Week 4

TOTAL HOURS: 30 out of 80 hours

Hello again! Nice to see you, again. How was getting here? Hope you didn't run into a lot of traffic. Sit down, sit down! Let me get you some coffee. Alright, you comfy? Good, good... Well let's get down to business!

Today involved a lot of Final Cutting. Tom was able to help me figure out the capturing issue. Turns out it was just a little thing in the capture settings. Who would've guessed? Of ALL the reasons capturing wasn't working, it turns out to be in the most OBVIOUS place. Oh well, it got solved. That's all that matters. So with the footage captured, I was finally able to get to work on the demos.

But before I could really get started, I needed some narration to sync everything with. Joan showed me a couple scripts, and I quickly looked over them and made little edits. Then I got to make a scratch track with my voice! Joan and I went into the recording studio and I got to sit in the room with the microphones and all that jazz. Oh how it brought me back to State of the World days. All the reading, and rereading....and the reading...Good times, good times.

Once I had the scratch track I ---

~~ WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG FOR A FORCED REFLECTION ~~

1. I am a little unclear about what McLuhan means by pattern-recognition. Is he referring to just patterns and reoccuring norms in society? That would make the most sense. Then he'd be arguing that with all the information barraging kids, they need to find certain things they can depend on, before branching out to more esoteric information. If that's the case, I'm inclined to agree. Just dumping a whole lot of seemingly random information on a child doesn't really scream "helpful". If they have a good base to start with, things should be easier.

2. Because of the information-overload you find in today's society, children should learn societal patterns before they branch out.

3. A "serious" bit of information I've found is that it is essential for people to be on the same page when working together. The Earth Day DVD ran into a lot of kinks because certain people didn't understand different aspects of production. This led to changes and suggestions that impeded rather than helped. Now I know that if I'm ever involved in a big group project, I'll need to make sure everyone knows whats going on every step of the way.

4. I think a research/exploration thing is good after the student has a base of knowledge. With my Get Clean demos for example, I'm pretty much on my own. I was given footage and let loose. There was no real storyboard to work with. I enjoy this because I'm thinking more. I'm not just replicating someone else's vision. I can create something original. And the main reason I can thrive in this setting is because I've been working with Final Cut and movie projects for a while now. If I was starting at square one, I wouldn't be so happy. I'd probably be feeling very lost.

5. This internship has a good balance as far as letting me do things on a discovery basis. While I like doing my own thing occasionally, I wouldn't want to feel neglected. So far, I feel I've had a good mix of working by myself and with Joan/Tom.

~~THANKS FOR BEARING WITH US FOLKS. WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG ALREADY IN PROGRESS~~

And that's when my computer literally EXPLODED! I ducked just in time, narrowly avoiding a large chunk. Not only was the digital information lost, but the shards of computer destroyed countless tapes and hard copies. Needless, to say, we took a long lunch to recooperate. That's the last time we'll let Zombie Hitler into the building.

Anyway, I finished off the day with a good start on the demos. Pretty much everything was synced up. I just need to create some good graphics (perhaps with After Effects), and experiment with different shots in certain places. I don't know how long this will take me, but it might end up being a final product type deal (If I can think of a decent presentation, that is).

That's all for now! I hope you enjoyed my ramblings this week. I might not be in on Monday next week. Joan and Tom might have to film something in Atlanta, leaving me off the hook. If that's the case though, I'll probably go in on Thursday. In any case, I'll be in next week one way or another. Until next time!