Goodbye Digital World

Since the semester is almost over this is going to be the last posting from KLA :( As a group I think we've all learned a lot about videos, posting them, editing them, camera angles, scripts, and working together.

Personally, I wish I had learned more about blogging since I really don't know much about it. From personal experience, I've seen that it does great things for companies trying to get feedback and selling products. I'm glad I learned how to actually create and start a blog even though we didn't do much with it during the semester. All in all I had a lot of fun in Scully Digital Journalism class and hopefully I'll find something to do with my Flip Camera!

-Liz



When I first signed up for this class, I was a little worried that it would be really complicated to learn Final Cut and how to edit video, since computers aren't really my best subject. But I was really glad to learn that once you get the hang of it, Final Cut is pretty easy and actually a lot of fun. I've used my Flip to make so many videos not just for the class (some can even be seen on the Hawk's Herald blog: hawksherald.blogspot.com). I'm looking forward to taking Dig 2, thanks Scully! :)
-alyssa

Bike video

Here's our groups 2nd talent video...we interviewed Casey from RWU who is a competitive biker. The video is kinda quiet but he was a good sport and gave us alot of great information. We filmed using the flip for this video.



We should have gotten more b-roll of him doing tricks and maybe had him speak a little louder. Adding music would have also made the video more interesting.




I actually did add music to the video, it's just very hard to hear. Being alone in the Mac Lab and having head phones really makes a difference in sound. I changed the volume of the music (Wailing Paddle, by Big D and the Kids Table) and his voice a lot until I thought it was pretty good, but obviously I was wrong. The music and his voice sounded way louder in Final Cut, but after it came up on YouTube and I watched it the next day the sound quality pretty much sucked. I also wanted a lot more camera shots of him doing tricks, but he said he didn't have the right bike or the right setting to do any more tricks except jumping down the stairs, so we took a couple of that. I also wanted to speed up the videos, but for some reason Final Cut wouldn't let me; I thought at first it was because we used the Flip, but I've changed the speed with the Flip before, so I don't know exactly what Final Cut was up to. At least it was a sunny day.
-alyssa

Music video -- fall

So this is our first attempt at a "music video". Since the seasons our changing we decided to do something on all the foliage. We originally had a U2 song that was perfect for the video since it had to do with the fall and leaves dying but it ended up not working out. We also used Scullys camera with all the new lenses to help with the colors of the leaves.





We were alittle disappointed with the foliage we got because there was a huge rain storm the night before we filmed which kind of wiped out all the remaining leaves. But we got the best that we could! The lighting and colors weren't as vibrant as we hoped with the camera. I (Liz) was filming for this video and as you can tell i'm not the best camera woman! When i used the "pro" camera i thought that the footage i was getting would show up better but it was blurry and not as bright as i hoped it would be. We had a good idea just couldn't get it on video!




This was, without doubt, the video from hell. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. The song we were going to use didn't work out; Final Cut froze on me--twice; I saved the video and went to another Mac Lab to put music to it because I had a meeting, but it didn't work (luckily the video was still saved on the North Campus Lab); it was a rainy week, and started to get cold, so shots were harder to get. But for all the problems I think it came out pretty well. I ended up using a song my old band (Cookie Monster and Friends) wrote a while back, and learned how to cut it to make it shorter but still sound ok. I thought the footage actually came out pretty well too. I tried to sync the video shots with the music, and when the music picked up I sped every video up and put them in reverse...kinda like Fall dying but than coming back to life...
-alyssa

Talent Video -- Guitar

This is our groups first talent video. We decided to interview Bobby Hensley a recent graduate of Roger Williams. Bob talks about how he got started playing the guitar, his favorite bands to sing, and what he wants to do in the future with his talent. We also had him singing a couple of songs.




I (Liz) actually filmed this video and I'm not normally the one in charge of the camera. So since we lost an hour during the day due to day light savings...I was forced to film inside. We were in his home in Warren and even though the background isn't the greatest for the theme of the video, it was unfortunately the only room with enough light. We had a lot of great footage of him singing full songs but didn't put them into the final video. Hopefully when I get enough time I can post the rest of him so that people can hear the full songs!

THANKS BOB!



This was the first video that we put music to. I tried to have his songs playing constantly in the background, and than after he was done talking a bit switch to a shot of him singing right where the music picked up. It actually worked, though the video itself probably should have had him playing in a different area so that it wasn't the same shot throughout. I also didn't know we could change the volume, so the singing/guitar is the same volume throughout, when it should have been louder when he wasn't talking. Oh well, I know for next time.
-alyssa

BeBop Burrito

BeBop Burrito is by far one of the best burrito joints ever, in the history of burrito places. The food is delicious, the interior is bright and cheerful and colorful, the employees and owners are really nice, and their homemade sauces are incredible. Even for you hot and spicy fans, I don't recommend putting too much of their hottest sauce on your burrito--it really is hot. BeBop even accommodates vegans, wheat allergies, nut allergies, and has a handicap accessible ramp, tables, and bathroom. Just when you thought they couldn't become more awesome, they did. Starting in December, BeBop will be delivering (though the trip there is worth the hip interior).



BeBop got its name from its two owners, Don and Mike. They are both musicians, hence the musical phrase "BeBop". That and the phrase BeBop Burrito sounded pretty cool.
-alyssa

Hawk's Running Crew

Ok, so I still need to work on my charisma a little bit apparently. But I think it's a little better, no?
-Kelley

Chameleon Club

Today we worked on our campus news story about the recent chameleon club disaster. The interviews went pretty well...except for the fire chiefs... he wasn't too pleased that we were interviewing him about the whole issue. So instead of answering the real questions he just told us about what the fire dept does during these types of events. It def seemed that he wasn't too thrilled about the whole incident. But other than that everything went pretty smoothly....and looks like we'll find out tomorrow whether or not the chameleon club is history for RWU students!








another note to add was that the chief told us not to tell a certain newspaper he gave us an interview, which was kind of cool that we were able to get some quotes out of him. He also gave us the advice to never take pictures of patients, because that might be the last picture their family ever sees of them (ie, instead of a smiling kid, the last image is of a dead body). So that was an interesting perspective i've never thought about, though if you get permission to take the picture i don't know if i agree with him entirely.

i also forgot to put the mic into the camera at first since i'm so used to the Flip...we politely asked him to stop talking and repeat what he said, which he didn't seem happy about of course, but than again he wasn't thrilled about the interview anyway...oh well
-alyssa

Ok so I really need to work on adding some enthusiasm to my voice and face...I look and sound like a corpse. But all in all I must say this video has gone the smoothest so far. We're all really getting the hang of the process and falling more into our individual roles. Out of everyone I'm pretty sure I have the most work to do though. I worry so much about getting the sentences right that I forget to look animated. Maybe some pronounciation practice? Special thanks to every interviewee that helped us out today!
-Kelley

Construction story...completed!

we just successfully finished our first fictional news video in final cut pro--and it came out better than we expected..no computers were thrown out the window :) yay

Final Cut Pro is a lot easier than we thought (and actually pretty cool)...take a look:





ps, we wanted to spruce it up with effects, but SOMEBODY (Scully) wouldn't let us ;P

Construction Accident

So we started our first news video last class.....

so my role in this video-project threesome is the camera person. I want to find unique shots and footage that others might not have, though for this first assignment it didn't work out that way considering we were all doing the same fake story. There's a lot more to the videoing someone than I thought; you need to make sure things are filmed before sunset in a lot of cases, make sure the setting is nice, nothing is going through the person's head, the lighting is right, etc. But it's a lot of fun. We haven't put anything onto the computer yet, and when we do that next class I have a feeling we're going to end up wanting to throw a computer out the window from the heat of the room and frustration. But you never know, we'll see.
-alyssa

Being in front of the camera is a lot scarier than I thought it would be. Luckily here I have second, third and fourth chances to get it right. I can't even imagine what it would be like reporting live. Hopefully as the semester progresses I'll get more comfortable in front of the camera. And stop stuttering...
-Kelley


For this news story i was the producer aka boss as well as a witness. Being the producer is pretty easy because i'm just saying if i think everything looks okay. But being a witness i also had to get on the camera which i thought was kinda hard since i didn't really know what the other groups wanted me to say...and i suck when i'm put on the spot...especially when its on camera haha. So with that said its probably good that i didn't end up being the newscaster.

-liz

Liz

Hiii. I'm a PR major at RWU and I'm graduating in May which I'm really, really, really, not looking forward to :(

I decided to take Scully's class because it's similar to a class I took in high school. Also, my dad wanted me to help him create a blog for his company but as of right now I'm not that much help. So hopefully by the time this semester is over I'll be able to figure out this blogging thing.

So yeah...I'm the producer in our group...

Alyssa

Hey all, I'm 21 and a senior at Roger Williams University taking Scully's Digital Journalism class. I'm interested in digital journalism because I'm a journalism major (with a creative writing minor), and news is taking a turn to the digital world...plus it's fun to play with the camera :)


ps, I'm the one with the camera in our group

Kelley

I am a senior majoring in public relations at Roger Williams University. I am taking Digital Journalism because I think the technology concept is interesting and I believe the skills I learn here will be useful tools in the future.

...that sounds really boring.

I think it will be fun to play with the cameras.

Better.

My role in our group is the reporter. I'm the one in front of the camera. Yikes.