhero of all time. Blockbuster movies, multiple television shows (nine series to be exact, both live action and cartoon), novels, reprints, video games, radio and web shows, internet memes, toys, and even a Broadway musical has all been influenced by Spider-Man.

2. Continuity vs. Multiplicity–Throughout all these spin-offs, the main story-line has remained the same. An orphan named Peter Parker is being raised by his aunt and and uncle. As a high schooler, Peter is having to deal with the normal struggles of adolescence in addition to be a costumed, mutant crime-fighter after a spider bite. Spider-Man has super strength and agility, the ability to cling to most surfaces, and is able to shoot spider-webs via wrist.

3. Immersion vs. Extractability–Fans who wish to immerse themselves into the world of Spider-Man can do so through playing as Peter Parker in one of the dozen Spider-Man video games, write fan-fiction, wear the famous blue and red costume that you can pick up at any Walmart, or even take a vacation down to Orlando where fans can become apart of the story by riding the super awesome Spider-Man ride in Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios.

4. Worldbuilding– One particular fan of Spider-Man, Julie Taymor, established a form of Spider-man Worldbuilding by creating and directing a Broadway play titled Spider-Man : Turn off the Dark. In was opened in 2011 and is the most expensive piece of live theater to date, and features high-flying action sequences and stunts.

5. Seriality–Throughout these media outlets, adaptations and stories are being added to Spider-Man’s original roots, but nothing is being taken away. The classic Peter Parker story-line remains the same so any new fan can quickly understand the intended plot.

6. Subjectivity– A recent example of subjectivity in the Spider-Man franchise is the fourth live-action movie of the Spider-Man series. The first three movies were based directly on the comic book series, but the fourth and future fifth movie (titled The Amazing Spider-Man) is produced by the same studio, but carries different actors and serves as a reboot to the well-known series and is not a continuation of the prior three. These two movies explores and offers a new set of eyes to the original story

7. Performance– The internet allows fan to actively participate in performance. The most popular examples include various parodies and a viral 1960’s  Spider-Man meme. These were not made by the Spider-Man creator.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07nbKOccvog

Blog Post 10–Digital Teacher Identity

I have been conscious about what I put on the internet since I began high school. Since the beginning, my mother (a sex trafficking therapist), always preached to me the dangers of putting my personal info on social media sites. She had an irrational, consistent fear that I was going to be kidnapped every time I logged onto Facebook. Towards my senior year in high school, horror stories were going around gossiping about how jobs employers and college admission personals uses one’s Facebook to make final decisions on acceptance. After hearing this, I turned my Facebook onto super-privacy mode.

My name is rare. I’m the only Lexy/Alexis Smolko on Facebook, which makes it easy to find me on Google. Luckily, I only have one social media account (Facebook) so I can scrutinize every action easily. I not only watch my own words, actions, and pictures on my Facebook, but also my friends’, who are linked to me whether I like it or not. Now I work in a church as a youth minister intern so I am expected to be an internet role-model. If I wouldn’t want my preacher to see something on my profile, I do not post it.

As far as my name goes in the World Wide Web, I am clean for future education employers. However, I do not bring any assets to the table. For the next few years, I plan on building up my digital teacher identity by establishing a LinkedIn profile, making a literature blog, and becoming more involved in teaching related societies.

 

Affinity Space Project

The Passion Movement as an Affinity Space. 

Blog #9

For my Trajectory assignment, I decided to track the journey in studying for your run-of-the-mill history test. I first discussed how the ideal student takes his time to fully study for the exam, then I list how I use my study time, which isn’t quite the same. 

This trajectory works for any Econ class as well. 

DS106 Assignment C–Cat Breading

After hearing about the “cat breading” trend in class, I wanted nothing more than to do this assignment for DS106, but alas, my apartment complex does not allow pets so all my cats are back at home. But this morning, I woke up to find a homeless cat in my living room that roommate accidentally let in.  This was definitely a miracle. Clearly God wanted me to smash a piece of bread around a cat’s face.

http://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/cat-breading/

Ds106 Assignment B–Cartoon The Head!

For this assignment, I take any person, thing, or animal and apply a cartoon character head to it. One of the best cartoons of all time is The Regular Show, which features a blue-jay named Mordecai & his best friend, a raccoon named Rigby. I took real photos of a live blue-jay and raccoon and placed the cartoon heads over them.

http://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/cartoon-the-head/

I chose to do my remix on a video done by a Youtube channel’s, Screenjunkie’s, parody on the horror movie franchise, Halloween. This remix takes the voice of Mike Myers and plays it during various scenes of Halloween as Micheal Myers, who are two completely different people. Mike Myers is a Canadian comic actor and Micheal Myers is a fictitious mass murderer.  It’s humorous because lines from Mike Myers’ movies  (Austin Powers, ect.) are being applied to the rather mute, very serious Micheal Myers. I decided to this particular clip because of its funny content and the fact that I’m obsessed with horror films.

We turn to the media education document to find out if this remix is of fair use and an example of transformative use. The first of the four statutory factors questions the purpose and character of the remix. Since the video is not for commercial or profitable purposes, the Screenjunkie clip passes as fair use for this section. The second factor centers around the nature of the work. Both Halloween and the Austin Powers movies are obviously published, another nod to being fair use. Factor two also makes us decide if the remix is more factual or more creative. Since this a comedic piece, I’d like to think that this video is more creative than  factual, credible, or educational. This makes the remix less likely to be fair use. The third area concerns proportions and substantiality. The remix video shows a montage of Halloween clips from a variety of movies and the audio features snippets of dialogue from the Austin Powers movies. The remix video takes small fractions from both movies. The smaller the proportion being used, the more likely it is fair use. To determine a remix’s substantiality level is a confusing task; it requires one to predispose if the remix is using the “heart” of the source material. I would say that this video does not take the heart of anything because the remix does not directly take material from the original source. This also leans the remix towards fair. The final statutory asks whether or not the use has a potential market. I do not think that this particular video will harm either the Halloween’s or Austin Power’s video franchise. Both movies have been out for at least a decade; fans have already been made. Again, this makes video fair. Based on the four statutory factors of determining fair use,  I would have to say that my remix is most likely in game of fair use. Lastly, we must decide if this remix is a form of transformative use. Since the article states that parodies are a form of transformative use, I conclude that this video is indeed an example. This use criticizes and comments on the original source and puts the source into a new, creative light.

 

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTtH9G6Ixykh

DS106 Assignment: Unlikely Intersections

The assignment is to take a real life, photo-shopped free photo of an ironic street name. Cemetery Street & its dead end are found in Athens, Georgia.

Link: http://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/unlikely-intersections/