This project started from a big idea that kept having to be trimmed down. At the end I felt I had to condense much of it, and doubted that the complex ideas were communicated in their full scope to match my vision. I also feel the video lacked a certain unity. I shot footage in three different locations, with my original scope and vision. By the time I recorded the audio, I had to trim out one of the main aspects to fit the time constraints and much of my footage that would have assisted in unifying was no longer useful.  But I came up with a flow, using audio to unify.

Then, during the last editing session, some suggestions were made by the teacher and I had to scrap a few shots, leaving gaps that I rushed to fill, having to pull from my photographic still collection. During the editing, the audio got off. I felt those last crucial hours made a lot of awkwardness I didn’t have the editing time to smooth over. I would have preferred to have varied the stills among the visuals more, rather than having them clumped in two sections of the video, and have it thematically match up with the audio content better.

Overall, I am pretty disappointed with the outcome. I hope to revisit this project and give it a bit more editing to make it smoother and more unified.

For the first part I photographed food, and for the second part I choose to photograph circles. The first image is of candy canes hanging off the edge of a wine class with bows inside it. I made my own makeshift lightbox to photograph it and the rest of the food images in. The second image is looking up from the bottom of the wind chime. The third is of a berry bush, and the fourth and final image is of the halos of light created by a couple of outdoor lights in my neighborhood.

This project provided a few challenges for me. The time constraint was far shorter than almost any video I’ve ever done. Very few of the videos on my channel are under 5 minutes. In the end I had about three and a half hours of footage collected over two days that I was just barely able to cut down to exactly 3 minutes. I had to cut out pieces that I was really attached to and really liked in order to fit the time limit and keep a steady pace throughout. It made me appreciate the skill of those who make excellent Super Bowl commercials that last only 30 seconds.

Another problem I had was with the collection of the footage. I was filming a class that I had never participated in so it was difficult for me to know where to place myself to get dynamic shots. On top of that, the venue that the students had for us to teach in was a small, confined office. This made it difficult for me to get footage without getting in the way of the students or demonstrations. I had to quickly adapt to surroundings to make sure that I got the content I needed.

By: Ryan Miller

Production Hub is a very useful website it has Blogs and many other resources that people can find useful. I was in the search for Video production Blogs and I found some pretty good ones linked through ProductionHub.com

Each one of these Blogs all have something creative to offer whether it be the Author giving you tips and special features you can use with Video Production or maybe a Blog about a autobiography there are many great things featured in these 5 Blogs, My favorite is the 5th Blog titled Premium Beat. This Blog features Tutorials, Tips, and many other useful things for Video production. The Author is named Clay Asbury he is a certified instructor for Adobe premiere and After effects and has been working in education and production for 15 years. This is why I love his blog so much is because he really knows his stuff and I am very interested in these applications as well. I think Production Hub is put together very nicely, it is easy to understand and use as well as navigate through. Each page has tabs for easy access to other pages, I recommend this Website to other Video Production seekers, and to other students in general.

Click this link to view the Website for the Blogs, I hope you enjoy!

https://www.productionhub.com/blog/post/5-best-blogs-for-video-production-pros

I’ve been playing fantasy football for seven years. I experienced a lot of beginners luck, and have been riding the lucky train for most of my time playing.

Many ask to explain to them how fantasy football works. Well, allow me to introduce you to a life changing game.

For so many football fans, being able to control a  football team is the  dream. Fantasy football allows you to create a  team of your favorite NFL athletes to compete against both friends and strangers. As a team owner, you will need the business sav­vy of a general manager, the player knowledge of a pro scout, and the strategy of a head coach.

To keep it simple, fantasy football is a game where football fans use their knowledge of the sport to compete against each other in formats that relate to the actual performance, or players’ statistics, of professional football teams. The goal of the fantasy football player is to select which athletes or teams will have the most impressive performances during a given week, taking under consideration of injuries, player match-ups, weather conditions to name a few.  To be a winner at fantasy football, a fantasy player must follow the weekly happenings of the NFL and make better choices than his opponent makes.

Here are key steps to beginning your journey with fantasy football:

• Choose a league. Pick a league with friends or with strangers.
• Draft your team. Follow a particular draft order and select your favorite NFL players. Commonly you’ll select a couple quarterbacks, four running backs, four wide receivers, a tight end, a kicker and a defense/special teams.
• Set your lineup. Each week, set your lineup. Think about who has the best match ups based off of past performances and future projections. Substitute any players that are injured or on a bye week.
• Have fun

For more information on how to play fantasy football, click this link: https://youtu.be/4Pm2pkxbYYU or press play down below.

If you are interested in joining or creating your own fantasy football league, visit the following site: http://www.nfl.com/fantasyfootball

https://youtu.be/BnJHY3w0KkQThis project I was told to do something outside the box. I took that as doing something out is my comfort zone.  A movie that is opposite of me in every way. I love my children and consider myself a man; so for me something out side the box is devilish desires of Satinic meaning to it. With the fear of clowns coming out of the woods grabbing children, with a twist of the new movie that just came out suicide squad. I combined children grabbing clowns with Holy Quinn, Jokers psychotic girlfriend to create a new type of killer. One bent on a sacrifice and murder hiding in the woods, looking like your  ordinary teenager. I filmed this all from my cell phone and used  premiere edit and do the effects I wanted. I downloaded the audio from youtube and edited the audio on audacity, so it fit my short film. My niece Ne Ne Burks did the acting for me. My daughter Ayona let me use her doll unwillingly. I used corn syrup and red food o for blood. The film was shot in my back yard to give it the forest look with the half built kid club house. I really enjoyed it making it and hope you all do to.

As far back as I can remember there has been a heated debate as to which is more important to a video game; story or game-play. The answer is yes. As far as storytelling goes, video games have always had an advantage over film and television in that they are interactive, meaning the story can sometimes be told through game-play and make you, the player, the protagonist. 

Decisions, Decisions

 You may be thinking “of course video games make you the main character, you’re the one playing aren’t you?” While that’s true, it’s one thing to give the player an avatar to control, but to fully immerse the player and make them feel like the centerpiece of the narrative requires very precise game design choices. Probably the simplest way to achieve this is with a dialogue wheel that allows you to choose what your avatar says like in Mass Effect. Although I ADORE Mass Effect, I prefer a more subtle approach. When crafting a story for their games, developers must remember to give the character motivation to see the journey through to the end. Two games that absolutely nail this premise are Ico and Wind Waker.

On the surface, Ico has a very simple story: escape! You begin the game trapped in a sprawling castle, lost and alone. A few minutes in you meet your sole companion: Yorda. The only problem is that Ico and Yorda don’t speak the same language, making it impossible to verbally communicate with Yorda. It’s up to the players actions to convey instructions to her. The game builds itself around this by designating a button to hold her hand. This simple design choice makes the player prioritize keeping Yorda close and thus you form a bond to her through game play. By the end of the game, you’re so attached to her that when she is kidnapped, even though Ico is given a clear escape route, your priority has completely switched to getting your friend back!

Wind Waker begins in a typical Zelda fashion by establishing the player character, Link as an ordinary island boy. It isn’t long before the game gives you your first taste of action when it gives you your sword and has you go to town on some generic enemies. This short sequence serves to make the player feel empowered and invincible. So what happens during the first real level? You lose your weapon and are forced to sneak your way through hordes of enemies, all of which now seem much more dangerous. You are now reminded that you are not invincible, you’re still that same island boy. Now the game becomes about reclaiming that sense of empowerment you felt in the beginning, a theme that is illustrated beautifully in a later sequence where you return to this same dungeon with sword in hand.

For more on video game narrative design, check out these links:

The Legend of Zelda’s take on the hero’s journey

The themes of Light and Dark in Ico’s prequel; Shadow of the Colossus

More on Wind Waker:

I am very interested in Video production, so for my assignment I decided to look into a local business in Eugene that does Video Production. I went to Stafford Video in South Eugene and interviewed the owner Mark Stafford. He has been doing many years of video, at least 30. (he couldn’t remember the exact year/ wouldn’t tell me) I went to the office of the company and interviewed Mark, here is what he had to say.

Question 1: What was it like to create your own media business in the community?  

He thought about it for a minute and then responded very thoughtfully. he told me Starting the business was both exciting and very challenging they started with only 3,000 dollars to invest into it which he claims is next to nothing in this industry. He also had to sell stock to make it including his Motorcycle, scuba diving equipment and his very first video camera! (ouch). When they first started there really wasn’t much for Video Production around, you might see some in bigger cities but in Eugene there wasn’t really anything back in the early 80’s. As time went on with trying to get the new business going it got really rough, Mark was ready to throw in the towel but he knew if he kept going he would be very successful.

Question 2: In your Opinion, is it very difficult for someone to get a career in Video production? 

He told me yes, it is very difficult when he got started he started working for a company called Westcom, and then he got to know a producer making training videos for University of Oregon’s Track and Field. When he was working with him he wasn’t even allowed to carry the camera. One of the producers told him he should shadow a very good photographer and learn everything he needed to know, it is also important to be a good writer and here’s why he told me using this metaphor “If you have 100 monkeys that know how to run a video camera, but only 2 of them know how to write who’s more likely to get hired?” The answer is of course the 2 monkeys who not only know how to use the camera but can also write a script and everything else they need for Video production. He eventually became a co-founder of Mopan which stands for Mid Oregon Production Arts Network.

Question 3: What are some suggestions, or tips/recommendations you would give to people in the community who want to pursue Video Production as a career? 

He thinks a good way to start is to get a hold of the production team at television stations and figure out what it takes to get a job there, It takes a lot of hard work and effort it is not an easy thing to get into but it is possible. He used one of his favorite quotes as an example for me. He said in the words of Charles Dowd “Practice, practice, and practice some more” This was a phrase that Charles would tell his students and it is a quote that Mark loves. He gave the suggestion to surround yourself with talented people and learn everything you need to know and more.

Question 4: What is your fav