Reflection 4/14/11: The Whole Class On Trial

You read that correctly. All but one of us was on trial today for not doing our intern hours. Granted, I believe that some of us had some decent excuses, but we all know excuses don't fly in Judge Dr. Chris' Court. So, many of us were sentenced to "community service" to redeem ourselves. Doc Chris, this better be good enough. Below I am posting 5 videos of interviews with your Sight, Sound, Motion class, including one I did with you. They're probably pretty poor quality, but they were completed.

You've got some characters in your class, Doc Chris. That's all I have to say about that.

Additionally, here is a video of the speaker whose lecture we attended before those interviews were taken. I tend to be super bored at these types of lectures, but this guy was fantastic. Really engaging and interesting. He knew his stuff and was really current as well.

In addition to that, we filmed an interview today with the author [Iforgethisfirstname] Goodman about his new book, Tracks, which is a series of stories about a group of people on a train from Baltimore. I got to work the camera cutting board (I'm sure that has a more official name, but I don't know what it is) for the second take, which was pretty cool. And this guy's book sounds really interesting, too. I might actually pick it up and give it a read when it comes out.

Oh, and we shot for our commercial today. We got a lot of really good/hilarious footage! Can't wait to put it all together.

How's that for a blog post, Doc Chris? I AM SO NOT A SLACKER.

Reflection 4/7/11: Shooting...

So, for this class, we spent the first half of our time shooting our commercial. It went really well; we had a lot of really great footage, as well as an idea for our commercial. And it was beautiful outside.

But then our camera died. So, we decided to walk back to class with the footage we had to begin working on editing.

When we hooked the camera up to the computer, though, nothing would upload. We had several "professionals" try to help us at our station, but they couldn't figure it out. We thought it might be because the camera was dead, but... oh, we couldn't get into the closet to retrieve the power cord, so... ultimate fail all around. Instead, I worked on some Final Cut lessons until the end of class. I finished lesson 5 and sent it to Doc Chris; lesson 6 is coming soon.

That was about it for this week's class; I didn't see Doc Chris much because we were working independently. I enjoyed filming and editing, though.

Reflection 3/31: My Favorites

I must say, this class was very fun. We went straight into the studio with Dr. Jay, who taught us a bunch of useful lighting techniques that I had a small background of already. What I didn't know was how free-form lighting can be. I thought it had to be one distinct type of structure. Dr. Jay also showed us how to frame a shot as well. Needless to say, I was extremely intrigued. The technical side of multimedia production is always my favorite. Even within the lecture-type setting, I felt like I was getting a hands-on type of experience.

Next, we went back into the lab and started working more on Final Cut Pro, a program that I am quickly learning to love. What can I say? Editing is my other favorite. We learned how to use slow motion effects and other visual effects to alter video. It inspired me to go out and shoot my own (however crappy) videos to edit and play around with on Final Cut once I get my new Flip camera in the mail. I am so excited. Dr. Jay told us at the end of class that we will be producing a music video soon too, which is a project that I had heard about in his class and always wanted to try, since music is my other favorite. (Below is a music video that I would have loved to produce!)

 

Dr. Jay was a really great instructor. He moved at a pace so that we were all able to work together and complete our work thoroughly and in a timely manner. He said that we were going to devote a lot more time in class to Final Cut, which I am really looking forward to. Onward to video! (See you this week, Doc Chris!)

Reflection 3/24/11 - Day Missed

Why wasn't I in class today?

Because I felt like the above picture. Take note that the picture is not actually of me, but of one of my musical idols when she was sick. Thought I'd work in some "pop" culture there.

I did follow along on Facebook, though. I found that we had Judge Doctor Chris Court, and I heard that J Smooth was really creative in his defense. I can't believe I missed it!

I'm also intrigued by the fact that Charlie Sheen is still coming up in class (and I'm really glad I missed any discussion about Rebecca Black's "Friday," because I'm so sick of that song, and we discussed it at length on my radio show last Monday, but, really, that was enough). I'm not entirely sure what the context was in this case, but I don't like the idea of rewarding celebrities for their endless stupidity with exactly what they want - attention. Charlie Sheen needs help, sure, and so he should get help. He should get help in private and actually try to fix himself up. What he's doing is fishing for attention; I think better PR would be for him to disappear now and reappear later after a decent amount of therapy. I'm not sure if this contributed at all to discussion, but that's just what I'm thinking about it right now!

As for the Family, we've contacted a few of our places and have yet to hear back. Fingers crossed!

St. Patrick's Day Storyboarding!

I meant to put this together earlier, but here's a picture representation of my St. Patrick's Day, rated PG!

We got gelato for class last Thursday!

This is french vanilla with Oreos. I'd never had gelato before, and it made me sad as an Italian to be able to say that, but no more! Thanks Doc Chris!

Then we filmed our reflections/dissed all of the no-shows.

Then, later on, we celebrated. I found these glasses.

I'm posting these unattractive photos just for you, Doc Chris.

It was a fun night! But never let me wear a tie again... it's something to play with and I get far too fixated on it.

Midterm Exam

1. What are the three parts of the production process? Pre-production, production, and post-production are the three parts of the production process.
2. What are the two new parts of the production class that we use in this class that can be found in marketing class under 2 of the 4 P's? Product, price, placement, and promotion are the 4 P's. The two that we use in class are placement and promotion. This is how things that we produce are going to get out into the world. An example of placement is putting your video on Youtube for people to see (because the best video in the world is nothing if nobody sees it!). Then, we use social media to promote our videos to other people via spreading the URL and promoting our video and ourselves.
3. What is the most important part of the production process and why? The most important part of the production process is pre-production. This is when your team gets everything together and gets organized so that the production and post-production processes move smoothly. Without pre-production, the rest of the production process couldn't happen.
4. What is the best part of your experience in this class and why? I'm sort of a [baby] tech-junkie, so I really enjoyed the class when we went over how to use Final Cut Pro. It's like using ProTools, only it deals a lot more with visual aesthetics. I had been waiting to use Final Cut Pro all semester, and it was really satisfying to actually start with it. Now I really want to start fooling around with it. Although I know that pre-production is most important, I feel like production and post-production are the most fun!
5. Explain how you like working in groups in this class, and how has your team grown. Evaluate your team. I usually like to work solo, but working in a group has really worked for me in this class. Everyone in my group is reliable and brings a different talent to the table, and we all have fun ideas. It's interesting to get together every week and exchange ideas and see what's going on in everybody's head. But, while we don't have all of the same ideas, our aims are all the same. We want to produce a reputable video and distribute it to the public via placement and promotion. We're currently coming up with shooting ideas and we all have a good vision for our show, our PSA, and our promotional spot. The Family's on the right track.
6. How have you grown in this course thus? Has it helped you critically think and have you applied what you have learned in other courses? Explain. What do you expect to learn in the second part of this course? I have learned a lot about pre-production so far. I think pre-production deals a lot with critical thinking and application, because it deals so much with other people and their motivations, so I would definitely say that I've begun critically thinking even more than usual. Naturally, I have applied these principles in my other courses, because I'm taking 3 CM courses right now - Radio, Video, and Sight, Sound, Motion. The current events/staying connected with the world/current events sort of thing applies in all types of Communication. I expect to learn a lot more about direct production and post-production later on in this class. I think we're going to start a lot more shooting and editing.
7. Evaluate Doc Chris. Is he doing an effective job coaching you and preparing you for the production and post-production process? Do you like the fact that social media is being used instead of textbooks? Explain why. I think, for what we've done so far, we have been prepared well by Doc Chris. I think this comes a lot from Doc Chris' copious real world experience. The only thing I wish we had a little more of was the technological side, which I hope will come later on in the course. That's the only thing that I feel like I'm going to be just a little confused about, unless we learn by doing, which I'm totally fine with too. I like using social media instead of textbooks, though. I don't have the longest attention span in the world, so learning the way we do is preferred for me. It's very hard for me to sit in front of a book for a long period of time, no matter how interesting the topic!

Reflection 3/3/11: Interviewing

Interviewing

First rule of interviewing: Check your ego and agenda out at the door.
Second rule of interviewing: Don't be confrontational.
Third rule of interviewing: Do your research!
Fourth rule of interviewing: Be gracious.
Fifth rule of interviewing: Finish. Always give the person an out.

Want a good example of a good interviewer? Watch Frost/Nixon, both the original interview and the movie. Watch the movie for the whole process of researching. This guy was unbelievable. Nixon had a huge ego, and Frost had none, and he really accomplished what he set out to do.

Like a lot of things we learn in this class, I think it's good to know these rules on a basic level (as in, not word-for-word). We should know them as principles so that they're in the back of our minds, so that when we go out and interview and produce things, we'll have these principles innately inside of us.  It'll be more natural than if we're constantly trying to recall exact definitions. These rules seem kind of obvious, but, based on watching certain interviews, sometimes breaking them just comes naturally.

Doc Chris showed us a bunch of different examples of interviewers and interviewees that demonstrated both good and bad interviewing techniques. These were really helpful. Good: Frost/Nixon. Bad: Allen Iverson. They helped communicate the principles of the class that we discussed today. They also helped move along the end of our pre-production process. I feel like we're more prepared now.