Tuesday

Hi Ms. V,

I have to meet with a teacher today so I can't really edit. I hope this is ok. Thanks!

Editing

Marissa is sick today, so it's just me editing. We chopped up all the footage and tried to organize it into offices, classrooms, and specials. Now I'm starting to put it together. The editing is pretty basic--we don't want it to be too crazy for an informational video. We also don't want it to take too long. After the editing we want to do a voice over where we talk a little about our experience or give anecdotes to the shots because the filming is so informational.

What's Happening

We're basically done shooting the footage (except for interviews) and we're going to start editing! We have a variety of classes filmed and I think all of the shots are steady and interesting. Hopefully Mr. Noftsker will set up the interviews soon so we can really begin to put the whole project together. When editing, I think the movie should be interesting, but not too crazy. The purpose is to inform about the school, so while we plant to be creative, we also want to make the movie pretty simple. We've uploaded the clips, so we'll being editing and rendering them today. We are going to edit together, on one computer.

Animoto

I found animoto easy to use and very intuitive to understand. I liked the video it made for me, but I didn't really like using it because my favorite part about making videos is editing them, and animoto does all the editing for you.  I also disliked how the website made the decision of what to leave out if you had too many clips.  I would have preferred it to let me decide what to cut.  Lastly, I wish that it was possible to make the text go over the pictures and video rather than before or after them.  While I found the program easy to use and good at making videos, I would prefer to edit my videos myself.

Media Matters Conference

College Essay: This class wasn't too helpful because we learned more about how to write an essay in general than essays for college. I've already learned a lot about essay writing in school, so I didn't learn anything new.

Iowa to the Whitehouse: This class involved a lot of photojournalism, and since I really like photography, it was interesting to me.  I learned about the importance of objectivity in journalism and the power of photojournalism.  

Reality TV:  This class was much more hands on than the others.  We sat in a circle and all participated, which I liked.  The ideas in it were interesting, but I felt like we didn't have enough time to really learn about them.

Ethnic Media:  I learned the most in this class.  I learned all about the wide variety of ethnic media available today--radio stations, newspapers, TV channels in different languages or highlighting different cultures.  It was cool to see how the ethnicity of journalists effects their points of view.  Even though the information in this class was interesting, it was presented in a boring way.

Overall, I didn't learn a huge amount at the conference, but I still enjoyed it because  I got to see a whole journalism world that I never knew existed.

Voice Over Script

What does education mean to me?

Education.

Education is encountering a problem.

Education is making a decision.

Education is frustration and exasperation.

Education is tripping and falling and continuing.

Education is aided by books, a stable family, the art, and a bank of life experiences to reflect on.

Education is aided most by discussion with others.

Education is articulating ideas and communicating them.

Education is contemplating problems with others.

Education is sharing opinions.

Education is debating viewpoints.

Education is returning to past dilemmas and rethinking options.

Education is puzzling over theories.

Education is reaching a dead end and turning around to try again.

Education does not always lead to success, but the experience and knowledge gained from it make it worthwhile.

Education can be draining and time consuming.

Education can lead to success.  It can change the way you think about the world.  It can change the way society thinks about the world.

Education is deeply personal and absolutely essential.  It takes place in the classroom and in life experiences.

Education is discovering solutions to problems by analyzing and discussing the problems.

Education is what determines the future.

New Video

I have the footage from the corn maze all cut up and sort of in order.  I really like how the light looks and the footage goes together really well over all.  Hopefully on Monday, Marissa and I will be able to film a classroom.  I only want to intersperse a little of that footage with the corn maze, but I think it will help make the video less monotonous.  

Filming!

We have so much geed footage from this weekend.  We filmed everything we need for our stories (in a corn maze for me and skateboarding for Marissa).  We also tried to film some artistic shots that will be really good for intros, outros, and transitions.  We focused on getting steady shots and it was a sunny day but it wasn't too bright, so the colors shouldn't be washed out.  There wasn't a white balance in Marissa's camera, so we didn't have to worry about that.

Yesterday, we tried to upload the footage into Final Cut, but because it was in MOD files, it wouldn't upload.  We tried to figure out how to convert it to a usable file, but we couldn't.

New Idea!

I came up with a new idea for my education movie and I'm really excited about it!  I want to go to a corn-maze and film shots that represent trial-and-error, puzzling through something, and success.  These will represent my view of education--being confused and using your own power and experience to figure something out(even if you fail the first time).  Then I want to contrast my view of education with the school's view of education by filming a classroom.  In my voiceover, I want to read different definitions of education and my own definition and describe my my view.  I think a corn maze could have some really cool shots and if I put it together well I could have a really cool video!

New Video

I'm really  excited about starting a new video--I thought the one I was working on was ok but not great and I'd much rather put energy into something I'm going to be proud of.  For the next video I'm going to remember to:

1. always white-balance carefully

2. never shake the camera

3. try to get original answers

4. make sure there are no distractions

I think this video is really interesting when you look at it next to the ones Marissa and I were making.  When it stands alone it's interesting but not very original, but looking at the contrast between the problems kids in or school have and the problems the kids in this video is really cool.  I think it would be great to have a video with both experiences together.

October First

Video on Blindness

I watched a NYTimes video on surgery to correct blindness.   It seemed like the topic would be interesting, but the video dragged on.  None of the shot angles were very creative--they were mostly medium shots straight on the subject.  The colors were mainly gray and white, which didn't help the video.  I've noticed colors a lot more since I've started color correcting the shots in my Obama video.  They really improve with color corrector and the whole video looks less drab because of it.  

Editing

All the footage is organized and cut for my video.  I added transitions and some of the songs underneath the video.  I left spaces for voice-overs, so I definitely need to do those next.  I also need to work on the overall smoothness of the video, and I am not completely happy with the opening shots.  I have a good start though.

Rough Cut

I have a rough cut of the interviews done and I really like how it looks.  They add up to a minute and twenty seconds so far, which is a good time.  Now I have to focus on a beginning, an end, transitions and music.

NY Times Video

This video about contaminated water has a good subject and I like the way the story is told, but I don't like the video.  It has no video (it's a slideshow of pictures).  The narrator is never shown (she might not have wanted to be shown), but it takes away from my connection to the story.  I think the video could be improved with an expert opinion, an idea of what the characters are going to do in the future, and more than one narrator.

Editing

So, we have all the raw footage and today we're going to edit. We have a lot of unusable footage (because of problems with the sound or brightness), but since the video only has to be two minutes, there is definitely enough usable footage to fill that time. Most of our problems in filming were because we whitebalanced incorectly.

Love Today Music Video

Breakdown Music Video

I Am What I Learn

I want to ask lots of students "Where do you see yourself in ten years?  Where does school play into that?"  Then I want to cut from one answer to another very quickly.  Maybe I'll switch between two kids with very different answers to highlight the differences or cut quickly between kids with similar answers to show the similarities.  I'm really not sure yet.

Merce Cunningham

Merce Cunningham Video

I love the first fifteen seconds of this video.  The music isn't exactly on beat with the change of shots and scenes, but I like that.  I like that all the shots are in the same color scheme and they fit together really well.  Merce Cunningham was a dancer and the video feels graceful and edgy, just like his dance.  I also like that the narrator isn't shown every time he speaks.  The video switches back to his head shot once in a while, but it doesn't get boring because it doesn't show him too much.  Overall, I think the video has a really cool mood and has a lot of biographical information in a short time without seeming rushed.  The beginning is my favorite part.