Boredom and Misanthropy

Me? Misanthropic? 

Not once. 

Not even once. 

Maybe twice. 

It's basically just a kind of boredom, not so much a direct hatred of humanity but it kind of stems from the fact that I don't know how to occupy my time. 

I don't have the money to buy anything extravagant, such as new game or anything but I want something new to occupy my time. 

Hence the blogging, and I suppose that's why I've also been trying all sorts of new music and videos and trying to keep myself busy. 

I'll get there. And I'll let you know how I'm doing :) 

Hope that this makes some form of sense, 

And yeah I know that this was kind of pointless, but it's my blog and it's what I make of it. 

Not you. 

So yeah, 

Until next time, 

Jamie.

My current workflow

Video making is quite hard time consuming

So, I haven't uploaded a video to my YouTube account for a good couple of weeks now...and there is a good reason for that. 

Well, a few good reasons actually. 

1. I lost the charger for my camera (seen right), which means that I can't film anything on it. 

2. I have got a laptop, with no editing software on it. This was a deliberate choice because it isn't necessary, as nearly all of the computers I have access to here at Uni have all of the editing software I could ever need. 

3. I am trying to get used to a tape-based workflow. Workflow is simply the term used to describe the way that you take the raw video (tape, files etc) and the process by which you get it to the finished online product. 

The camera that I am using for filming (whenever I get the chance) is the Sony Z5. 

(Pictured left). It is a lovely camera, and I filmed my most recent upload with it, and the quality is very high. I love it.

But there is one slightly annoying thing about this camera, it uses DV tapes. And I have never worked with DV before. It's all rather new to me, and I can't edit the videos that I have shot in the library, I need to be in M Block which is where the edit suites are. And they aren't open on the weekend, which is a huge pain in the arse. 

The editing process also takes a very long time. 

I didn't realize how long it actually took until I started to cut my own stuff, especially using tape. 

4. Shooting takes a long time. Especially when using sound equipment, a heavy tripod and an expensive camera that requires quite a lot of setup. I filmed some of a sketch yesterday, and it took us about three hours to capture the final bits of a sketch that will probably be no longer than three minutes in total. So yeah, it's a lot of time. 

A DV tape

5. I am busy as hell. As well as my course work, I have other projects which I am working on and other activities that I do. Just to break it down: I am a presenter for two shows on Smoke Radio, I am a member of the Muay Thai team, I film these videos, I probably going to be a writer on a gaming magazine that my flatmate Chris is setting up, and I'm also trying to have a good time. 

That doesn't sound like a lot, but there just isn't enough time to do everything that I want to do. 

I have been filming videos for quite a while during this break, you just haven't seen them because I haven't had a chance to get into an editing suite. 

That and procrastination. 

A lot of procrastination. 

So, that's basically why I haven't been uploading as many videos that I want to. 

Especially since coming to Uni, I have had more ideas than ever. And I can't work on them until I get into a routine or a workflow that really works for me. 

I am learning so much all of the time about shooting, my course, about radio and most importantly myself. 

I'll get there. 

Don't you worry. 

Also, welcome to my Blog! 

I've started this because I don't want to make videos about everything that I want to tell you guys. 

Hope that you guys like it, I'm getting more into this whole blogging thing. 

It's good :) 

See you guys later, 

Jamie.

As a Gamer...

So I like games

If you have been following me at all, or if you know me at all, you will know that I love games. 

If you don't know what this is then shame on you...

Video games that is. 

They are one of the greatest forms of joy that I have in my life and I spend a great amount of time most days sitting on arse playing games. 

I have bonded with several friends over games, and whilst playing games. 

I have a lot of close friends who play games and declare themselves gamers. 

But what does 'gamer' mean? 

Well. It means that...

Typing 'gamer' into google...seriously?

Hmm....

What does it mean? 

Ultimately, most people perceive it to be a person who plays games for a hobby. But as with most labels that people receive (such as emo, gay, lesbian etc.) it is simply a term used to consolidate all of us into one single easy to market to category. 

The label is simply 'that guy who lives at home with his parents' or 'the guy who is addicted to Wow' (World of Warcraft for any scrubs reading this :P). 

But the more that I think about this definition, the less sense it makes to me. 

I mean, if you really think about it it, how many people do you know who play games? And I'm not just talking about people who like to play Call of Duty, I'm also talking about people who have Angry Birds, Temple Run or any other such game. 

I would imagine that that is quite a lot of people. 

So, even though gaming is becoming more and more popular every year thanks to the advent of 'casual gaming' as it is called, the media and politicians and people who don't play games are continuing to brand us as a single demographic. Even though we are as diverse as any other community of people. 

There are the casual crowd as I mentioned before, but there are also the E-Sports fans, the Hardcore fans and the people who enjoy Call of Duty every now and then, and so on and so forth. 

The reason that we are branded as 'gamers' and why we are marketed to as one group of people, rather than the multi-faceted community that we are is because gaming hasn't become a global form of media, such as Film or Music or TV. 

But we are getting there. 

Call of Duty BLOPS 2. That is a good name.

Games are becoming more and more popular (thanks to the iPhone) and the gaming industry is getting more and more respect and interest from the outside world. 

I mean, in one of my lectures is about the games industry! 

That's pretty goddamn awesome. 

I really am looking forward to that, and I get to give a presentation about it as well. 

I might put that online in case you guys want to see it. 

However....

I say that the media tends to group us into one large group of people, but because it sees us as that we are generally viewed as a negative thing. You know what I'm talking about, there are some people in our community who are loud, offensive and constantly insult people who they have most likely never met and never will. You know what I'm talking about; it's either the 12 year old shouting abuse on COD, or it's the solo ranked queue troll on Lol (League of Legends). 

We seriously need to get rid of these people if we want to be taken seriously as an art form, or as a separate community with it's own rules and icons. 

Because right now, 'gamers' are being seen as immature abusive and irresponsible twats who spend too much time of their lives online and not outside. 

Just speaking for me, I would like to see this definition of 'gamer' changed. 

Who else is with me? 

See you guys later, 

Jamie.