For our last project of Roger Williams University ever, the channel 4 news team set out to interview Casey Barber, who is in the midst of competing for the honors of Miss Rhode Island.
The most difficult part of this assignment was finding B-Roll. Unfortunately we were unable to get footage of the meet and greet, because no one responded to our many e-mails and phone calls. (their loss)
Greg did a great job of editing in this process because he had to deal with the little amounts of B-Roll. He used still pictures of Casey instead of background footage, which seemed to work nicely.
I acted mostly as teh camera man for this assignment and I was very proud of the interview set up we had. I thought the lighting was very good, and the background was even better.
I was disappointed that you can see either mine or Brittany's shadow on the lower portion of Casey and I should have been able to see that before we entered the editing process began.
Thank you to everyone who has followed our hard work throughout this semester and I hope you have all enjoyed the news videos. Keep coming back for I will put up some of my own videos and other blogs in the future. So here is the possible future Miss Rhode Island, Casey Barber.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
S.T.A.N.D.
Our 2nd to last assignment for the semester was a news package we put together about S.T.A.N.D. which is an anti-genocide club assembled on campus. My job in this cycle was to be the camera man. The main footage we as a group wanted to capture was of an event that S.T.A.N.D. was putting on that represented a refugee camp.
Students spent the night in the quad on our campus, sleeping in tents, and painting messages of hope on a giant tent that will be sent either to Darfur or a museum that represents genocides throughout the world. It was difficult to get a lot of good footage because not many kids participated during the day in the event. I went to the quad while the sun was still out and there were only about 5-10 kids there.
I took this time to interview the President and Vice President of S.T.A.N.D. It was very hard to interview the two girls in a quiet place. The event had very loud music blasting over speakers and the two girls could not travel very far in case more people came to sign up for the event. We walked to the end of the quad and I got about 10-15 minutes worth of interviews from the two of them.
I went back later in the night to get some more B-Roll. It was difficult because the sun was going down and there is no light on the flip video ultra. I tried to get some up-close shots of two African Drummers that were brought in to perform but none of the shots came out good enough to use in the final package.
I was able to get some very good shots at this time of kids painting the tent. By this time, many more students made their way to the quad to take part of this great event and they showed their messages of hope on the tent. It would have been nice to get extremely up-close shots of each individual message, however their were many kids around the tent, still painting, without leaving me much space to film. I thought I did a good job of getting the shots I could get with the time, and sun allotting.
A few days later, Brittany recorded her stand-ups and voice over, and Greg spent a great deal of time picking through all the video I had recorded in order to put it all together. So without further a due, I present a Channel 4 News Team Exclusive : S.T.A.N.D.
Students spent the night in the quad on our campus, sleeping in tents, and painting messages of hope on a giant tent that will be sent either to Darfur or a museum that represents genocides throughout the world. It was difficult to get a lot of good footage because not many kids participated during the day in the event. I went to the quad while the sun was still out and there were only about 5-10 kids there.
I took this time to interview the President and Vice President of S.T.A.N.D. It was very hard to interview the two girls in a quiet place. The event had very loud music blasting over speakers and the two girls could not travel very far in case more people came to sign up for the event. We walked to the end of the quad and I got about 10-15 minutes worth of interviews from the two of them.
I went back later in the night to get some more B-Roll. It was difficult because the sun was going down and there is no light on the flip video ultra. I tried to get some up-close shots of two African Drummers that were brought in to perform but none of the shots came out good enough to use in the final package.
I was able to get some very good shots at this time of kids painting the tent. By this time, many more students made their way to the quad to take part of this great event and they showed their messages of hope on the tent. It would have been nice to get extremely up-close shots of each individual message, however their were many kids around the tent, still painting, without leaving me much space to film. I thought I did a good job of getting the shots I could get with the time, and sun allotting.
A few days later, Brittany recorded her stand-ups and voice over, and Greg spent a great deal of time picking through all the video I had recorded in order to put it all together. So without further a due, I present a Channel 4 News Team Exclusive : S.T.A.N.D.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Dan Roberge Has Talent
Our third assignment was to film someone with talent. I assumed the position of producer this turn around, Greg was our camera man and editor, and Brittany was the interviewer.
When we set out to try and find someone with real talent at Roger Williams, I figured who better then Dan Roberge, a sophomore pitcher for the baseball team, who is fresh off the first perfect game in school history, and 14th ever in division 3 baseball.
Dan was nice enough to sit down with Greg and Brittany a few hours before he had to take the mound in game 2 of a double header. The biggest problem we had with the interview was the wind. While using the flip video ultra has many perks, one big problem is there is really no way to block the wind. At RWU, there is always wind. Below is the video, and below that is some more information of what we did during the video, enjoy.
As you noticed, we used "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" in our video to add some element of "pizazz". Although we initially thought it was a great idea, we now realize that it does make the overall video seem a little choppy, but we still like it. We could have turned the audio of the song down a bit and played it throughout the entire interview but we felt it would muffle Dan.
We feel like the interview came out really well, and I really enjoy the cutting from the interview to the B-Roll, and back. I thought the sound of the music matched up perfectly with the B-Roll, especially the 3 strikes and your out.
We want to thank Dan for his time, and congratulate him on his perfect a few weeks ago, and his 1 hitter that he threw on Tuesday. I had a lot of fun trying to find different angles for our B-Roll, and I think Greg did a great job of picking what ones to use. I love sports and baseball especially so I really enjoyed this project, I hope you all do as well.
When we set out to try and find someone with real talent at Roger Williams, I figured who better then Dan Roberge, a sophomore pitcher for the baseball team, who is fresh off the first perfect game in school history, and 14th ever in division 3 baseball.
Dan was nice enough to sit down with Greg and Brittany a few hours before he had to take the mound in game 2 of a double header. The biggest problem we had with the interview was the wind. While using the flip video ultra has many perks, one big problem is there is really no way to block the wind. At RWU, there is always wind. Below is the video, and below that is some more information of what we did during the video, enjoy.
As you noticed, we used "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" in our video to add some element of "pizazz". Although we initially thought it was a great idea, we now realize that it does make the overall video seem a little choppy, but we still like it. We could have turned the audio of the song down a bit and played it throughout the entire interview but we felt it would muffle Dan.
We feel like the interview came out really well, and I really enjoy the cutting from the interview to the B-Roll, and back. I thought the sound of the music matched up perfectly with the B-Roll, especially the 3 strikes and your out.
We want to thank Dan for his time, and congratulate him on his perfect a few weeks ago, and his 1 hitter that he threw on Tuesday. I had a lot of fun trying to find different angles for our B-Roll, and I think Greg did a great job of picking what ones to use. I love sports and baseball especially so I really enjoyed this project, I hope you all do as well.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
What to do after college?
For our next assignment, we set out to find out what students plan on doing after life at RWU. We originally planned on finding two or three stories, that were completely different from each other. Maybe we would find one person who had their whole career planned out, and others who haven't even began looking. Instead, we found that the majority of the people we talked to were extremly uncertain at what the future held for them.
My job for this assignment was to film all of the B-Roll and find the kids to interview. I spent about an hour to an hour and a half walking around campus trying to film anything and everything that would represent everyday life at RWU. Luckily, it was a beautiful day and I arived in the quad, right when lots of people were coming to and leaving classes. Getting shots around campus was very easy, besides the people who kept trying to walk out of the shot, thinking they would get in the way, even though I wanted them to walk in the shot.
I then found a bunch of my friends and some other people and begged them to let me interview them. Many obliged, so I set out to ask them questions. They were all very cooperative and each interview took about 5 minutes tops. I got a lot of good answers out of all of them, and we ended up using all the interviews except 2.
On Wed, (project due Thursday) Brittany and I brought our cameras to Greg so he can start editing. After we shot Britanny's voice over we noticed President Nirschel walking around outside of the WQRI booth. We ambushed him and asked him to give us a quote or two for our project and he politely agreed. The hardest part of the project was filming the President without a tri-pod as I had to hold the camera as steady as I could, and I think I did a pretty good job with it.
Well heres the final project. I think we all did a great job, and some of the shots we got came out even better than I thought they would. Hope you all enjoy learning about what RWU seniors plan on doing upon graduation.
My job for this assignment was to film all of the B-Roll and find the kids to interview. I spent about an hour to an hour and a half walking around campus trying to film anything and everything that would represent everyday life at RWU. Luckily, it was a beautiful day and I arived in the quad, right when lots of people were coming to and leaving classes. Getting shots around campus was very easy, besides the people who kept trying to walk out of the shot, thinking they would get in the way, even though I wanted them to walk in the shot.
I then found a bunch of my friends and some other people and begged them to let me interview them. Many obliged, so I set out to ask them questions. They were all very cooperative and each interview took about 5 minutes tops. I got a lot of good answers out of all of them, and we ended up using all the interviews except 2.
On Wed, (project due Thursday) Brittany and I brought our cameras to Greg so he can start editing. After we shot Britanny's voice over we noticed President Nirschel walking around outside of the WQRI booth. We ambushed him and asked him to give us a quote or two for our project and he politely agreed. The hardest part of the project was filming the President without a tri-pod as I had to hold the camera as steady as I could, and I think I did a pretty good job with it.
Well heres the final project. I think we all did a great job, and some of the shots we got came out even better than I thought they would. Hope you all enjoy learning about what RWU seniors plan on doing upon graduation.
Monday, April 7, 2008
RWU prepares students for the real world
Over the past week, we have been planning, writing, filming, and editing news stories across the Roger Williams University campus. The class has been broken up into four teams in which we are responsible for coming up with our own story idea, and then after pitching it to our teacher, we set out to make the story happen.
My team consists of Brittany Costa, Greg Walsh, and myself. Our team name is Channel 4 News Team. For our first cycle we decided to do a story on a class offered here at RWU, called Finance 450. The business class is aimed to help prepare students for the real world of buying, trading, and creating a stock portfolio. The students use real money to invest into real stocks, and create a real portfolio.
It is believed the success of the class is not whether the students make money or not (although that is a huge plus) but rather the gaining of real world experience using this hands on learning technique. There are a few new classes here at RWU offers that is creating this unique learning style, which is different than having a teacher lecture at you.
Our next video will be on Roger Williams Seniors, and what some plan on doing after they graduate. We hope to compare and contrast a few students who either have no clue or planning on what they will be doing in the coming months, with a few who are over prepared and maybe already have a job lined up.
Below you will find a Channel 4 News Team Exclusive of Finance 450. This is our first real news package we have put together and we are all very happy with the result. A lot of time and effort went into this and we all hope you enjoy.
My team consists of Brittany Costa, Greg Walsh, and myself. Our team name is Channel 4 News Team. For our first cycle we decided to do a story on a class offered here at RWU, called Finance 450. The business class is aimed to help prepare students for the real world of buying, trading, and creating a stock portfolio. The students use real money to invest into real stocks, and create a real portfolio.
It is believed the success of the class is not whether the students make money or not (although that is a huge plus) but rather the gaining of real world experience using this hands on learning technique. There are a few new classes here at RWU offers that is creating this unique learning style, which is different than having a teacher lecture at you.
Our next video will be on Roger Williams Seniors, and what some plan on doing after they graduate. We hope to compare and contrast a few students who either have no clue or planning on what they will be doing in the coming months, with a few who are over prepared and maybe already have a job lined up.
Below you will find a Channel 4 News Team Exclusive of Finance 450. This is our first real news package we have put together and we are all very happy with the result. A lot of time and effort went into this and we all hope you enjoy.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Major League Baseball Predictions 2008
With opening day (in America) less then 24 hours away, I decided that it's about time I make some Major League Baseball Predictions for the year. The reason I like to predict the winners of each division and the playoffs before the year starts is so I can look back in October and realize that I know absolutely nothing.
2008 should be a great year for the MLB, with lots of parody in every division. From teams who've made great moves in the off season (Detroit Tigers), to teams who've practically changed nothing (Boston Red Sox). From questionable pitching staffs (New York Yankees), to pitchers coming home (Tom Glavine to Atlanta), 2008 is going to be a crazy year.
Now some of my predictions may seem a little far fetched in some areas, and pretty obvious in others. The reason I like to make bold predictions is because if they come true, I look like I know a thing or two more than the professionals, but if they fail miserably, I can always just say I took the long shot and didn't expect it to actually happen.
Before we get into the winners of each division and of coarse the World Series, I'd like to make some slightly bold predictions that you may or may not agree with.
1.Hunter Pence will hit 35 home runs and steal 35 bases
2.Manny Ramirez will hit over 50 home runs
3.Rick Ankiel will hit over 40 home runs (others have predicted this as well)
4.Erik Bedard will win the AL Cy Young Award in a landslide.
5.The Washington Nationals will lose over 100 games. (Tampa Bay 96 losses most last year)
6.Kerry Wood will have over 40 saves.
7. Dice-K will have over a 4.30 ERA for the second straight year.
8.Miguel Cabrera will be top 3 in all Triple Crown categories, winning 2 of them.
9.Randy Johnson will win at least 15 games.
10.Albert Pujols will hit less than 25 home runs and bat under .300
AL MVP=Miguel Cabrera
NL MVP=Matt Holiday
OK, lets move on to how each division will turn out.
AL East
Winner: Boston Red Sox
2nd Place: Toronto Blue Jays
Surprises: Orioles will finish last, even behind the Rays
AL Central
Winner: Cleveland Indians
2nd Place: Detroit Tigers
Surprises: Detroit will not win the division
AL West
Winner: Seattle Mariners
2nd Place: Oakland Athletics
Surprises: The Angles will not finish top 2
NL East
Winner: Atlanta Braves
2nd Place: New York Mets
Surprises: Florida Marlins will finish 3rd over the Phillies, and Nationals lose over 100
NL Central
Winner: Milwaukee Brewers
2nd Place: Chicago Cubs
Surprises: No one will care or follow the NL Central (not much of a surprise)
NL West
Winner: Los Angeles Dodgers
2nd Place: Colorado Rockies
Surprises: The top 4 teams will be separated by less than 2 games at the end of the year. San Fransisco will be very far behind.
AL Wild Card
I want to say the Blue Jays, but playing in the AL East is just too tough for them to come out with a good enough record, so I'll pick the Detroit Tigers.
NL Wild Card
Colorado Rockies for the 2nd straight year.
World Series Match Up
Cleveland Indians vs. Atlanta Braves
World Series Winner
Atlanta Braves
Now I completely understand that some of my predictions may seem far fetched to some of you but sometimes I like to go against the grain. Whats the fun in picking the Tigers or the Red Sox as the favorite to win teh world series when everyone else does. Wheres the fun in having another Red Sox Yankees 1, 2 finish in the AL East or just picking what all the so called "experts" pick. So hopefully you can look at these predictions and not think I'm too crazy, and actually give me a little credit if some of them do come true. And if not one comes true I hope you can look at this and say, well at least he tried.
I am going to try and get some of my friends on camera to make their predictions for the world series and a couple surprises and if I manage to do that it should be up in the next few days. In the mean time enjoy ripping all my picks apart.
2008 should be a great year for the MLB, with lots of parody in every division. From teams who've made great moves in the off season (Detroit Tigers), to teams who've practically changed nothing (Boston Red Sox). From questionable pitching staffs (New York Yankees), to pitchers coming home (Tom Glavine to Atlanta), 2008 is going to be a crazy year.
Now some of my predictions may seem a little far fetched in some areas, and pretty obvious in others. The reason I like to make bold predictions is because if they come true, I look like I know a thing or two more than the professionals, but if they fail miserably, I can always just say I took the long shot and didn't expect it to actually happen.
Before we get into the winners of each division and of coarse the World Series, I'd like to make some slightly bold predictions that you may or may not agree with.
1.Hunter Pence will hit 35 home runs and steal 35 bases
2.Manny Ramirez will hit over 50 home runs
3.Rick Ankiel will hit over 40 home runs (others have predicted this as well)
4.Erik Bedard will win the AL Cy Young Award in a landslide.
5.The Washington Nationals will lose over 100 games. (Tampa Bay 96 losses most last year)
6.Kerry Wood will have over 40 saves.
7. Dice-K will have over a 4.30 ERA for the second straight year.
8.Miguel Cabrera will be top 3 in all Triple Crown categories, winning 2 of them.
9.Randy Johnson will win at least 15 games.
10.Albert Pujols will hit less than 25 home runs and bat under .300
AL MVP=Miguel Cabrera
NL MVP=Matt Holiday
OK, lets move on to how each division will turn out.
AL East
Winner: Boston Red Sox
2nd Place: Toronto Blue Jays
Surprises: Orioles will finish last, even behind the Rays
AL Central
Winner: Cleveland Indians
2nd Place: Detroit Tigers
Surprises: Detroit will not win the division
AL West
Winner: Seattle Mariners
2nd Place: Oakland Athletics
Surprises: The Angles will not finish top 2
NL East
Winner: Atlanta Braves
2nd Place: New York Mets
Surprises: Florida Marlins will finish 3rd over the Phillies, and Nationals lose over 100
NL Central
Winner: Milwaukee Brewers
2nd Place: Chicago Cubs
Surprises: No one will care or follow the NL Central (not much of a surprise)
NL West
Winner: Los Angeles Dodgers
2nd Place: Colorado Rockies
Surprises: The top 4 teams will be separated by less than 2 games at the end of the year. San Fransisco will be very far behind.
AL Wild Card
I want to say the Blue Jays, but playing in the AL East is just too tough for them to come out with a good enough record, so I'll pick the Detroit Tigers.
NL Wild Card
Colorado Rockies for the 2nd straight year.
World Series Match Up
Cleveland Indians vs. Atlanta Braves
World Series Winner
Atlanta Braves
Now I completely understand that some of my predictions may seem far fetched to some of you but sometimes I like to go against the grain. Whats the fun in picking the Tigers or the Red Sox as the favorite to win teh world series when everyone else does. Wheres the fun in having another Red Sox Yankees 1, 2 finish in the AL East or just picking what all the so called "experts" pick. So hopefully you can look at these predictions and not think I'm too crazy, and actually give me a little credit if some of them do come true. And if not one comes true I hope you can look at this and say, well at least he tried.
I am going to try and get some of my friends on camera to make their predictions for the world series and a couple surprises and if I manage to do that it should be up in the next few days. In the mean time enjoy ripping all my picks apart.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Spring Break: Disney World
So it's Easter morning and I am fresh off my spring break trip to Disney World where the weather was perfect, about 80-85 degrees every day, and without a cloud in the sky. We left last Saturday morning at 6:55am from Bradley International Airport, and arrived in beautiful Orlando at 9:40am. For those of you who have never been to Disney World, you would be in for a surprise at the service, beginning in the airport. We did not have to go to baggage claim and pick up our bags as Disney workers do that for you, and deliver them straight to your hotel room, within 3 hours of landing. Also, Disney Magical Express, provides free transportation from Orlando Airport to your Disney Hotel.
The drive from the Airport to the hotel took about 30 minutes but was shortened by the bus drivers interesting facts of Florida and Disney. We arrived at the Boardwalk Hotel around 10:30am and were immediately waited on, even though we knew our room would not be ready until 4pm. One interesting thing about Disney World is that every single employee wears a name tag that sports their name and their hometown. The lady who waited on us just happened to be from Massachusetts, not to far away from Laurie, and not to far away from CT where the rest of us are from. I guess it really is a "small world after all".
Since our hotel wasn't going to be ready until 4pm, and we were already dressed for Florida, (Except for the two girls, Laurie and Courtney, because they refused to wear shorts or skirts on the plane, even though we told them our room wouldn't be ready) we decided to walk to EPCOT. One of the best things about the Boardwalk, besides the unbelievable rooms, is that you are a 5 minute walk from EPCOT and a 10-15 minute walk to Hollywood Studios (formally MGM Studios).
We accomplished so much in the time we had. We visited EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Downtown Disney, and of course The Magic Kingdom. We also managed to spend some time by the pool, soaking up the sun and becoming friends with the hotel pool bartender. We did everything from It's a Small World, to the Tower of Terror and Rock'n Roller Coaster. We saw new shows such as Lights, Motor, Action! which was unbelievable. We saw the EPCOT illuminations fireworks and laser show, Hollywood Studios Fantasmic show, and The Magic Kingdoms Light Parade and Wish Upon a star firework show.
We were on the Disney meal plan which you pay for before you visit, and actually will save you a lot of money. The restaurants we ate at during the week were the 50's Cafe (Hollywood Studios), Concourse Steak House (Contemporary Hotel), a Character Breakfast (Grand Floridian Hotel), Wolfgang Puck (Downtown Disney), Tutto Italia (EPCOT), and Planet Hollywood (Downtown Disney).
The trip lasted from Saturday March 15th until Friday March 21st, but felt so much shorter. I think we can all agree that our feet hurt real bad, we had a great time, we wanted to stay longer, and we wanted to come home and sleep.
Some things we didn't get to do that we would have loved to if we had another day or two would be to visit some of the water parks, go see a Braves Spring Training game, lay by the pool for longer periods of time, go to the bars and clubs in downtown Disney more than one night, and see the Cirque du Soleil.
This Spring Break was one of the best Spring Breaks I have ever had. I don't think it would have been possible to do more, or have more fun in the allotted time. One thing I did while in Disney was bring my Flip Video Ultra, as I took 40min worth of videos from the car show, some of the rides, firework shows, and just other random Disney moments. I can't wait to edit these videos edited and online so everyone can see. Right now I am at home and having some trouble getting my windows movie maker to work, and my flip video movie mixer. I am able to open both programs but they both immediately close on me after about 10sec. This problem is probably caused solely by my computer but I will post some unedited videos today or tomorrow, before I get back to school and use final cut pro to put together a nice little 2-3 minute clip of all of my videos.
Everyone should enjoy the feeling of walking around the corner of main street in the Magic Kingdom, and seeing Cinderellas Castle for the first time. No other place on earth will make you feel more like a little kid, joyful 24 hours a day, than Walt Disney World. It is the most magical place on earth.
The drive from the Airport to the hotel took about 30 minutes but was shortened by the bus drivers interesting facts of Florida and Disney. We arrived at the Boardwalk Hotel around 10:30am and were immediately waited on, even though we knew our room would not be ready until 4pm. One interesting thing about Disney World is that every single employee wears a name tag that sports their name and their hometown. The lady who waited on us just happened to be from Massachusetts, not to far away from Laurie, and not to far away from CT where the rest of us are from. I guess it really is a "small world after all".
Since our hotel wasn't going to be ready until 4pm, and we were already dressed for Florida, (Except for the two girls, Laurie and Courtney, because they refused to wear shorts or skirts on the plane, even though we told them our room wouldn't be ready) we decided to walk to EPCOT. One of the best things about the Boardwalk, besides the unbelievable rooms, is that you are a 5 minute walk from EPCOT and a 10-15 minute walk to Hollywood Studios (formally MGM Studios).
We accomplished so much in the time we had. We visited EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Downtown Disney, and of course The Magic Kingdom. We also managed to spend some time by the pool, soaking up the sun and becoming friends with the hotel pool bartender. We did everything from It's a Small World, to the Tower of Terror and Rock'n Roller Coaster. We saw new shows such as Lights, Motor, Action! which was unbelievable. We saw the EPCOT illuminations fireworks and laser show, Hollywood Studios Fantasmic show, and The Magic Kingdoms Light Parade and Wish Upon a star firework show.
We were on the Disney meal plan which you pay for before you visit, and actually will save you a lot of money. The restaurants we ate at during the week were the 50's Cafe (Hollywood Studios), Concourse Steak House (Contemporary Hotel), a Character Breakfast (Grand Floridian Hotel), Wolfgang Puck (Downtown Disney), Tutto Italia (EPCOT), and Planet Hollywood (Downtown Disney).
The trip lasted from Saturday March 15th until Friday March 21st, but felt so much shorter. I think we can all agree that our feet hurt real bad, we had a great time, we wanted to stay longer, and we wanted to come home and sleep.
Some things we didn't get to do that we would have loved to if we had another day or two would be to visit some of the water parks, go see a Braves Spring Training game, lay by the pool for longer periods of time, go to the bars and clubs in downtown Disney more than one night, and see the Cirque du Soleil.
This Spring Break was one of the best Spring Breaks I have ever had. I don't think it would have been possible to do more, or have more fun in the allotted time. One thing I did while in Disney was bring my Flip Video Ultra, as I took 40min worth of videos from the car show, some of the rides, firework shows, and just other random Disney moments. I can't wait to edit these videos edited and online so everyone can see. Right now I am at home and having some trouble getting my windows movie maker to work, and my flip video movie mixer. I am able to open both programs but they both immediately close on me after about 10sec. This problem is probably caused solely by my computer but I will post some unedited videos today or tomorrow, before I get back to school and use final cut pro to put together a nice little 2-3 minute clip of all of my videos.
Everyone should enjoy the feeling of walking around the corner of main street in the Magic Kingdom, and seeing Cinderellas Castle for the first time. No other place on earth will make you feel more like a little kid, joyful 24 hours a day, than Walt Disney World. It is the most magical place on earth.
Monday, March 3, 2008
RWU Head Baseball Coach Derek Carlson Interview
Our next assignment was to interview a faculty, staff, or any employee of Roger Williams University, and to do it a lot better than the last interview we posted. Below is the final video of head baseball coach at Roger Williams University, Derek Carlson, followed by the long story of how long it took to make this video happen. I'd first just like to thank Coach Carlson for taking the time to participate. Enjoy.
Let me first start by saying that this assignment took much longer than it ever should have. The first step was finding someone to interview, that was the easy part. I chose Derek Carlson, the head baseball coach here at Roger Williams University. I played baseball for Coach Carlson as a Freshman and I have been doing work study for him ever since. I chose him because I felt comfortable talking with him and knew he would go out of his way to let me do this project. The tough part was having to deal with him giving me a hard time about video taping it and putting it online, although I knew he would ultimately come through for me. We scheduled an interview for Wednesday afternoon, and this is where the difficulties began.
After setting up a time to interview him and film some of his teams practice, we received an e-mail from professor Scully asking us to not do the interviews before Thursdays class because he wanted to go over some interviewing skills, since our last batch of videos turned out to be nothing but amateur first time garbage. I had to tell Carlson that we would have to reschedule. Then, Wednesday afternoon I saw Carlson at 3:30 about 30 min after our previously scheduled interview, where he gave me a hard time and said he never got my e-mail about canceling and asked why I never showed up. After feeling bad and expecting him not to do the interview anymore, he admitted he was joking and just likes to give me a hard time. Thanks Coach.
In Thursdays class, Professor Scully gave us some great tips on conducting an interview, but said we now how to have our interviews due on Tuesday. Little did we all know that there would be a huge snow storm on Friday, canceling classes and causing students and teachers alike, to fled campus early. Not knowing if practices were canceled for the weekend I e-mailed Carlson to do the interview on Monday, and to my surprise, he does not come in on Mondays. This put me in a tough predicament because I now had no way of getting an interview done by Tuesday. Then, Scully came to the rescue yet again. Realizing everyone would have problems with the snow day and the weekend, he pushed the due date back until Thursday. He says it was for us, but I think it was because he wanted a reason not to have class on Tuesday. (He claims he had the flu, I don't by it)
Finally, I got to do the interview with Carlson on Wednesday. When I showed up to his office, he was so impressed with the Flip Video Ultra Camera, that he spent the first 15-20 minutes talking about it, asking questions, and wondering if he should buy one.
The next problem to me was pretty funny, because it involved Carlson becoming slightly nervous about being on camera. He tried on three different jackets and windbreakers, and four different hats before deciding he looked appropriate for the taping. After telling him the hat would cause a shadow on his face with the light, he slanted it upwards but gave me the look of "I'm not taking it off". Knowing he is a very hard man to change or convince of something, I decided to just leave it alone, as he was already doing me what seemed to be a very uncomfortable favor.
The interview lasted about 5 minutes as I asked questions ranging from where he has played and coach, to who is favorite MLB player is and what the outlook of this season for RWU is. He answered every question extremely well, however it was difficult to get him to say "My favorite player is...." or "I think the biggest challenge is....", instead he just answered the questions as you normally would for a print interview. Although Scully would have like to see the final video include these entire sentences, I believe it actually came out very good. After the interview Carlson asked me to come down and film a a few seconds of their practice, because he wanted to see the quality of the camera and see how close you had to be to tape hitters in the batting cage. I did and he appreciated the power of the Flip Ultra Video Camera. I told him I would send him the video of the hitters the next day
Just as I thought everything was going great, I hit the biggest wall ever. When I went to upload the video, the computer kept saying error. This happened to me once before and I lost all my videos. This time I tried the update on the camera. Not knowing if this would be a huge waste of time or a miracle I decided to wait the hour to update the camera. It actually worked and all my video saved perfectly, and my camera now works better than ever. The drawback to this was that this took up the entire class time on Thursday and I lost all hopes for editing before the weekend.
Scully informed us he wanted the final video on line by Sunday night. This posed a huge problem because I was planning on going home Thursday night for my internship in Hartford until Sunday night. Scully, realizing the importance of my internship and understanding that I had no edditing tools at home, gave me an extension until Monday at 5pm.
So for the past hour I have walked all over campus looking for an open Mac Computer with final cut pro on it. I went to North Campus, (there was a class) The school of business (another class) and the library (all Mac computers taken). So I sat down and waited until the first available Mac computer opened.
Then about an hour or two of editing and I'm finally done. The longest story and the longest assignment is finally over. This is my first real editing of an interview with Final Cut Pro on the Flip Video Ultra camera. I want to thank Derek Carlson for being such a good sport and doing this with me, and also professor Scully for giving me an extra day under the circumstances.
Let me first start by saying that this assignment took much longer than it ever should have. The first step was finding someone to interview, that was the easy part. I chose Derek Carlson, the head baseball coach here at Roger Williams University. I played baseball for Coach Carlson as a Freshman and I have been doing work study for him ever since. I chose him because I felt comfortable talking with him and knew he would go out of his way to let me do this project. The tough part was having to deal with him giving me a hard time about video taping it and putting it online, although I knew he would ultimately come through for me. We scheduled an interview for Wednesday afternoon, and this is where the difficulties began.
After setting up a time to interview him and film some of his teams practice, we received an e-mail from professor Scully asking us to not do the interviews before Thursdays class because he wanted to go over some interviewing skills, since our last batch of videos turned out to be nothing but amateur first time garbage. I had to tell Carlson that we would have to reschedule. Then, Wednesday afternoon I saw Carlson at 3:30 about 30 min after our previously scheduled interview, where he gave me a hard time and said he never got my e-mail about canceling and asked why I never showed up. After feeling bad and expecting him not to do the interview anymore, he admitted he was joking and just likes to give me a hard time. Thanks Coach.
In Thursdays class, Professor Scully gave us some great tips on conducting an interview, but said we now how to have our interviews due on Tuesday. Little did we all know that there would be a huge snow storm on Friday, canceling classes and causing students and teachers alike, to fled campus early. Not knowing if practices were canceled for the weekend I e-mailed Carlson to do the interview on Monday, and to my surprise, he does not come in on Mondays. This put me in a tough predicament because I now had no way of getting an interview done by Tuesday. Then, Scully came to the rescue yet again. Realizing everyone would have problems with the snow day and the weekend, he pushed the due date back until Thursday. He says it was for us, but I think it was because he wanted a reason not to have class on Tuesday. (He claims he had the flu, I don't by it)
Finally, I got to do the interview with Carlson on Wednesday. When I showed up to his office, he was so impressed with the Flip Video Ultra Camera, that he spent the first 15-20 minutes talking about it, asking questions, and wondering if he should buy one.
The next problem to me was pretty funny, because it involved Carlson becoming slightly nervous about being on camera. He tried on three different jackets and windbreakers, and four different hats before deciding he looked appropriate for the taping. After telling him the hat would cause a shadow on his face with the light, he slanted it upwards but gave me the look of "I'm not taking it off". Knowing he is a very hard man to change or convince of something, I decided to just leave it alone, as he was already doing me what seemed to be a very uncomfortable favor.
The interview lasted about 5 minutes as I asked questions ranging from where he has played and coach, to who is favorite MLB player is and what the outlook of this season for RWU is. He answered every question extremely well, however it was difficult to get him to say "My favorite player is...." or "I think the biggest challenge is....", instead he just answered the questions as you normally would for a print interview. Although Scully would have like to see the final video include these entire sentences, I believe it actually came out very good. After the interview Carlson asked me to come down and film a a few seconds of their practice, because he wanted to see the quality of the camera and see how close you had to be to tape hitters in the batting cage. I did and he appreciated the power of the Flip Ultra Video Camera. I told him I would send him the video of the hitters the next day
Just as I thought everything was going great, I hit the biggest wall ever. When I went to upload the video, the computer kept saying error. This happened to me once before and I lost all my videos. This time I tried the update on the camera. Not knowing if this would be a huge waste of time or a miracle I decided to wait the hour to update the camera. It actually worked and all my video saved perfectly, and my camera now works better than ever. The drawback to this was that this took up the entire class time on Thursday and I lost all hopes for editing before the weekend.
Scully informed us he wanted the final video on line by Sunday night. This posed a huge problem because I was planning on going home Thursday night for my internship in Hartford until Sunday night. Scully, realizing the importance of my internship and understanding that I had no edditing tools at home, gave me an extension until Monday at 5pm.
So for the past hour I have walked all over campus looking for an open Mac Computer with final cut pro on it. I went to North Campus, (there was a class) The school of business (another class) and the library (all Mac computers taken). So I sat down and waited until the first available Mac computer opened.
Then about an hour or two of editing and I'm finally done. The longest story and the longest assignment is finally over. This is my first real editing of an interview with Final Cut Pro on the Flip Video Ultra camera. I want to thank Derek Carlson for being such a good sport and doing this with me, and also professor Scully for giving me an extra day under the circumstances.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Edited Interview
As promised, here is an edited version of the previous interview. I tried my best to cut out all the "ums" and "ahhs" and other little words that ruin todays English Language.
This was really the first true edditing I have tried with Final Cut Pro. As time goes on I will be able to add text, music, B-Roll and many more functions of editing. So, although this is edited, it still is rough, there is no fades, or great transitions but it is what it is, and I am proud to have taken the first step. Enjoy.
This was really the first true edditing I have tried with Final Cut Pro. As time goes on I will be able to add text, music, B-Roll and many more functions of editing. So, although this is edited, it still is rough, there is no fades, or great transitions but it is what it is, and I am proud to have taken the first step. Enjoy.
Interview
Todays assignment was an interview. This is my first ever attempt at interviewing somebody on camera so please be kind. I decided to interview Mike Cafro, a senior architecture major at Roger Williams. I asked him questions relating to what project he was working on now, his trip to Florence and the stress that comes with being an architecture major at Roger Williams.
I chose Mike to interview because he is a very hard working architecture major. He is in studio a lot and tends to work very long and very hard on all of his projects. He recently took a semester in Italy and I thought it would be nice to hear his comparisons of Italy to America and how he enjoyed his time there.
This video is completely unedited as we need to show our professor we can at least get video onto our blog. In the next day or two I will have an edited video that I will post right next to this unedited one. Again this is the first interview I have ever done, and the video is incredibly rough. Enjoy, and please be kind.
Also, I just learned that I was not supposed to be in the video, my apologies. I thought I was supposed to be on camera during the interview, next time I will be off.
I chose Mike to interview because he is a very hard working architecture major. He is in studio a lot and tends to work very long and very hard on all of his projects. He recently took a semester in Italy and I thought it would be nice to hear his comparisons of Italy to America and how he enjoyed his time there.
This video is completely unedited as we need to show our professor we can at least get video onto our blog. In the next day or two I will have an edited video that I will post right next to this unedited one. Again this is the first interview I have ever done, and the video is incredibly rough. Enjoy, and please be kind.
Also, I just learned that I was not supposed to be in the video, my apologies. I thought I was supposed to be on camera during the interview, next time I will be off.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
First video with Flip Video Ultra
This is my first try at uploading a video with the new Flip Video Ultra. My first billion attempts failed miserably. I had to delete many of my first videos off of my camera because of suspected curupted data. Sadly, I had to delete all my show and tell of my iPod, along with many other videos I had spent countless hours (or minutes) recording.
I am still having trouble getting my camera to work on my Toshiba Laptop at home as it seems like everything freezes up whenever I try to open the software. Luckily, I was finally able to make a rough video and get it to save in our Mac Lab.
After uploading it onto the computer I put it into final cut prob and transformed my 35 sec video into about a 20 sec video. HOPEFULLY THIS WORKS!!!!!! when I click post.
I am still having trouble getting my camera to work on my Toshiba Laptop at home as it seems like everything freezes up whenever I try to open the software. Luckily, I was finally able to make a rough video and get it to save in our Mac Lab.
After uploading it onto the computer I put it into final cut prob and transformed my 35 sec video into about a 20 sec video. HOPEFULLY THIS WORKS!!!!!! when I click post.
Monday, February 4, 2008
1st Show and Tell
For our first assignment, we were asked to do a "show and tell" about something meaningful to us on our new Flip Ultra video camera. At first I wanted to show off my new English Bulldog Puppy, Lola. I attempted to make a video of of me talking about Lola, with her in the picture, but it was too difficult to work with a live animal and no camera man behind the camera. Also, I had to sit down in order to try and keep Lola in the picture and this just didn't work too well for me. Next I figured I would talk about some of my baseball autographed plaques. When I attempted to film this there was too much glare off of the glass inside from the artificial light. I was unable to go outside because it rained all day Friday, I had to work 8am-6pm on both Saturday and Sunday, and it was breezy and slightly raining out on Monday.
So as I was driving back to school from my house, angry that I could not find anything to show and tell, I looked at my iPod to change a song and realized, thats it. The reason I thought my iPod would be perfect to show for this project is because it incorporates a lot of things that are meaningful to me. The first reason is that my iPod is with me almost all the time. I listen to it in the gym, I listen to it in the car, sometimes on the way to classes, and even at night when I am going to bed. Another reason it is meaningful to me is I one day hope to work in the music business. Right now I am interning for clear channel radio in Hartford and I love it. I listen to all types of music and I one day would love to have my own radio show, or just work behind the scenes in radio or the music industry.
What a better object to show and tell that represents music then an iPod. It holds every piece of music I have from my favorite artists to my many playlists that get me through every day. Music that helps me get through tough times, and music that motivates me to get through a great workout, its all in one place, my iPod. I will soon have my edited video loaded on this blog for you all to see, but first I wanted to tell you why I thought my iPod is so meaningful to me.
Since I didn't get to do a stand up show and tell of my puppy I decided to post a short video of her playing instead. Stay tuned for the stand up show and tell of the iPod but heres a quick video of Lola and my moms dog Bernard playing together to hold you over until then.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Reality Shows, Enough is Enough
Even as late night talk shows begin to re-surface, the apparent lack of writers is obvious. Last night, while I was watching Conan, he spent about 5 minutes killing time by putting himself in control of the cameras. Not only was he not funny, but it was very annoying as it accomplished nothing, and didn't even have a joke to go along with it. The only thing I find worse on TV than shows without writers is the incredibly annoying reality shows, and prime time game shows.
With the writers still on strike, reality shows along with the new batch of prime time game shows, are taking over television now more than ever. It seems like a new show is on every night of the week, with each becoming more and more ridiculous. FOX, the same channel that once aired Man vs Beast has recently created, The Moment of Truth. Contestents simply have to be honest when answering extremely personal and revealing questions. It only takes 21 questions to get $500,000 yet the show still takes an hour just to see one contestant lose after question 13.
Deal or No Deal manages to keep a fan base show after show, earning two shows a week, although nothing about the show ever changes. The girls wear new dresses, every now and then there will be a themed show, and no one ever wins the million dollars. The show still takes an hour for just one completely over-the-top dramatic contestant to pick 25 suitcases. The best part about the entire show is when Howey kicks it to commercial at the (note the sarcasm) completely unexpected perfect moments, which he does about 20 times a show.
MTV has completely done away with its innovated idea of Music Television and has launched a full out reality lineup. Although the station has produced some hits such as The Real World and all the Challenge spin-offs, nothing seems to change. Each Real World cast is more and more like the season before, and the only reason the challenges are interesting is because they get all the free alcohol they can drink, which obviously leads to confrontation.
Survivor hasn't changed in 15 years (or whenever it started), American Idol has only produced two hit stars that lasted more than a year (Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood). Spin-offs such as Americas Got Talent and Americas Next Top Band has produced nothing at all. The Power of 10, 1 vs 100, and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, along with the previously mentioned shows of this blog are either rip offs of European shows, or very similar to one another.
All in all I think its time to bring back the writers, and bring prime time television shows back. My Thursday nights are empty without new episodes of the Office. The only good that can come from this strike, is if the writers are at home coming up with phenomenal ideas for their shows so everyone can get right back to work when this strike finally ends, making the shows even better than they used to be.
Reality Shows I Do Like
Rob and Big
All Celebrity Reality on VH1
With the writers still on strike, reality shows along with the new batch of prime time game shows, are taking over television now more than ever. It seems like a new show is on every night of the week, with each becoming more and more ridiculous. FOX, the same channel that once aired Man vs Beast has recently created, The Moment of Truth. Contestents simply have to be honest when answering extremely personal and revealing questions. It only takes 21 questions to get $500,000 yet the show still takes an hour just to see one contestant lose after question 13.
Deal or No Deal manages to keep a fan base show after show, earning two shows a week, although nothing about the show ever changes. The girls wear new dresses, every now and then there will be a themed show, and no one ever wins the million dollars. The show still takes an hour for just one completely over-the-top dramatic contestant to pick 25 suitcases. The best part about the entire show is when Howey kicks it to commercial at the (note the sarcasm) completely unexpected perfect moments, which he does about 20 times a show.
MTV has completely done away with its innovated idea of Music Television and has launched a full out reality lineup. Although the station has produced some hits such as The Real World and all the Challenge spin-offs, nothing seems to change. Each Real World cast is more and more like the season before, and the only reason the challenges are interesting is because they get all the free alcohol they can drink, which obviously leads to confrontation.
Survivor hasn't changed in 15 years (or whenever it started), American Idol has only produced two hit stars that lasted more than a year (Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood). Spin-offs such as Americas Got Talent and Americas Next Top Band has produced nothing at all. The Power of 10, 1 vs 100, and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader, along with the previously mentioned shows of this blog are either rip offs of European shows, or very similar to one another.
All in all I think its time to bring back the writers, and bring prime time television shows back. My Thursday nights are empty without new episodes of the Office. The only good that can come from this strike, is if the writers are at home coming up with phenomenal ideas for their shows so everyone can get right back to work when this strike finally ends, making the shows even better than they used to be.
Reality Shows I Do Like
Rob and Big
All Celebrity Reality on VH1
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