Okay, it appears that everything has been successfully burned to my DVD! I just have to make a copy for myself, and I'm all set.
Finishing the iWeb project turned out to be a little harder than I thought, because I wasn't very good at stylizing it to fit my theme. I tried, however, but I feel like there must be iWeb tools that I don't know about.
The instructions say that the final work must be linked in blogger, but I'm not sure what that means. I didn't notice that part of the instructions until today. I have a link to blogger in my iWeb project, but I'm not sure how to go about putting a link to the iWeb project in blogger, since it's not actually online. Here is where it is on the desktop, however: file:///Users/higginrc01/Desktop/Rachel-iWeb.sites2/
I'm not sure if that means anything, but hopefully it does! I guess that the assignment sheet must mean to have a link to blogger in iWeb, because I don't know how that would work otherwise.
I hope people enjoy seeing my stuff tomorrow--I did try hard to make it as good as I could with time and knowledge constraints. Fingers crossed!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Finished
My documentary is complete, at last! It's nine minutes and twenty seconds in length. I had to edit it a bit to get it even that short, and I would like to have it a little shorter so as not to bore people, but I can't really figure out what isn't necessary to the video.
Reflections:
While up until today I was having issues with the audio, everything seems to be working okay now. I think a strength of my documentary is that I actually went out and interviewed people that I did not know, and got opposing perspectives on a controversial issue. In this way, I think I fulfilled the requirements of the assignments. I think a weakness of my documentary, however, is that it does not have enough of a particular style. I tried to give it some style by using the "cross blur" transition throughout and the faded, "gradient-white" subtitle, which almost look kind of smokey, but it certainly was not as styled as other videos, such as the skateboarding documentary. I rather like my intro, however, which plays Bon Jovi's "One Last Cigarette," which is obviously relevant to the documentary, while showing many shots of discarded cigarette butts. The cigarette butts are things that were once used but are now tossed and forgotten, much like smoking in general on campus soon will be.
My main concern is that my documentary won't be captivating enough. I would like it to be fun to watch, but after the intro, it gets a lot drier. I can't really think of how to make the subject more "fun," however. Having never used iMovie before and rarely ever used a video camera, I'm relieved that it came out as good as it did, even if it could be better. Meeting new people to interview also was not as scary as I initially thought. All in all, the experience was a lot more enjoyable than I would have imagined when we were first assigned the project.
Reflections:
While up until today I was having issues with the audio, everything seems to be working okay now. I think a strength of my documentary is that I actually went out and interviewed people that I did not know, and got opposing perspectives on a controversial issue. In this way, I think I fulfilled the requirements of the assignments. I think a weakness of my documentary, however, is that it does not have enough of a particular style. I tried to give it some style by using the "cross blur" transition throughout and the faded, "gradient-white" subtitle, which almost look kind of smokey, but it certainly was not as styled as other videos, such as the skateboarding documentary. I rather like my intro, however, which plays Bon Jovi's "One Last Cigarette," which is obviously relevant to the documentary, while showing many shots of discarded cigarette butts. The cigarette butts are things that were once used but are now tossed and forgotten, much like smoking in general on campus soon will be.
My main concern is that my documentary won't be captivating enough. I would like it to be fun to watch, but after the intro, it gets a lot drier. I can't really think of how to make the subject more "fun," however. Having never used iMovie before and rarely ever used a video camera, I'm relieved that it came out as good as it did, even if it could be better. Meeting new people to interview also was not as scary as I initially thought. All in all, the experience was a lot more enjoyable than I would have imagined when we were first assigned the project.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Voiceovers
One of the last things to complete are the voiceovers I need at the beginning, ending, and middle sections of the documentary. Here is my intro:
At the University at Buffalo, one practice that 30 to 40% of college students do everyday has gone up in smoke: Since August 2010, UB has had a completely smoke free campus, which has been applauded by some students, but others believe it is in violation of their rights. Buffalo State students, who will soon be facing a similar policy, have to ask: Is the policy fair? Effective? Or does smoke-free also mean freedom free?
I have a song about smoking "one last cigarette" in the background to the intro, and it leads right into the opening titles. Here is the conclusion:
It's obviously debatable and a matter of opinion if the Smoke-Free policy has been a success. Some will be motivated to quit. Others will continue to rebel against a policy that cannot be enforced. The campus culture is indeed changing against smoking, however, and a campus with fewer smokers is perhaps even better than a zero tolerance cigarette ban. Buffalo State can learn from UB's experiences, but we will soon get to find out the fate of smoking on campus for ourselves.
Thus, both the opening and closing voiceovers remind the class that while this is a documentary about the Smoke Free Policy at UB, the issue is of particular concern to Buff State students, as the policy will soon be here. The documentary is therefore framed by the fact that what has affected UB will now affect Buff State, even though only one shot at the end actually takes place on Buff State Campus.
At the University at Buffalo, one practice that 30 to 40% of college students do everyday has gone up in smoke: Since August 2010, UB has had a completely smoke free campus, which has been applauded by some students, but others believe it is in violation of their rights. Buffalo State students, who will soon be facing a similar policy, have to ask: Is the policy fair? Effective? Or does smoke-free also mean freedom free?
I have a song about smoking "one last cigarette" in the background to the intro, and it leads right into the opening titles. Here is the conclusion:
It's obviously debatable and a matter of opinion if the Smoke-Free policy has been a success. Some will be motivated to quit. Others will continue to rebel against a policy that cannot be enforced. The campus culture is indeed changing against smoking, however, and a campus with fewer smokers is perhaps even better than a zero tolerance cigarette ban. Buffalo State can learn from UB's experiences, but we will soon get to find out the fate of smoking on campus for ourselves.
Thus, both the opening and closing voiceovers remind the class that while this is a documentary about the Smoke Free Policy at UB, the issue is of particular concern to Buff State students, as the policy will soon be here. The documentary is therefore framed by the fact that what has affected UB will now affect Buff State, even though only one shot at the end actually takes place on Buff State Campus.
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