Zach's E-Portfolio
Multimedia Project
The multimedia project was a way for us to present our thoughts through something other than an essay. We were given the opportunity to discuss or respond to the Myth of the Model Family essay. We were placed in groups of two and we were simply told to make a video that had a solid purpose, one that had smoothe editing, and one that included a title screen and credits. Other than that, we were given the latitude to use our own creativity in forming a video that expressed our views on the topic of family. My partner and I decided to interview various people from differing backgrounds to get a sense of what family means to different people. We added transitions, background music, and other effects that made the video look very professionally made. Please view the video by clicking the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgKwLPYVI48&feature=player_embedded
Drafting
Way before my partner and I started interviewing or composing the video, we sat down and planned out what we wanted to include in our video. Below is the outline/idea page for what we wanted:
The ideas that we put on this page did change some. We ended up expanding the number of people that we interviewed and we added more questions. This sheet does a good job of showing the various ideas that we had, especially with the music. We wrote down different genres of music and tried them all in the background on the video. This shows how we tried various things and ultimately made a video with the best effects that we deemed fit.
The following response questions do an excellent job of describing my thoughts on the multimedia project:
1. How did you like the process of expressing an idea in video format as opposed to written format? What do you see as advantages of video essays over text essays? What do you see as disadvantages?
a. I feel that expressing an idea in video format is much more effective than trying to express an idea in written format. I feel that both can be very effective, and it depends on how well the author of the work expresses the idea, but video is a more effective way because the audience can see the idea on screen and have the idea interact with them. Video essays provide a means for the author to be creative and for the author to express an idea in a visual way instead of just text. The author can bring the audience in and have them see and hear the idea instead of just seeing text. Some disadvantages of video essays over text essays would be that the idea may not be as coherent or as well thought out as it would have been in text. Writing provides the means for expressing an idea in a coherent and structured way with supporting detail. Some of the idea or some of the detail can be lost in a visual presentation.
2. How was your experience in collaborating? What strengths did you bring to the collaboration? What did your collaborator bring?
a. My experience in collaborating was exceptional. I feel that my partner, Charlie, and I truly complemented each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I was strong in the detail in the video and the story board. I also did well with creating the questions and with coming up with ideas for the video. Charlie took the video truly under his wing. He has software specifically designed for making professional-quality videos. He made the video and added the special effects. He made the video seamless and added touches such as fading that truly put it beyond amateur-video status.
3. What were the weaknesses of your collaboration? Strengths?
a. I feel that some of the weaknesses could have been that I was not as active in putting the actual video together. Charlie had the expertise in that area that I lacked. So, our partnership definitely worked out in a way that was beneficial, but I feel that I should have contributed more to the actual putting the video together. I just lacked the knowledge of how to do it. Our partnership was very strong, though. We complemented each other and worked together as a team on all aspects of the project. Even when Charlie was making the video, I stood by and offered ideas and suggestions to help the process.
4. What technical difficulties did you encounter as an individual? As a co-creator?
a. Charlie handled most of the technical aspects, with me just providing suggestions and ideas on what to do. I feel that that is what worked best for us. Charlie had the technical knowledge and software that I lacked, so the partnership worked out well. I feel that our video is very good when it comes to quality and seamlessness. It truly is a product of both Charlie and I.
5. What logistical difficulties did you and/or your collaborator encounter?
a. We did not encounter many logistical difficulties. Charlie already had the camera and the movie software that we needed. We both came up with a script and a story board pretty quickly. We interviewed people in our Learning Community, so the interviewees were not hard to find. Our entire video production was pretty smooth. The most time-consuming part was editing the video footage that we had into a coherent and smooth video essay. We spent more time in front of Charlie’s computer than we did on anything else. I feel that our video is a good representation of how much time we spent in making it.
a. I feel that expressing an idea in video format is much more effective than trying to express an idea in written format. I feel that both can be very effective, and it depends on how well the author of the work expresses the idea, but video is a more effective way because the audience can see the idea on screen and have the idea interact with them. Video essays provide a means for the author to be creative and for the author to express an idea in a visual way instead of just text. The author can bring the audience in and have them see and hear the idea instead of just seeing text. Some disadvantages of video essays over text essays would be that the idea may not be as coherent or as well thought out as it would have been in text. Writing provides the means for expressing an idea in a coherent and structured way with supporting detail. Some of the idea or some of the detail can be lost in a visual presentation.
2. How was your experience in collaborating? What strengths did you bring to the collaboration? What did your collaborator bring?
a. My experience in collaborating was exceptional. I feel that my partner, Charlie, and I truly complemented each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I was strong in the detail in the video and the story board. I also did well with creating the questions and with coming up with ideas for the video. Charlie took the video truly under his wing. He has software specifically designed for making professional-quality videos. He made the video and added the special effects. He made the video seamless and added touches such as fading that truly put it beyond amateur-video status.
3. What were the weaknesses of your collaboration? Strengths?
a. I feel that some of the weaknesses could have been that I was not as active in putting the actual video together. Charlie had the expertise in that area that I lacked. So, our partnership definitely worked out in a way that was beneficial, but I feel that I should have contributed more to the actual putting the video together. I just lacked the knowledge of how to do it. Our partnership was very strong, though. We complemented each other and worked together as a team on all aspects of the project. Even when Charlie was making the video, I stood by and offered ideas and suggestions to help the process.
4. What technical difficulties did you encounter as an individual? As a co-creator?
a. Charlie handled most of the technical aspects, with me just providing suggestions and ideas on what to do. I feel that that is what worked best for us. Charlie had the technical knowledge and software that I lacked, so the partnership worked out well. I feel that our video is very good when it comes to quality and seamlessness. It truly is a product of both Charlie and I.
5. What logistical difficulties did you and/or your collaborator encounter?
a. We did not encounter many logistical difficulties. Charlie already had the camera and the movie software that we needed. We both came up with a script and a story board pretty quickly. We interviewed people in our Learning Community, so the interviewees were not hard to find. Our entire video production was pretty smooth. The most time-consuming part was editing the video footage that we had into a coherent and smooth video essay. We spent more time in front of Charlie’s computer than we did on anything else. I feel that our video is a good representation of how much time we spent in making it.
