American Wasteland

4/26/09

Hey guys,

Not much has really been going on recently, but summer’s coming so maybe more people will want to make episodes.  One episode is currently being finished, an animation, written by Mike Buchbauer (MMXII) and animated by Steve Intrabartola.  That should be finished in the next couple weeks.  Also, the Syracuse International Film Festival started this weekend.  I’m working at the festival, so it might provide some opportunity for American Wasteland to get some good exposure—to people in the business, no less.

Anyway, that’s it for now.

-rwl2

2/23/09

Well, last week the American Wasteland spot (posted below and here) screened at the I Shot the Pilot Fundraiser.  I was unable to make it, but my classmate Mike, who organized the show, told me it was received with “roaring applause”.  That’s good news, I think.  There haven’t been any new members to the forums yet, though.  People have been telling me about their ideas about new episodes, which is encouraging, but I’d like to pull in more people.

Vimeo revamped their Channels feature, so the American Wasteland channel on Vimeo has a new look.  I’ve also posted American Wasteland in the Vimeo Projects forums, to hopefully draw in new members.  This week, I’m hoping to meet with a friend of mine that might really get American Wasteland some new exposure—however, I can’t quite talk about it yet, but I’ll keep you updated.

-rwl2

2/9/09

Well, American Anthology is up and running and is looking pretty good, I think.  I think I’ve set up a decent system for it to work on.  There’s a page that chronicles everything in the main story.  Each episode has its own page, where all the facts and events that that episode reveals are listed, as well as links to information about the makers.  All I need now is someone to manage it.

I’ve been talking to a couple of people about adding a writing section to the website, and I think I’ve got a decent plan about how to implement it.  The biggest problem is that with text, it can just be copy-and-pasted and that way easily stolen.  I think the best way around that is to make each piece of writing a .pdf file that can be viewed on the website itself (hopefully viewed only and not downloadable, but we’ll see what we can accomplish).

I’ve just completed a video spot to be shown at a fundraiser for my classmates’ film.  I think it’s a pretty good spot; it’s pretty “in-your-face”—I think it’ll kind of grab people and get them interested in the project.  At least get them to navigate to the website.  Maybe even join the forums.  I’m not going to officially release it until it’s shown at the event.  I’m not going to say much about it, other than that it is featuring Sigur Rós, as in good fashion.  The event is on the 17th of February.  That night, I’ll post the spot on Vimeo.

So, that’s what’s been going on behind the scenes here at American Wasteland.  I’ll post again soon, but, until then, keep contributing!

-rwl2

2/2/09

For the past couple days, I’ve been wading my way through the MediaWiki engine (the software that runs Wikipedia), trying to build “American Anthology”, the wiki for American Wasteland.  It’s been hard, considering I’ve had to teach myself php, HTML, and the MediaWiki tags all at the same time.  I know hardly anything about either language, and I don’t have a ton of experience on Wikipedia, so it’s been a challenge, but I’ve gotten through it for the most part, and American Anthology is coming together nicely.  Unfortunately, it’s not quite ready to be released, but it’s coming soon, so stay tuned!

-rwl2

1/31/09

Hi guys,

Well most, if not all, of the kinks on the newly launched website have been worked out, and the site is working smoothly.  The only issue is that there are still no users on the forums!  The forums are designed to be the life-blood of the American Wasteland community—it’s the vehicle with which contributors can communicate and collaborate.  I need to find ways to get this project out there.  I’ve posted it on hitRECord.org.  The listing has received a little over 80 hits, but only one person has responded.  Growth right now is pretty slow, but it’s still very, very early.

On another note, I’ve started working on a new episode.  A friend of mine is making it, and he asked me to help him.  So this will be the second contribution not made by me!  Even though I am participating in it.  Hopefully word will get around.  I started posting print ads around my campus, but I’ve gotten no results from that yet.  We’ll see.

-rwl2

1/28/09

Forums!

Yes, they’re finally here.  Working, functional forums for American Wasteland.  I’ve taken the biggest steps in making this community alive and active.  Now all it needs are contributors, users, viewers, makers.  It needs to get out there.  I’m working on a print campaign for my campus, but I need help.  I’ve also posted it as a RECord on hitRECord.org.  It needs to reach beyond my friends and my campus and get out there.

Anyone who wants to help promote the project, contact me.  Or not, you can just do it, too.

-rwl2