Michael C. Warren

Technology and Education

Archive for the ‘EDLD 5363 Multimedia and Video Technology’ Category

EDLD 5370 Reflections on assignments in 5363 Video Technology and Multimedia

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The assignments in EDLD 5363 Multimedia and Video Technology have been very useful. I learned about public service messages and how they are developed. I really liked the readings because it gave me a deeper understanding of concepts that I have been trying to pass on to my own students.  The Digital Story Cookbook by Joe Lambert was an essential tool in this course. Not just for the first assignment. but for each one.  It provided information on helping to develop a story for our videos.  The first video was a pictorial based movie telling about an event in our life.

During weeks 3 through 5 students in the class worked together to develop a public service announcement.  This was a very good project because it offered the chance for a group to work together over the Internet to complete a project. In working together over the Internet to develop the project we had to develop an idea, assign roles and meet on a regular basis to make sure each member had a clear understanding of the project.  Using the tools on the Internet such as Google docs, our wiki site, gave me better understanding of these tools and how beneficial they really are.  Our group created pages on a member of our groups wiki, where we shared ideas, produced a script and produced a final product.

I want to teach people how they can utilize these tools in order to develop a lessons in which students can work with other students throughout the district, or throughout the world to create a product.  This opens doors to how others live that can be a positive influence on students who may have limited understanding of people from outside the current culture.

EDLD 5363 – Course Reflection

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Before I began this course I thought we would spend time learning how to use a variety of tools and how they are used.  I imaged creating several small projects and covering a wide variety of tools.  However the course ended up being the opposite of that. I had the oppertunity to learn a few tools, What we were taught consisted of looking over open source video editing tools, using tools we may have already known, and understanding audacity in more depth.  Did I get the oppertunity to achieve what I had envisioned for the course? Yes and no. I was able to dive into programs that I had already and use them for creating a public service announcement, however I do wish that I had the oppertunity to be taught specific tools such as Adobe Premier, or even Premier Elements.  I do wonder how many of the students have the background to handle many of these projects.

From what I achieved they are very relavent to the work I do at my school. Since I teach video production and multimedia, much of what I have learned in this course will be taught to my students. While we have very limited text on the subject of video production I found that the information provided I can use to help create a better curriculum for the students who take the video production class.  Next six weeks I will actually begin using much of what I learn by having students create many of these same projects.  I will have them create the video using still pictures, a short lesson making a video tutorial of making something in class (sandwich, washing hands, etc.).  We will then end the six weeks where the students make a public service announcement.  If all goes well I will give a tutorial to teachers to give them ideas for their classes as well.

I feel that there are certain things that I did not achieve. I did not really learn much more about software or hardware than what I knew going into the course. I wish that the Lamar program was teamed up with Adobe, or Atomic Learning, or Lynda.com.  This would encourage students to buy the Adobe software, and use the additional online learning sites to learn much of the software that is being used in the industry.  I understand that it is hard for schools to come up with money for funding, but when we utilize open source software and encourage students to go into an industry where they will be required to have an understanding of industry level tools is unfair for the students.  Pushing open source is great for the pocket, and it does meet the TEKS, but it will never allow students to be closely prepared for life in the real world.  So in my final result I did not achieve learning more about using the software itself, other than reading some topics and looking at some web resources.

The assignments were well put together, even though I believe there were times when there was some confusion as to what was required.  The best lesson was where we created a public service announcement. This project got my mind really thinking about unique ways we could present our public service announcement. I felt from the first week we might have problems getting people to go out and get some of the shots for our original idea for the psa project.  Our second idea was to do a rap for our public service announcement and I thought it would be cool to screen capture some second life characters singing on the computer.  Then I thought it would even be better to have a character dancing on a desk.  I first created a green screen stage in second life, used my avatar to move on it and used camtasia software to do a screen capture.  I then ran the character on the green screen through Adobe after Effects and placed the character over a video of a beach. This was a test run that I presented to the group.  I think some were still hesitant, but thought it was a neat idea so we began working more with the rap. I got an oppertunity to meet online with some of the group and get some video of them dancing as well.  In the end I think the final result turned out very well.

In the end I learned about public service announcements, and how to put one together. For myself, I learned to rely on myself to dive into learning more about software.  I learned a little more about my leadership skills. I still can’t say I want to be a leader any more than when I started the course. I have been there in the technology field by being an IT manager, and project leader. I can’t say it suites me very well.  However if something needs to get done, I will push to get the work done and put it out there for people to say what changes need to be made.  In a way I lead from behind my computer, where I do not have to be seen, and feel more comfortable doing what needs to be done in order to help the team.

EDLD 5363 – Public Service Announcement

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It took a few discussions for our group to decide what we would do for a public service announcement. Originally we started out doing a Ken Burns style Internet safety psa but when one of our group came up with a rap we voted to do it and target a more youthful audiance.  We communicated by various means including a wiki, e-mail, chat, second life, and telephone. While members came up with ideas on the rap, others came up with ideas on how to add additional content to the animations I was creating for the wrap. In the end the team had some additional ideas and added to the animation work I did.  The development went smooth and great.  I did run into some limitations of After effects that I had to work around, but still was able to achieve the results we wanted.  We used creative commons copyright to our work since everything else was developed by us.  We produced our work to youtube for final publication for others to use.

EDLD 5363 – Video Conference Blog

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I was unable to make the week 2 conference and watched it late in the week. I am a bit frustrated that things change week to week and some information seems to be going out and some not. It seemed there was a lot of confusion as to the assignment based on changes to this weeks assignment.  While it is originally required that we attend one of these conferences, it is now becoming a requirement to attend or was what occurred soon after in order to keep up with changes in the course.  I understand there is need for change, but in a course where an assignment is a week, and takes a lot of time to make it happen making changes of the bat is not a good idea.  I felt bad for the one student who worked ahead on his assignment.  I hope that weeks 3-5 will have less changes.

Update: Week 4 conference had some confusion, but I think in the end all has worked out. I believe most of the groups are getting their projects done and from what I could see online, things are looking pretty good.

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September 5th, 2010 at 10:41 pm

EDLD 5363 – Video Editing Software Podcast

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My 1 minute Video Editing Podcast is over iMovie and how to create a movie clip using the green screen effect.  I originally was going to use either Avidemux2 or t@b SR4 editing software.  Overall this was a much easier solution.  I hope you enjoy.

My video podcast was a demonstration on how you can use iMovie to create a green screen effect.  With the help of my son, I filmed him in front of a green sheet of fabric that I had made that was hanging on a PVC pipe frame.  The background was filmed on vacation at the Texas State Aquarium. Using iMovie I placed the film of my son on top of the new background and applied the green screen effect.  I then used the share option for iMovie to export directly to my youtube account in order to share with others.

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September 5th, 2010 at 10:15 pm

EDLD 5363 – Mac Video Editors

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When looking at free video editing software for the mac, there are few choices other than Apple’s own iMovie.  I took time to look at two, Avidemux2 and t@b ZS4 video editor.

t@b ZS4 video editor is touted as a full featured video editor, and while it offers some nice bells and whistles such as green screen or blue screen keying, and other effects. It is a very slow and cumbersome tool to use.  I had to stop several times in order to let it catch up with what I wanted to do. The opening and saving files was not in a familiar format.  Even when I went back to the website to see about machine specifications their site recognized problems with G5 systems (pre Intel) and did not specifically state actual requirements to run the software.

Avidemux2 is a simple video editor that is almost a scaled down version of what Apple’s Quicktime Pro does.  While it does not offer the extra features t@b ZS4 or even iMovie offers, it does to a great job of cutting, pasting, and appending video and audio.  It is not the cleanest interface, but it does get the job done for simple splicing clips together.

In my use of various tools that I have learned to use over the years, I find that many video editing tools can be complicated at first use and often take time experimenting to get a good feel of how they work.  My students at school use Adobe Premier elements, Windows Movie Maker and even Adobe After effects, If w were to have to use free or open source tools, I can’t say I would recommend teaching with either of these tools. Maybe Avidemux2 for a short segment in the Multimedia / Digital Interactive Media course, but really they are both very limited.  In the end I think it will be important for students to learn to use any video editing tool as we become a more multimedia oriented culture.

If I did not have iMovie or Quicktime Pro, I would use Avidemux2 for simple editing of movies.  I will show some basic editing with Avidemux2 in my video blog.

After using Avidemux2 I have decided that for my project I will stay with iMovie since it is also a free solution. The problems I had with Avidemux is that it was not very friendly to use, it did crash on me, and integrating filters and editing clips was often time consuming.

EDLD 5363 Personal Digital Story

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Journeys

In my life I have had numerous journeys, some were epic, and some not so much. What matters most is that my experiences on these journeys helped to make me who I am.

One journey in particular started in college when I discovered on a map a small town located in the Northwest Territories of Canada north of the Arctic Circle. It had a road going to it, and I decided that was a journey I had to make.  From that point I spent hours researching routes and ways to get there, only to write my plans down on paper.

After college my journey and dream became a thought in the back of my mind, and my books and notes of what I wanted to see became a dust collector on top of a bookshelf.  I became a hard worker and focused on my career.  I made several attempts at making the trip, but one reason or another I pushed it aside. For over ten years I did this until my wife whom I married in 2003 pushed me to complete this journey.  For the next year we saved money, and I worked on the agenda for when and where we would go.

My wife and I worked at the same place, and were able to store up 5 weeks of vacation for each of us. We left on May 27, 2005 and by our third day we were in Canada, where our driving hours were shortened.  The rush of the adventure was in full swing and our senses were beginning to be overwhelmed with the beauty that can’t be imagined.

The sight of wild animals standing on the side of the road, beautiful lush green vegetation and natural wonders that are part of the northern Rockies are not fully explained or even given full credit with pictures.  The opportunities to see wildlife in its natural habitat can be a life-changing event.

The trip to Inuvik and the return trip through Alaska were amazing; having achieved a journey north of the Arctic Circle was the end of a goal, and a start of many wonderful memories.  The journey would always be with me, but I was sad that it was over.

When one journey ends, another journey begins. I have been on many journeys and I will take many more.

Storyboard

EDLD 5363 Web Conference

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Todays web conference provided some answers to questions I was having about our assignment. It is useful to have the instructor answer questions in a forum setting like this because many students are having the same questions.  It shows how written instruction can be limited when voice instruction is not available.  The session was short, but enough questions were answered for me to finish my assignment.