Video I: The Final Exam

1. What are the three parts of the production process? The three parts of the production process are pre-production, production, and post-production.

2. What are the two new parts of the production process that we use in this class that can be found in marketing class under 2 of the 4 P's? Which part of the production process was your favorite and why? Which part of the production process was the most challenging and why? The four P's are product, price, placement, and promotion. The two that we use in class are placement and promotion. These are the methods that we use to get our messages out into the world. An example of placement is putting your media on Youtube for people to see, because if no one sees it, an amazing video is completely useless. We use social media to promote our media to others by spreading the URL and promoting our video and ourselves. My favorite part of the production process was either production or post-production, because I really enjoy using all of the equipment and software to create a medium to spread a message around. The most challenging part of the production process was probably pre-production, because it was a very long process and it was very difficult to think about and organize something that we really wanted to say.

3. What is the most important part of the production process and why? The most important part of the production process is pre-production. Through pre-production, you organize your thoughts and your message in order to set up for production and post-production. It is a very long process that ensures that the other steps go smoothly. Without pre-production, the entire production process couldn't happen.

4. What is the best part of your experience in this class and why? My favorite experience in this class was actually sitting down and learning how to use video editing software. This part of the class made me realize that I really want to be involved in media production as a career when I graduate college. I also enjoyed the interview day. It was a real pleasure to have Crystal Bass on our show, and it went really well. It made me feel like our pre-production really paid off.

5. Explain how you like working in groups in this class, and how has your team grown. Evaluate your team. To be fair being put on trial is tough; however, it literally happens every day at TV stations, ad agencies, film studios, government studios and PR agencies; do you understand why folks were put on trail rather than giving a failing grade for making mistakes and why the trials were public? Explain. Do you think that being put on trial made you more accountable to your group, this class, yourself and your professor? Our team was really great. We work together really well in all aspects of the production process. We all brought something different to the table and it helped us work together to produce what will turn out to be some really good shows. I am grateful for being put on trial rather than receiving failing grades! Not only does it help our GPAs, but it's more realistic, I think. I understand why it was public and why they exist; as it states in the question, I think being put on trial makes you more accountable to your group/class/self/professor. It points out your mistakes but also aims to fix them.

6. How have you grown in this course thus? Has it helped you think critically and have you applied what you have learned in other courses yet? Explain. The first part of this class focused a lot on the pre-production process (script writing, storyboarding, brainstorming, production planning etc and an introduction to editing) and the second part of this class as promised during your midterm exam focused more on editing, production, and post-production. Do you understand and can you please explain the connection between all the pre-production planning work and the actual production and post-production of videos? I think I now have a greater overview of the entire production process. I've learned a better sense of organization and planning as a result of this class. It has helped me think critically, and I've applied critical thinking techniques in all of my classes, as thinking critically is very important in all aspects of life. I understand the connection between all of the pre-production planning work and the actual production and post-production of videos. As I've said before, the pre-production, as indicated by its definition, lends completely to the production process, for without it, production and post-production would be moot. (Other questions under this number are duplicates and have been answered previously.)

7. Evaluate Dr. Chris. Did he do an effective job coaching you and preparing you for the production process? Do you like the fact that social media, guest lectures, interviews with real life authors, guest lectures with Professor Jay, intern hours instead of using primarily textbooks, notebooks, and handouts? Explain why or why not. Would you recommend this class with Dr. Chris to a friend or classmate? Why or why not? Do you think that other professors should utilize these methods? Did you feel like you received individual attention and support from Dr. Chris when you ran into a problem in the course? What grade would you give this class? What would you like Dr. Chris to have done more of in this class? Did you feel confident with the production process now after having taken this class? Knowing what you know about this class would you take it again with Dr. Chris and why? Dr. Chris did an effective job coaching us and preparing us for the production process. The semester threw us a couple of curveballs, but Dr. Chris helped us adjust to the changes and keep the process moving along smoothly. I do like the fact that all of the above mentioned aspects are included in this class. Social media helped us all keep up with class even if we weren't having it during the week. I especially liked guest lectures with Professor Jay, which really helped me get a firm grasp on editing software. I liked not having textbooks, notebooks, and handouts. I think that sort of method is a bit dated and doesn't really lend well to a video production class. I would recommend this class to a classmate, but only if they could handle Dr. Chris' methods! I think they were effective methods and other professors should utilize them as well. I think Dr. Chris was absolutely available for individual consultation, and Facebook was one of the main perpetuators of that. Dr. Chris was often available for chats online to get us on track, which I really appreciated. With its flexibility considered, I'd give this class an A. I think that we could have done just a bit more with Final Cut to really get us up to speed on the post-production process, but I still feel confident with the production process after having taken this class. I'd take this class again with Dr. Chris (maybe with different subject matter? This is a hard question to answer just having completed the class!). Overall, I think I learned all that Dr. Chris had intended for me to learn in this class.

Reflection 4/28: Crystal Bass Interview/Sight, Sound, Motion

Yesterday was pretty action packed. Our first task of the day was to conduct our interview with author Crystal L. Bass, which Fran was all too excited for (and we think he made a lasting impression). The shoot itself went really well. We had a great background set up and some great angles. Doc Chris directed the shoot really well, telling me when to switch properly and even leaving it to me to judge sometimes. Crystal was great on camera and she even signed books for all of us after class, which was a really nice gesture from her! I'm looking forward to reading it.

After class, we trekked it up to the quad to participate in the Sight, Sound, Motion final for Doc Chris' other class. They had to essentially create sights, sounds, and motions for their final. What actually happened can hardly be described in words, so I took a few pictures and have uploaded them below.

I'd say that the red team did the best with this challenge. The blue team didn't even dress in blue, for the most part...

The Family has been granted an extension for their final project after an interesting edition of Judge Doctor Chris' Court. We will have everything edited by the final, now that we have all of our footage.

Reflection: Greycomm Film Festival

So, yesterday I attended the Greycomm Film Festival in order to accumulate a few more intern hours, but I ended up becoming pretty interested in the films shown. I knew a few of the people who had submitted entries, and it was obvious that some films were better than others, though I admire all of the participants for entering! I really liked Eric Weinstein's "long shot" music video for "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. It was really well choreographed and put together. I also was pretty intrigued by Tim Teeling's short documentary. The acting and story line could obviously use some work (sorry, Tim! :) ) but what really drew me in was the production value. Of all of the short films, music videos, and commercials that were shown, Tim's was definitely aesthetically closest to something you would see on television already. You could tell that he really put a lot of work into it. Some of them were kind of there for a laugh, like the Poker Face video, which I didn't find too inspiring, but the guy saying "p-p-p-poker face" was pretty hilarious. I found it kind of odd that [the lead from A Cool Stick whose name I can't remember] had an entry in the contest, since he graduated about three years ago. Regardless, his entry was really well shot and was really original. Finally, I really enjoyed Stephen Celano's entries. His documentary-type film about being a filmmaker was really well put together. I liked the transitions he used, with one shot often running into or becoming another. And his experiments with special effects and graphics are obviously working to his favor. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good show.

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!