In my IT 5730 Digital Video for Interactivity course we have been learning how to work with video for the Internet. We created an account on http://www.youtube.com and then we uploaded our projects. Since Race for the Cure was happening in Denver this last weekend, I decided to get up early and run out there and shoot video. Unfortunately I was not able to walk in the race because I had class and then found out that class was canceled because of the lack of parking downtown but I was able to honor the cancer survivors through this video.
The South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) has been around since 1987 and is internationally recognized Music and Media Conference & Festival. In 1994 it added conferences for film and interactive media.
I was living in Austin Texas during the time additional conferences were added. I would have to say that during that time it was the best time of my life except for now of course because I’m in graduate school. In Austin I was working with a start up company developing video-on-demand servers. The web was still very new and I had the opportunity to work on the festival’s website thanks to Dewey Winburne. The site was coded in HTML, no easy to use programs were available to me at that time. I think I might still have the website buried on some old scratched CD. I have not attended the festival for a long time and I decided to check out their website. After I visited their website, http://2008.sxsw.com/interactive/, I realized that they have a Dewey Award.
Dewey Winburne was one of the first multi-media producers that I met who was devoted to creating educational content to help the community at need and he helped SXSW become one of the nation’s top showcases for innovative new media developers. Dewey died in 1999. I still remember my best friend calling me to tell about Dewey. Back then when his projects were presented at the festival, I knew that someday I would be doing the same thing. He was and always will be an inspiration to me. I registered for the interactive session of the festival in March of next year and when I receive an award for a project that I create to help the community I will dedicate it to Dewey. If you want to read more about Dewey visit http://2008.sxsw.com/interactive/dewey_award/.
I’m making my regular posts to my home. I created tabs for different categories such as Digital Storytelling. It seems that I cannot add to that post like in my home. Everytime I have tried to post in Digital Storytelling it posts in my Home, so I have to leave a reply instead of a post in order to get my comments published in Digital Storytelling. Any suggestions? Thank you.
I found this multimedia storytelling event in the Denver Post Sunday’s paper. The presentation is to take place at CU at Boulder’s Macky Auditorium on Oct 5, 2007 at 7:30pm. Photographs from National Geographic, live narratives, and live music are coming together to pay tribute to the world’s great explorers past and present. It’s part of EcoArts, a 3 1/2 week series of multidisciplinary offerings focusing on climate change. For more information visit http://cuconcerts.org or call 303.492.8008.
I received an email about this new site, which I think someone may have already mentioned in their blog. It’s called the internet evolution, the site for news, analysis, & opinion about the future of the internet. It can be found at http://www.internetevolution.com.
I just heard yesterday that a film I particpated in as an actor and made by a Colorado Film School student will be showing at the Queens Museum of Art on October 6, 2007. The name of the film is “Luisa” directed by Justin Jones. Luisa is about the struggle of an illegal female immigrant who is trying to cross the border to be with her family. I acted as an illegal immigrant trying to cross the border with others. The coyotes stopped our cargo truck looking for Luisa. One immigrant was killed as an example and the rest fled by foot. Because I had an older husband we got shoved back in the truck.
I signed up for the IT 5330 Digital Storytelling Workshop at the end of October, I guess I’m trying to overwork myself this semester, but I couldn’t help myself. I want to complete the Digital Storytelling Certificate. In my Digital Storytelling section of this blog I included information on that certificate.
Many of my classmates posted a comment about my green chili expedition. I don’t peel all the chili after roasting, did that once, never again, no thank you. I leave the peel on when I freeze them and that seems to help keep them from drying out. I might just bring a surprise to our next class.
There was an earlier post asking if I thought Hillman’s book would help with the video editing. In my opinion, his book is not a how-to-video-edit book but it’s a book for experiencing the senses with ideas and imagination. He is teaching us how to create a database of resources in our minds that we can pull from when a project presents itself. That is why I enjoyed his book so much because as an editor that is very valuable.
The definition for video editing from Wikipedia states that video editing is the process of re-arranging or modifying segments of video to form another piece of video. The goals of video editing are the same as in film editing — the removal of unwanted footage, the isolation of desired footage, and the arrangement of footage in time to synthesize a new piece of footage.
To me that is a very accurate definition but it does not define the editor. The editor is part of the new media design team. The editor works hand-in-hand with the director to transfer the director’s vision to film. I consider editors to be artists; they paint with motion. The definition above describes the mechanics and process of editing. The editor moves one piece of film in front of the other but it’s the style, pacing, color, texture, sound, and feeling that the editor adds to the piece to be interesting, engaging, and informative.
So, in my opinion Hillman’s book helps with the aesthetics of editing. I suggest the book “Nonlinear editing: storytelling, aesthetics, and craft. Publisher: Lawrence, KS:CMP Books; (2002)” by Bruce Button. Bruce was an instructor at the Colorado Film School.
I posted information earlier about Hillman’s book “MTIV : Process, Inspiration, and Practice for the New Media Designer.” Here is more information on that book.
Hillman separates his book into three easy to follow sections for the new media designer, process, inspiration, and practice. I call it PIP for short. Listed below are the three sections and their sub-sections.
Hillman defines New Media Design as “anything that is digital and plays on a screen. The New Media Designer is anyone practicing digital design.” His book is written through an autobiographical format. He shares his experiences as a designer and those experiences of his company with his audience. The book is filled with tips on how to become a better designer as well as pay homage to the craft.
In process, Hillman describes the seven steps that he has developed which he uses on every project.
In inspiration, Hillman sums up inspiration as the totality of motivation and contributions made by preceding filmmakers, poets, painters, musicians, and others.
In practice, Hillman believes that New Media Design is wide open for exploration and new possibilities. He suggests to any media designer to stay open to change, and not to let arrogance get in the way. He asked his peers that are subject experts to write this section of the book. So with each sub-section is also a short background about each contributor.
I started reading Hillman’s book on creating short films for the web. Hillman states “When I make films, I’m very conscious about leaving space for uncertainty, and for some unexpected things” in the Falling in Love with Movement section of the book. That is something I’m learning because I usually want to conserve tape and I stop rolling after a scene or interview. Recently I left the camera rolling and during a scene an accident happened, well the accident was natural and worked perfect for the project I was working on, so to me that was a good statement of advice. Tape is cheap and time is a Kodak moment.
