The End of the Line

As I was watching the final cut of my slide show for the fifth time to make sure that it was as smooth, and polished as possible I found myself being able to stand back and admire what is capable with the use of multi-media work. Throughout the semester I have struggled to keep up with the technical prowess of those around me while at the same time attempting to broaden m,y knowledge and use of said technology. Up until this semester I had never had any extensive use of a digital camera, or recorder. I know that may sound absurd but I have never truly jumped on the tech-bandwagon but have rather resigned myself to walking contentedly next to it. However this class helped me to realize that not only can ANYONE utilize these tools to their benefit but that they can in fact come to appreciate and enjoy using them. Although I do have numerous qualms with MovieMaker(saving files was an absolute nightmare), I was amazed at what can be done with Audacity and how much can be accomplished with just a digital camera and recorder.

My project does not come equipped with mind-blowing photography or sound recording, but I believe that it does compliment the subject of my project. The shots and sounds in the slide show represent what I saw and what I heard. They are the sounds that occured while I was there, and I tried my best to take photos that accurately represented the farms and their owners. I am truly pleased with the end result, and am thankful that I have had this experience.

For me, the most enraging and rewarding task was the editing of the slide show. Coupling the photos with the sound to make them synche together was at times more infuriating and frustrating than anything that I have done in recent memory. But as I look at the end project I can see that it all lead to something that I am ultimately proud of, and something that I hope people will take some pleasure in.

Observations from Project Presentations

For me, the "screening" of our projects was incredibly valuable because it allowed for me to view the entire clip from start to finish on something other than a computer screen, and I got to witness audience reaction. Watching how people reacted to both the photos and audio from the clip helped me to discern what should stay in for the final cut and what should be left out.
Hearing from the class after the viewing allowed me to hear specific critiques pertaining to my project and I was able to narrow down the problem areas. I found that the biggest areas for me to look at were the speed of the audio in the first interview, the placement of captions or a title, and the end of the project. I knew going in that I would have to work on both the ending of the clip, and the introduction. I had not placed any titles or background before the piece, so the audience was left to find out along the way what the project was truly about. I know that can be fixed with a few well placed slides and text, and the ending can be clarified by adding credits.
I enjoyed watching all of the clips because it allowed me to see how other people had composed their projects. Viewing the different narrative structures coupled with the varying audio and photo graphical techniques made me look at my piece in a new light, and I was able to stand back and see what I could do differently to make my piece move more coherently.
The group critique was by far the best way to go about preparing the project for its final cut, and there was popcorn. . . .delicious, sweet, kettle-corn popcorn.