LEAP 1 Ordinary Creativity: Exploring Brad Mondo
For my COM 250 LEAP 1 project, I decided to analyze the famous Youtuber Brad Mondo. After reviewing the information for this project, I was excited to get started as I have never created a screencast video before. Sadly, this did not come without challenges. One of the first challenges I encountered when beginning my project was choosing the subject of it. While I used to love scrolling on Youtube and would subscribe to channels and follow them religiously, the combination of college and work had slowed my viewing time drastically over the years. I wanted to make sure the subject of my analysis was someone I still viewed (at least from time to time) and someone that I thoroughly enjoyed.
After deciding to focus in on Brad Mondo, I felt that in order to tackle this project I would first write out my 450-word script of what I would be discussing in the video. I did this by referencing the questions given to our class to guide us through our analysis, and I also thought back to portions of our course in which we have learned about ideas involving influencers and media creators. After I felt that my script was completed, I then moved onto the interesting part: recording my very first screencast.
After viewing a few videos about Screen-o-matic, I was able to navigate the software with minimal issues. One issue I found myself running into was being able to multitask reading my script as I recorded my screen and performed the “cursor actions” I sought after in order to guide my audience along with my narrations. Some portions of my video were filmed multiple times, but alas I was able to complete it proudly. Uploading and publishing my video occurred with no complications as well.
I enjoyed this project primarily because it is unlike any other project I have done for a course before. As a STEM major, it is unlikely that my courses have or will ever have creative process projects such as this one where we create a video to analyze an influencer or media author that we choose. While this project was new for me and unlike anything I have ever worked on prior, I felt that working on something new and fresh helped me feel motivated and inspired to do the best I can to learn a new skill in order to enhance my own self as a digital author. Being able to choose my own topic of a media author that I enjoy also helped me feel more inspired and to enjoy this project as well, as I was able to quickly think of many different videos and sources I could reference in able to make my project and video the best that it could be. While I worried about the timing of my project and not putting in enough information or material, I found that the three-minute mark was perfect to convey the information I wished to my audience. Overall, I’m very proud of this project and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have! To view my LEAP 1 video, you can look below:
Works Cited:
- https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/xg8wxa/youtubers-are-destroying-their-hair-for-internet-fame (article on fans seeking out Brad’s attention)
- https://xmondohair.com/ (Brad’s haircare line)
- https://twitter.com/bradmondonyc (Brad’s Twitter)
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoc_XJPj6YLMQDWtPDQcDtA (Brad’s Youtube Channel)
- Media Literacy in Action: Questioning the Media by Renee Hobbs
