I'd Hit the Ground Running

Crafting, creating, shooting, editing, uploading all takes time. Time, which we are short on. The process of corralling twenty plus people and giving them a direction proves difficult. The newscast format of presenting an argument must be crafted in a linear process, which we don’t have time for. Therefore, sending direction to people not only becomes difficult, but nearly impossible, as a linear process requires one step to happen before the rest can be completed. Okay, this is not a completely linear process, but it sure feels like it should be one. People performing their duties outside of class induces stress because the workload feels greater than it should; however, I cant say with any accuracy at all whether the workload is more or less than what it would have been had the film project not been approved—thank goodness it was. Teaching more than purely rhetorical analysis, this film project has taught the class how to work as one, depend on one another, communicate efficiently and effectively (although we are still working on this one), and craft an argument outside the parameters of text.

The hardest part of the project One of the hardest things is trying to get everyone to effectively and efficiently work in sync in their roles. A member of the crew has to know his or her role and stick to it if the crew wants to get anything accomplished. As of late, this has been happening and it is very rewarding and progress is being made.

Instead of addressing the camera problem in class because it is very technical and somewhat boring, I will attempt to in here. The DSLR’s offered to record video will work fine and dandy if you don’t want audio, or at least editable audio because they record in mono rather than stereo which the Sony-ex 1 does (the camera Matt will get for us). Recording at 20 fps will work for a few seconds, maybe 20 or 30 max, before you notice a jump in the footage and movies are shot at least 30 fps. For filming a game or event that is fine, but an interview will be thrown off by that jump. Not having an external audio output for a mic proves to be a problem because there is no guarantee the camera will be that close to the interviewee and plus, the mic will pick up the camera noises, such as the camera auto focusing. Those are just the beginning…please do not take this as a malicious attack on any personal possessions; rather this is my reasoning for wanting a professional quality camera, or a true video camera. If you have any questions/comments/concerns I would be more than willing to listen and hopefully provide answers.

While I understand the organization of the class has been anything but spectacular, I accept responsibility, and am working on another approach; however, the small groups seem most efficient—take initiative and do what you need to get your work done. Because of the semi-linear process a film goes through, some things must wait before others can begin and this is the root of my problems.

Overall I am very please how things have turned out so far and am encouraged at the progress the crew makes each week. We are fighting something that, no matter how hard one tries, cannot be changed—time.