Final project discussion

After discussing options for the final project, I decided to do a bit of a twist on what I originally had planned for my project. I had initially planned to do the project on a cappella groups, and what it is like to be in one. I wanted to cover everything, from arrangements to rehearsals to performances. There truly is more than meets the eye (or ear if I really want to be that corny).

As I discussed it with the group I was in, I mentioned that my group was recording a CD this year. It then occured to me that I could document the process of recording the CD, with pictures and sounds from both the final rehearsals and the actual work that we are doing in the studio in just a couple of weeks. I think that this will be a great project, as I will be able to have it both for this class and as a way of documenting my last recording experience with my group. Some other cool sounds can be the phone calls I have had with the guy recording us.

Video?

Yes, video. Only weeks after learning how to turn on a camera, I was excited to get started with using video for our stories. I wanted to use the video to capture somebody walking and talking for a story just because I figured that would be a cool shot, so I did a story on a senior who is both in his first year of being an RA and last semester of school. He is taking 22 credits in an effort to graduate early, plus he has the new experience and responsibilities of being in charge of a hall.

I thought that the video went generally well. I used a camera that was given to us in class since my Vado HD is on the fritz. Unfortunately the camera ran out of memory during a very usable part, so if we expand on this assignment in the coming weeks I would certainly like to go back and talk to him again.

I thought the video part was very useful for the story. I wanted to capture his bond with his residents and the pace of his busy day, and I feel the video helped achieve that. As he was talking a resident came in and asked him for tape, plus there were two residents hanging out in his room throughout the whole process. After we walked through the halls and he demonstrated the process of rounds while talking about his past experiences with resident assistants. It was pretty cool stuff. Now about editing it...

Reaction to One in Eight Million

I have decided to write about the piece in which the woman adopts the animals. I think that the way the story is presented in the beginning does a great job of mirroring just how simple a story it initially is. They are building up this woman’s desire to have a dog, which is nothing out of the ordinary, so I felt that the black and white stills kept the story from trying to be something that it clearly wasn’t. As the story progresses and you come to find that this woman has been generous enough to adopt as many dogs as she has, the black and white stills are a good backdrop and are tremendous in contrast with all that she has done. There are ultimately some major pros and cons to the overall layout of the story, but as a whole I thought that it was well-done.

If I had to choose my favorite part of the story, it would have to be when she was discussing her selfless nature and how she can’t just look at a disadvantaged animal and walk away. She says something about always wanting to grab for the bird with the broken wings, and just as she says it, a picture of a feather on the ground is shown. For some reason I thought that it was interesting that they elected to represent the wing itself rather than the bird. If the pictures had shown the disadvantages of all of the other animals, it undoubtedly would have been a much stronger piece. This brings me to the biggest problem I had with the story.

The story of Tilly, the dog that only had one eye and was struggling to do basic things like crossing the street, could have been handled much better in my opinion. Here is this woman, talking about a poor dog zig-zagging all over the street and nearly getting killed due to an inability to see, and all they are showing are regular-looking, side-profile views of this dog. Where is the zoomed-in picture of this dog’s face? This dog is in a rare situation that we most likely haven’t seen before, so put the camera to use! I feel that in order for these stories to be effective, the reader/viewer should be able to almost follow along without the narration. The pictures are tremendous in other areas of the story, but this was a heart-wrenching part that really could have been moving if it had the accompanying pictures.

Professor Marsters mentioned on his blog that the pictures are left in their rawest of states, in black and white and without anything really done to them. I think that the openness and honestly of the pieces almost requires the pictures to be the same, which they definitely are.