We have now passed the halfway point of the Video Narrative unit, so your project should really be taking shape. During the next week, you should finish collecting (or creating) the assets for your video and begin assembling these raw materials into a rough cut, using whatever software program you have chosen for this project.
In class next week, we will work on refining your videos and solicit some feedback from your peers. Here’s how we’ll spend our time each day:
- We’ll split Tuesday’s class session in half, with the first half dedicated to discussing our reading assignment and the second half focused on video production. When you come to class, be ready to discuss Chapter 3 in Program or Be Programmed and “The Avalanche of Options,” by Dave Pell. After our conversations, we’ll shift into workshop mode, so please bring your laptops (and headphones) or have your project materials organized in such a way that you can work on one of the classroom computers. In order for our workshop to be productive, you’ll need to put in some serious time on this project before you come to class. I will be available during the workshop to help you resolve technological issues, or just to offer another perspective on your video, but I won’t be able to walk you through the entire process step-by-step. (For that, I highly recommend the tutorials on Lynda.com!)
- Thursday’s entire class will be devoted to a peer critique workshop. In order to participate in this workshop, you must come to class with a playable video containing a rough cut of your video narrative. It’s OK if your audio track needs to be re-recorded or a few images need to be edited/replaced, but your video should be far enough along that your classmates can give you helpful feedback on the project. Please bring your laptop and a set of headphones. If you need help with your video, you can come to my office hours on Tuesday afternoon (2–5) or Wednesday morning (9–12), but postponing your work on this assignment until a few hours before class starts is a very risky strategy.
As always, if you have any questions about our plans for next week, drop me a line.