Unit 3 Writing in a New Genre

Obed Pen-Ogbolu

ENG 1101

In Unit 2, I researched how video games can improve your social skills. In that research, I talked about the many connections you can gain through gaming and how those connections can improve your social skills. Throughout my research, I found that many people agree with me. Video games weren’t just used to improve conversation, they were used to even help those who had trouble communicating during a stressful time in their lives. I had watched documentaries, read articles and books, all for the sake of researching this topic. Because of that, I’ve seen a lot of things about gamers using games to cope, or using games as a topic of conversation in order to communicate with others. I learned about gaming social groups that encourage young gamers to communicate with each other too. I came to the conclusion that video games do support people socially, as they give people a reason to communicate and even give them tools for easy communication. My target audience ended up being gamers, since they are the people that will benefit the most from this entertainment. It isn;t like they don’t know that these friend systems exist, but it is more like they take it for granted and don’t really realize just how powerful these tools are, I know I did. Having gamers learn more about how easily they can increase their social skills and friends lists could bring gamers together and make larger communities, at least that is what I am hoping for with this project.

Unit 3 New Genre: https://youtu.be/tAcC-WK5Uzg

Artist Statement

I have always been a gamer. I have always been an introvert. Communicating with people was never my strong suit. Even friends I have now are people who took the initiative to talk to me first. Those friends then introduced me to more people, but the one thing we had in common at the time was that we were all gamers. But my in-person friends aren’t the only friends I have. I have also made several anonymous online friends, which sounds bad out of context but they were just people who are friends on gaming platforms that I contact in-case I want to fight them or need an extra teammate. So the thought came to me. These gaming platforms have built-in friend systems, some of the mobile games I play also have friend systems, plus all of my friends are gamers. These games are helping me make friends, so shouldn’t we all be making friends? It is literally so easy. Then another thought came to my mind, maybe my friends aren’t growing just because of these platforms. It is like I slowly got better at talking to people and connecting with others. Could these games be giving me the opportunity to improve my social skills? And so became the beginning of my research.

My purpose for doing this research and making this project was to spread the word. I wanted to let gamers know that the friend system they so commonly use is actually a great tool that can help them create even more friends in real life. All these chats that you have with players are really beneficial to you and your social skills. Making friends is easy when you have something to easily connect with them. Plus having such easy access can motivate them to try and make more friends. What better way to inform gamers about a simple, easy to access tool than with a simple, easy to access video. The best place for me to put my easy to access video is the most easy to access streaming service around, Youtube. Youtube is on the top 5 list for Gamer Resources. Gamers use Youtube a lot when searching for an answer in their games, so if I put my video on there, they are more likely to come across it. As for what the video itself is gonna be, it is going to be a short and sweet informative video. A short video that can get my point across is perfect for gamers since we switch from video to video a lot.

The genre has to be video, no questions asked. Something a gamer can watch while playing, something gamers don’t have to spend a lot of time on, and something they can still gain information from, these are the types of media gamers are looking for. That is why it has to be a video. A simple informative video is the best way for gamers to take in the information I want to provide them, and the best place for simple informative videos is none other than Youtube. When the video is right there at your fingertips, gamers are more likely to watch it. It just attracts them more knowing it’s something they don’t even have to focus on.

The process of making the video has to start with the script. This simple video is a voice over kind, so I need a script to base the video off of. The script don’t need to be too long or short, as long as it gets the point across it should be fine. I went over my R.A.B. and made a script out of it, taking parts that I want to talk about while removing things that I thought didn’t need to be in the video. From there I recorded the script, and re-recorded, and re-recorded. I’ve re-recorded the script so many times. From there I went into editing the recording, trying to make my voice sound smooth and clear. It didn’t turn out the way I hoped, but it still turned out pretty ok. Once I thought the script recording was okay for use, I started making an outline of the video. Using the script as a basis, I started to draw out what I wanted the video to generally look like in certain areas, and if I couldn’t draw it then I would write down a short description of what should be there. It was more like a storyboard than it was an outline. After that was complete came the hard part, the video editing. Grabbing a filling yet unnoticeable background, grabbing images and clips that I thought would be appropriate for that specific section, it was really tedious. I also had to go through and learn the tools and some tricks so I can get my video looking like the way I had it in my head. At the end of the day, it didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted it, but I think I got the video looking close to what my ideal vision looked like. It was definitely something I could be proud of.

I think the video turned out great. It wasn’t perfect but it was definitely good enough to suit my needs. I got down the general idea of a short, appealing video to attract gamers. If there is anything I wish I could have improved on a little bit more, it is definitely the mic. I didn’t have the best setup to make my voice as clear and smooth as possible, and my audio editing skills are worse than my video editing. It still turned out pretty decent but it is probably the weakest part of my video. This was definitely a difficult project to get done. My biggest problem, which I didn’t realize until the end, was rendering. I have learned that rendering speeds depend on how good your computer is, especially how good your Processor is, but I overestimated my laptop. With multiple crashes and a final render time of 4 hours, I managed to complete my project. So if there is something else I should improve on, it is getting a better laptop. Having something like this as a college project was really fun. This is the most creative a college project has been for me to date, and I really enjoyed working on this project. I really do hope that there will be more projects like this during my time in college.