Final Video and Blog #8

Blog #8:  Final Video Production

The overall production of my final video went more smoothly than I expected.  Although last week I struggled with new programs to insert narrative along with my video, that learning process helped me to work more quickly this week.  Snagit 11 was extremely useful to allow me to record video from the internet (such as You Tube) and also in adding narrative to my screen shots.  I also found Audacity easy to work with for adding narration to my images.

It was challenging turning my proposal into an interesting story.  I completed my story map last week, but realized that it wasn't a very compelling story and that I had left out some critical information such as why I chose to use wikis for peer editing as opposed to blogs or other technology.  Therefore I kept the basic story core but included these elements to show more of the inner struggle I had in determining my CE Proposal topic.  It was also somewhat difficult to find images to use for my comparison of technology in 1980 versus in 2012.  At one point I was close to requesting photos on Facebook of friends peer editing in the eighties!  I also almost went home to my parent's house to find a similar image.  Creating my narrative also proved to be challenging to me.  I find that I struggle to speak without a script and therefore was drafting all my narrative for each section.  The end result is that I sound a bit monotone and boring, at least that was the response of my roommate who wasn't sure why I sound much more interesting in person.

One thing that I would do differently is that I would have bought a MAC instead of a PC.  I really like the video production features of iMovie versus Movie Maker and it seems as though less converters and add ons are needed for the MAC.  As far as changes to my actual video production, I would have written out more detailed narrative when I was creating my storyboard.  This proved to be very time consuming since I was writing it out as I went along.  This course has challenged the technology novice in me, but I did enjoy the process of creating the videos.

DV #4 and Blog #7

Blog #7  The below video outlines my storyboard for my final video project.  The purpose of this video is to share my culminating experience proposal with our cohort.  I feel as though I explained my story core and story board in detail through my narrative and therefore am going to focus on the challenges I faced in creating this video for my blog. 

Because I am not tech savvy and have recently purchased a new laptop, I find that every assignment has been more difficult than I anticipated to complete.  This week, I completed my storyboard using Microsoft Powerpoint and then realized that I couldn't upload my powerpoint directly to my blog.  Therefore I started downloading all kinds of software before seeing in the instructions that Snagit would assist in creating videos using my screen shots.  Snagit worked well and I was able to take those video clips and import them into my Microsoft Moviemaker.  The only problem is that I only have a 30 day free trial to Snagit and need to see if the other suggested software is free or find another alternative. 

I realize that all of my problems are user errors, however these are the issues that non-digital native educators will run into that will cause frustration and possibly end the implementation of certain technologies.  Professional development is key in teaching educators how to use these tools and resources.

This video was more difficult to produce than the previous two.  The required insertion of video and the need to use a converter made the process more tedious.  Although I had used my own camera in the past to take short home movies, this was the first time that I attempted to post my videos to a blog. 

Coming up with a topic was also a problem for me.  When I think about the things that I would be able to teach our cohort, I couldn't think of anything interesting.  I'm not the most creative chef, spend my day creating excel spreadsheets and word documents to send to the Department of Finance (sounded boring), like to do Insanity and run (but nobody wants to see that a video of that).  Finally I realized that there were many devices that still needed to be set up in our apartment.  Since I still can't figure out how to connect the wireless router, Xbox 360 was the logical decision!  Plus, I miss my Dance Central II game and needed my Kinect to use it.

Recording the video required the assistance of my roommate, and we talked continuously through it without realizing we were being recorded.  It took me about a half hour to figure out how to shut off the sound in Window's Moviemaker which was recorded by the camera microphone.  Although I had worked with music in video two, I struggled to decide which music would go best with teaching others how to connect a Xbox.

Once my movie had been created, it was so large of a file that it took a very long time to load.  In the end, I had to adjust my settings to make it a more manageable size.  Although this particular video took a very long time to create, I think that the process would go more smoothly in the future.  Overall, it was an enjoyable experience!