Yesterday, I was looking through my old video projects for a class called Media Sketchbook I took three years ago where we had to shoot a video individually each week and show it to the class. It was a pretty intensive 10-weeks but I enjoyed the frantic energy and it made for some really creative projects. The videos were 2-3 minutes but it took a lot of work since we were working pretty much by ourselves.

Anyway, back to my point - I was digging through these video projects because a friend of mine requested that I send her a video. She was the lead in a project titled “Maiden” and after three years, I finally sent her the short.

Naturally, I rewatched the video and was definitely amused by its amateur style (awkward scene cuts, objects being moved by visible strings and me trying to do a British accent). I then remembered that I had filmed a much longer one that added a significant amount of storytelling. Rummaging through my stacks of backup CDs and DVDs, I found the longer cut of “Maiden” and watched it… Bottom line? It definitely needs a lot of post-production work! The film is cut and spliced together fine, thankfully. However, a lot of audio needs to be fixed. Case in point: One of the characters is a talking sandwich-maker and most of the time it is saying, “Blah, blah, blah” with the intention of having the voice be redubbed afterward.

Thinking about the video today, inspiration struck: I spent so much effort on this project three years ago - why not revisit it and fix it up? Of course, it won’t be the greatest film short but at least I’ll give closure to the project and have some fun remembering the spontaneous and hilarious moments during the two-day film shoot.

Hopefully I’ll get around to posting my updates on the “Maiden” project.

I was recently introduced to the open source content mangement system Drupal. This is one powerful system! I am still overwhelmed by all of its features and what it can do (or should I be asking, what can’t it do?).

I haven’t yet created a fully functional site on Drupal and that may take a while since I am still trying to read up on the basics. So instead of focusing on the development aspect, I am looking into theming at the moment. At the same time, I’m learning to theme for WordPress.

Common to both are the division of sections into different files. For example, breaking it down into header, content and footer files. It seems to me that WordPress theming is easier though. Maybe because it’s less daunting than Drupal in general.

For now, I think I’ll stick with WordPress and see how I can use it as an actual website. It might be quite useful for small businesses and sites that don’t require too many pages or a complicated structure.

Where have I been since the last time I visited this blog? I was busy finishing up school and then looking for work. Finally, after redesigning my site, I thought to come here. I didn’t want to delve too deeply into the WordPress theming just yet so I only made two slight modifications.

The first: Ta-da! The rotating banner. I got the code after doing a Google search and it was a quick implementation. The not-so-quick was the creation of the images. I decided to peruse my Paris photos and they worked out quite well.

The second: The background. Not a major change since all I did was add a swirl to it with the line “Hold fast to dreams…” but it’s a nice little touch. The words come from a Langston Hughes poem about dreams and their signficance in life. It’s only two verses but I’ve had it memorised since I was a little kid (much thanks to my big brother) and use it as a source of encouragement.

So for this new year, I am going to try to post more, especially about things I read or find about trends in new media or the web. With the slight redesign of the blog, I am hoping it is a step forward in the new year!

Hello all!

Well, I have a case of the “first post jitters” - meaning I’m kind of nervous about what I should write in my very first post in this shiny, new blog. It’s almost like a first impression isn’t it? Those first five seconds are extremely crucial and before you know it, the impression is made. Oh, did I lose you already? Have I just used up my first five seconds?

In that case, I’ll end it here and hopefully come back when the jitters are gone… or when I have something more substantial to write about.

-Ren