PSA Reflection

Our group worked well together throughout this PSA project. Early in week 2, we formed our group (Rachel Lewis, Diane Shubert, Kimberly Irwin, and myself), and I came up with the topic for our project. The other group members expressed an interest in my topic choice, and Kimberly got to work on the script and narration. Based on her ideas, I began working on a draft of the shot list, and Rachel and Diane decided which clips they wanted to film. Kimberly found the statistics for our narration, and I found pictures of wrecks caused by texting. I also created the credits and works cited page with imovie. Two of my other responsibilities included acting as director and coordinator of online meetings. As director, I completed most of the pre-production PSA document. After Rachel, Kimberly, and I sent our video clips and pictures to Diane, she used Pinnacle to edit the clips together and add narration. During week 4, Diane sent out several versions of the video through email, and Rachel and I chatted with her about improvements such as adding background music and revising certain clips. At the end of week 4, I uploaded the final version to YouTube, and the four of us worked together to finish the revisions on the Pre-Production PSA assignment.

We used my wiki to post pictures of wrecks and statistics about texting and driving. I also recorded and posted transcripts of our online meetings through Windows Live Messenger. Another method of collaboration included using Google Docs to share ideas and keep everyone advised of our progress. We also sent out numerous group emails using Gmail which has an excellent system of organization for group projects.

Please click here to view our Google Document showing some of our collaboration.

To improve our PSA, we could have done a better job of blending the background music with the narration using the Audacity program. Also one section of the narration (6,500 accidents) seemed like it was spoken too fast, but we had a lot to say in a small amount of time. Overall, we are very pleased with the final result. I think our product is persuasive, realistic, and we worked together efficiently as a group. Each member was cooperative, helpful, and used her strengths to benefit the whole.

** This is an example of the Creative Commons license we chose to protect our work:

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License

** Listed below are the websites I found for pictures of wrecks caused by texting:

"Driving and using cell phone?" SodaHead. June 23, 2009 < http://www.sodahead.
com/question/156486/driving-and-using-cell-phones/?link=ibaf>.

Monty, Chris (2009). "Texting while driving? Big Deal." Blippit. May 22nd 2009.
June 23, 2009 .

"Texting and driving." Truckin Road Trips. June 23, 2009 trips.com/texting_and_driving.htm>.

** This is the website where Kimberly found our statistical information about texting and driving:

"Texting while driving is taking a toll." Find Law. June 10, 2009. June 25, 2009
.

Week #2 EDLD 5363 Choice of Software

Directions: Post a 150-word blog entry related to your choice of software

I chose to use the imovie software to create my video for several reasons:

a. This past summer the teachers at my school began using Mac books, and we have recently purchased two Mac computers-on-wheels to share in the classrooms. I felt that I would be more likely to use imovie in my classes next year than I would Moviemaker, so I wanted to familiarize myself with this new software.

b. By the time I finished the week #1 assignment, I realized that I had run out of disk space on my IBM laptop. I transferred some files to my external hard-drive, but I knew that downloading video clips and music from the Internet for the week #2 assignment would consume a lot of space. I didn't want to take the chance that I wouldn't be able to save or upload my assignment because of low disk space.

c. I think I made the right choice of software for this project. Apple has published some great tutorials for their ilife package, and I found it helpful to watch short videos and then implement the techniques. It was especially easy to integrate pictures and sound clips into my movie since everything is stored in itunes, and that program is readily accessible by imovie.

d. On July 9, I will attend a class on imovie for my professional development summer requirement. I am looking foward to developing some advanced techniques with this software. I wish that I would have had that training before beginning this project, but by teaching myself how to use the software, I know that my students will be able to use the software without any problem.

Personal Digital Story - Week #1

I really enjoyed creating the personal digital story this week. The first two days were very frustrating, however. It took me a long time to decide what to write. I started by looking through all dad's pictures to find ideas. I had a lot of pictures, but none of them fit one particular story of my life. I didn't start using a digital camera until this past spring when I went on vacation, so I didn't have many pictures of myself or my life activities. Instead I found that I had a bunch of pictures of the animals we have owned over the past fifteen years. I am definitely a dog-lover, and my animals have consistently brought me love and joy throughout my life. One dog in particular, Tia, has been a great companion. I knew I had to focus my efforts on telling a story that embodied her character and attitude.

I started by talking to my online partner and my family about my story. I then identified a group of pictures that I wanted to use. As I looked at each picture, I thought of an idea and wrote it down. Eventually I put the pictures and the story into a logical order, and I finalized my script.

I must have spent two hours re-recording the narration to get the timing and voice just right. The first couple of times, the audio sounded distorted, so I plugged in the microphone from my guitar hero game. The audio was much improved after that.

I experimented with adding music, but I didn't like how the sound covered up the narration, so I took that out.

I am pleased with the final product. Maybe other people who don't know Tia won't find it emotionally moving, but it makes me laugh and cry at the same time. It is an honest reflection and a good tribute to this dog that I love so much.