HINTS
FOR SUCCES
•
Your primary job is to make some meaningful connections for
the listener/viewer between a general social concept of style
in general (in clothing, in music, in cultural trends, etc.)
and style in writing (as illustrated by the interviews you
conduct, as identified through your own voice over).
•To
make these connections, you
can focus on your own writing, on the job an editor has to do, on the
writing that young people are doing, on the teaching of writing, on
writing other people do.
•
PREPARATION
If
you are doing an audio essay, consider the essays on NPR
as a genre model. If you don't listen to NPR, go to the following
URLs and listen to some audio essays by other students. These essays
are not done in response to this particular assignment, but they should
gve you some general idea of an audio essay:
"Music
Literacy in My Family," Sonya Borton <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/Audiolouisville.html>
"I
take thee: A Reflection on Gay Marriage" Molly Hyenga and Alex
Ilyasova. <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/CindyMovies/Movies.html>
"Reading
People " Christy Oslund
<http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/Audiociwic.html>
"Choral
Singing as Literacy" Lisa Dunnebach
<http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/CindyMovies/Movies.html
If
you are doing a video essay, go to the following URLs and
look at a few video essays to get a sense of the genre. These
essays are not done in response to this particular assignment, but
they should gve you some general idea of a video essay:
"How Do
Do Read a Fighter," Aly Klugow <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/Videomtu.html>
"A Day,"
Jeffrey Allen <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/Videomtu.html>
"Read Me,"
Elisa Norris <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/Videociwic.html>
"My Grandmother,"
karen Springstein <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/Videociwic.html>
"Literacy
on the Bus," Elizabeth Powell <http://www.hu.mtu.edu/~cyselfe/VideoLouisville.html>
•
PLANNING AND SCHEDULING
In the first week of class: Before you star on your
project--draw a visual plan of how you want the essay to be structured--what
anecdotes go where, where you are going to include images, silence,
music, narration, etc. Identify when and where you are going to
layer these elements to create a rich texture for your project.
Here is an example of a visual plan
for an sudio essay. And here is an example of a
visual plan for a video essay
In
the second week of class: Check out a video camera or an
audio recorder and microphone and conduct your interviews. Learn the
software by going to the following sites:
Audacity
(sound) <http://audacity.sourceforge.net/docs1.1/contents.html>
I-movie
(Mac) or Movie Maker (IBM)
<http://www.atomiclearning.com/imovie2x.shtml>
<http://www.atomiclearning.com/moviemaker2>
In
the third week of clas:s Complete the editing of a rough
draft of your essay.
In the fourth week of class: Schedule a studio critque of
your essay with one of the three teachers in thes class.
In
the fifth week of class: Revise your essay.
In
the sixth week of class:. Air your essay for the class.
•
PRODUCTION
For
audio:
If
you choose to create an audio essay, you will need to record
some sound on digital sound recording equipment.
See me to check out a minidisc digital audio recorder and microphone.
You
will need time to learn how to work the blessed thing, so plan ahead
to read the documentation.
You
will also need to buy a set of inexpensive headphones.
You
will also need to learn how to download the raw audio file
from the minidisc recorder onto a computer. I will demonstrate in
class how to do this.
Finally,
you will need to edit the sound you record, cutting
out the parts that you don't need, re-arranging the parts that you
do need, and changing the volume or gain of your audiofile.For this
purpose, you will be using the program called Audacity. Documentation
on Audacity is available at <http://audacity.sourceforge.net/docs1.1/contents.html>.
SAVE OFTEN—AUDACITY IS A FREEWARE PROGRAM AND CAN PROVE
UNSTABLE WITH LARGER FILES.
IMPORTANT
REMINDERS:
•
Choose the computer on which you are going to work with Audacity
carefully:
•
Once you start, you must complete your project on the same machine.
•
Until your project is completed, Audacity files must be kept in
the exact same place--on the same computer and
all in one single folder.
•
Do not change the name of any file or folder--ever!
For
video:
For
this assignment, you will probably need to do several of the following
tasks:
•
record some video (use a digital video camera)
•
use some digitized images (use a digital camera
or download from a collection on the web)
•
use some music or sound (use a minidisc player to record
sound and or download music/sound from the Internet)
See me to check out a digital video camera, a digital still camera,
or a digital audio recorder and microphone. You will need time to
learn how to work these pieces of equipment, so plan ahead to read
the documentation.
You
will also need to buy a set of inexpensive headphones.
You
will also need to learn how to download stuff:
•
download the raw video from a digital camera onto a computer,
• download digital photographs from a still
camera onto a computer, and
• download any raw audio you want to use
from a digital recorder onto a computer.
I will demonstrate in class how to do these things in class at various
times.
Finally,
you will need to edit both the video and the sound
you want to use, cutting out the parts that you don't need, re-arranging
the parts that you do need, and layering these semiotic components
ini-Movie or Movie Maker. You may also need to edit your sound using
Audacity.
Make
sure to cite/document/acknowledge the sources of any video/audio/still
images/narration that you use in the credits of your movie.
Make
sure to include a title screen for your video.
AND...
•
Remember that the ratio of editing time to finished product is 200:1.
So if you are planning on a 5 minute essay, plan to spend 1000 minutes
(16.6 hours) creating the audio or video.
•
Make sure to plan for your audio/video project. If you are interviewing
someone, write out questions beforehand and share them with the person(s)
you are interviewing. Scout your location (at the exact time of your
intended recording!) very carefully. Make a list of sounds/people/activities
you need to record in order to document the event/trend on which you
are focusing.
•
Make sure you know how to use your recording equipment! Read the documentation!
--always
use the headphones when recording to hear what is being captured
--make
sure to check the volume (gain) levels before starting
--make
sure to have fresh batteries in your mic, minidisc player and/or camera
(if it runs on batteries)
--make
sure you are not recording sounds (e.g., air conditioning hum, a lawn
mower going by, a nearby source of electrical power, ambient noise
in a room) that will obscure or contaminate the sounds you want to
capture•
•
Schedule more time that you think you need for editing--it always takes
much much longer than the original recording!!
•
Select/edit/winnow! Make sure your sound composition is tightly and
effectively composed. Cut everything that doesn't directly contribute
to your intended message.
•
SAVE OFTEN, SAVE OFTEN, SAVE OFTEN!!!
•
BACK UP YOUR WORK, BACK UP YOUR WORK, BACK UP YOUR WORK!!! Save
various parts of your work (audio, video, stills) on portable memory
devices, CDs, DVDs—whatever you can have access to and can use.
•
See the evaluation sheet below for the criteria on which this assignment
will be graded.