Lyle Kendrick, Final Project, Enchanted Forest

The Enchanted Forest from Lyle Kendrick on Vimeo.


I realized I hadn't put this in the blog today.

My final project definitely left me with a new appreciation for how projects are put together. After putting all of this together, I understand why we went over every element on such a micro level. From the sequences to the audio work, they all serve as ingredients and without one, the story loses some of its life.

Moving forward, on another video project I anticipate using a more active story that has more action. I learned that while my interests are centered on history, it's important to have a story with action so that the story can evolve from being an audio slideshow to a fluid work.

I look forward to the remainder of this program and hope it will serve the same kind of hands-on role that Slice did.

Mike Kettelberger - Final Project - Durke Phillips Storytelling

A Slice of Storytelling with Durke Phillips from Mike Kettelberger on Vimeo.

One, very important, lesson that I learned from this project is to have not only a plan B, but a plan C, in place and ready to go before you start filming plan A. I encountered several issues with the original subject of my project, which ultimately led to me not being able to film with him. That sent me into a frantic search to find a new subject and finish my project on time.

In the end, I am quite happy with the product I was able to put forward. There are obviously more shots that I would have like to had, but even in the real world you do not always have the chance to film everything you want. Not unless you have a unlimited time and financial budget.

Golf itself, I think, I a good subject for a video piece because it has a lot of motion and good sound effects.

Overall, I was happy that I was able to edit together a video clip of a decent length, using my own footage that I was proud to call mine. Looking back over the videos we made earlier in the semester, my filming and editing skills have come along well, in my opinion, and I am looking forward to continuing to improve upon them.

Tamieka Briscoe, Final Project, Life After Active Duty

SGT. Nathan McClain is at a crossroads about whether to pursue his dream of degree completion or to take a job due to financial worries after completing 15 years of active duty military service in June 2013. Reflection: I definitely learned a lot from this project. In the area of shooting, I learned to be conscious of my surroundings. In terms of shooting outside, it is best to have a microphone. I really practiced with getting my subject in focus, and it worked well the in the last shoot. My subject caught strep throat so I was unable to re-shoot footage as I anticipated, so he sent me some still photos and I was able to incorporate them into the project. This taught me to prepare and plan for the inevitable. Overall, I am happy with my progress. I am not a natural when it comes to shooting and editing, but I am determined to learn. I am so glad that I was able to take this course to learn skills that I intend to use as I create professional documentary films.

Amanda Salvucci, Final Project, Community Quidditch

Community Quidditch from Amanda Salvucci on Vimeo.

After shooting a second interview and additional footage yesterday afternoon and putting it all together in the same night, my video finally feels as if it's come together. I think adding two more voices definitely helped break the video up.

One of the problems that I still had was explaining Quidditch, because none of the three people I interviewed had a clear explanation of it, or really associated it with Harry Potter. I ended up adding a graphic to explain that, which I think really helped.

One of the things that I'm happy about is trying some different angles with the shots. There really wasn't much I could do for getting close because I wasn't allowed on the field, but I took a few dramatic low angle shots that ended up coming out really nice. 

Dani Thompson, Final Project, Pearlstone Center Farm

The new old-fashioned way: Jewish faming and sustainability from Danielle Thompson on Vimeo.

One goal I have set for my year at UMD is to leave with a portfolio of work that I would be proud to show to a potential employer.

Although I am sure I will look back on this video in one year and cringe at things I don't even notice now...I am proud that I was able to put together this video after only three weeks of video experience.

My favorite parts of this video are the sequences and the moments I was able to capture.

As I went though the raw footage, I made a sequence called "moments" and I basically framed the interview with Josh so that each of these moments could be included in the finished product. The high-five between Naomi and J-Chat, Abby's smile when she kisses a bundle of kale and laughs, Connor searching for cucumbers in a bucket and laughing...the list goes on.

As for sequencing, I made sure to talk with people and continually change the focus of my shot. Many of the apprentices were comfortable with this since I maintained a conversation and encouraged them to continue their work while I interviewed them.

There are still things I can work on in the future...making sure there is no pronounced audio in the background of my interview, finding an interview spot which does not backlight the subject, and being bore cautious when taking the camera off of the tripod.

Overall, I am happy with the way this video came out and I am looking forward to building my video and editing skills even farther.

Lindsay Simpson, Out of Class Assignment, Poynter NewsU

I watched a NewsU webinar for my out of class assignment, Using History to Write Sports. Alex Wolff taught the class and focused on finding interesting news pieces from something that happened a long time ago. He mentioned that a lot of editors like to use anniversaries to find stories. He also cited the importance of still photos to digging up these stories. He showed a couple of still photos to the class and talked about writing articles about those photos. He mentioned that when he was talking with the primary sources, he would show them a picture of themselves at that particular event (or just of the event itself) to evoke their memories and emotion.

I liked watching this webinar, I think Wolff had a lot of very good things to say about finding interesting articles out of things that have already happened. Most importantly, I am glad I had this assignment because now I know what kinds of resources are available on the Poynter website. This is a tool that I will absolutely take advantage of going forward. It is pretty cool to watch a class taught by someone whose work I have read many years.

Since my out of class activity wasn't very interactive and I didn't have an opportunity to photograph things, I decided to take a screenshot of me watching Alex Wolff!

Hyon-Young Kim, Final Project, Spotlight on SamulNori

Spotlight on Samulnori from Hyon-Young Kim on Vimeo.

It's hard to believe that we learned how to shoot video only a couple of weeks ago--looking at all of the videos we created, I'm amazed at how far we've all come since the start of the summer session.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed doing the final project. It was fulfilling to go through the process of brainstorming, choosing an idea, scheduling when to shoot video, and making the edits on our own. I'm glad to say that I learned a lot about not only traditional Korean percussion music, but also applying things we learned in class to an actual project.

I came away from this project with throbbing eardrums but more importantly, with indispensable lessons regarding how to shoot video in a well composed manner. There are many elements that I recognize are flawed, including lack of lighting and incorrect focus in some areas. I am most definitely far from being a skilled cameraperson and editor, but after completing this project, I am tentatively making steps towards becoming a better one. Despite the several instances of the camera overheating, I was mostly able to obtain the desired footage and create this video. Sebastian was extremely accommodating, demonstrating each of the four instruments for me with energy. His passion for Samul Nori manifested through his facial expressions and movement--you could easily tell how he was intensely absorbed in the rhythm and dynamism of the music. The obvious animation and energy culminated in a captivating performance.

Since the music was so loud, I had some difficulty adjusting the audio levels to match with the interview audio. I used the audio from the DSLR instead of the Tascam audio recorder because it had much better quality and lower audio volume. Throughout the editing process, I tried to lower down the volume of the instruments so that Sebastian's voice would emerge in the foreground, but the sheer volume of the playing was challenging--quite understandable, considering that people could hear the music down the street.

One thing I was worried about was the variety of visual elements. Since I only had footage of the interview and the demonstration of the four instruments, I was concerned that the video might take on a monotone atmosphere. I tried to include a demonstration of each of the four instruments, and I think that the arresting rhythm helped to give the video some variety. I was excited to be able to use video that I shot back in April when I visited Korea and saw a Samul Nori performance firsthand--though the quality is poor (shot with a standard digital camera), I think that it shows the elements of dance and costume that form a crucial part of Samul Nori and are missing from the video.

This project and this class helped me to overcome my fear of the camera--though I was admittedly somewhat glad to part from the equipment that I had to lug around, I was also sad to see it go. Since I am not specializing in broadcast journalism, I look forward to shooting video outside of the classroom and improving my video editing skills on my own.