Coming soon
Written on Thursday, January 23, 2014 by Unknown
History of LBD:
The Team
The Cast
The Episodes (a breakdown)
The Transmedia
The Results (or The Awards?)
and more.
Don't forget to be awesome.
-Danny
History of LBD: How did it start?
Written on Thursday, January 23, 2014 by Unknown
On April 12, 2012, Hank Green created a video for his brother and fellow Nerdfighters. This was not an unusual event, as Hank is one half of the acclaimed duo known as the Vlogbrothers. Hank and his brother John Green have been video bloggers since 2007. John is a well known author, and his novel The Fault in Our Stars has been adapted into a film, which will be released on June 6, 2014.
[1. via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fault_in_Our_Stars
2. via https://www.facebook.com/faultinourstarsmovie/photos_stream]
Together the brothers decided that they wanted to try something new, so they decided to forgo any text based communication for one year. Each brother was required to create a video every other day on weekdays, in response to the other brother's previous video. This project was called Brotherhood 2.0 and it was meant to last for one year. Rules were created to keep order, such as the length must not exceed four minutes, and if a brother missed a video or used text based communication then he had to be punished on camera. That was probably on of the best decisions they ever made, because the punishments were both popular and hilarious. See them here.
As the year went on, the brothers discovered that they were gaining viewers and followers. Perhaps this is due to John's preexisting fans from his novels. Or maybe it was due to Hank's song "Accio Deathly Hallows," which became a featured video on YouTube. But then again, it could simply have been due to the fact that both men are excellent video bloggers as well as verbal communicators. Nevertheless a fan group was created, which they dubbed the Nerdfighters. There is even a theme song. Yes, it's as nerdy as it sounds. By the time the year was over, a whole community was born, so they decided to just keep going. Why not? No need to fix what isn't broken. But, while they don't post as consistently as they did before, both brothers still have a prominent presence online, various companies, and a continuously growing fandom.
The April 12th video is an important one. This particular video was Hank's way of introducing his newest project to the world. Video blogging was clearly a success for him, so why not utilize it in a new and unique way? In this video, Hank discusses his idea to create a scripted web show. And not just any scripted web show, but an adaption of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
This video actually came after the release of the first episode, which was posted on April 9, 2012. The second episode was released on the same day as Hank's introduction video.
And modern day Lizzie Bennet was born.
-Danny
A note on adaptations
Written on Thursday, January 23, 2014 by Unknown
It is hard to create an adaption. Any book that has ever been turned into a movie has run the risk of "not being as good as the book." Take these for example. See any that you would dub, "not as awesome as the novel I cherish so deeply"?
Yep. It happens. And yet adaptations are completely unavoidable. Why is that? Because they sell tickets. People want to see their favorite characters come to life on the big screen. Sometimes it works. Most of the time it doesn't, and then you just love to hate it which somehow manages to reinforce your original dedication to the book/series. You aren't a true Harry Potter fan if you haven't seen all eight movies and have strong opinions on things like the decision to remove S.P.E.W. or the lack of quidditch matches.
I mean come on Water for Elephants, I'm looking at you here. Why the hell did you choose Reese Witherspoon as the love interest when she could basically be Robert Pattinson's mom? She was not that old in the book. Not even close. I call bullshit.
I believe that when an adaptation is done right and done well, fans won't need to draw so many comparisons to the book. Instead, the media should stand on it's own and be judged thusly. No need to point out all the moments that were done wrong, but instead look at all the parts that were done right or maybe even done differently.
This is why I love The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. I don't need to jump back and forth from novel to web show and say "ugh, I hated that they did this" or "why did they take that out when it could so easily have been incorporated?" While I have read (and love) the novel and enjoy the sly references they make to Austen's other works, I don't think about it in terms of the book whenever I watch it. Instead I see the characters as they are and appreciate the show for what it is. Yes it has it's faults. Especially in the beginning there were quite a few problems. But, I'm not going to fight about the decision to make Kitty a literal cat. I actually thought that was an awesome and creative way to incorporate the character without needed to hire/introduce a new actress. All she does in the novel is follow Lydia around anyway, and so that's what she does in the show, just in cat form. It's modern, it's funny, it worked.
And so, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is my artifact.
-Danny
Artifact: LBD
Written on Wednesday, January 22, 2014 by Unknown
This is a rhetoric thesis. As rhetoric theses go, they usually need an artifact that the student will critique in some way. And when I say artifact, I don't mean in the archeological way. In my case it just needs to be some piece of media that I can analyze. Seems fairly simple. But theses also usually need to have an argument or take a stance in some way and I haven't quite gotten that far yet. One step at a time.
So my artifact. I wanted something fun. Something I would actually enjoy writing about during my last semester of college without turning into something like this:
[via giphy.com]
Instead, I'd much rather be like this:
And so I decided that my best option would be to pick something that I loved, that I also didn't really mind ruining. The thing about being a rhetoric major is that you tend to ruin almost everything you analyze. Films, TV shows, books, people, abstract concepts, you name it and rhetoric can ruin it. But it can also make it so much better, and it can open your eyes to things you never would have even considered. It's a love/hate relationship of sorts.
With that in mind I decided that I also wanted to be unique. Anyone can write about a movie. I wanted to write about something newer, something innovative. I wanted to write about webseries and transmedia.
The web show that I have chosen as my artifact is The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Let the memes and gifs commence!
[via http://www.thestate.ae/comfort-vlog-the-lizzie-bennett-diaries-and-the-taming-of-digital-media/]
-Danny
Thesis experiment
Written on Wednesday, January 22, 2014 by Unknown
At the moment this blog is going to be used as a live, interactive version of an undergraduate senior thesis project. The idea is that it will incorporate transmedia elements and be immersive in a way that a normal typed and printed thesis can't be. It is an experiment, and hopefully one that might work. Feedback is always welcome.
Edit: To clarify, the thesis is the blog. All posts pertaining to the thesis are cataloged here. This has never been done before (at least at my school) so we are making things up as we go along. Any radical changes will be publicly addressed in order to avoid confusion.