Wrap-up Blog Post

During this semester taking Com210, my favorite project was the last one we did which was making my video story. I enjoyed this project so much because it gave me the chance to make a story with having the freedom to make it how I wanted to. In units before this one, we got to create what we wanted to, but this one was a lot more enjoyable for me because I knew how to work with the program. I had fun making my own videos and putting them together while having my voice in the background to tell the story while listening to music.

While taking this course, I have learned different skills that I know I will be able to use in the future. First was getting to know the Adobe programs while I know will be useful later. I have learned to take my first online class as well as being able to get help by going to my teacher or T.A’s office hours and stay on track of my attendance regularly every unit. Both of the programs Photoshop and Premiere I feel will be the most useful because I love taking pictures and videos and now I am more familiar with a program to edit them and make them better quality. Also I now know how to make a blog online which is known as wordpress. I learned how to manage my time especially knowing how long the tutorials take.

In the future, I am planning on majoring in communications, specifically public relations. Before taking this class, I did not know what part of communications I wanted to major in, but something that works with people. Taking this class did influence me to stick with communications because it was a fun and pleasurable class as well as teaching me how to use various programs for the future.

There is not a particular skill that I wish I learned while taking this class that I already didn’t learn. Taking this class I learned way more than I thought I was going to learn. I feel like I learned a lot about each program that we worked with because of how the class is set up. With the tutorials, draft videos, peer reviewing, and making a final it set me up for success and dealing with these types of programs later.

When having to make specific videos on my own, I mostly stuck to the material that was presented to me when completing assignments. Designing what I wanted to do for my final project, it was hard for me to remember how to use tools from assignments in the past. I would then use Youtube or other tutorials to refresh my memory.

I am really pleased with what I have learned in this class. Overall, I have got to increase my skills with all of the programs that I have learned. If it was not for this class, I would not have got to practice with all that I did. I am excited for what my major has to offer down the road!

Final Video Project

For my final video project, I decided to make a video that was important to me which was my sorority Gamma Phi Beta. Ever since I joined the sorority my freshmen year, it has been a big part of my life. My video story talks about my experience first coming to Washington State University and how joining the house helped me to become a better person. First going into recruitment it was a struggle as well as starting school, but what helped me to succeed was joining Gamma Phi.

When making my story, I wanted to show the most important part it is to me as well as narrating in the background. As I was going through the process of my final story, I took multiple videos of my sisters, pictures from past activities, the inside of the house, and then the outside. I started out with the video of pictures from bid day while I recorded my voice in the background. I used the dissolve transition tool to come in and out of the first video and then the rate stretch tool of me taking a video of the house. Next I used the dissolve transition tool for the video of my three friends as well as the next picture. For the last picture outside the house, I used the title tool to write “Thanks For Watching”.

From my draft video story to my final, I changed things quite a bit. I chose to use a different song as well as including a lot more video footage and different video transitions. A couple of my classmates commented on my video draft and told me to add more video clips as well as pictures.

I wanted to make my final video story significant and something that is important to me. Since I got the opportunity to live in the house this year, I wanted to incorporate this in my video about myself. Overall, it was a fun and interesting project for me to do and I am glad I got to learn the skills that I did.

Video:

Introduction: 00:00-00:24

Walking into Gamma Phi

Video Fades

First picture of Gamma Phi Paddles: 00:24-00:27

Why do you love Gamma Phi?

First video of my friend Haley talking about Gamma Phi: 00:27-00:34

Picture of my door stack: 00:34-00:39

Picture of my sorority: 00:39-00:43

Second video of my friend Bri talking about Gamma Phi: 00:43-00:50

Picture of Kristen and I on bid day: 00:50-00:57

Picture of my sorority on preference day: 00:57-1:01

Third video of my friend Alex talking about Gamma phi: 1:01-1:05

Another picture of my sisters on preference day: 1:05-1:09

End video with the title “Thanks for watching”

Draft Video

Because my blog is about me, I wanted to film a draft video of my sorority, gamma phi beta. Ever since I joined this house, it has been something that I really care about. Each day, there are sisters that are there for me and I can always count on them in any situation. Being in a sorority can be very overwhelming to some people. When I first joined the house, I was not sure if it was something that was for me. The people who also joined this house on bid day seemed to be really excited and they knew they were in the right place.

Farther into becoming a member of the gamma phi beta sorority, I found out that I was going to get a big. I first felt very overwhelmed because in high school, I never had this. When I was finding out to who it was, it made me excited because I was going to have a mentor. Looking at my big now, she is someone who I look up to every day and someone that I want to be just like when I am older. Coming to college, it was hard to adapt to the atmosphere, but having her around to guide me made me feel accepted.

Viewing the sorority now, I can say that I am very happy to be here and to have met so many of my friends that I call my sisters. I have struggled with school all of my life, but having a major that a lot of my sisters have makes it easier to ask them questions and get the help I need. If it wasn’t for my sisters, I wouldn’t be who I am today. I have built self-confidence as well as being happy with who I am as a person.

Premiere Tutorials

Raw Video Footage

Final Audio Story

https://soundcloud.com/stream

For my final audio story, I decided to make frequent changes from my draft that I turned in last week. I then realized that there was going to be modifications needed to be made from looking at my peer’s comments. In the beginning, I went over my draft and didn’t notice that many things that I needed to fix, but being able to give and receive feedback made me take into consideration what was needed to be done. The first thing I added to my final story was an intro. I recognized how confusing it was to just listen to someone interview me and then me responding to them and not explain in the beginning what I was going to talk about, who was interviewing me, and why I wanted to have my audio story this way. I also noticed that the people that I gave feedback to had either an introduction to their story, or somehow explain what their story was going to be about. After adding an intro, I already noticed that my story flowed a lot better than it did before. Additionally, I reviewed my story over and over again and noticed still that I had unnecessary pauses and “um’s” that I did not see before. I took them out and it made my interview sound more sharp. I really like how my final turned out because I think it is an improvement to my draft that I am proud of. There were words here and there that I knew I could take out, so I cut those out of my interview. My interview itself is related to my blog because it is about me. I really liked doing this project because it lead me to use tools that I have not used before.  I never knew the things that I do now about audition, and know I can definitely use these skills for the future.

Draft Audio Story

For my Draft Audio Story, I decided to have one of my sorority sisters ask me questions about why I chose Washington State University and what I have been interested in while I have been here. I decided to talk about this because my topic is “About Me” so I wanted to incorporate that into my Draft Audio Story. In the beginning, I didn’t know what I was going to talk about but it was nice having one of my sisters ask me certain questions so I could then answer them.

To record both of our voices, we used the sound recorder program that is on my computer. After that we dragged it into the Audition then made it a multimedia track. After this was done, I listed to the track that was made very slowly and used the zoom tool so I could cut out the parts that I didn’t like. Using the razor tool, I cut out the parts where I said “Hum”, “And”, or any long pauses to make it sound clean. I went over my track several times till I thought it sounded almost perfect and then again to make sure it was good. At some parts of my audio, I had to use the yellow bar which controls the volume because some of my audio I talked in a lower voice so that made it sound better.

After using this program and doing this draft audio story, it made me realize how much I enjoyed working with audition and how easy it was to work with. There is a lot that you can do just with the media parts. I want to do more to my final audio story when we turn that in for example, using the voice overs but I am not sure how to use it well enough. In the end, I know I will be able to fix it up for the final! I am looking forward to the feedback I will get.

Raw Interview Footage

Dana Interview 2 Mixdown

https://soundcloud.com/stream

Dana Interview 1

https://soundcloud.com/stream