A Bit Annoyed

jewbear · #1 12-09-2007, 05:11 AM

My buddy is in a photography class at the local public college, and one of the few students taking it very seriously.

They have a contest every semester where people make a mixed media ( music, audio, photos, video, whatever... ) project and submit it to the teacher. He ( and the class ) view the submissions, then he chooses the three winners.

My friend submitted a project that was decent. I don't really know how to describe it, but the photos were clear and looked really decent ( he put some of my favorites in it ), he got his point across clearly, and everything was tasteful. It was coherent and made sense along with the music. It was pretty creative, and well, I'd like to post it here but he hasn't given me a copy yet. I think it's pretty cool though.

This year the teacher decided that he wouldn't judge the competition. Everyone attending the event ( whether or not they were in the class ) would write in their votes.

There's this girl in the class that is taking the course for an easy grade. She invests almost no time or effort in the class, her equipment, etc. and apparently she isn't doing well in the class.

Well, she brought a lot of friends to the event ( about 8 or 9 ) and submitted this ( no nudity or gore or anything, but may be NSFW due to how stupid it is )

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoid=23018050

and she got third place with a total of 10 or 11 votes ( 8 or 9 from her friends, plus her own vote, and that leaves 1 or 2 other people that voted for her ) and my buddy came in fourth place with 5 votes ( he brought no friends, so his votes were probably from people who compared his work to the other works up there fairly, you know, not a guaranteed vote ).

I'm not sure about how my buddy feels, but I am annoyed about this. I'd be cool if he lost, but to lose to something so bad, and because of votes from a source that wasn't stated before the competition, it's stupid.

He lost last semester to some really good projects ( really good ) and I didn't even think about it, and if he lost this time to something more respectable ( the ones that won first and second were really cool from what I hear ) I'd be fine.

I guess I feel personally invested in this because I do some of his syncing for him ( he has poor sense of time when syncing things up so I just go through his projects and make sure that it has the right feel, maybe changing the time of a frame by a second or two here or there ) but he does most of the editing.

Matt_W · #2 12-09-2007, 05:20 AM

Yeah, that is very unfair, that girls photography is technically poor, not very interesting, and very, very myspace.

I'd tell him to look on the bright side, the more people who don't put any effort in for the course, the less competition he will have in the big wide world. I'm doing a photography degree myself, I put in loads of effort, and I am actually quite happy to see others on the course kicking back and relaxing whilst I am working.

jewbear · #3 12-09-2007, 05:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt_W

Yeah, that is very unfair, that girls photography is technically poor, not very interesting, and very, very myspace.

I'd tell him to look on the bright side, the more people who don't put any effort in for the course, the less competition he will have in the big wide world. I'm doing a photography degree myself, I put in loads of effort, and I am actually quite happy to see others on the course kicking back and relaxing whilst I am working.

yeah that's how he's seeing it ( he's prety up beat ). He did feel a bit depressed for about an hour when he found out but when he realized how much better off he already is than her ( he's been in the newspaper, done some projects for the city already ) he cheered right up.

How's the courses coming along for you?

Matt_W · #4 12-09-2007, 05:30 AM

Pretty good really, I managed to work with a few studios over the summer as an assistant, and got to go on quite a big fashion shoot for one photographer. I'm awaiting some marks for my first semester at the moment, and trying to neaten off an essay. There is loads of work this year, but I am really enjoying being kept busy.

It sounds like your mate has nothing to worry about, as long as he keeps his head down he will succeed.

jady · #5 12-09-2007, 10:12 AM

Well, she did the assignment. The instructor really can't grade her based on talent just what the assignment was. As for the contest, the public usually doesn't know good art from a hole in a tree, he should get used to it (I can't tell you how many times I have been asked to play Mustang Sally, case in point).

She seems like an annoying chick though..............

dman_113 · #6 12-09-2007, 10:27 AM

Well I only made it 30 secs into the video before my suckometer pegged, so yeah its probably the most brilliant piece of multimedia art ever.

nortonrider · #7 12-09-2007, 10:36 AM

Welcome to the REAL world!

doctorjazz · #8 12-09-2007, 11:51 AM

Well, that was one of the more retarded things I've ever seen committed to video.

dman_113 · #9 12-09-2007, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doctorjazz

Well, that was one of the more retarded things I've ever seen committed to video.

Try watching that damn animated penguin movie sometime!!!

i_got_a_mohawk · #10 12-09-2007, 12:03 PM

It is for that reason my band doesnt do battle of the band style things. They are the exact same, and its pointless!

**Rodent** · #11 12-09-2007, 12:07 PM

Give the girl an A+ for understanding the bigger picture of what this assignment was all about ... the prof noted that it was up to votes to determine who placed where, and she got the word out to her fans

winning in the corporate world isn't about having the best product, design, idea, or conveying unbiased truth - it's about understanding the competitive atmosphere and then producing the proper marketing and loyalty (don't believe me - watch 'An Inconvenient Truth' sometime and see how grossly stretched 'science' is packaged)

this event sucks for your friend, I'm sure - but hopefully his eyes are opened to the bigger picture so that he learns from it and comes better prepared for the next assignment

all the best,

R

jewbear · #12 12-09-2007, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodent

Give the girl an A+ for understanding the bigger picture of what this assignment was all about ... the prof noted that it was up to votes to determine who placed where, and she got the word out to her fans

winning in the corporate world isn't about having the best product, design, idea, or conveying unbiased truth - it's about understanding the competitive atmosphere and then producing the proper marketing and loyalty (don't believe me - watch 'An Inconvenient Truth' sometime and see how grossly stretched 'science' is packaged)

this event sucks for your friend, I'm sure - but hopefully his eyes are opened to the bigger picture so that he learns from it and comes better prepared for the next assignment

all the best,

R

The problem is that the teacher didn't state that he would have everyone in the audience vote this time, which is very unusual ( him not judging with up to 2 guest judges that work in the field of photography as he has done so in the past, and as he stated he would do so up until moments after the final project was played at the competition ). He changed the way the contest was to be scored at the last minute without notice so the chick lucked out. If he knew, he would have just used " LSD and You " which was a project we did a long time ago that we threw together in like 2 hours ( it got pretty popular here in town ). It was low-quality but most people find it funny and it's now used as an example of how to creatively use burst mode in the teachers classes ( he shows it to every class he has ). It wasn't much better than her project, but it used a style that the teacher hadn't ever seen submitted by a student before.

My buddy is staying positive though, he now knows why I don't enter many contests...

Quote:

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

It is for that reason my band doesnt do battle of the band style things. They are the exact same, and its pointless!

Same here. I'd only do one if it were a place my band hasn't played yet so we could get our name out there, but I wouldn't every go into a Battle of the Bands and expect to win because I know the methods that are usually used to judge the winners and I already know that they wouldn't be in favor of any band I am in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dman_113

Try watching that damn animated penguin movie sometime!!!

Talking about ' Happy Feet '? If so, I gotta' say both are on par with being equally idiotic.

After talking to you guys I really am not feeling as annoyed as I was.

Thanks

Jeremy Crockett · #13 12-09-2007, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jewbear

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoid=23018050

Made it in about 30 seconds as well. Horrible stuff, really. Then again, we haven't seen your friend's work. It could be equally bad.

*smb · #14 12-09-2007, 08:56 PM

Some you win, some you lose. At least this one (from the sounds of it) wasn't a big deal. Moral? If you're competing in something, best to bring all the support you can. It sounds very slack of the teacher though. That video was really really poor.

jady · #15 12-09-2007, 09:37 PM

I too only made it about 30 sec in, were there animated penguins later on? Were the penguins in a wierd S&M scene too?

i_got_a_mohawk · #16 12-10-2007, 01:04 AM

Who thought the domninatrix looked like a hound?

**Mark Wilson** · #17 12-10-2007, 07:40 AM

That was the worst porn ever.

louieeadg · #18 12-10-2007, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jewbear

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoid=23018050

"Mr. jewbear, what you've just posted is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever seen. At no point in this incoherent video were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."