Examples from class

Example I wanted to share in class today:
Bicycle Portraits - everyday South Africans and their bicycles. from Bicycle Portraits on Vimeo.

Week 7: Lab 1

Just a reminder to turn in your Three Photos Finals before class tomorrow. I am reading through your blogs and tweets, remember you must tweet on two different days in order to receive credit for both your tweets.

Tomorrow there will be a Twitter Current Events quiz and I can promise one question will pertain to the Oscars. 

For this week:
Continue watching Lynda.com tutorial on Final Cut Pro X ( Chapters 1-7, 9 and 10 chapter one “Managing Media Files” tutorial by end of Week 9) and for PC users watch Adobe Premiere Elements (Chapters 1-5 by the end of Week 9)
and take the Week 8 reading’s quiz due by 11:59 p.m. Friday

In class tomorrow we will talk about shooting video with the five shot method for your short video assignment. You do not need to check cameras out for class.

Wednesday we will do an in class critique of your audio slideshow assignment. Remember to post this to Blackboard before class if you want feedback in class. 

I'll also pass back feedback on your audio assignments.

Due Dates

Just a little review of due dates for upcoming assignments:
All final for projects are due before class on the date listed. We will look at the projects in the class before they are due for critique.

Audio- Feb. 20
Three Photos- Feb. 27
Slideshow is due- March 5
Short Video- March 12
TV News- March 19

Week 6: Lab 1

Remember to submit your audio assignment before the beginning of class today. Come prepared to learn about video. Bring questions about your slideshow.

Photo critiques will be on Wednesday, final submission for photos should be on Monday by 5 p.m. (Feb. 27). Slide show critiques are Monday Feb. 27 and finals are due Wednesday Feb. 29.

Watch Lynda.com tutorial on Final Cut Pro X ( Chapters 1-7, 9 and 10 chapter one “Managing Media Files” tutorial by end of Week 9) and for PC users watch Adobe Premiere Elements (Chapters 1-5 by the end of Week 9)

You must take either the Final Cut Pro X quiz by 11:59 p.m. Friday of Week 9.

Week 5: Lab 2

Remember to upload your audio file to Blackboard before class if you want feedback. You should save it as an MP3 and upload it.
If you do not have your interview done, bring the questions you prepared for your interview. Each student will get three minutes.
I'll answer questions about the photo and audio slideshow assignments. Please email me if you have questions so I can make sure I have the answer in class.
We will also go over the next steps in SoundSlides.

Week 5: Lab 1

I just wanted to remind you all to download the LAME encoder so you can export your audio file from Audacity onto Blackboard as an MP3. Only save it as an MP3 when you are done editing, as it will compress all your files into one. This file form is better supported by the Blackboard interface.
Remember to save your final file as an MP3 through Audacity and load the MP3 onto Blackboard by Wednesday if you want feedback.

Let me know if you have any questions. We will do a photo review for the Three Photos assignment and we'll be reviewing Sound Slides in class tomorrow.  Get an idea of the audio slideshow assignment.

Preparing for Week 5

Although your final audio assignment is not due until Monday, Feb. 20, there will be a critique class period on Wednesday. Your clip does not have to be finalized, but I would suggest you take advantage of this opportunity. Wednesday we will review the three photos assignment. Monday, Feb. 20, we will go over your three photos assignments in class. The three photos will be due before lab on Monday, Feb. 27. 

If you want feedback before you turn in your audio presentation, please bring it to class this week on Wednesday. Each student will be asked to present their audio clip and talk about why they chose to interview who they interviewed. Also bring questions for me and your classmates. You will each get three to five minutes. We will do the same thing next Monday (Feb. 20) with the three photos assignment.

We will be learning SoundSlides this week too. Make sure to download the program demo and bring your laptop to class on Monday. Directions for downloading it are on the convergence site under Week 5.

Just a reminder as to what is due this week:

• Blog and two tweets due at 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11. Make sure to read my comments on your blog and make changes.
• Complete the Photoshop Elements Quiz by  11:59pm on February 10. (Required chapters: 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7). This is on Blackboard.
• Week 6 readings’ quiz due by 11:59 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17.

Week 4: Lab 2, learning to edit sound

Today in class we will be working with Audacity. I finally figured out why my computer could not project sound and fixed it so we should have a pretty productive class.

Remember to bring what you recorded at the end of class so we can walk through the process step by step of downloading sound and uploading it onto your computer. Bring your laptop too.  See you in class.  Here is a brief review video of how to use the Zoom Audio Recorder. Rather than selecting an MP3 you will need to select WAV.

You might also want to take a look at the audio assignment before class to get any direction you might need for the assignment. 

Week 4: Lab 1

I see that you are all beginning to turn in your Seeing Red assignments. Do not forget to turn them in before 5 p.m. tomorrow.

Also we are going to begin our audio unit tomorrow. Make sure you go down and check out an audio kit before class so we can use them for a few exercises/training. You will also have a Twitter Current Event's quiz tomorrow.

Review the Audio Assignment, and the Audacity basics tutorial before class so we can hit the ground running. We'll be going over this in class. We'll talk about audio editing in class Thursday as well.

Photo Ethics

Sometimes we create things that did not happen to illustrate a story. These are called photo illustrations. Recently the Sacramento Bee published a photo that had been altered in Photoshop but did not state that the photo was altered.  In their correction editors stated: "The Bee's ethics policy strictly forbids such manipulation of documentary photographs. It is considered a violation of our core values, as it misrepresents the accuracy of the event. When we alter a photograph for illustrative purposes, we disclose that at the time of publication." Good to know some publications still maintain ethical standards.

Week 3: Lab 2

Today we will be toning and cropping the Seeing Red assignment in Photoshop. I'll give a brief tutorial and the rest of class will be a workshop. You should turn in your newly corrected photos by Monday at noon to receive credit for the assignment.

Our class will be doing the audio assignment next, followed by the three photos assignment. Be sure to download Audacity so you can work on that assignment. Make sure you have taken the Wordpress  Lynda.com quiz on Blackboard. Also make sure to take the Photoshop Elements tutorial and the quiz following it.

HW: This weekend read at least one of your classmate's blogs and come to class prepared to share something you liked about his/her blog we will share these in class Monday.

Week 3: Lab 2, follow-up

I sent out an email to you all and forgot to post it to the blog as well. So, here's some things from the email I sent out before class yesterday, and some things I spoke about in class concerning your Seeing Red Assignment...

1) The problem with Lynda.com not listing the Photoshop tutorial has been resolved. You should now be able to take the tutorial. The tutorial is long, but you can look at the individual chapters to figure out how to tone, quick edit and crop your photos. There is also a great tutorial for resizing. I went over all three of these along with the videos in class yesterday.

2) You will have until Monday to submit your Seeing Red photos for a second time. That should give you all weekend to tone, crop and take the tutorial. When you submit your photos it will be an additional attempt on Blackboard. I will take your last attempt as the assignment I will grade. Make sure that you include your edited photo captions (in AP Style) in a word document with your first and last name at the top of the left top of the document and label the captions with the corresponding photo document name, and then name the Word document with your last name and captions, for example: Perreaultcaptions.doc.

Also rename the photos as your last name and then 1, 2, 3. So if I was submitting pictures my files would be Perreault1.jpg, Perreault2.jpg, and Perreault3.jpg. NEF files should be converted into jpg files and the files should be the sizes specified in the Seeing Red assignment.

3) Some people wanted to know if they have to buy Photoshop Elements 9 if they have another version of Photoshop that they know how to use. No. But you still have to do the Lynda.com  tutorial and take the quiz. Complete the Photoshop Elements Quiz by  11:59pm on February 10. (Required chapters: 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7)


4) You must re-submit your Seeing Red photos in the format I asked for before class Monday. For each day it is late I will take a point off of the total assignment score.

We are starting the Audio Assignment next week!
Also remember to download Audacity  and view the online guide to learn how to use it. Check out the audio recorder before you come to class Monday. Also check out the audio assignment information.

Remember you must also have taken the WordPress quiz in Blackboard before Friday, February 3, 2012 at 11:59 p.m.