Radio Days

     Radio Days is a movie that takes you through the life during the radio era. It goes through the scene in the city with the broadcast shows and celebrities along with the life of a boy growing up with the radio. I also just realized that the boy in the movie was Seth Green! Must've been what really launched his career because this movie was amazing! It really made me want to live through this era to experience the radio like these people did. Just seeing how everyone mesmerizes over the device shows what it meant to them and I don't think we have ever felt something like that in our era. Were surrounded by video games, movies, TV and still even the radio that it's all really just there. It's not like we hold these things on a pedestal, it's just our entertainment. In a time where the radio was really the only source you could find entertainment such as this, it must have been a lot of fun tuning in every night. Overall, great story, great characters and I found it pretty funny too! It's a great throwback to an era that Woody Allen was fortunate to live through.

OZR.com & MZTV

     When exploring these sites, I realized one thing about the radio era, and that it is soo similar to the TV we watch today. The radio had tons of shows, comedy, sci-fi, drama, talk shows, it's the modern day without the visuals. These people were celebrities in their shows and the ones who offered these programs are still doing it today in the TV era such as NBC, CBS, etc. It was interesting to look at the shows found back then because you can spot the similarites of franchises to come that were inspired. Even some of them, such as Flash Gordon were adapted into TV shows. The interesting thing about the radio is it's a lot similar to books than TV, with the use of detail descriptions and dialogue, it feels like someone reading a story to you. Of course the use of actors and sound effects bring that TV feeling, but it is like your getting the best of both worlds with some of these broadcast shows.

CD / DVD / BluRay

     Out with the cassette tapes and in with the CDs! As VCRs became irrelevant, the DVD player came in to introduce a new digital viewing experience which changed the way we watch videos forever. CDs also made an impact not only taking the place of video cassette tapes for music and movies, but video game cartridges as well.
     DVD players could date back to 1958 with the creation of the laserdisc, but that doesn't really count. It was the first type of compact disc to play movies to try and compete with the VHS but it was an utter failure. In 1995, Philips, Sony, Toshiba and Panasonic invented the DVD player which had more storage, higher resolution and great audio. Many of the companies were backing different technology, but to avoid format wars, they all unified to created one format which definitely made the DVD a much greater success. Because with one format, there was no competition. The DVD went straight against the VHS and easily took it out because this wasn't any normal competition, it was the future. DVD players were originally sold at under $200 and eventually dropped to under $50 which is cheaper than a video game! And unlike previous competition to the VHS, there was actually a difference in quality with the DVD player. DVD's actually had menus which usually has scene selections, bonus features, different languages, everything you couldn't do on a cassette tape was found in the compact disc. The extra features and the new conveniences made the DVD player much more desirable and instantly became a hit in households.

     This is all thanks to the CD. Sony and Philips worked together in 1988 to create the Yellow Book, which gave CD-Roms the ability to hold any type of data. This right there made the CD's a revolution. They also took out the cassette tapes due to greater quality and more space to hold data. CD's then made there way to video games when Sony introduced the Playstation in 1995. Unlike Nintendo and Sega at the time still using cartridges with the Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn, Sony's console was able to not only create bigger and more powerful games, they could use high def audio which really did make a difference. The Sega CD tried using the discs in 1992 but the technology just wasn't there in gaming, the audio was incredible though and the graphics were improved.

     BluRay discs were released in 2006 and became the somewhat successor to DVDs. It showed high definition video and immersive sound unlike the DVDs. High Definition was starting to become an interest at the time and HD TV's were starting to hit the market. However, DVD's would not be able to show off the technology due to their limitations which is what BluRay was to do. BluRay can play HD content and movies were starting to come to the format. BluRay even went through a format war with HD DVD's from Toshiba, but in 2008 they backed down from the war making BluRay the standard. Not only was the quality better, the space was unreal. They can put the whole DVD collection of say the Friday the 13th movies all on one BluRay disc. Playstation puts their games on BluRay discs and it definitely makes a difference when you get an Xbox game like Mass Effect 3, and it comes on 3 discs. You have to switch the discs out in the middle of your game to continue on while Playstation games can keep going.

     It is too soon to consider BluRay a successor to the DVD player like it was to the VHS. It definitely didn't take off the same way. Of course BluRay players are cheap now and a majority of households have now switched to HD TV's, it is the definitive way to watch content. However, times are changing real fast as in the current 2013, it seems as if discs aren't needed anymore as movies are now being streamed through services such as iTunes. Movies can be streamed through all media devices. DVDs and BluRay are still around today but we may be coming to their last legs.

Video (VHS/Beta) / VCR

     The VCR is a device that is able to play VHS tapes, which were able to record sound and images right onto the magnetic tape inside of the cassette to relay a movie. It's so fascinating how it worked and not even that, the convenience it brought to the household. You were not only able to watch your favorite movies, but you could pause, rewind, fast forward and the coolest thing was taking a blank VHS tape and being able to record a anything on TV to create your own tapes!

     In 1956, the first video recorder was created by Ampex for professional broadcasting use. However, this was not used at home and was made for television broadcasting studios due to it's hefty price of $50,000. Toshiba, Philips, Sony, and even more companies were all trying to get into the market due to it's success with the studios. They began to create it for more uses involving medical use, businesses, airlines, etc.

     1963 was the year that the Telcan was created by the Nottingham Electronic Valve Company and became the first ever home video recorder. Of course, like the beginning of everything, it was a failure. The thing only recorded 20 minutes of black and white video, you had to build the thing yourself, and it was still real expensive for the average household. However, many companies still saw something in the device as they began to try and improve on it, making it more affordable, and actually sold it in one piece.

 
     As the video recorder became more popular and began a library of videocassette tapes of movies, Philips created the VCR in 1970 which became the true video recording experience in the household... but not at first. This thing was expensive at over $2,000! Even now it still confuses me that nothing is ever successful at first and it's because the developers make the same mistake everytime. $2,000 for a VCR? No one can afford that so why not sell it at a loss in the beginning instead of no one buying anything and wasting money anyways. They eventually find ways to build it cheaper but wouldn't you at least want sales? Your losing money anyways but anyways that rant is over.

     The VCR eventually did pick up steam in 1975 and had six big companies developing them with the most successful companies coming from Japan, Sony and JVC. They began to make them more advanced and affordable and making an impact in the households across the world.  

     Being the most successful, they dominated most of the home markets which brought the competition directly between them. Sony was trying to one up JVC by creating the Betamax, which is the equivalent to the Blu Ray player against the DVDs, expect it was a failure. Of course it was one of the two standards in the households, but it just wasn't convenient to the consumer. The Beta had a higher resolution, but it only recorded one hour while the VHS recorded 2 to 4. Also when recording home movies, the VHS was able to rewind and show what was recorded in the cameras while the Beta was only straight recording, if you messed up, oh well. And you couldn't see it until it was finished. Over time, VHS took pretty much 75 percent of the market and the Beta vanished. It was innovative in ways when it created a second fast forward option on the Betamax which sped it up even more. It also began to create tapes that could record more time. 

     Pretty much after the Betamax, VHS was what the majority of households owned and became the standard. There was tons of other viewing experiences coming out at the time like the laserdisc which came in like vinyl albums because they were giant discs and showed higher resolution videos and audio. The thing was pretty cool but who the hell owned one. Everyone used VHS and at the time resolution wasn't as big a deal as it is now with High Definition TV's that really show quality.

     However, all good things come to an end. The VCR was really successful in the 80s and 90s. Who doesn't remember popping in their favorite Disney VHS movies! In the 2000s, the DVD came out which was the beginning of the digital age of video. VCR's were still around in the early 2000's, but only to the people who haven't moved on to the DVD players. In 2005, it pretty much became obsolete. Movies stopped producing for it, and video cameras became handheld, recording on mini cassettes and even digital. The VCR was a revolution, becoming a form of pirating as well being able to record the TV, an easy way to record memories with video cameras, and changed the way we watched video entertainment.

Orson Welles was a Genius!

     Just listened to War of the Worlds... wow. I don't care if it was on the Radio I saw everything that happened in it. It's like reading a really good book that describes scenery and the events in explicit detail. You feel as if you are there. The specific detail put into what was happening to the towns and cities gave it such an apocalyptic feel and it was just a great story told. I could tell why this was the golden era of radio. However, this was during a time where TV wasn't compelling and was just starting up. I'm thinking if this was released now in the golden age of TV, it would have the same impact I felt listening to it. I'm not bashing the radio, I'm saying that it felt like such a similar experience to watching a show. If I was in 1938 listening to this at home I would have crapped my pants. Even today, it still has that eerie feeling and I think that's also thanks to Welles' voice. He sells the story in his speech and would have been a phenomenal actor I think in the TV era as well. He makes it believable. Definitely a must watch!

Philip K. Dick

     After reading about Philip K. Dick, I had no idea how much his work has inspired the films we see today. He writes of science fiction worlds that aren't the ordinary stories you hear all the time. In a way, the world is actually very similar to ours, or at least thats what it's coming too. It seems as time goes on, Dick's wild theories are getting closer to these futuristic nightmares is what I'll call them. I am fascinated by his work and love his concepts, but they really are worlds no one would ever live in because of the danger on every corner, the governments having total control over people, it's scary. You can even see with the NSA that they monitor every conversation you have had in your life over phones, texting, computers you name it. That's recent, think about the future. If they already have that much control over us, how long is it until they will have cameras in literally every room in the entire world to make sure nothing happens without there watch. The thing about Dick's work is that it really makes you think into our world. He makes us look into our selves and the place we live. It just seems that he may have also had an idea of what this world was coming too as well.

SOURCE:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/05/m-philip_k_dick_and_our_predicament.html

Stop Animation

     I feel so bad for 2D animators and give them so much credit. Just doing 200 pictures was ridiculous now I can't even imagine a team doing over 1,000,000 for Snow White! But anyways this project was a lot of fun! I actually did this all in one sitting, not because of time or anything like that but I kept having random ideas as I was going along and wanted to continue off of that! This was basically all off improv which I thought is the only way to make a random animation! I did actually notice I made my character fall a lot and I think I actually made a story out of it somehow. All the times he fell he either fell in the ocean, on a giant bird, a snowboard and it just seemed like he kept getting lucky. Now the one time he actually has something that could save him from his fall like his parachute, he's out of luck as the string breaks off and he falls flat on the ground with the parachute finally coming out after the impact. I guess I can make a moral out of this story saying there is only so many times you can get lucky before it runs out but really it's the most random video I've ever made. I'm actually gonna include my 3D animation video on this because it seems like it goes with the whole animator theme so enjoy that one too!

EDIT: Okay so I'm gonna update this ones bloggers video finder wants to work. I left the links below and will get the video on the blog as soon as this thing wants to cooperate!

EDIT 2: No success on that stupid YouTube thing so now I uploaded it through Blogger. Use the YouTube Link if you need to view it on there.

Stop Motion Animation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTdUMRow7KE&feature=youtu.be

3D Animation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC9iH9thPj4&feature=c4-overview&list=UURS9aj-LsU7wRR7XErf3_vQ