Thursday, April 10, 2008

Podcast #4

Podcast #4 was remarkably easier than the first three. I knew about how much information I was going to need, and was much more prepared. Also, we used a laptop as a teleprompter, so it was easier to go through the information without looking down or away from the computer. On the editing side, I am much more familiar with iMovie, so it wasn't too bad. I had one minor scare where the program shut down - thankfully I had been saving along the way.

I can honestly say that I'm glad I've had this experience and know sort of how to use the programs. However - I plan to pay someone who really knows what they're doing if I need to utilize this kind of program in my future career.

Thanks everyone for watching all these podcasts. I know it's been rough, but I appreciate the feedback!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Podcast #3

This podcast was MUCH, MUCH better than the previous two. My group and I were able to tape all three of our footage in less than 2 hours.... a record thus far! And, I was able to completely edit my video in 2 hours!! I would definately consider this experience a success.
I guess that I would attribute all this success to two other podcasts that did not turn out so well. As much as I hate to admit it sometimes, I am getting more familiar with Imovie and am much more comfortable working with it by myself. I am better at navagating all the functions and adding new features (check out my slides this time:)). Also, I had good information to work with so collecting everything I needed was no work at all.
I hope that you think this podcast has improved as much as I have. I am anxiously waiting on your comments!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Podcast #2

Podcast #2 turned out to be much more difficult than I anticipated Podcast #1 to be. Here's how it went.

Production was fairly simple over all since I knew about how much information I was going to need to have - there was little to no adlibbing. Also, my group and I were much more familiar with the camera and framing the shot was no issue at all. What problems we did run into came primariliy on the editting side and were caused because of how we did the filming. We thought that it would be neat to have a different scene in the background, and thus we chose to film at a local coffee shop. Unfortunately some folks came and sat outside with us and talked loudly through our entire filming session. When you add the traffic noise on top of the talking, the result is poor audio. We will not make that mistake next time!

On the editting side - I obviously fought the audio. I anticipated being able to put my film into garage band and edit the background noise out. That didn't happen. Other than audio, just getting the podcast editted together proved to be very difficult. My group and I tried to edit at the library - which did not have an updted edition of IMovie or any edition of Photoshop for that matter. That being said, I obviously had to do most of the editting in the class lab and it took the majority of the alotted time. The total editting process took aproximately 6+ hours, so roughly twice the amount of time that we sprnt on Podcast #1.

Having this second podcast completed I have learned that there are good ideas and bad ideas when it comes to filming locations. We will definately film in a quite place next time. I hope that Podcast #3 is even better than #1 or #2. To check out Podcast #2 click on the YouTube Video below.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Podcast #1

Creating a podcast was a much more tedious than I anticipated - or could have imagined for that matter. I thought that I would be able to film the three minutes video we needed in less than thirty minutes, and then be able to edit it with no difficulty at all. I was terribly wrong! Taping took three hours, and then I added another three hours worth of editing... for three minutes! After actually doing each step myself I feel more comfortable with the technology, but also have a realization of how much I really don't know. I've found that running a video camera is not difficult at all, the hard part is being in front of the camera. I needed a lot more script than I thought I would need. Also, ad libbing is not as easy in front of a camera as it looks. If I can get my footage into an editing program I feel like I can do the editting without much hardache. However, remembering all the steps involved and where to find little inserts (like adding pictures and music) will be my main challenge. This is definately a learning process and I hope that the next few posts will have better content, as well as be easier to create. You can check out this Podcast under "My Podcasts".