Twitter: History's Newest Contributor

Twitter is a very versatile tool. Its uses span from the personal to the professional. Although it has been problematic, in such cases as Anthony Weiner’s sexting scandal, it is an excellent resource for businesses to market their product. Twitter allows the instantaneous delivery of brief messages to a vast array of followers and essentially, the world. It is different from most social networks because its main draw is the fact that users can post in short bursts as opposed to Facebook’s space that allows for several paragraphs. The small 140-character space exhibits a challenge for businesses, because they are not allowed to go into extreme detail about a product or campaign, and instead they must develop a concise message to sell their product. In recent times, Twitter has gone beyond the realm of socializing and advertising. It has become a place for advocacy and activism especially in times of peril. Within minutes of an incident occurring, the community of Twitter users, known colloquially as the “Twittersphere”, is buzzing with hashtags and thoughts about an event in real time. An example is the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement as a result of the killing of unarmed African-Americans over the past few years. For the first time in history because of Twitter, the world has been able to react to an incident in real time. After the shooting of Michael Brown, celebrities and citizens alike expressed their outrage using Twitter and the hashtag “#BLM”. In a similar fashion, Twitter played a big role in the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Social media wasn’t the driving force behind the protests, but it was the actual tool used to carry the plans out and unite the citizens. That in itself was groundbreaking and never-before-seen in history.

Over the past few years, Twitter has become its own entity in the world of news. As Simon Ricketts states in his article “How the Boston Marathon explosions reveal the two sides of Twitter”, when something newsworthy happens, reporters don’t necessarily need to go directly to the scene to get eyewitness accounts anymore. They simply watch how Twitter reacts. The problem is, validity becomes a factor regarding the person behind the tweet. Using practically any recent disaster or terrorist attack as an example, it is hard to determine who is vying for attention versus who is actually knowledgeable and/or there at the scene. This situation creates a level of difficulty to filter out the content in a news reporter’s “funnel” of information. Although it is a different subject, Facebook’s “Check In” feature during natural disasters proves this theory. Users could mark themselves as “safe” from an earthquake, when in fact they were nowhere near the affected area.

Twitter has become useful in virtually all aspects of society and opened up a new door for free speech. The Women’s March protests that took place in January 2017 is a recent example. Not only did women physically march in various cities across the world, but they also took to Twitter in record numbers to show support for the cause using the hashtag “#WomensMarch”. Between the support that was shown on Twitter and the numbers of women that marched in various cities, the Women’s March of 2017 became the largest protest in United States history. Social media, more specifically Twitter, played an important role in the 2016 Presidential Election. For the first time in history, candidates had another outlet to both recruit supporters and address their stances on certain topics. Prior to the days of Twitter, candidates would have to go to news outlets and hold traditional rallies to gain supporters. Rallies and press conferences still occurred during the election cycle, but candidates now had another tool to utilize for their campaign. On a related note, memes and “fake news” articles were shared all over social media changing the way Americans perceive candidates. The 2016 election set the precedent for how modern politicians run campaigns in the 21st century. In short, Twitter was a success in this instance. Regardless of what the candidates actually said in their tweets, the 2016 election proved that Twitter is no longer just a social and marketing tool. Instead, it has evolved into a vital part of the process of winning the most powerful position in the United States.

There is a lighter side to Twitter that makes communities unite as well. Every so often in the Twitter universe, a meme or news topic will send the Twittersphere into a frenzy. 2015’s “#TheDress” is a meme that playfully divided users based on the perception of whether a dress was seen as black and blue or gold and white. In 2017, live streams across all social networks pulled in record numbers broadcasting April the Giraffe, a pregnant giraffe who was ready to give birth at any moment. Live streams lasted for month and the hashtag “#AprilTheGiraffe” began trending across Twitter in anticipation of April having her baby. In April of the same year, April had the baby and users in the Twittersphere rejoiced. Considering all of the negativity in the world over the few years prior to the giraffe giving birth, this Twitter movement was also a success. For a brief moment in time, the Twitter community forgot about the craziness, potential wars, and conflict that we are forced to see on a daily basis and united to embrace the circle of life.

For graphic designers, Photoshop is a necessity to get the job done. There is so much to learn about the program even for advanced users, so following Photoshop on Twitter is a must for the designer with any level of expertise. Just like any other community, graphic design is constantly evolving and it is important to stay on top of all of Photoshop’s hidden intricacies and tutorials.

The study of typography and graphic design go hand in hand, so Fontsmith is an excellent source for designers who are looking for new fonts as well as to study them. Fontsmith often post new fonts and font-related news, including some links for free or cheap fonts.

Lastly, if one wishes to add a little entertainment, right-winged ignorance, and mindless drivel into their Twitter timeline, look no further than the leader of our nation, President Donald J. Trump.

Twitter opens up a whole different world than blogging. As was previously mentioned, Twitter’s short 140-character bursts propose a challenge to all bloggers because they have to truncate their messages exponentially. Twitter is very convenient and more personal than blogging due to the ability that it allows an equal platform for all users. In other words, one has the same probability of getting an answer from their friend as they do a celebrity. Of course, users don’t have to respond to each and every tweet they are mentioned in but that feature is one of the main ones that sets Twitter apart from other social networks.

Creating An Abstract Film

When creating a movie, multiple elements must be taken into account: The plot, characters, settings, camera angles, etc. For a theme such as abstract, this is a very wide-open topic with multiple ways to achieve the goal of creating a film. Other themes can have a linear and direct storyline but an abstract film needs to be the opposite. A central theme based on abstraction may sound easy to develop, but it is actually quite complicated.

To take a theme, such as getting ticketed on campus, and make it abstract is running a creative risk. Usually a film’s message is shown directly, but because an abstract film is not a normal film, the theme must stray away from the norm. The director must take a theme and make it subliminal as opposed to direct. The spectrum of abstraction can be shown using two extremes: On one side of the spectrum, an idea can be straightforward and the audience may understand fully. On the other end, one can make the idea so abstract that the actual message is lost. The key to making an efficient abstract piece is to find a balance between both.

When creating an abstract video, the creative process is quite different than other videos. While other films may be straight-forward, what makes an abstract video different is the fact that the video must not be straightforward. Deciding what theme to use and how exactly to execute it visually is perhaps the biggest challenge. One can write a storyline for one idea and end up with something completely different by the end. As was previously stated, finding the balance between two extremes can complicate a simple idea in an abstract piece.

Each visual and auditory element was used with a specific goal in mind. The overall topic of ticket-giving could have been changed to ticketing bike riders, but then the audience may end up confused and assume the director has an agenda against bicyclists. That is why choosing to ticket students for minor infractions over another form of transportation was best for the project.

Another element that could have been altered was the music. The music was meant to mirror the feeling that one feels when getting a ticket, but keep the overall mood light and funny. The person could be having a “good” day and then things come to a sudden halt when they get a ticket. Subsequently, their day is ruined. If different music was used, such as “F**k Tha Police” by NWA, then the message could be taken as a direct insult to law enforcement when in fact that was not the message at all. “Tickets” is simply a parody of everyday life on a college campus.

If “Tickets” was created using a different medium the effect may not be the same. A comic strip might be the next best way to achieve the goal, but that is strictly a visual medium. Music helped separate “Tickets” from direct political commentary, whereas if it was drawn in a newspaper as a political cartoon then it could be aligned with other satire and possibly ridiculed. Other mediums such as writing a story or making a song would lose the message and lose the audience. Photographs may be somewhat effective if there are multiple, but using a single photo may appear odd out of context. Simply put, the idea would not be able to be executed in any other way except by video.

The initial topic chosen was nowhere near the subject of “Tickets”. It took multiple run-throughs of the previous topic to realize that it would not be effective. The public nature of the project helped fuel the creative process and evolve the film into what would eventually become “Tickets”. Knowing that it would be shown to the class and possibly future classes helped mold the film because the plot of “Tickets” is something that every driver on campus could relate to. Choosing to present the topic in a humorous way was the best method for “Tickets” because humor’s ultimate goal is to make society look at its own absurdities in the mirror.

For the “self-portrait” aspect of the film, each individual story involved every group member. One or two students would act and then the other student would shoot. Instead of doing three separate stories with all of them coming together at the end, “Tickets” ended up being vignettes with one overarching theme. The whole film is initially a dream sequence based on the protagonist being ticketed in the beginning. It takes place in a fantasy world where students have authority to ticket other students for minute infractions such as leaving garbage behind or putting makeup on in public.

Developing the plot and planning the film was harder than editing the film itself. Social media (In this case, YouTube) provided no complications. Since the movie was so short it uploaded to the website right away. iMovie is a relatively easy program to use, especially for those familiar with the iOS system on other Apple products. Once the shooting was done it took virtually no time at all to piece the whole film together. The only trouble that created complications was the creative limitations iMovie has. During one part in “Tickets”, a student is talking to another one with bad breath. The original idea for this part was to use a green-yellow filter that waved slowly, mimicking bad breath like in cartoons. Due to iMovie’s limitations on altering its filters, this was not possible.

Overall, this project was relatively simple despite the challenges in the beginning. The only problems that arose were during the creative portion: Ultimately deciding how to execute the abstract theme without venturing too far away from the message. For the group dynamic, there were no quarrels among group members. The work output was consistent. Each member put forth equal effort and contributed excellent ideas. The final product contains a skit imagined by each member, and everyone had input whether they were in the specific vignette or not.