All posts by Kadijah Singleton

Off Campus Piece (Final Piece)

Multimedia-2013

Reflection:

I feel very proud to present this multimedia piece as not only my best piece but also my last piece of this course and the turning point in my time spent here. I’ve always had problems with editing and learning how to use the software but after a while I got a hold of it and learned to use everything I was taught to my benefit in making my work even better. Although I put in a lot of extra work in on my last piece it was definitely worth it because now I can make up for all the things I was unable to do before.

During the editing process I found myself a lot better off than I was before. I had to do most of my editing process on final cut express and kept saving my work as I went along. There were certain things I didn’t know how to do in final cut express so I had to do them with other programs. For example, I wanted to put more special effects and text in my piece but I didn’t know how to do that in final cut express. So I exported it as a quicktime movie and made all my extra special effects using iMovie, which is one of the most easy and understandable programs to use for the editing process.

The larger “So-What?” question I planned to answer with this topic is to state that everyone things just because twins look alike, it means they live their lives and act the same way but they don’t. Each twin is a whole different person from the other. I divided this story into 3 parts to drive the storyline. Overall, I enjoyed doing this one the most and can’t wait to show it in the coffeehouse.

On campus piece

Multimedia-2013

Youtube Video

Reflection:

This piece was very difficult to edit. I found myself unable to figure out jump cuts and how to edit out certain things I did not want in the video. I ran into a huge problem with this piece because I did not have enough B-roll footage to match up with the A-roll footage. I feel as though this had a lot to do with the topic I chose. I chose to do this off campus peice on my cheerleading team and during the time I was trying to get all the proper components to begin my editing process, the cheerleaders were off-season. Seeing as though we were off-season it was very hard to get enough B-roll footage so I had to use a few bits and pieces of old footage I have taken towards the beginning of our season. I know that next time I need to pick a topic that won’t propose as many problems as this one. For the future I know to also plan my time accordingly and I would rather have too much footage rather than not enough.

The larger “So What?” question I intended to answer was to get the audience to realize that there’s more to cheerleading. We aren’t noticed as much because we aren’t the most important aspect of the game. However, we still do work for very hard and there’s a lot of time and preparation we spend each week trying to make our school look good.

Audio Final Piece by Kadijah Singleton

Multimedia-2013

Reflection:

The process of coming up with the audio final piece was long and frustrating. I did appreciate the fact that this final project was broken up into different sections so I had more time to accommodate. However, seeing as though I have never worked with any of this type of technology before, the process was difficult. Once I finally edited my audio, the next step was to take photos that pertained to the story I was trying to tell. My partner and I had difficulty coming up with ideas of the type of photos we wanted to take, not only that but also having to take photos that followed the guidelines. We went wrong in not taking enough photos as we should have while we were working together. When it came time to add the photos to the audio profile there was a shortage and some of the photos that we did have did not pertain to the story as well as we wanted them to nor did they follow the guidelines.

Despite our minor setbacks, each of us found alternate pictures to substitute for the few pictures that we couldn’t use. Now I know that for the future, it is better to have too much material than not enough. Next time I will also have to plan better so I don’t find myself in these same stressful situations. Overall, going into this project I thought it would be fun and interesting but it actually turned out to be quite the opposite. I know that when I am learning new things everything can’t go smoothly and perfectly. However, now that I know what I did wrong, I can hopefully learn from my mistakes and the process will be easier and easier as this course progresses.

As for my next campus story, I’m still having trouble deciding exactly what story it is I am trying to tell but I am open to new brainstorming ideas. I haven’t found anything campus wise that stands out to me as much yet but I know that I will. I was thinking of possibly doing a story pertaining to a “day in the life of an RA” but I am still brainstorming at the moment.

Audio Profile

Multimedia-2013, Uncategorized

Video Storytelling final

The process of creating my audio file was very long. The most difficult part was deciding which parts of all my audio I wanted to use. It is very hard to limit over 20 mins of audio into a short 2-3 minute clip. First I started with editing out my voice in the conversation audio. Then I analyzed the entire audio and took out peices I wanted to use for my audio profile. I chose the parts of the conversation audio that I thought would tell the story of my classmate and would be worth sharing with an audience. I started with a timeline and broke up the profile into 3 main parts. The first part lets the audience know what the peice was going to be about and a little about my classmate. The second part was the bulk of the information my classmate had to offer and the main focus of the profile. The last part tied everything together and ends with a cliff hanger leaving the audience hopefully wanting more. Breaking the profile into parts made it a lot easier to come up with the final peice.

In the previous assignment  4 sounds were recorded: Natural, Environmental, Room Tone and Conversation. The ways in which I recorded these sounds had a large impact on how this profile was created. I chose very dull places to record these sounds and it made it difficult to encorporate thesm into the profile becuase I felt as thought they didnt belong anywhere. Also I felt as though they had no link to the story I was trying to tell. For example, the natural and environmental sounds I recordered were nothing but voices and it became hard to find a place to put noise in  between my converstaion sound in which the background should be silent. The most helpful sound was room tone because I was able to use that audio too fill in silent gaps and pauses during the interview.

For the next assignment there are a lot of things I will do differently. First off, I will choose audio that relates to the story I am trying to tell. Not only will I do that but I would plan better. This includes already knowing what I want my peice to be about, how I will go about getting It done and what can I do to make it better.  Secondly, I will try to connect more to the audience. I may think that my peice is very amusing but to others it may be nothing special. I plan to do all that I can to get a good reaction from the audience and hopefully grow by learning from my mistakes.

 

Podcast Reflection

Multimedia-2013, Uncategorized

http://www.thirdcoastfestival.org/library/137-forest-to-desert

Sounds:

  • Beginning – Wind
  • 0:09 – Birds Chirping
  • 0:11 – Thumping
  • 0:34 – Car Starting
  • 0:42 – Car Beeping
  • 0:45 – Angry Voice
  • 0:48 Cars Passing
  • 0:50 – 1:46 – Broadcast with city noises in the background,
  • 1:50 – 2:00 Voice Overlap
  • 2:03 Rain and Wind
  • 2:14 Rushing Water
  • 2:23 Heavy Wind
  • 2:29 – 2:35 – Silence

Reflection:

The sound Forest to Desert Produced by Sarah Boothroyd consists of primarily environmental sound. There is a progression from beginning to the end that signifies how this piece was put together. In the beginning, there is a lot of natural sound. These sounds are much like the sounds likely to be heard in a forest including; Rain, Wind, Birds and insect noises. As the piece continues the mood from nature theme turns more into an environmental theme. This environmental theme is the foundation of the piece with use of city sound. Instead of hearing nature themed sounds there are sounds such as; Cars, Voices, Beeping and Human Movement.

 

As the piece progresses more, the environmental sounds of the city soon become a background for a radio broadcast in which the focus is on voice. There are voices in the broadcast louder than others and there is a lot of voice overlap. The broadcast represents the technology of the past and towards the end of the piece there are sounds of technology from the present with all the advanced sound effects. The basis if this piece is to show the nature vs. city and the technology in the past vs. the technology in the present through sound.