A New Start

Tags

new start, storytelling, technology

I recently had the opportunity for a new start with some technology. So you can fully grasp the impact of this new start, I’m going to have to take you back . . .

[cue the fade to black, fade in to me looking younger, music appropriate to the time playing in the background . . . well, that’s how they do it in the movies . . . anyway . . .]

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With 30 years of service . . .

With 30 years of service, my university gave me some choices. Unlike getting the wrist watch with the university logo on it for 25 years or the fancy desk clock for 20 years, I had a choice of gifts this time to go along with the obligatory photo with the president.

By the way, the 6 and the 9 on the wrist watch lost fell off and flopped around until they tangled with the second hand and stopped the watch from working. I had to take it to the jeweler to get them removed so it would work again. He said it would be no charge to remove them, but if I wanted them back on, it would cost. I have them in a miniature zip-lock bag somewhere in a drawer.

My choices for this 30th anniversary service gift included a captain’s chair or rocker with the university logo on it and a few other items. I noticed it did not include the telescope that I saw previous people chose, but that was OK because I saw that there was an iPod Nano on the list.

An iPod Nano

So with 30 years of service to my university, I received an iPod Nano. I used it happily, linking it to my university-provided Mac Book to update the podcasts, music and playlists. I listened to a variety of podcasts about teaching, technology, and other personal interests. I also had my extensive music collection on it with playlists for nearly every mood.

My old truck did not have blue tooth or any other ‘modern’ connection for it. However, my tech-savvy neighbor got me something to plug into the cigarette lighter and tune in to an unused radio frequency so I could listen to music and podcasts while driving around. My wife’s car, however, did have Blue Tooth. She was pleasantly surprised when we took a trip to visit friends 6 hours away. We had our own, uninterrupted music the whole trip!

I loved it. (Notice the past tense in that brief, sad sentence.)

Yes, one day I apparently forgot to lock my truck in the campus parking deck. I returned to my truck to go home and noticed my iPod Nano was not there. (Yes, I hid it under things, but obviously that was not good enough.) Someone stole my iPod Nano. Very oddly, also, they stole my Bible. I’m praying they read it and become a better person (among other things).

So I was “podcastless” (yes, that is now a word) and was back to the limited music selection of radio stations. Then . . .

With 33 years of service . . .

Then with 33 years of service to my university, they called me and told me that they were eliminating my position. It had nothing to do with the quality of my work or service, they just had to save some money (due to the enrollment drop during COVID). Not like getting an iPod or a clock. Not even a photo!

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Skip ahead a while, [now you see me looking old again, and current hit songs are playing . . . just keeping the movie theme going]. Through some connections, conversations and proximity to other education professionals, I was asked to teach a session to a graduate class on conflict management and negotiation (part of my area of expertise). For that class session I received what is like “professional development funds” – not actual “pay” but money to use for books, conference fees, or something “professional.” I had to let the office know what I wanted and they would purchase it. Yes, that limits what I would possibly use the money for, unlike if it were actual cash in my pocket.

An iPod Touch

Thinking about it, I decided to purchase an iPod Touch. Nanos were no longer available, and this is actually an upgrade. With some of the remaining funds, I had them purchase an optical drive so I could re-record my CD’s and listen to music, too.

So now I have a new start with technology. I no longer have the university-provided Mac Book, but we have one in the house. I have to make sure I use it to pair with and update my iPod Touch, playlists, etc., when others are not using the Mac Book since I discovered I can’t do it well at all with my PC laptop. But that is OK. I have my podcasts and personal music back again.

But that’s not all! With the iPod Touch, I can download other apps, so I can have my Netflix with me, some games (now I can really waste some time!), and other helpful apps.

My new vehicle has Blue Tooth, also. So it is so very simple to listen to my podcasts and music when I drive around. I don’t have to plug anything in – unless I want to charge it while I listen! It is quite pleasant.

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My new start with technology has just begun. As you may have guessed, I am enjoying it. I’m glad I didn’t have to wait for 35 or 40 years of service to the university to get it. Who knows what they would have offered then, but I’ll never know. I saved them some money – they don’t have to give me another gift now!

Lessons Learned 2 – Latest Project

Tags

bell choir, bell choir video, Learning, music video, reflecting, reflection, video editing, video production

I mentioned in my last post about one lesson I learned working on the latest project I had: a Christmas video for my church. Now let me share one other lesson that may come in handy for a few of you. Well, probably not, but just in case, read on.

Music Videos

Much of the Christmas video project was editing previously recorded music. This included the need to make it sound a little better, add subtitles for some so viewers could sing along, or varying the view to make it a little more visually interesting. I mean, we weren’t really sitting in the church listening, so expectations were not the same while watching a video of the performances. You already read about my venture into trying to make a two-camera recording into four-camera raw video to edit.

But one other lesson you can keep in mind is about bell choir videos.

“The bells! The bells! . . . “

bell choir multi-frame

One feature of the Christmas video was our bell choir. They played an arrangement of The Wexford Carol by our Music Director, Dean Wagner. That was the one I caught myself behind the organ in the final video. Dealing with live music has challenges, but dealing with bell music in particular has its own challenges. You can see the bells starting at 27:00 in the video, if you want to see it before the other ‘spoilers’ below.

With any music video, it is best to record the song first (ideally in a studio) and use that sound track while recording video of the musicians “playing” the song. However, we had to do it the other way – record a live performance. Here, again, I tried using two cameras and record the piece twice to provide four angles to put into the final video. (You can read a few other details in Lesson 1.)

First:

I knew that Premier Pro could synchronize the audio of two or more videos so that editing it together is seamless. I’ve done that before, and I did it with the speakers for this video project. What I did not realize soon enough was that bell music does not have the distinct sound signatures that are needed for synching audio. Premier Pro could not do it.

So I had to visually or manually match the audio to the video images from each take when I switched views. That is a painful, time-consuming, and frustrating effort. I do not recommend it. If you ever do a bell choir music video – do it the “proper” way by recording the audio and having the musicians ‘fake it’ to get the visual – or just use one camera and don’t worry about creative visuals. The other option would be to have a multi-camera studio or mixer while recording it live to switch views, or be sure to have time codes to synchronize them. Both of these were beyond the budget of this project.

Second:

When I got a creative idea for the bell choir video, I should have backed off. But I liked the idea and wanted to do it anyway. I wanted to show ALL the bells being played at the same time, each musician on screen. You know, like you see in the ‘virtual choir’ videos. It is relatively simple to do as a video edit, so I wanted to go for it. What could go wrong?

I chose two measures where all the bells were playing during this arrangement. I told the director and players what I wanted to do. Now, in order to do this, I would have to make them play the two measures 12 times – so I could get one close up of each of them in the bell choir. They were game!

The director is a trained and experience musician, so I figured he could keep the pace or tempo the same every time we played it. Well, kinda, but not really, I discovered. Even in two brief measures we ended up with about one second difference in some of the takes. Add to that the fact that Premier Pro could not synchronize the bell audio, and you can start to imagine the difficulties multiplying for me as I tried to put them all together in one video sequence.

Using 12 different layer of video (one for each player), resizing each to a smaller image, and placing them in a different location on the screen revealed one more planning idea that I hadn’t done. Naming. Naming each clip before editing would have helped in placing each image. Instead of V000124, V000143, etc. I could have named the clip in such a way that let me know easily who was playing. Does it matter who was where on the screen? Yes and no. If you don’t care, you could put anybody anywhere. If you care what it looks like, you would prefer to put specific players in a specific location on the screen. And you should care what it looks like, so yes, it does matter.

My efforts to synchronize them all with the subtle variations was not really successful. If you take the time to listen and watch carefully you can see how some are not playing accurately to the actual sound. The multi-frame portion of the video came out looking ‘OK’ but has flaws. You can see that particular sequence at about 30:20 in the Christmas video. It came to the point where I had to decide how much time I was going to put into this two-second sequence in the overall 1-hour video, and how much time I had before deadline.

I offered to edit this out, but the director liked it OK, and I haven’t heard any complaints, so I guess I hid the flaws enough or it was brief enough nobody noticed or cared.

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What did I learn? Among other things, I learned that to do a music video properly it is best to have the audio first and ‘lip sync’ for video. Also, before any editing, name your raw video specifically so you know what each clip really is by its name.

I’ll continue to reflect, as I discussed before, to see what else I learned from this project. And I hope I remember these lessons when I take on my next project.

Lessons Learned-Latest Project

Tags

mistakes, planning, production, video, video production

Lesson #1:

For this past Christmas I was asked to help put together a video for our Christmas Eve service. Since we were not meeting face-to-face, the video was the next best step.

We got together video recordings of previous music services. But we also planned a couple new performances and readers that needed to be recorded. Editing the previous videos was not the main issue but still provided learning situations.

Most of my learning came from the recording sessions and post production from those efforts. Let me share some that may help you as you start into projects and make your plans.

Plan!

I don’t think there is any limit to how much planning benefits a production. One can do amazing things in post production, and the software is now extremely advanced in order to make sound and video into anything we can imagine. However, that takes time (and training and practice, and sometimes more money and more powerful computers and . . .). It is so much simpler to plan ahead.

How did I plan and not plan? I had a good idea in my mind on how I wanted to shoot the video, and I knew the limitations I had. First, I had my camera and one iPhone available (from the other person involved – and he has created simple videos with his iPhone before). We didn’t have a lot of time with the talent, so I thought two run-throughs of the song would be all we have. I would use the iPhone for wide shots, and I would get side shots and close-ups with my camera.

Good plan. How did it not work? Well, I did not plan specifically when I would move around during the first and second take, so I noticed that I was in the wide shot at the same time in both takes – meaning I better have a good close-up or I would be in the video. I should have looked more closely at the music to see who would be singing/playing and who would not at certain times. Then, I would know when and where to move instead of guessing or going by my gut while they were performing.

It is not like a professional music video where the sound track is already recorded and the group lip synchs several times to get a variety. This was more like recording a live performance – I was just lucky enough to have two tries at it.

It worked out OK, but I do see myself in one song even though most people probably wouldn’t notice me behind the organ.

Learn by Doing?

Tags

activities, experience, Learning, projects, reflecting, reflection

I read a quote about learning. It made me stop and think. I thought, “Yeah, that’s right!” Then I thought, “No, I don’t think that is really accurate.” Then I started thinking about it. The quote? This one:

“We do not learn from experience… we learn from reflecting on experience.”

― John Dewey

Think about it. Do you have to reflect on some experience to learn from it? Or do we just learn by doing?

There is a long history of the saying, “Experience is the best teacher,” and several versions of it, such as, “Experience is the best teacher, and the worst experiences teach the best lessons,” by Jordan Peterson, and “Experience is the best teacher of all. And for that, there are no guarantees that one will become an artist. Only the journey matters,” by Harry Callahan.

But back to my question, do we have to reflect or only experience?

My reaction that reflection is not needed comes from my years as an educator planning my students’ learning experiences in my courses. I wanted to help assure that they learned, and I wanted to be sure I had some “proof” of that learning or measure it somehow. So I required “reflections” or reactions of some sort after many projects. These ‘forced’ the student to think about what they did, how they did it, why they did it that way, and similar issues. Then they wrote it down following the guidelines I outlined for the reflection (some specific topics/issues to discuss, length of the reflection, etc.).

The reflection became another assignment. I was not always so sure that it was a learning experience instead of another paper to write; something formulaic rather than thoughtful rumination.

I also came to this conclusion based on my own experience. I’ve learned from doing projects and have not written a reflection piece about it. But, I thought, “Yes, I did reflect on it. I thought about what went right and wrong and why, what I could have done differently or should do differently next time for a better result or an easier process.

I reflected, therefore I learned.

Now, I have to continue to try to have my students reflect on the experience to learn about it. Not to learn how to get through an assignment easier with a decent grade, but to learn about the experience or process itself. What did they learn about the thing that mattered to the goals of the course?

I can’t force my students to learn. I can provide the opportunity and experiences to help them if they want to learn. I’m still working on the motivation aspect of education – a different blog post, I’m sure, but a big on I’m not ready to tackle just yet.

What have you reflected on lately? (What have you been learning?) It certainly goes beyond the classroom, but we educators try to bring it all in, or at least tie it all together.

End of the Blog?

Tags

Education, retirement, technology

. . . the beginning

Dreamscape Diaries began several years ago as I was exploring Second Life and enrolled in a course, Is One Life Enough in SL taught by from Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT). The course required use of a blog to record progress and reflection on the topics covered and steps taken during the course. Instead of linking to any post, you can scroll way back to see those.

Since the, somewhat sporadically, I added content about my thoughts and experiences with technology in education and related areas. I also used the blog to provide examples to my digital storytelling classes – I did the assignments and wrote reflection posts for each. Again, instead of linking to any particular post, scroll back and you will see ‘examples’s to read.

. . . the transition

I found out July 16, 2020, that my position at the university had been eliminated due to financial limits. I decided I would retire and start getting some income instead of waiting for any possible resolution.

[note: the faculty union is fighting this, but whatever the outcome it will not help me]

I taught at that university for 33 years. I taught at various colleges before that for about an 6 years as part-time faculty and graduate assistant. I started out teaching in a junior high and high school in 1978 after graduating from college.

Now, I will be looking for some part-time teaching because I love teaching.

. . . the future?

I have no guarantee that I will get an opportunity to teach again. My blog posts were based on my experience using or experimenting with technology in the classroom, so I do not know if I will be able to continue that theme.

Even though the posts were not consistent and you can see several extensive gaps in the dates, this blog has been a good outlet for me – like a conversation with interested friends, even though one-sided. A way for me to sort my thoughts and more deeply consider the value of a particular technology or approach using technology or situations that should avoid technology.

This may be the last post, unless I experience related contexts or applications for using technology. Perhaps it will be different items (broad definition of technology) as I find other ventures.

Well, it will be the last post for Dreamscape Diaries, or it will simply be another long gap between posts.

“Virtual Networking?”

Tags

academic, conference presentations, conferences, networking, travel

Part if academic life for professors is to do research to advance the field of knowledge. Publication of research is important for sharing knowledge and is a big part of achieving tenure. However, another important part of sharing research is presenting one’s research at conferences.

Network!

The academic conference is a place to hear many other presentations, find out what is developing, and get to know other researchers. Networking with others is made simple and encouraged at these conferences. Networking is one of the primary purposes and benefits of academic conferences.

Now that travel is limited and social distancing is still being enforced due to the covid-19 situation, conferences are cancelled or put online. These “virtual” conferences are nice in that they allow sharing of one’s research and the opportunity to hear others’ research findings.

Virtual conferences are not good for networking.

I remember several conference situations that provided me the opportunity to meet scholars and researchers from areas and disciplines different from my own, but their ideas, approaches, methodologies and findings shed light and inspired my own professional development, but virtual conferences are not good for networking.

Networking became my primary goal and benefit for attending academic conferences. Considering this as I read through announcements of “virtual conference” announcements, I became disheartened. I also remembered the post “Going Critical” by Melting Asphalt I wrote about in an earlier post.

For years I’ve been fairly dismissive of academia. A short stint as a PhD student left a bad taste in my mouth. But now, when I step back and think about it (and abstract away all my personal issues), I have to conclude that academia is still extremely important.”

Kevin Simler, “Going Critical

I’ve attended several ‘virtual conferences’ even before this covid era. I spent time in the ‘lounges’ and ‘chat rooms’ at those conferences. I read comments from many people, but never really was able to make any connections or to glean ideas that were helpful. But there were no opportunities to meet people through common acquaintances in the lobby, at a coffee break, or during a trip to dinner. Even brief introductions or ‘run-ins’ during a face-to-face conference begins to make a connection between people. You put a name with a face – so much more effective than putting a name to an avatar or generic shape of a head and shoulder outline.

Socializing virtually is just not the same as face-to-face. The research done on mediated relationships bears this out [cite theory/research re: relational development, bandwidth, etc.]

The MIT Human Dynamics Lab reports this about face-to-face interactions:

According to researchers at MIT’s Human Dynamics Lab, as much as 80% of our ability to influence someone else, happens in these face-to-face interactions. Researchers within the lab have spent years tracking data from electronic interaction badges and correlating it to various performance drivers across industries. In one study they were able to demonstrate that face-to-face requests are 34 times more effective than those sent by email. In fact, over time, the lab has determined that up to 35% of a given team’s ability to drive performance can be explained by the number of times team members engage face-to-face.

The Power of Proximity: Influencing in the Era of Social Distancing

The article goes on to explain that trust and similar behaviors are not shared or learned as quickly through mediated channels as they are face-to-face. The author gives an example of how networking with just a few ‘energized’ members enhances the idea production of an organization, but the “problem is the natural emission of this energy erodes in a virtual environment.”

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So without face-to-face interactions, we are all at a disadvantage. Not only will relationships suffer, but our academic research will also be handicapped and slowed.

As universities travel through this covid-era mine field, it is important for universities to adjust expectations for tenure-track academics. I see this as an important requirement for at least two reasons: first, the lack of networking I just mentioned (yes, it does make a difference in how one goes about their research even though a person does not need to go to a conference in order to publish their research); and second, because of the added time needed to prepare to deliver online classes (even ‘blended’ classes or some version of non-face-to-face instruction takes additional planning, preparation and assessment). If tenure-track faculty must take additional time for instruction, then that means less time for research.

As universities travel through this covid-era mine field, it is important for tenure-track academics to adjust their expectations. I’m not saying that virtual networking is impossible or that it does not happen. It does, and I have benefitted from it. However, it takes more time and it definitely takes more effort and a more conscious, planned, strategic effort. It is not as creative or serendipitous as any face-to-face conference provides.

And that is sad.

My travels throughout my professional life have enriched my research in bountiful ways, and my travel – see my Not a Tourist blog for my stories, and even the Not a Tourist Map for all the conference locations I have traveled to. I fear that is over – at least until we can actually travel to a conference again and not worry that being around others will make us deathly ill.

Animation Production 2 – “Under Pressure”

Tags

48-hour Film Project, 48x2 Animation Project, animation, pressure, procrastination, production, rotoscope

I was inspired by Loving Vincent and the rotoscope animation technique. My animation is not truly a rotoscope, but similar. I had a technique and a plan, and I got to work.

The Plan? I tried out the Oil Painting Filter in Photoshop, so I knew that it looked more like someone drew the image than photographed it. I’m sure it would have saved me some time knowing more about how the Creative Cloud programs work, but I am only a novice. My technique was quite labor intensive (not as detailed as Loving Vincent, obviously) so I still had my work cut out for me.

Starting Animation Saturday

Using the rough cut video I made, I captured every-other frame throughout. At first, I captured the frame and numbered it (1-1, 1-2, for scene one, etc.). After I got up to about 100 I thought there had to be an easier way. Of course there was. When I looked at the name of the frame when I captured it from the video (before saving it) I noticed that it was quite detailed about where it came from in the timeline of the video and it was numbered. I didn’t have to number it or anything! So I saved precious seconds for each frame after that by simply saving it without renaming it.

oil painting filter applied

Next, I had to take each frame/still into Photoshop to convert it into an oil painting. For one image you could click on Filter-Stylize-Oil Painting. Then one can choose a range of 1-9 for four elements of the filter: stylization, cleanliness, scale, and bristle detail. So to make an image look different, I thought it important to change these parameters at times. They were adjusted “at random” during my process.

my Einstein mug with Oil Paint filter

After a few hours of doing this, I made sure I knew any keyboard short cuts to go through this menu process. It still became mind-numbing and breaks were needed regularly (and to get some other responsibilities taken care of, so it worked out OK, I guess).

Time was running on (not marching, but running or sprinting), so I had to decide what parts of the story could be cut and keep the plot line intact. Out went many great puns and references to song titles and lyrics related to Jefferson Airplane’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us” even though it was so obvious that these needed to be in – the required line I had to use was, “Nothing is going to stop us.” Well, initially that was obvious to me, but I sacrificed the finer points of my script to shorten the film in order to get the project done – you know, working (better?) under pressure.

I cut the part of the story that built tension when our hero encountered another obstacle. I cut the great gag about Bingo. (“Great”?) I cut some lines from each of the characters.

My story went from nearly 5 minutes down to about 3 minutes. Not to better the story (unless you really don’t like puns, then you would say it was better – but not all cuts were puns!). No, not to better the story but simply to get it done because I was running out of time.

Music & Sound

I had to take the audio into Audacity to change my voice to make it fit two additional characters, and keep my original voice for one character. By changing the sound of the voices, it changed the pace slightly – enough so that when I tried to fit the stills back into the timeline there was an issue with the lip-sync. Once in a while I had to add or delete a frame to make it look OK (not good, not perfect, just OK – you know, no time working under pressure).

I thought of sound effects for a couple actions, but that got thrown out.

I knew I needed some music of some sort at least at the start. When everything is silent at the beginning before any dialogue, it just was boring, uninteresting, and a little disturbing to me. I needed to help set the mood for the story. I opened Garage Band and searched for anything ‘techno’ that would fit a sci-fi movie. This was at 6 p.m. Sunday with a 7 p.m. deadline to upload the video.

I came up with a few combinations from the loops available when I noticed it was 6:50 p.m. I exported the track to my computer and threw a little of it into the opening and into another part where tension or action needed more than the dialogue. I think I also put a little at the close of the movie (I’ll have to watch it again to make sure – yeah, I haven’t seen it since I worked on it.)

Other:

Other aspects that I originally wanted to do included animating the credits, and partially animating the 48×2 opening sent to me (and required to use in the opening). I thought it would be a good touch to have it transform from the video version they sent to an animated version in the style of the rest of my video. No time for that. I left their opening just as is. I threw my credits into a frame at the end – but that was simple: all I had to do was put my name all over the place! Ha! I got one thing simple!

my credit screen – simple!

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Overall, was it simply getting it done quickly because it was due? or was it “working better under pressure”? I had to make some cuts, some compromises. That will always happen with projects – nothing is perfect. However, I cannot say that I work better under pressure. I doubt anyone really does. When time is limited, many aspects must be compromised, They end up lower on the priority list than expected. Often that is disappointing.

The best way is to not let yourself get into an extremely limited time frame for projects. Time is limited, just don’t take that to an extreme. Keep an eye on your responsibilities, your priorities, and your long-range plans for each.

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Note: While writing this, I went back to my final video to get some stills to show you. When I watched my video, it was corrupted, or bad in places because it did not render properly. So I sent in a bad video.

On the “good news” side, it was not eligible for competition anyway. I went through the procedure to ID my video to the 48×2 people. Then when I tried to upload my video to the Dropbox given to me for the competition, I used the Dropbox app. I drug my file over to Dropbox – and it disappeared. I could not find it in my files, and I could not do anything with the title of the file in Dropbox. It did not indicate that it was uploading or anything.

example of bad rendering
[but this may be a good effect!]

I deleted the app. I went back into Premiere Pro and re-rendered another copy of my video. Then I went to Dropbox online and uploaded my video. It took two tries because something technical happened and it stopped uploading.

The next day (Monday) I received an email telling me my video was not eligible for competition because the video I uploaded did not match the ID of the video I indicated. I asked, they checked, but it was not the same file ID even though it was the same video, so it did not meet competition rules.

[A couple days later, I finally got my video to render like it should be.]

Animation Production 1 – “Under Pressure”

Tags

48x2 Animation Project, animation, digital storytelling, procrastination, production, stop-motion, storytelling

I’ve already set the foundation for why I did the 48×2 Animation challenge. I already discussed my writing process. Now let me tell you about how the overall production process went – was it simply getting it done quickly because it was due? or was it “working better under pressure” ? This is the first of two discussions of my production process – there was a lot of work in the two and a half days after writing the script.

Pre-Production Activity

prop list

After the script was written the other pre-production planning began. First, I gathered my essential props and set items. That list included about a dozen items that were needed or I thought would be helpful to the setting and story. Some were typical office items, others I added for effect. I made a point to use my Einstein coffee cup, and the coasters were from various international friends and places. The coasters were somewhat central to the plot: the coasters changed throughout the story helping to indicate that things were continually different and needed fixing.

some ‘futuristic’ computer screens

I even had to create some images that would appear on the computer screen to make it look like an active office instead of a dead computer. I tried to make them ‘futuristic’ to match my story setting. I thought that would be better than some random web page or image, and it would change during the shot. I know computers work so much faster in the future (at least according to other futuristic movies).

Other images (still and moving) I needed included a meme, a ‘video’ of VP Talbert at a meeting, and background images for the transport pad and the “wrong place” – a nebulous area that Jefferson gets transported to incorrectly. This was a ‘complication’ in the plot to increase the tension. This creation process took about 2 hours total, though I did parts at various times throughout the production process – inspiration knows no real schedule, I guess.

set area for Jefferson’s office

I then had to choose the settings for the action. Thinking while writing helped speed up this process, and knowing that it would be at my home helped narrow the decisions. I needed a desk for the main character, Jefferson, the lab manager. His coworker, Phil, the lab technician, slaving at the computer needed his own workspace. Then there was Jefferson’s trip back in time to try to fix the problem and his run-in with Vice President Talbert. These three sets could be small since there would only be one person on screen at a time (me). The ‘hallway’ for the past-time action was not my best setting, but the tile wall in the bathroom that I wanted just wasn’t big enough for the action – I would have had to do nothing but extreme close-ups, and I knew that wouldn’t be good.

Just after writing the script, I did a list of shots for each character. A bad version of a story board, but with only one character in each shot I didn’t really bother sketching anything out, I just indicated if it was a medium shot or a close up, and a few extreme close ups.

Production – taking initial video

So, I set up the desk, put the camera on a tripod, and plugged in a lamp to keep the lighting somewhat consistent (since the fluorescent lamps in the garage tended to flick on or off at random). Then I checked the framing with a test shot. After a few minor adjustments I began recording all of Jefferson’s lines.

set for Lab Tech Phil

That first set took about an hour. On to Lab Tech Phil’s office. I could use my home office area and the old computer, printer and other equipment piled closely for his set. Lighting there was the track lights already installed. Camera set up and check once more, then I ran through all his lines.

The more difficult set and character was VP Talbert. I had the choice of Alex or Alexis for Talbert, the required character, and decided to go with a female character. While looking for the required mask prop I saw that my family had quite a variety of wigs, so no problem, right? At this past-time setting, I had to record Jefferson’s lines and Talbert’s. I decided on a different camera angle for each to make it more like they were actually talking to one another (there’s smart planning!).

The lighting was stark, the little spot lamp was all that I had available there. But with the time pressure limits, I had to go with that.

Check the script; check the shot chart; double check the list of scenes. I found a few voice over lines that I didn’t think I had, so I fired up the camera and recorded what I thought I still needed.

Done? No. Just done with recording. Now I had to put together my rough cut so I could animate. I had Saturday and Sunday to put the rest of it together. I didn’t know if I could do it. I knew there was a lot of work, a great deal of tedious, repetitive work that will take an unbelievable amount of time.

I’ll write about the animation process in my next post.

Story Writing “Under Pressure”

Tags

48-hour Film Project, 48x2 Animation Project, digital storytelling, pressure, process, procrastination, script, storytelling, writing

How does one write a story in a day? I really don’t know, but let me share the process I followed as I wrote my story and script for the 48×2 Animation Project.

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Background:

This was an experiment in completing a project under pressure (as I explained before). I put myself into the steamer by choice. I did it to see how it affected the project so I could share some insights with my students. 

I don't set my students up for such stress. I provide sufficient time for a small storytelling project, and I expect a valiant attempt following guidelines and fitting into a particular style or medium (audio/podcast, visual/photo, animation, video, etc.). I do not expect a professional-quality production - they are learning, after all. 

However, we all have the temptation to procrastinate. Many use the excuse/rationale that they "work better under pressure." I don't buy it, but I wanted to see what truth there was in it.

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My writing did not start by “inspiration” – no muse invigorating me on this project. My writing did not start with a “writing prompt” that is often used in writing classes, workshops, or for writing practice. It did start with parameters and required elements.

This story was to be at least two minutes and no more than 5 minutes. The 48×2 people sent me the other required elements and two genres to choose from:

• Genre: drama or a sci-fi,
• Prop: face mask,
• Character: Alexis/Alex Talbert – Vice President, (did not have to be a main character), and
• Line: “nothing is going to stop us.”

With the additional parameter being that I was the only “talent” I knew my story had to be relatively simple – at least no Cecil B. DeMille style casting. So I got to work.

Brainstorming ideas using the required elements developed a list, then I quickly moved to the sci-fi genre. I felt more comfortable with it, and it seemed to provide a broader range of possibilities. In my creative efforts, I was influenced by recent reading. A Christmas present from my daughter was “The Time Traveler’s Almanac,” edited by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer, a collection of short stories around the time traveling theme (“featuring 72 journeys into time”).

Wednesday night I started sorting some ideas and swimming rather aimlessly. I slept on it.

After sorting some ideas and swimming rather aimlessly, I decided I better follow some structure. The story arc was what I grasped for: setting, key problem; rising action/complications (if possible); resolution; falling action. This did support a better approach, providing a linear structure that moved the story forward. It stopped me from my “stream of consciousness” panic.

Thursday morning I decided I better follow some structure. The story arc was what I grasped for:

• setting, key problem;
• rising action (and complications if possible);
• resolution; falling action.

This did support a better approach, providing a linear structure that moved the story forward. It stopped me from my “stream of consciousness” panic. My developing story progressed nicely with each of these steps getting filled in.

Jefferson Starship references

Once I had my ‘outline’ I stared writing dialogue that fleshed out these points. By noon I had my basic script, or a good foundation to develop and polish. Many of my ideas tended to jump from the line, “nothing is going to stop us.” This may indicate my age, but I couldn’t help doing some research on Jefferson Starship and their songs and lyrics (“Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us” of course, and other titles seemed to fit well). My humor leans toward puns as well, so integrating references to the song in the script helped my creative productivity. My character names came from the band, also, to help make those creative decisions easier.

It ended up that I used eight song titles, five lines from the song “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us,” and four band names for characters in the initial script.

My “pun fun” guided me to include a humor set up for Bingo, too. I even researched what specific numbers went with each letter to maintain authenticity! I was on a roll!

All this before noon Thursday.

No, you are not going to see the script – I’m discussing the process not the product; that comes later.

I had four scenes:

• Scene 1 – setting the situation and problem; determining the cause, developing possible solutions;
• Scene 2 – trying to solve the problem; complication;
• Scene 3 – overcoming the complication; solving the problem;
• Scene 4 – falling action

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So, my writing under pressure did help me decide to focus on the story arc as a way to get a coherent story going. I know I usually day-dream and imagine all sorts of possible scenes, lines, settings, and … and … and … until I come to a focus. My working under pressure helped me get that functional process going perhaps a little earlier. But, one can start with a functional process instead of dreaming. I don’t think the “working better under pressure” has this as its exclusive benefit.

The next step in this “working under pressure” project was the pre-production planning before making the video. I’ll discuss this in my next post.

Reporting on “Procrastination v. Working Under Pressure”

Tags

48-hour Film Project, 48x2 Animation Project, animation, pressure, procrastination, production, project, storytelling

This is one of several blog posts I will share with you that deal with my experience on the 48×2 Animation Project, what I discussed in my previous post. My first response is about the concept of “working well under pressure” as an excuse to procrastinate.

Lola procrastinating

There are several reasons that could be used to try to convince someone not to procrastinate. And, although I have not looked them up, I am sure there are studies showing that working under pressure is rarely a good thing, nor does it produce the best results. This project example tends to prove that statement.

I am only talking from my recent experience. I will keep you in suspense for now about the project itself and focus on the process.

My general schedule was planned to have the script written Thursday, shoot Friday, and animate and edit Saturday and Sunday. Deadline was 7 p.m. Sunday night. This was quite general, but I figured it gave me some structure.

The Timeline

Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. the project began when the 48HFP sent out my assignment details. I had to decide between one of two genres, figure out how a particular character would fit in, how a prop would be used, and write in one specific line of dialogue. So, I had to come up with a story to do that.

By the time I went to bed Wednesday I had a basis for my story, or a general story arc in my genre, and I had several ideas about possible details. It took me about 3 hours.

Thursday morning I woke early and could not get back to sleep, so I started in on story details. I looked up what I thought was relevant information, wrote and re-wrote most the day. I estimate about 6 hours of work, but probably more – I did stay up late.

Friday I got a later start. I gathered my props, equipment and materials and shot some rough video as my basis for the animation. Then I threw together a rough-cut to work on. It was at the edge of the long limit. I knew it would be too much to complete, so I thought about cuts to my masterpiece.

Saturday I started snipping stills and labeling them for editing. As I expected, this was the tedious, time-consuming part of the process. By mid-day Saturday I didn’t think I would be able to complete my project. Not that I didn’t want to, or was getting tired of the mundane, repetitious details that were mind-numbing, but that I would not have time to do it all. I considered other cuts to the story to make it more feasible.

Re-writing the story to cut time made me focus on the essential elements, identifying dialogue or whole scenes that did not forward the story. Seeing it on a new day also pointed out to me that it really was not that good of a story. I was not expecting award nominations, but wanted to have something worth watching. I had that, but maybe no repeat viewings in its future.

I cut it from 5 minutes to 3-and-a-half. Okay, that was better even if some of my favorite puns and attempts at humor were gone. It was a tighter story. For the purposes of this project, it was necessary. I kept working.

Sunday I felt like I could possibly do it on a basic level. My hopes were to make a music background to add to the story, but I was not holding out on that. I kept working on the stills and putting them back into the timeline. By late afternoon I had all but the last scene put together and ready to be smoothed out.

Once I had the stills all in, matching the dialogue, I watched from start to finish – and saw that my very first shot, my establishing shot, the foundation that the viewer needed, was not there. Backtracking and searching found what I needed. I edited that and threw it back in.

I had a “final” cut with an hour to spare, so I started working on some music. Next time I looked at the clock I had ten minutes left. Once I started breathing again, I decided on minimal music, threw it in and rendered my video.

Overall Reflections

It was not what I had envisioned. I saw so many details that needed fixing. It did not include some of my favorite lines and scenes, ones that gave it more life, more body, more substance and humor (at least my humor, but humor is personal or individual anyway so I was not worried about that), more of the elements that are beyond the basic story line or actions that make the story arc more interesting and engaging.

But it was done.

Is being “done” enough? Most the time I would say, “No.” There are times that it must be done and that is what is important. If vital needs are involved, then it may be more important than not getting it done. One can come up with several actions that must be done well or properly as quite important (medical surgeries, or landing a plane, for example).

When considering a video project for a class, getting it done is more of a goal than making sure it is the best video an audience will see this year. For my students, I would say, “Just get it done. We are learning about the process in this class.” And we do learn that producing a video of quality takes more time than we have for this two-week assignment (what I typically give my students to complete it – and theirs is usually 30 seconds minimum running time, not the 2-5 minutes I had to produce).

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Under pressure? Yes. Did that pressure help me “work better?” Yes and no. Any time one is under a deadline pressure, it would help IF the project was a priority. Nothing helps if a project is not a priority. So I focused more intently when I did work on the project.

one of my responsibilities

However, I did have other priorities that needed done. I did not totally ignore my responsibilities. I don’t expect my student to ignore theirs, either. I had to take time to deliver medicine to my mother and visit; to mow the lawn (we only have a few days without rain); to grill dinner; to run an errand with my wife; feed the dog, eat, dishes, vaccume the house, sleep, and other responsibilities.

Working better under pressure means that you are forcing yourself to focus more intently on the project. But more often than not, it is simply a saying that makes you sound better than, “I procrastinated and rushed through it.”

As I tell my students, taking the first step is the hardest, but once you get started, the momentum will help keep you going. So get started NOW not later.