Colin Rhinesmith

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(Final comments following rough edit shown in class and after creating final sequence):

Audience Reaction to Rough Edit

I was pleased with the class’ reaction to the rough edit. I felt that the story came across in a clear and understandable way and I noticed there was some sympathy for WK (Wrestling Ken, aka Buff Ken) when Barbie walked away, which I was hoping for.

I was glad for Rii’s feedback about the framing of the opening shots, which I tweaked for the final sequence. I also appreciated Rii’s comment about subtracting some of the shots, because once you’ve seen a shot it’s not necessary to repeat similar shots in the same sequence. This also helped me create a tighter final sequence and it also made me look differently at students’ projects - less is more.

Edits for Final Sequence

1. I replaced the opening shot with a better picture of Barbie that leads nicely to the following Long Shot.

2. I took out the third shot of B that had her centered looking up left with unwanted space in the picture. I replaced it with the shot of barbie looking right towards the following shot of WK entering scene.

(I couldn’t find a shot of WK farther away, so I kept with the long shot of WK entering)

3. I took out the third shot of WK walking towards B and replaced it with the mid shot of Ken about to offer the flower to B.

4. I took out the three pictures of WK’s over the shoulder and the two pictures of WK’s back of the head shot. I did this because I thought they were redundant and I feel like the whole entrance sequence is a lot tighter now and the point of view shots lead better.

5. I added the close-up of WK following the CS of B, to have a better point of view flow (which didn’t work very well before). Thanks, Rii for the tip. It also accentuates their “face to face” meeting.

6. I tweaked the sequence of the next series where WK offers the flower to B before she walks off. This flow worked more smoothly before B walks out of the frame and out of the scene.

7. I took out the “side shot” of B walking off and went directly to the next photo of her walking upper right out of the frame (again cutting out redundant pics).

8. I then went back to WK looking off sadly (as much as possible with a smile on his face) as the next photo shows B off in the distance (new photo).

9. I took out the shot of WK climbing up the wall and went right to the next photo of WK on top of the rocks. I thought this led some to the imagination by not showing the climbing photo and also moved along in the sequence better.

10. I took out the MS shot following the last “she loves me not” sequence, to show the over the shoulder shot of WK holding the flower with all the petals off. I thought the MS shot was redundant and that the over the shoulder shot was a more interesting perspective before showing the CS of the petal-less flower.

11. I lengthened the last three photos in the sequence to lead more slowly and evenly to the final shot of WK looking down at the petals falling down the rocks. I agree that this final shot is much better than the one I had there (thanks again, Rii).

Final Critique

Overall, I like this final sequence much better than the rough edit. The one point that stuck in my head after showing the rough edit in class (and watching other students’ videos) was that similar shots can get very old, very quickly in a short still sequence. Also, I felt that less is more when it comes to short videos. I was glad that I had more, than less, to work with in my rough edit. This allowed me to subtract, rather than having to come up with more photos to add (or reshoot) in my final sequence. It also allowed me to create a tighter overall sequence, which I feel I achieved in this final version.

I had a great time working on this project.

A few things I wish were better:

1. The close-up shot of WK, following the close-up of Barbie.

2. Steadier, more even camera shots during the she-loves-me-not sequence.

3. Exposed the final shot to be brighter.

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“Behind The Scenes: PBwiki“

Ryanne and Jay sat down with the folks at PBwiki and shot this great video (above).

Wanna learn more about wikis and find out more about where the name PBwiki comes from?  Check out the video here.

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OneWebDay Boston Photos

Yesterday a few of us celebrated OneWebDay over at the Berkman Center. Doc took this photo of Indigo and me before recording his video thank you card to Tim-Berners Lee. Watch the video here.

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Video draft #1 below.

Objective

The objective of the project was to tell a fictional narrative about two characters, female and male (replace with male/male, female/female, etc. if you like), in this case Barbie and “Wrestling Ken”. The story focused on the object/name “Black-Eyed” relating to the flower and Barbie’s rejection of WK.

My objective was also to show my understanding of some of the basic elements of video production including a some of those listed on the assignment:

“Mise-en-scene; Leadroom, headroom; Camera angle and significance (low, high, position placement), pacing and timing”, etc.

Process

I was pleased with most of the photos I shot at the park yesterday. As I mentioned the storyboard helped a great deal to keep focused on the story. Although only as a guide, it provided me with the freedom to experiment once in the environment.

I put the video draft together last night using Final Cut Express. I spent a few hours deciding on which photos to use in each sequence of the story and then placing the videos in the timeline.

Once the photos were in order, I focused on the tempo. I counted four, three, and two beats at roughly 120 bps (beats per second) to find the desired pace. Interestingly, I found that the tempo I was most drawn to had was more waltz-like.

I am mostly pleased with the video draft #1. I think I could spend more time on the pace/timing of the photos. I’d like to spend more time drawing out the first four photos, before Wrestling Ken enters. While I like the video short (under 3 min.), I’d like to draw it out a bit. The video could be more deliberate.

I am happy with the “she loves me, she loves me not” sequence. There is a slow building progression of four frames each building in speed. The video slows on the final leaf on the black-eyed susan stem before WK pulls it off.

I’ll have more comments as I work towards the final draft. I’m showing the draft this evening in class and look forward to the constructive criticism. Also, to any of you out there who might happen to come along during this process.

I am sharing my process here to invite further participation and collaboration in this process with others - a major theme while in grad school.

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Production notes for MA613 Foundations of Image and Sound Production, Project #1: “Sequence of Digital Stills”:

After a failed start on Saturday afternoon with my “food project“, I decided to switch gears and go for a more “traditional” approach. Meaning a two character narrative with an introduction, conflict, and resolution. A Classical Hollywood approach but with a bummer ending.

So, I needed two recognizable faces for the story brewing. Who better than my a-list actors . . .

Barbie

Some wrestling doll for whose purposes I’m calling “Wrestling Ken“

I storyboarded my project on Saturday evening. Here’s the second draft:

page 1

page 2

page 3

I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll wait to tell you the story.

In terms of process: I was quite pleased with how much the storyboard helped me with the photoshoot. I decided that the location for the shoot would be a nearby public park. It’s very nice there and thought it would provide a nice backdrop for the story.

My second post will include a more critical analysis of my process today during the shoot. I have to start putting the photos together now. So, I’ll save more for later.

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the start of a project that misfired

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At the Media Giraffe Project Conference, I participated in a panel on podcasting in education with Liz LeDoux and Mark Frydenberg from Bentley College. Mark recently wrote a paper with his colleague Angelique Davi that was published in Merlot’s Journal of Online Learning and Teaching.

MERLOT is a free and open resource designed primarily for faculty and students of higher education. The MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT) is a peer-reviewed, online publication addressing the scholarly use of multimedia resources in education.”

Their paper, “Integrating Liberal Learning Principles into the Information Technology Classroom” is online here:

. . . the authors argue that by creating opportunities for students to apply their technology learning to use new media as a tool for communication and creative expression, students will develop skills that will embrace both technology and liberal learning inside as well as outside the classroom.”

Mark will be presenting his findings later this month at the Berkman Center.

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CyberOne is off to a great start this week. Rebecca Nesson is blogging the course here. Fascinating. The opportunity to follow along with a course at Harvard, as it develops, is fantastic.

The course videos are here. I’m working on making audio from the classes available as podcasts for AudioBerkman. Week one lectures will be available there shortly. Sorry to everyone for the delay in making these available via audio.

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