I've chosen LSC finals for my final project topic.
The multimedia forms I'll be using are an audio slideshow and an interactive map.
What I plan to do is talk about areas on campus that can assist students in prepping for their dreaded finals ie the library, writing center, dorms, hornets nest, gym, dining hall (yes I have a way to tie all of these locations to my topic). I'm going to take pictures at all of these locations and create a slideshow accompanied by audio narration by me and soundbites from students. Then I will make an interactive map of the campus and mark all of the places I discuss in the slideshow then add blurbs about what these areas have to offer. I'm going to have the slideshow play out of the map so the two are connected.
For the 300 word essay I'm going to write about finals and stress.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
But Hut Controversy
The Lyndon State College but hut’s days could be numbered.
Semi-recent events resulting in extensive damages to the campus’ designated smoking area have caused college officials to further discuss the possibility of removing the eye-sore from campus.
Over the course of the semester, public safety has dealt with multiple issues in that area of campus such as trash being left on the ground, people carving and drawing on its posts, the overhead lighting inside the hut has been blacked out and taped over more than once, and not to mention reports of illegal drug and alcohol consumption by some of the huts frequent users.
George Hacking, the head of public safety, feel that this is a huge disrespect, not only to the campus itself, but to other members of the LSC community who properly utilize the area for its intended purpose of smoking cigarettes. Hacking says, “there are a number of students who actually go out there to smoke cigarettes who enjoy having a roof over their head and they’re not causing any problems… I’ve actually had students who use the but hut come to me and complain about the use of alcohol or marijuana in that area.”
When asked to describe the but hut and/or its usual inhabitants many students, including those that use the area, used the term “sketchy” or “reckless.” This kind of response really gives off a strong impression the area has and it’s not exactly a positive one.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we came back from Thanksgiving break and it was gone… It’s fair, they’ve warned us several times,” says LSC student and but hut user Evan Shadowfax, “it’s really going to suck in the winter with the freezing cold winds.”
Is it really fair though? Multiple sources, who have asked that they remain anonymous, gave detail from the night the but hut’s railings were destroyed. Allegedly, the culprits were two intoxicated friends of a freshman who lives here at the college. They arrived on campus after a party in town and proceeded to kick the railings out. If this accusation is true then the students of the college who use that space correctly may have to pay the price for something they couldn’t have prevented.
As someone who doesn’t attend the college but frequently visits the but hut, Joseph Bryan Nelson responds to the allegations against the two possible suspects by saying, “I don’t see how someone could come to an area that’s not theirs and affect a lot of people that they don’t have any connection to at all”
Unfortunately, public safety will have no way of figuring out if these accusations are actually true or not.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Video Project Topic
But Hut Controversy
I would like to do my video project on the but hut controversy. The school has had multiple issues with the gazebo over the course of the semester, most recently almost every railing enclosing the hut was some how detached (except for one) and removed from it. Rumor has it George Hacking has been contemplating removing it from the campus.
For my sound source Id like to get comments from George hacking and both smoking and non-smoking students who live on campus to get a full opinion on the matter.
Then obviously my video will be shots of the but hut and the interviews.
I would like to do my video project on the but hut controversy. The school has had multiple issues with the gazebo over the course of the semester, most recently almost every railing enclosing the hut was some how detached (except for one) and removed from it. Rumor has it George Hacking has been contemplating removing it from the campus.
For my sound source Id like to get comments from George hacking and both smoking and non-smoking students who live on campus to get a full opinion on the matter.
Then obviously my video will be shots of the but hut and the interviews.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Sound Slides
Many works of art can be looked at from multiple angles, with each new view telling a different story than the one before. This same outlook can apply to the people that surround us in our day to day world as well.
On the surface Lizzie Chenard may look like any other student at Lyndon State College, but inside she is a talented individual with a keen eye for beauty.
Chenard’s passion for art arose in high school when she was required to take a computer class. She chose to take digital editing, despite being told terrible things about the class and teacher. After only a few days of being enrolled in the class however, Chenard had fallen in love with it and soon decided that this was something she wanted to do for the rest of her life.
Today she is majoring in graphic design along with minors in new media and visual arts. Chenard is hoping to make a name for her self in the future as an art director in Hollywood
She understands that she will have to start small and work her way up to her dream. She considers starting out on a graphic design path making movie posters, but for now she is focusing on her work at college.
Her style focuses on geometric abstraction which Chenard descries as, “pure forms of shape and color.”
Over time her work has grown and developed from being strictly computer based art, to drawings and paintings done out by hand. Chenard considers herself to be more of a technical drawer with a weakness in her ability to sketch out a portrait of someone.
She strives for perfection because in her geometric style of art one bump in a line can offset an entire piece. Chenard believes that she is as critical on herself as any other artist would be. She mentions that they all share the similar burden of thinking everything is pretty, except for their own creations.
Chenard takes her work very seriously, yet it is also a form of escape for her. For the time being most of her art is directly related to class assignments, but she does have one ongoing project that is purely for her own enjoyment, a series called Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.
The series is based on the popular Beatles hit and each painting represents a line from the song. The paintings are vibrant and eye catching with a slight children’s book charm about them.
While she’s working, Chenard enjoys some good audio stimulation. She will listen to music from artists like Led Zeppelin or in the case of her work in progress Lucy in the Sky, she tends to listen to lots of standup comedy. She likes the works of Katt Williams and Eddie Izzard.
Chenard firmly believes that, “anything and everything is beautiful,” and she urges people go out and search for the beauty in the world that surrounds us all.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
CNN iReport Critique
Arrested for Closing a Citibank Account
Manhattan NY- October 15
Click to See
I found this very interesting but I still have no idea what was going on. Clearly there were a lot of people being arrested at this bank but I'm not sure what for. It is news but its not finished news. There are a lot of unanswered questions. We have a 'when' and 'where' but we're missing the 'who', 'what', and 'why'.
If I were a CNN producer I would use some of this footage but obviously do some research to fill in the gaps of the story.
I could obviously do the same thing as this user, any 10-year-old could have. She was just an eye whiteness with a device that could capture the moment.
Great Mississippi River Balloon Race
Natchez, Mississippi-October 16
Click to See
Ehh its not uninteresting. I like hot air balloons and it's an interesting fact to know that there is an annual 3 day event dedicated to them in Mississippi. I wouldn't consider it national news, it seems like something that would be better suited for local stations.
I once again believe that anyone who can operate a camera could do this.
Occupy Wall Street-Police Push Protester
Times Square, New York-October 15
Click to See
This is interesting but I don't really think its news. I have no idea whats happening and to be honest I didn't see a single person get pushed (and I watched it a few times). It is alarming and chaos is always interesting but there is plenty of other good footage from the Occupy Wall Street protests that is even more alarming and could be used on CNN so if I were a producer I wouldn't really think to use this.
Again I could do this, anyone could.
Manhattan NY- October 15
Click to See
I found this very interesting but I still have no idea what was going on. Clearly there were a lot of people being arrested at this bank but I'm not sure what for. It is news but its not finished news. There are a lot of unanswered questions. We have a 'when' and 'where' but we're missing the 'who', 'what', and 'why'.
If I were a CNN producer I would use some of this footage but obviously do some research to fill in the gaps of the story.
I could obviously do the same thing as this user, any 10-year-old could have. She was just an eye whiteness with a device that could capture the moment.
Great Mississippi River Balloon Race
Natchez, Mississippi-October 16
Click to See
Ehh its not uninteresting. I like hot air balloons and it's an interesting fact to know that there is an annual 3 day event dedicated to them in Mississippi. I wouldn't consider it national news, it seems like something that would be better suited for local stations.
I once again believe that anyone who can operate a camera could do this.
Occupy Wall Street-Police Push Protester
Times Square, New York-October 15
Click to See
This is interesting but I don't really think its news. I have no idea whats happening and to be honest I didn't see a single person get pushed (and I watched it a few times). It is alarming and chaos is always interesting but there is plenty of other good footage from the Occupy Wall Street protests that is even more alarming and could be used on CNN so if I were a producer I wouldn't really think to use this.
Again I could do this, anyone could.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Slideshow & Photo Gallery Critique.
WMUR News 9 -U local
Slideshow-No Audio
U local Hot Shots are advertised on WMUR News 9 (NH’s local news station) and invites viewers from all over the granite state to upload their own personal photos (and videos) to share with others. Some shots are lucky enough to make it onto the newscast but for hundreds of others they remain in slideshow photo albums on the stations website. http://ulocal.wmur.com/
The current featured slideshow on U local's homepage is "Fall Foliage." Viewers are able to simply click a link on the slideshow labeled "add photos" then upload any snapshots they have that exhibit the beautiful sights that the season has to offer. Captions can be added to the slideshow as well.
I feel like each picture has the potential to tell a story, especially with the right caption; for example there is a photo of a football goal post, soccer goal, and scoreboard, with a backdrop of colorful fall trees accompanied by the caption, "Where have all the players gone? -With the changing colors of the leaves comes the end of fall sports...well almost!" This tells a quick story that the fall sports season is about to wrap up due to the signs of the frigid months ahead. However, the next photo in the slideshow is a reflection of a building in a body of water at an apple orchard which doesn't tie in with the sports story at all.
Collectively the slide show doesn't tell one solid story other "than this is what NH looks like in the fall" so I wouldn't say that U local is really suited to tell stories. Its mainly a fun way for locals to feel connected to one another and their news.
Audio Slideshow: Sea Nomads
This audio slideshow piece was about native people who live in Indonesia's Coral Triangle and make a majority of their money off of selling fish. It was about 4 min. long and used narration, photographs, and natural sounds to tell a rather detailed story. In those four short minutes I learned........
-The Coral Triangle is the world's most bio-diverse ecosystem.
-The Bajau people have been living on the sea and fishing in Indonesia's coal reefs for hundreds of years.
-At very early ages the natives are taught to dive into the reefs. However they are not properly trained and many natives suffer death from the bends (the bends is a result of the pressure your body, your blood specifically, endures from diving into great depths. The nitrogen and oxygen that you regularly breathe in gets dissolved into the blood system. Oxygen is okay because it is absorbed by your body's tissues but the dissolved nitrogen is hazardous. Divers must ascend to the surface slowly so their bodies can adjust to the pressure and the nitrogen slowly starts to come out of solution. Rapidly ascending to the surface will cause the nitrogen to come out of solution quickly and forms bubbles. These bubbles can cause heart attacks, strokes, and rupture blood vessels in the lungs...I didn't learn any of that information from the slideshow, I have my high school anatomy class to thank for that bit of knowledge)
-The techniques they have resorted to in catching their fish are harmful to the ecosystem and to the safety of the people.
1) Explosives- They set off explosives in the ocean to kill large numbers of fish and have them float to the surface to easy collect. This destroys a lot of the coral and other aquatic life and is extremely dangerous to the fishermen. The slide show showed a photo of a woman who lost her entire left hand and all the fingers on her right, along with what looked to be some damage to her left eye and cheek.
2) Potassium Cyanide-It makes the fish delirious and easily captured so they can be sold live to keep them fresh. The potassium cyanide is dangerous because it is pulled through the current and kills the coral and other oceanic life.
-They sell the fish to Hong Kong where they are worth much more money than the Bajau people get for them.
-The natives need to be educated on taking proper steps in oceanic conservation to preserve the Coral Triangle.
The slide show was not only informative, it was entertaining. Some great techniques were used to make the photographs and story come alive. Photos that were taken rapidly as a boy swam by with a fish were put in order and changed quickly to give the appearance that the photos were moving and you see the boy drift across the screen. The audio was also matched up well with visuals and the reporter provided natural sound breaks accompanied with visuals that made sense; an example of this would be when he used a photograph of an instrument a native was playing with the sound of the instrument as overlapping audio. There was also a time when the narrator was introducing a woman whose husband had died from the bends. Her photo was shown along with audio of her singing a sad sounding song in her native language. This gave her personality as well as set a sad tone for the fact that her husband passed away.
Photo Gallery
I decided to check out CBS Atlanta's Photo Gallery and clicked on their "Must See Slideshows" (yeah I realize it says slideshow right there in the title but the top of the page says photo gallery sooo I'm gunna let that count)
Anyway, I decided to check out the gallery titled "Moose Stuck In Swimming Pool" Link.
I was able to click through multiple pictures and watch as the process of getting the animal to safety unfolded. There is also a caption under the photos that tells you were the incident took place, Manchester NH, and that the local police, firefighters, and fish and game were all there to lend a hand.
I think this photo gallery does a good job of telling a story. The caption provides me with the who, what, when, and where while the photos show me the 'how'. The crew of servicemen used roped to lead the moose out of the water.
Both slideshows were able to tell a story but clearly the audio slideshow was designed to tell it better. The photo gallery I looked at was also good. It laid out the event that took place in a clear easy to understand manner but sound really does add to the experience. It provides mood and pulls you into the story. We're humans, the more stimulation we can get from our sources the better! A picture may say a thousand words but add a few more to that and you've got yourself a solid story.
The current featured slideshow on U local's homepage is "Fall Foliage." Viewers are able to simply click a link on the slideshow labeled "add photos" then upload any snapshots they have that exhibit the beautiful sights that the season has to offer. Captions can be added to the slideshow as well.
I feel like each picture has the potential to tell a story, especially with the right caption; for example there is a photo of a football goal post, soccer goal, and scoreboard, with a backdrop of colorful fall trees accompanied by the caption, "Where have all the players gone? -With the changing colors of the leaves comes the end of fall sports...well almost!" This tells a quick story that the fall sports season is about to wrap up due to the signs of the frigid months ahead. However, the next photo in the slideshow is a reflection of a building in a body of water at an apple orchard which doesn't tie in with the sports story at all.
Collectively the slide show doesn't tell one solid story other "than this is what NH looks like in the fall" so I wouldn't say that U local is really suited to tell stories. Its mainly a fun way for locals to feel connected to one another and their news.
- BBC News
Audio Slideshow: Sea Nomads
This audio slideshow piece was about native people who live in Indonesia's Coral Triangle and make a majority of their money off of selling fish. It was about 4 min. long and used narration, photographs, and natural sounds to tell a rather detailed story. In those four short minutes I learned........
-The Coral Triangle is the world's most bio-diverse ecosystem.
-The Bajau people have been living on the sea and fishing in Indonesia's coal reefs for hundreds of years.
-At very early ages the natives are taught to dive into the reefs. However they are not properly trained and many natives suffer death from the bends (the bends is a result of the pressure your body, your blood specifically, endures from diving into great depths. The nitrogen and oxygen that you regularly breathe in gets dissolved into the blood system. Oxygen is okay because it is absorbed by your body's tissues but the dissolved nitrogen is hazardous. Divers must ascend to the surface slowly so their bodies can adjust to the pressure and the nitrogen slowly starts to come out of solution. Rapidly ascending to the surface will cause the nitrogen to come out of solution quickly and forms bubbles. These bubbles can cause heart attacks, strokes, and rupture blood vessels in the lungs...I didn't learn any of that information from the slideshow, I have my high school anatomy class to thank for that bit of knowledge)
-The techniques they have resorted to in catching their fish are harmful to the ecosystem and to the safety of the people.
1) Explosives- They set off explosives in the ocean to kill large numbers of fish and have them float to the surface to easy collect. This destroys a lot of the coral and other aquatic life and is extremely dangerous to the fishermen. The slide show showed a photo of a woman who lost her entire left hand and all the fingers on her right, along with what looked to be some damage to her left eye and cheek.
2) Potassium Cyanide-It makes the fish delirious and easily captured so they can be sold live to keep them fresh. The potassium cyanide is dangerous because it is pulled through the current and kills the coral and other oceanic life.
-They sell the fish to Hong Kong where they are worth much more money than the Bajau people get for them.
-The natives need to be educated on taking proper steps in oceanic conservation to preserve the Coral Triangle.
The slide show was not only informative, it was entertaining. Some great techniques were used to make the photographs and story come alive. Photos that were taken rapidly as a boy swam by with a fish were put in order and changed quickly to give the appearance that the photos were moving and you see the boy drift across the screen. The audio was also matched up well with visuals and the reporter provided natural sound breaks accompanied with visuals that made sense; an example of this would be when he used a photograph of an instrument a native was playing with the sound of the instrument as overlapping audio. There was also a time when the narrator was introducing a woman whose husband had died from the bends. Her photo was shown along with audio of her singing a sad sounding song in her native language. This gave her personality as well as set a sad tone for the fact that her husband passed away.
- CBS Atlanta
Photo Gallery
I decided to check out CBS Atlanta's Photo Gallery and clicked on their "Must See Slideshows" (yeah I realize it says slideshow right there in the title but the top of the page says photo gallery sooo I'm gunna let that count)
Anyway, I decided to check out the gallery titled "Moose Stuck In Swimming Pool" Link.
I was able to click through multiple pictures and watch as the process of getting the animal to safety unfolded. There is also a caption under the photos that tells you were the incident took place, Manchester NH, and that the local police, firefighters, and fish and game were all there to lend a hand.
I think this photo gallery does a good job of telling a story. The caption provides me with the who, what, when, and where while the photos show me the 'how'. The crew of servicemen used roped to lead the moose out of the water.
- Final Thoughts
Both slideshows were able to tell a story but clearly the audio slideshow was designed to tell it better. The photo gallery I looked at was also good. It laid out the event that took place in a clear easy to understand manner but sound really does add to the experience. It provides mood and pulls you into the story. We're humans, the more stimulation we can get from our sources the better! A picture may say a thousand words but add a few more to that and you've got yourself a solid story.
Audio Slideshow Synopsis
For my audio slideshow I plan to do somewhat of a portfolio/interview piece on a Lyndon State
After having an interview with her, I would use her own voice as the narrative. The focus will be on her art and fascination with what she calls “pretty things”; to Lizzie a pretty thing could be some trash rolling around on pavement. As far as photos are concerned I intend to capture her room, which is basically a mini gallery for her art, and hopefully some shots of her at work.
My intended audience could honestly be anyone interested in getting to know a fellow student on campus as more than just another face in the halls. I feel that a lot of people take a least a little interest the passions of others; there’s something captivating about hearing someone express their view on a topic, or in this case a hobby. It may get someone to look at that trash blowing in the breeze, or a worm wiggling its way through some dirt in a whole new light. The photos from her fun, bright room alone should be enough stimulation to keep any viewer somewhat entertained.
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