#mostly cause it meant with the still panels I had to draw them twice and this “draft” like style is literally just me inking but with

[kkmcshouty]

Trying to catch up on the stuff that got posted to insta but never posted here and first lets start with the quick reel I made to show off the new hero villain background style, though uh. it did end up changing slightly after this post but you'll see that in a day or two

[tabbyrp]

{Tropes in the Wild West, part 4} {Cont from [x]} @brooklynislandgirl​  @tarnishedhalo

Sleeping in the saddle required two things: skill and a steady horse. Sam considered himself reasonably adept at the fine art of riding and Red Wing, in his humble opinion, was one of the finest mares to grace the lands. Rattlesnakes didn’t spook her in the slightest. Streaks of lighting could split the heavens while thunder roared, and it would barely raise a flick of the mare’s tail. Not that her resilience in that regard had been tested lately. Along each step of this ride, started a goodly time before the first cock’s crow and continuing well past the sun’s zenith, the sky stayed clear and the ground bone dry, dust kicking up with each strike of the hoof. A current flicker of wind sent a near hand’s worth of grit straight up Sam’s nose, made him sneeze violently, and dragged him out from the otherwise pleasant doze. 

As the cowboy righted himself, drawing brim of hat higher to survey his surroundings, it became possible the horse had roused him on purpose. They had reached the stretch of trail which led a winding path to the Riley stead, beaten down over the years by equestrian hooves, plodding cattle, and the occasional trip by cart or wagon. Sam knew it well, even if lately he had not travelled it as often as he should, matters between him and Riley being ever complicated since the incident. Complicated, but not uncivil. As horse and rider trotted towards the house, Riley was there to greet them, the setting sun causing two waiting glasses of whiskey to ascend into sparking gold.

Later, Sam reclined in one of the family’s chairs, still plump with padding despite a long journey from the old country. His stomach was full from a hearty meal and weary bones found comfort in the stillness. Miss Beth and the other guest had both retired gracefully once the plates were cleared, disappearing with lanterns and laughter that spoke of a secret joke between them. Sam was none the wiser as to how Miss Tabitha had come to be part of the residence. An innocent inquiry over dinner had been deferred by Riley and enforced with that certain set to his posture. The one that taught men quickly to keep civil tongues in their heads about Miss Beth. Miss Tabitha appeared to raise his same guard dog hackles, though Sam was wise enough to resist laying bait to see what Riley would bite over. 

Their previous partnership had worked well for numerous reasons, one being Sam’s calm balance to Riley’s strong will. Caution tempering boldness, except for when those bold choices were exactly what the situation required, and Riley had always been willing to lead the charge. Fearless was how Sam had viewed his friend from the first moment they met, two young bucks about to learn how this wild land needed to be treated.  Now, Riley appeared weary as he poured them both a fresh glass of imported drink, one that Sam took a light sip from, lest he give in to temptation and fall asleep right then and there. 

Perhaps Riley took pity on him after the long journey, for he skipped the polite type of conversation that would involve asking how the cattle were faring and what the other cowboys had been doing whenever granted free time to carouse in the township. “Now that the ladies are gone to bed, are you going to explain why you’re really here? I know you miss my cooking and the wit of my conversation, but it’s a long journey for one meal.” 

There… there…  beneath the crooked smile, lingered a ghost of the Riley he remembered. It hurt Sam in the chest, for he was about to snuff it out before the flame had time to grow. “We’ve got trouble at the ranch.” He gave Riley the due respect by facing him square on, as was right when about to ask a man for aid. “The kind that only you and your sister know how to deal with.” 

They left the following morning. The two men had spent time in discussion about the safest mode of transportation. A small wagon was slower, though it had advantages should anything untoward happen out on the trail and they needed to defend the women. Riley was prepared to begin greasing the axles when Miss Beth emerged from the stables, her steed in a trot while she led another by the reins. Miss Tabby, being from the town and used to working on her feet instead of in a saddle, had clutched the pommel tight to keep from lurching off, though she carried a grit of determination that Sam could find respect for.

Both were dressed ready to travel, supplies and bags strapped securely in place, with Miss Beth making statements implying that the men should hurry up before they were left behind. Riley was none too pleased, that much was plain, but arguing would only waste more daylight. Even a horse whipped until bloody could not complete the journey between sunup and sundown. Making camp at night always carried a risk, although there were certain spots on the plains where lingering too long meant not rising come the dawn, and Sam had no intention of becoming grub food. Not today, at least. 

Compared to Red Wing, with her steadfast nature, Sam’s friends favoured more spirited equines. Riley needed only a light squeeze of thighs to send Sally into a rocking canter, man and horse in perfect unison as they scouted ahead for trouble. Miss Beth’s gelding was a restless creature, endlessly flicking his mane and resisting the reins, keen to break free from a plodding walk. On occasion she split off, never travelling far, mostly to examine a particular shrub or other object of interest. While the brother and sister pair were absent, Sam and Miss Tabby engaged in idle conversation. He learned she was not a whore, despite a residence at the saloon, and nothing more about what bound her to the other. For all Miss Tabitha demurred, she did so with a warmth that few white women ever offered Sam. 

Miss Tabitha’s charisma, however, took a dent when it came time to stop for the day. After horses were fed and a fire stoked to life, she insisted on breaking off pieces of her dried apple and depositing them outside the edge of the stone circle which Miss Beth and Riley had lain around their camp. Protests about attracting animals landed on deaf ears. Even after the ladies fell asleep, huddled together nose-to-nose beneath woollen blankets, Riley suggested Sam leave things be. So, he did, until a pair of ruby red eyes appeared in the shadows and four claws, scythe shaped like a barn cat if not so large and twice as thick, dug into the offering.

Sam looked away, deciding it best  if he saw no more if he were to cede to his friend’s request for restraint. Already a part of him screamed to wrench a log from the fire and strike the cursed creature away into the blackened landscape, if not send it screeching back to the hell from whence it came. “It’s gone now.” Riley’s low, steady voice drew him away from those malignant urges, and indeed, when he glanced towards the darkness, nothing stared back at him.

“Is she like you?” Sam’s question hung in the air. Riley sighed, reaching to toss another fistful of kindling into the fire before standing.

“You can take first watch.” The man clapped his shoulder, unapologetic for everything, and made his bed beside his sister. Stars spread across the night sky and a chill carried in the air, making it hardly scandalous for Riley to roll onto his side and tuck in behind Miss Beth, trapping in the warmth of her body. A few hours later, when it came time for Sam to stretch and rouse his companion, he equally made no mention of how Riley’s hand had drifted during slumber, one arm draped heavily over his sister and a lock of Miss Tabby’s hair twisted around his fingers.

The remainder of their journey passed quick enough, the foursome covering ground faster than Sam may otherwise have predicted. He estimated it barely an hour past midday when they crossed the invisible property border to the cattle ranch which he called home. Previous plans for expansion in both land and numbers were currently postponed. Waiting for better weather, the current herd needing all their attention in an endless hunt for blades of grass still holding moisture. A dam and her offspring had wandered away from the rest, nosing at the ground as the group rode past. Sam would have to round her up at some point. There were other matters to attend to, and Riley had expressed his desire to deal with those sooner rather than later. 

Further within the boundary, while far away from everything else, stood a corral. The small collection of wooden beams and panels nailed tight together, if certain slants to joints suggesting a hasty assembly. Remaining atop their horses, Sam led them closer. Slowly, cautiously, for even steady Red Wing gave a nicker of protest at the approach. One of the other ranch hands had draped a circle of rope at roughly a yard’s distance from the enclosure, locking it down with heavy iron nails.  That was where Sam halted them. Close enough for a clear assessment, far enough for safety. 

It took a moment or two for the dozen bovines within to notice their presence. Leathery heads lifted, empty eye sockets unseeing and gaunt nostrils sucking in the air. Their hair was gone, every last strand, leaving behind bleached skin that clung to gaunt bones. Unlike the docile mother cow they had passed, these creatures shivered and swayed, endlessly shifting their weight from one spindly leg to the other. The largest of them rocked forward, pressing up against the fence. It licked the air with a decaying tongue, got a proper taste of the observers, and gave a guttural howl. Two more went flank to flank with the leader, catching the scent. Sinewy necks extended towards Sam and the others as far as captivity allowed, falling short, yet still teeth flashed as jaws snapped wildly, bone clicking against bone. 

Miss Beth and Riley exchanged a look, the elder saying something under his breath. Sam possessed enough experience catching his friend’s muttered comments to piece together this one. It’s spreading. Riley  raised his voice to ask what methods they had tried to dispose of the creatures with, impassive while Sam listed off lead bullets, noxious poisons, and an attempt with an axe which left the wielder with a broken arm. “Take Tabitha up to the quarters.” Issuing what was more order than request, Riley dismounted with his old engraved pistol in hand, his sister following and starting to unstrap certain bags from her saddle. “And bring a few strong men back with you, along with some shovels.” Being dismissed caused a protest from Miss Tabby, and it took another terse, private conversation between her and Riley until the lady relented. 

Perhaps it was none of his business. Still, as he and Miss Tabby rode away from the corral, Sam took in the downcast twist to her expression, and said in a tone of someone making merely a passing mention, “He’s only like that with people he cares about.” She sighed, lips parting as if to reply, but whatever she may or not have intended to say was cut off by the sound of a single gunshot ringing through the air. A high-pitched scream, bestial and ferocious, came after, then another crack of the gun. Miss Tabitha covered her ears and Sam took her reins, leading the horse with the sounds of death following close behind.

[ruthemerymedia]

Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Tumblr 

The blogging site Tumblr was useful during the planning stage as it allowed me to accumulate all my research in one place. This included theories and theorists, audience research, a production log and analyses of music videos and digipaks. The chronological structure of the site allowed for sections to form naturally, showing the progression of our music video from basic research through to evaluation.

The ability to embed videos and images is invaluable as it allowed me to visually punctuate any point I made, whether on my music video or during an analysis. This can be seen in my analysis of Dead End Street by the Kinks or Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd. However, when it came to posting my digipak on my blog, the quality of the image decreased. This was frustrating as I couldn’t work out how to fix it and the image seems to be decent quality before posting. 

I have also had issues with Tumblr because of poor wifi connection. If there isn’t a strong connection, Tumblr has at times taken hours to submit a post or even embed a video. This was especially tricky in the research phase when it came to analysing music videos. At one point the video took so long to load I tried to cancel it to start again and ended up losing the essay I had just written. 

Overall, Tumblr’s layout and accessibility to my whole group is beneficial in organising research and keeping track of progress because of its linear structure, but its technical flaws have been a detriment at times. 

Prezi 

Prezi has enabled me to create an in-depth critique of my own work, in which I was able to break down individual points and section off answers into appropriate and easy-to-navigate sections. It includes many sleek designs for free that presented my work in a succinct and flowing manner and allowed me to provide evidence or visual aid to my points through embedding videos and images into sections.

This program came into most use during my evaluation in which I was able to analyse each of my original media texts in appropriate groups (e.g., discussing the ‘minimalistic style’ in my music video, digipak and magazine cover). My biggest problem with it was that it ran very slow, with each action taking twice the time that it would if running smoothly. This is again most likely because of poor internet connection. The only real drawback was that it was tedious and took longer. 

Mobile Phones

These were beneficial in the traditional sense; I was able to keep in contact with my group whenever I needed them, mostly for help organising filming days during production. We were able to set up a group chat through Facebook and having that easy, reliable communication between everyone meant that we were all ‘in the loop’, receiving the same information and discussing the video as it was being made. 

Mobile phones also came in handy when we needed to take photos of filming days for the production log. This, coupled with the social media access it brings, allowed for easy sharing of pictures and thus, improved blogs.

PCs

The computers at school were what the music video itself was edited on and it caused a lot of trouble. While the extensive storage space on the iDrive is useful, the speed at which post-production had to go because of the poor processing speeds was tragic. 

This was mainly an issue with rendering, which can take up to 3 hours to complete with lots of footage. This forced us to be selective from the get-go with what shots we actually wanted to import and render, which ultimately meant that Premiere Pro didn’t become cluttered and only the best shots made it into the final cut. 

Similarly, the slowness of the PC meant that cutting in time with the beat of the song was more difficult. There were lots of lagging issues that meant we couldn’t tell with any accuracy whether our edits lined up with the beat of the song. It was partially because of the trouble we had with these PCs that resulted in me editing the Directors’ Commentary, Final Focus Group and Animatic on iMovie on my laptop from home.

DSLR Camera

Using a DSLR Camera is a significant technical step-up for me from year 12, where I used a camcorder to film our film opening. Getting used to the digital camera was relatively easy as I never found the need to white-balance or anything like that, something that I would have to do several times every time I used a camcorder.

The primary reason digital cameras are superior is the video quality which far exceeds that of a camcorder. Similarly, using the DSLR meant I was able to use a 35-millimetre lens to create a small field of focus and giving a sense of intimacy and insight into Lola’s life through the slider shots and still shots of alcohol bottles. 

The one problem I ran into with this camera was that creating effective zooms is very difficult as it requires a perfectly smooth manual extension of the lens, something that I couldn’t manage to perfect, resulting in some zooms in the video looking uneven and unprofessional. 

Adobe Premiere Pro

This software was ideal during the post-production process as it was logical and accurate with cuts, transitions and video corrections software, such as colour, lighting and rotation. It was easy to cut to the beat of the song when things were running smoothly as the audio track allowed me to view the frequency of the song and judge confidently where the edits should be. 

The main issue we ran into during post-production was that the tool Warp Stabiliser, used to stabilise shaky footage, was missing from the program, resulting in us having to resort to importing the clips into Adobe After Effects and stabilising it there. This led to complications during our re-edit as some of the clips that had been put through After Effects vanished or stopped working, meaning that we were unable to tighten up a few minor sections of the video.

Adobe Photoshop

This was my first time using photoshop and at first, I found it tricky to get the hang of. I used it for my digipak and magazine cover. My design for the digipak required me to use an Intuos Wacom tablet in order to effectively draw in the black and white block design of the final product. Once I started using photoshop in conjunction with the tablet it became easier and I enjoyed being able to work in layers. 

The lasso tool, magic wand tool and paint bucket tool made the blotting out much quicker and smoother, meaning that I was able to finish the panels for my digipak in two days. The style was to mimic somewhat the style of the original album cover while incorporating a Banksy-inspired graffiti style to appeal to my youth audience. I also utilised the blur tool and added a yellow and red tint to some of my panels to convey a 70s style to the photography. 

Youtube and Facebook

After all the editing and exporting was complete, our final music video for Lola was uploaded to YouTube, where it currently stands at 666 views. YouTube is the most convenient and effective way of publishing video content as it is the leader in the online video market and has almost zero competitive alternatives. It was the best way to get our video online in an easy-to-share format, such as through Facebook. Meg shared Lola through her Facebook account and received lots of positive feedback, encouraging us that the purpose of our video (to show the struggle a person goes through in discovering their gender identity) was conveyed.