Looking back on doing the goals post the first week of the semester, it feels like so long ago. We’ve already done so many things in this class, and I’ve been able to experiment with different programs and media creation. I definitely feel like I’ve learned a lot not only in reading articles and watching videos about editing and audio, but also through experience, which is so helpful outside of the classroom. I really wanted to gain experience through this class, and not even halfway through the semester I have definitely reached that goal.
Author Archives: The Digital Canvas
Midnight in February
It’s funny how perspective can change everything. From this video, it look cold but dry, nothing around except bushes and grass on the brink of death. But just outside of the reach of this video, there’s snow that had fallen the previous day. Shooting this video of the cold winter night was an assignment I didn’t think I would be doing, just me sitting in the cold. What it does though, is emphasize connecting with watchers without sound or a lot of background activity, just you, and the cold night sky. I think this assignment is a reminder that in a video, one can control what you can and cannot see, preventing crucial information that help help in understanding the surroundings and context.
Wake up!
One of the video assignments I chose for this week was the assignment “Signing Words”. I have never really gotten into sign language or learned anything about it besides learning the motion for thank you a while ago, but I am friends with some people who know a good amount. I wanted to take the opportunity of seeing this assignment to learn how to finger spell and explore a bit of ASL. I am a Spanish minor so other languages aren’t too out of the ordinary for me, but the commonality of ASL versus Spanish are pretty far apart. I chose a little phrase to spell so please look and see if you can guess!
(P.S. the title of this post is a hint!)
Back to 2021
One of the video assignments that really caught my eye was filming as if I was speaking to my sixteen year old self. This was back in 2021-22 and the reason it caught my eye was because it immediately reminded me of how much I was going through at that time. I wanted to be able to make a video to show how much I’ve grown since then. I was also challenged in my attempt to not overshare. In my mind when completing the assignment I thought back to movies that state that if you tell your past self any details about what happens in the future then that future will not occur. I thought it would be a good challenge to uphold.
If you are interested, then you can listen here!
Weekly Summary 2/14
Happy Valentine’s Day! My week was a very busy one, and I’m definitely glad it’s over with. This week was mainly spent watching the videos and learning about video editing and how crucial it is to a show or movie’s success, although most people don’t notice the specifics of it. It was really interesting to put that together towards the end of the week in my video essay and analyze a scene about potential downsides of a surveillance bee. I also did 2 Daily Creates which I enjoy doing just as a break from everything else.
Daily Creates:
The Bees Knees
The video essay I created was an analysis of the Black Mirror scene examining the surveillance bee that had “malfunctioned” and was involved in a death. It was interesting to examine how the editors most notably used different camera angles to shift the audience’s focus, and to also set the presence of technology. I noticed more closely the usage of close ups to convey emotions of characters by focusing of their eyes as was frequently mentioned in the videos and had a lot of fun looking more into a show past its initial context/plot. Please take a look here!
In 5, 4, 3, 2…
This week was interesting, and I think the experience of delving into audio and the program Audacity has been helpful to my skillset overall. For the 2 audio assignments, I chose to create my own sound effect and whistle a song that was stuck in my head for over 3 weeks and now it’s back (that’s not an exaggeration sadly). I did a “gum bleeding” story using strictly sound effects (thanks Jim Groom for the great descriptive comment), and also made my radio bumper which I hope wasn’t too terrible. Using audacity took a bit of getting used to but I had slightly used it during my senior year of high school for my AP Spanish classes, although we were only recording conversations and responses rather than making media. Other than spending much of my screen time using audacity, brainstorming ideas for a radio show was a nice refresher to use my brain in a different way then messing around with 15 different audios, and so was taking the time to listen to Moon Graffiti and the infamous ds106 radio. I really liked the idea of Moon Graffiti and how it conveyed a completely alternative timeline to the Moon Landing using different sounds, layering of voices, and that big loud crash.
Overall, the weeks are definitely getting smoother as my skillset with media improves, and doing the Daily Creates (the 3 this week) are also a great way to look at things you wouldn’t normally notice or perceive a certain way.
My Daily Creates:
Whistle While You Think
Have you ever had a song that has been stuck in your head and you find yourself mumbling throughout the day. There’s a song that had come out recently that had been stuck in and out of my head ever since it had released, and I thought it was a perfect song to whistle to. Please listen and let me know your guesses in the comments!
On the Air
For the radio show, I think it would be cool to include a segment similar to that of True Crime, where one or multiple characters are involved in a scenario that would fit their archetype. It would be an interesting way to show off their personalities and also have interaction with other characters. Another idea I had for the show was just having conversation among the hosts regarding a topic, taking music or sports as an example. Music would be a great topic as it would be related to hosting a radio show and also connect music to the tech noir theme of the class as well.
To Get Featured on the Radio
Creating a radio bumper was really fun and very cool to mess around with. I wanted to choose background music that would really fit in with our class theme and found some noir themed music that I thought represented the ds106 radio show well as a background. Please let me know what you think!