Bakit napakahirap kong sabihin sayo ang salitang salamat, kung tutuusin ay ang dami mo nang nagawang mabuti sa akin kaya nga ikaw favorite kong lola ko ikaw pa nga ang kaclose ko kesa sa parents ko pero tuwing tinutulungan mo ako di ko alam pero diko kayang sabihin sayo ang salitang salamat, hindi sa walang akong galang at modo, hindi ko lang talaga kayang sabihin dahil sa mga nababasa ko na kapag nagpapasalamat sila ay parang nagpapaalam na rin sila kaya naman para sa akin napakapangit pakinggan na sabihin "salamat lola sa tulong at pagmamahal mo sa akin hinding hindi ko yon malilimutan" dahil ang pinakaayaw ko sa lahat ay nagpapaalam sa mga mahal ko pero laking sisi ko at hindi man lang ako nakapagpasalamat sayo noong nandito kapa sa mundong ginagalawan ko hindi mo man lang narinig ang salitang salamat na nanggaling sa mismong bibig ko dahil huli na noong nasabi ko pero kahit ganoon ay gusto ko parin ang magpasalamat sayo at banggitin ang mga salitang salamat lola ng sobra, kaya laking pagsisisi ko na sa pagkakaalam ko na sinasabi lang ang salamat pag nagpapaalam dahil napakasakit pala sa damdamin na nagpapasalamat ka na nagpapaalam mas magandang nagpapasalamat ka sa kanya ng hindi nagpapaalam
(Image: Promotional picture from Surf Canaries Surf School)
Throughout this week’s reading of Groundswell, I started to imagine the groundswell movement like an ocean. It’s organic and it moves when and how it pleases, granted, movement is influenced by environmental factors. It’s not a tamable beast...but, as all oceans, it has waves, and waves can be ridden by those courageous enough to try.
That’s how I visualize the groundswell movement. If businesses want to succeed, they have to be brave enough to ride the waves--and by that, I mean tap into the groundswell.
Before we started this book, I had no idea what the groundswell was. I participated as a member of it everyday and had no idea what I was doing; the brands I know and love reached out and tapped the groundswell in their various ways, and while I recognized a new way of doing business, I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly was happening. Having read over half of Groundswell, I see now what’s going on.
Having no idea what it was, I can’t rightly say my opinion of the groundswell has changed. I can say that I’ve learned about a topic completely new to me, and it has broadened my understanding of why many businesses now operate the way they do--and why some are failing.
So far, my favorite parts of the book are where the authors break down the methods of tapping into the groundswell. They expertly provide tips, advice, and support from case studies that can help companies understand how to harness the power of the groundswell.
Although there is a place for all methods, my favorite is listening. Chapter five is all about listening to the groundswell. As a consumer, I can’t express enough how much I value when companies reach out and listen to their customers; what are we, the customers saying? How is it affecting the brand? How can this information be used to improve the brand? Granted, this isn’t as direct as, say, embracing the groundswell. It’s direct enough for me for customer opinions to be heard and taken into consideration so that, hopefully, the product is improved.
What have been your biggest takeaways so far? What is your favorite method for tapping the groundswell as a consumer? What about as a businessman? Or, let’s get hypothetical: If you were to market a product, what would it be and how would you tap the groundswell?
Let me know in the comments, and please, add your own observations! Tell me what you think of the book so far.
Signing off for the evening!
-miyabanks0805
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Describe and discuss what went well in your shoot and what didn’t. Did you get all the coverage you wanted? Why or why not? What would you do differently?
My shoot went far better than I imagined. I have been stressing out for months about getting ready for the shoot. I was the director, producer, screenwriter, and casting director all in one so I essentially had to fulfill work meant for four people. I wasn’t getting much sleep, I had to skip classes, put off other assignments, and got cramps sending email after email. Many things went wrong during preproduction that I thought Murphy’s Law would also carry over into principal photography but everything went surprisingly well.
First of all, I am eternally grateful of all the help I’ve received for my project. What was once a glimpse in my head became a reality before my very eyes, and it could not have been done without everyone’s help. It astounds me to think about all the people who came out willing to help me and contribute their talents towards the fruition of my project. I was pulling strings, my dad was pulling strings, so many people were involved in the creation of my project that it makes me unbelievably happy to see how many people not only support me but also connect with my film.
Shooting admittedly took much longer than expected mainly due to lighting and camera set-ups. My world is very dependent upon the visuals and visual storytelling so everything had to be at its best potential, and as a result the required set-ups took a long time. I was hoping to go to a concert that weekend but there was no way that was going to happen haha Time flies in a room without windows and it wasn’t long until the sun set. Despite the fact that we were working incredibly long hours, none of my crew members or actors complained once and I can’t be more proud of that. We were still having fun joking around and shooting the film in the late hours and I’m really glad of the community we had.
I’ve been working with my DP Patrick Alcerro since my early days at film school and I simply love how well he understands me. I oftentimes have trouble communicating how I feel or what I want, but he can read me so well that I don’t even need to finish an incoherent statement for him to do exactly what I thought. He also had me complete storyboards, shot lists, and floor plans to expedite shooting and they ultimately proved invaluable.
It was one thing to write out the story and conceptualize it, but actually seeing it in execution was absolutely amazing. The costumes were far more terrifying than I had imagined and I thought it was incredible how my teddy bear of a friend became a creature of nightmares once he was dressed up. The costumes looked horrifying, the sets were truly fantastic, the visuals were stunning, and my actors were phenomenal. Seeing my story come to life was truly a dream come true and I can’t wait to see how the final product will be.
I could go on all day about how well the shoot went and all the aspects of it but ultimately I’m eternally thankful for everyone’s contributed talents and I know the film is going to be great.
The only thing I can think of that I would do differently is to personally hire a crew I know I can trust, and hire them as soon as possible. There were a great many friends I knew I could have reached out to and could have helped me if I asked them sooner. As a result, I was left with a few crewmembers who were incapable of fulfilling their duties for one reason or another and I suffered for it. We still managed but in the effort of preventing any undue burdens, I would like to hire colleagues that will dedicate their best towards the project.
Fair warning: This post may prove to be shorter than others. There's not a ton to talk about, but I still feel like there's enough to warrant a post.
So, yesterday, in class, each team did its presentation on the results of their first playtest. When Ted & I went up to report on Odds & Ends' first playtest, things seemed to go pretty well...
Until we got to the Q & A session. At that point, we got the goals for Playtest #2 picked apart pretty well. Specifically, Prof. Jacobs did a good job of giving us some ideas of what to really focus on for the next playtest, and as a result, I've gone and revised the goals that I posted here back on the 5th.
To read more about what Jacobs brought up, and what V2 of the goals for Playtest #2 looks like, just follow the jump.
How did I miss a hole this big?
During the presentation, I had touched upon the responses of a couple of our testers, and how they'd noted that the game had a lack of a clear story. The report had a slide with a basic story in it, but that was basically ripped straight from the GDD1 design document, and Jacobs called us out on it.
As it stands, the robot doesn't really look like "a hodgepodge of parts" as the original story outlines; furthermore, our first two levels fail to really incorporate any semblance of "story elements," making for a far less engaging experience overall.
We were also reminded of how hard our "alpha" build was hurt by a lack of powerups; I found myself apologizing it for it yet again on Thursday.
So how does this affect our goals for Playtest #2?
On the surface, the goals look more-or-less the same; the only real addition of any sort has to do with the game's story. Since it hasn't even been 36 hours since we made our presentation, I can assume that there hasn't been much progress made on these goals; hopefully the weekend will see something get done, as we have another sprint demo presentation to make this coming Thursday (the 14th).
So, without further delay, here's the (revised) Playtest #2 goals:
A complete rewrite of the game's story.
Changing the story is far easier than changing the artwork,
so I'm taking charge of writing up something new to fit what
we've got already. Shouldn't be too hard...
Three to four levels to conquer
In particular, these levels should better incorporate
elements of the game's story, as well as address the issues
discovered in Playtest #1. These levels should also incorporate
two to three different powerups.
A scoring/ranking system.
Something as simple as an on-screen death counter
should prove sufficient for a "scoring" system; we can
always expand upon it at a later date.
A pause function and menu.
Multiple screens beyond the main game, including title, instructions, inventory, story, and credits.
ALL art assets are at least at draft quality; those used in
game should be at near-final quality levels.
A 40-50% complete set of sound effects.
That's everything I wanted to talk about tonight; as I mentioned before, hopefully I'll be able to come back the middle of next week and tell you about the progress we've made. Expect to see another post sometime around the 12th.
Until next time....
~ This is Edward "ShadowSage" Finer, signing off. ~
