Spring Thaw

The following video is my final project for the Digital Photography class I am currently taking.

Over this semester, I have learned how to use and integrate my photography with my editing

software and printer. I have had a wonderful experience with my instructors and colleagues while

in class and have looked forward to class each week. I would like to thank the Cabell County

Board of Education for making this opportunity available to us teachers. Also, I would like to thank

our instructors Dan Miles and Josh Ratliff for keeping us up to date on the latest in technology,

always being positive and supportive of us in our learning, and for taking the time out of their busy

schedules to help us students at any time. Thanks!!!!!

Link to my final project video:



Spring Thaw

It's Final

Well, it's final. The class is over. While I am sad for the conclusion of this great adventure, I will be taking so much knowledge with me to share that I am overjoyed. For my final presentation, I made a Prezi to show my lengthy adventure, starting with the minute knowledge of taking pictures to the culmination of ideas I have to offer my students. I greatly appreciate the time and effort it took for my instructors to exhibit new challenges to us each week and give us the constructive criticism we need to showcase our new found talents. Thank you all for visiting my blog and sharing your thoughts on the pictures and videos.

Digital Media Prezi

Episode 10: Haiku

My video this week is a visual representation of a Haiku. The poem I chose is by the father of Haiku, Matsuo Basho. He first wrote haiku in the 17th century and there were many from which to choose. The one I decided upon has the overall feeling of the simplicity of rain. It is short, but sweet. I chose not to incorporate any music, because the sounds of the rain, chirping birds, and croaking frogs combined in a sort of symphony of spring rain. I enjoyed this project and thought it was a great way to express my more artistic side of film making. The link is below.

Here is the link: Haiku video

Episode 9: Spring Break

Ahhhh, Spring Break. A time when most people decide to take a vacation or relax at their house in some way. Our assignment was to video our journey and show what we did over the week. Mine was spent remodeling our master bedroom. I worked for days patching nail holes, sanding, painting, staining, installing, and more. I had many trips to our local home improvement store, buying the myriad of supplies needed for a remodel.
In my video I show the different jobs needed for my remodel. I try to get a few different angles on each shot. I was able to go back and redo some of the shots after the paint/stain dried so that I would be protecting the camera from damage. Once again, the video editing software left much to be desired. I was unable to view the videos while editing and just guessed on the length of each one. I was not able to see the finished product until it was uploaded to Vimeo and I noticed a few spots I would change. I wanted the length of the door installation shots to be longer with a few cut-aways to close-ups. They ended up being a lot shorter than I had expected. Also, the exterior shot of Lowe's is overexposed. This is due to the sun being so bright on the shot and my reluctance to adjust the camera settings. The video is also not a finished product, due to the bedroom remodel not being totally finished. This will come in time.

The link to my video:
The Remodel

Episode 8: Movement

For this video the objective was to focus more on the movement of an object. I had a difficult time thinking of a suitable subject. That is, until one night as my husband was de-stressing by playing his guitar, inspiration struck. I ran to the music room, camera in hand, and captured the movement of his fingers as he played each chord. I captured an over the shoulder shot of him, as well as up close, and profile. I am really lucky that he is so used to me taking photos of him that he kept playing without stopping and asking me what I was doing. I was able to use a make-shift tripod so that my video was not as shaky as the one last week. I used a music stand to steady my camera, and also it was useful because I could adjust the height for different shot locations. After reviewing the recording on my camera I felt I had some great shots. Then editing happened.

In order to load the video .mov files onto my laptop I had to once again, download Quicktime. After this I was able to view the videos in Corel without taking the long route and converting each and every one of them. I also discovered by help of my husband, the video processor in my laptop is not the suggested quickness for viewing the videos. It also does not have enough RAM to enable playback without sluggishness. This is why I have been having difficulty in actually getting the final product the way I want. I did the best I could editing the videos and cutting them together without actually getting to see the product. This is also the reason there are a couple times in the finished product, the movements do not actually match up with the music, and also some of the video frames I thought I had cut, are still in the final.

In the video Jamy is only playing one guitar, but you can hear multiple musical licks. He is using a Loop Station that I bought him several years ago. For this effect, he starts out playing a rhythm, and by stomping on the pedal, he can add another, and another, etc. He can add up to 15 minutes of total looping. This makes for the somewhat eerie sound that he achieves in the video.

Here is the link for my video:
Comfortable Solo by Jamy McClanahan

Episode 7: Community/Home

Community/Home

This I made a video of my hometown, Barboursville, WV. This being my first real venture into editing and publishing video I think I did a job worthy of a novice. I wanted to showcase my city and show the pride we take in our Veterans, natural scenic landscapes, and quirky landmarks. I included the Veterans home with the huge tank out front as well as the pink elephant, known to many. On the day I shot most of my scenery, the wind was howling and there were torrential downpours of snow. Along with this, the temperature was near 10 degrees wind chill. I had the most difficult time editing all of my video together. My DSLR camera saved everything in .mov format, but my Corel software would not read it. Therefore, I spent about 3 hours figuring out and converting everything second of video over to .wmv formant. For some reason, when I was editing the videos, there was time drag between what was shown on the viewer and the actual video. I am not sure if this was because of the conversion, or the speed of my computer. Probably the latter. Overall this whole project really tried my patience, but now that I almost know what I'm doing, it will be much easier next time.

Here is the link to my video:

http://vimeo.com/60971427

Bonus Pictures to appear soon!!!

Episode 6: Nostalgia

For this week's assignment, we are to record an unedited video expressing Nostalgia. The dictionary defines nostalgia as "a wistful desire to return in thoughts or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time."  When I think back to my youth and to happiness, I think of my time spent growing up on my grandparents' farm in Salt Rock, WV. My poppaw has always been a man of the earth: growing huge gardens, planting, raising, and harvesting all manners of plants and livestock. I helped shuck corn, feed cows, pick vegetables from the garden, strip tobacco stalks, ride on the tail of a truck while spreading hay, and ride the side of the tractor with my poppaw driving. These were the events of my childhood that helped shape the person I am today. I learned patience while trying to get the cows to eat out of my hand, confidence from planting and successfully raising gardens, and empathy from working hard to catch fireflies in a jar, just to let them free to fly away.

I have wonderful memories of riding on the side of a big green John Deere tractor with my poppaw at the wheel. I felt safe knowing he was there beside me, watching to ensure I did not fall off. Therefore, I ventured out to my grandparents farm this weekend and videoed the one thing that helps me be grounded. The John Deere tractor. It was a difficult trek to the barn, which involved mud boots with my pants tucked in, venturing through the cow pastures and foot deep mud/manure. My video shows the John Deere tractor that I rode on while a child, sitting solemnly inside the big red barn. The shot was difficult to keep from shaking, but I did my best. I tried to get the five types of shots, with an over the shoulder shot from the back of the tractor looking forward.    After looking at the video from the safety of my couch, there are a few things I could improve upon, like the shaking, focusing for longer on certain aspects of the tractor, and focusing the camera better. I think when we start editing, the videos will be a lot better.

Link to my video:
John Deere

Bonus Pictures!!!