Video Storytelling

The blog post 10 was to tell a story through a video. The video was edited on Adobe Premiere Pro. The software is a very good editing program, but my computer could barely handle it. It took almost two hours to download, and another 45 minutes to render the file. When I would play the clips through the program they would skip so bad that I could barely see what was happening.  I feel like the video came out better than I expected.

The story that was told through the video was very interesting. There were two opposites of the tattoo spectrum that were portrayed. Trey is a professional tattoo artist who has been to prison a couple of times and Guy seemed like he was just beginning to get into the tattooed lifestyle. The contrast between the two helped to give perspective I thought.

It surprised me how similar the program was to Final Cut Pro, a program I am much more familiar with. I do wish that I had a better computer, that way I could have utilized the program further. Adobe Premiere Pro seems like it’s fairly user friendly, after a couple quick tutorial videos I was well on my way. The audio and video transition effects were simple to apply, I would have used many more different types of effects if my computer could have handled it.

I could definitely see myself using video in a future career. I like the idea of using video to tell a story, it is much more creative than putting out breaking news in a simplistic manner. I really enjoy filming skateboarding and skateboarders and then telling that story. You can create scenes and invoke emotions with the right combination of video techniques.  There is a certain satisfaction that comes out of making videos.

Twitter assignment

My twitter acount is @cbanks138

I live tweeted the cowgirl’s basketball game against Colorado. This was the first time I had ever tweeted and it was sort of a learning experience. I am not that into social media for other reasons than talking to friends and sharing pictures that I like. Twitter does not seem to be that amazing to me. I usually like more than 140 characters to describe an event.

When I live tweeted the basketball game, I felt like I was “that guy” who spends all of their time on the phone and not very much time at the actual event. I am not really a fan of doing this, I prefer to experience events and discuss them later in person.

I do not necessarily see myself using twitter in my future career. I really do not like twitter so far and I would prefer to not use it. I also do not see myself as a news reporter or news journalist. I would like to take on a more creative endeavor. I would like to write for a magazine, hopefully a skateboarding publication. I do not see twitter helping to write an article on skateboarding.

On the topic of other social media I also do not see it helping me to write magazine articles. There are magazine websites that contain more useful and interesting information than any social media.

I guess I just do not understand the social media craze, call me old fashioned but I always prefer to talk to someone when I can look them in the eyes. Even phones and text messaging bother me sometimes.

To me social media is just another way to contact someone and show them something. That is about the extent of the usefulness of social media. My preferred social medium is verbal, nonverbal and up-close.

Telling a Story Through Multimedia

http://klandreville.com/banks_ferrall/

The purpose of this assignment was to combine three different media; audio, images, and words. Using these three media we had to tell two stories. The stories that we used were one of a meat science major working in the meat lab and one of a New York vegan living in Wyoming. The stories were interesting because they showed two opposite sides of the dietary spectrum.

On one side there was a student whose college and future careers are based around the slaughter, processing and distribution of livestock. On the other side there is a vegan whose lifestyle specifically excludes everything that has to do with animal products. Each person telling their story was sincere in their reasoning. They discussed the prejudice that has to do with each of their chosen lifestyles.

The actual combining of the audio, images and words was a very difficult process for me. I ran into many issues just downloading the Soundslide program. On the library computer a different program, an audio file converter, downloaded instead of the Soundslide program. On my personal computer, my antivirus refused to download it because it said that it was an unsafe file.

I had to disable my firewall momentarily to even download the program. Once I downloaded it and inserted the audio and pictures, I had some trouble navigating the program. I eventually was able to finish editing the Soundslides and when it came to exporting I ran into even more confusion. When trying to upload the document into the drop box, I had completely forgotten that I had to compress the file.

I do not have much expertise when it comes to using computers. I am proficient at using the internet and word processors, but much more than that I become lost. When I finally figured out how to compress the file I was able to turn it in.

This was definitely a learning experience in more than one area for me. I learned more about my computer than I had before. Also I had never really experimented with making such intricate slideshows (intricate to me at least). The factor of a deadline also helps to put college work into more of a real life perspective.

Edited Interview

Audacity is a fairly simple program to use; I had a little trouble at first. After reading through the instructions on the assignment I was able to figure everything out. The actual editing part of this process is probably the easiest. You can manipulate a visual representation of sound any which way that you want.

The process of taking certain clips of sound and putting them together is very simple and similar to editing video, although video is much harder because smooth transitions must be added and fine-tuned. Audio is easy because you can find the where sentences start and end just by looking at the spikes in the sound timeline.

I have never edited audio before so most of this project was a learning experience. I learned how to use audacity and sound cloud. This might be a useful skill in the future.

I enjoyed making the interview sound better by cutting out the unnecessary pauses and questions. It also sounded better by eliminating useless information or repetitiveness. I did not necessarily enjoy how audacity prevents you from performing certain actions when something minor is selected. I actually still do not know what I was doing wrong; I just kept clicking around till I was able to do what I wanted. Sound cloud also keeps telling me that the track in the widget is unavailable when I post it to word press. This was the part that I enjoyed the least. The compatibility between sound cloud and word press must not be that great because it took about an hour and a half to figure out how to get it to work. And I didn’t even figure out what I was doing wrong.

I wish that sound cloud would work better, it would have made the whole process much smoother.

Raw Audio Recordings

I have never interviewed anybody to actually take the file and upload to the internet. I have also never used sound cloud before. This is a fairly new experience for me. In the past I’ve used my own recorder to interview people for news stories and papers. I only go back and listen to the recording through headphones on the actual recorder. I don’t even think my personal recorder even has a USB port to take files off of it.

Anyways, being my first full audio post on the internet, I had some difficulty uploading the files and posting the sound cloud file to my WordPress. I have had a lot of friends that use sound cloud to share their music, and I have listened to music through sound cloud before. But as far as uploading and navigating the account options there was a bit of a learning period before I was able to figure it out.

I am used to interviewing people and recording them, but it has always been for direct quotes in papers and stories. And on a side note, my voice has always sounded strange when I hear a recording of it.

I have never really been interviewed formally, as I am the journalism major. When Jeffrey interviewed me, I was a little scrambled at first and didn’t really tell my story as linear as possible. Usually I tell people I am better at writing than talking, as it gives me a chance to organize my thoughts.

I learned that the recorder should not even be touched during interviews and that ambient noise can be a huge distraction, even though it doesn’t seem that major when just sitting in a room. I also learned to better organize oral stories, and talk in a more linear pattern instead of jumping back and forth on the time line.

I did enjoy this project because it is something that I have never really done before. There wasn’t anything unpleasant about it. After I got past the difficulties of publishing audio everything else went well. If I could have done anything different it would be giving Jeffrey (my interviewer) a better organized story.

Photo Journalism

“Workin’ in the shed”

A Laramie local, Matt Bartlett, heads outside to complete some much needed work in his tool shed before any more snow falls. I was walking home from campus and saw an interesting photo opportunity. I like the contrast between the shed and the subject. It puts sort of a different perspective on the subject. The texture of the weathered wood on the shed is also interesting. This photo was taken on Thursday.

“Heading home”

A fellow UW student, Eric Ryan, hurries to beat the traffic light to cross the road. I was heading home after a class and going in the same direction as Ryan. He was speed walking trying to make the light to get home sooner. This photo, to me, portrays a sort of urgency as well as depth and perspective. The depth that the road creates makes it look like it could be a very long walk home, or it could be just to the corner. The traffic light to the right portrays a perspective; it goes higher into the frame than the trees in the distance and also makes Ryan look short comparatively. This photo was taken Thursday.

“What are your favorite things?”

This photo is of Andy Skinner talking to shy Richie at the skate park in Alpine, Wyoming. Richie is only four years old and showed up to the skate park by himself. He was shy at first and just watched from afar. It wasn’t until Skinner started talking to him and asking about his favorite things (which included the jump rope pictured). Everybody thought it was a little strange that a four year old boy would show up at a skate park by himself. Everybody made sure to make him feel welcome and he even ran home to grab his own skateboard to show off.  I like the human interaction going on in this photo; Richie is overcoming his shyness and making new friends. I also like the contrasting colors between the two subject’s clothing. This photo was taken on Saturday.

“Skate park encouragement”

Bobby Ibarra converses with Alpine local, Kevin, about how to land a trick he has never done before. What I like about this photo is the uncertainty in Kevin’s eyes combined with the confidence that Ibarra is giving off. Kevin was not sure how to execute a trick and Ibarra was giving him helpful tips.  The warmth of the sun in this photo lights up the colors and gives good vibes. The sun went down and the session ended, but not before Kevin finally landed his trick. This photo was taken on Saturday.

“Autum skateboarding”

Corey Jackson attacks a steep quarter pipe to get his trick. The family friendly graffiti covers up something much less appropriate while the skateboarding season nears its end. Jackson skates one of the steeper obstacles in the park, for he may not be able to in just a few weeks. I like how I was able to isolate Corey from others while he got his trick. It may not look that crazy, but this quarter pipe was extremely steep and challenging for everyone. Just to get any trick on it was an accomplishment. This photo was taken on Saturday in Alpine, Wyoming.

A few photos using creative devices

Click on photos for a larger view…

 

“Look on the bright side”

I am using this photo to convey contrast as the dominant device. The light colored and clean flowers are opposed by a dark and grimy stairwell. There are also multiple leading lines in this photo. The concrete barrier between the flowers and stairwell lead the eye to the top of the picture while simultaneously creating depth. Then the stair hand rail leads your eye down and into the darkness with help from the stains on the wall next to the stairs.

“Put life in perspective”

This photo uses aperture priority (depth) and leading lines as the dominant device. The aperture was set wide and the lens focused on the closest bark. The angle was looking straight up the tree. The bark, curving and dipping up the sides of the tree create leading lines to draw your eye up the tree as if you were standing at the base looking up. The bark also adds a certain texture to help focus on. Depth and color are secondary devices apparent in this photo.

“An alternate way to take the stairs”

Viewpoint and the rule of thirds are dominant devices in this photo. The viewpoint is from about 11 or 12 feet above the top of the staircase, as I was standing on top of a ledge taller than myself. The sun lit up the subject at an almost perfect angle as he is headed towards the right third of the frame and his head is at the top third of the frame. Pattern is also a device present in this photo. The brick ledge I am standing on as well as the stairs present two different patterns that help to make this photo aesthetically appealing.

“Next stop: Laramie”

Patterns and depth are used as dominant devices in this picture. The cargo on each different track, including the train, creates a pattern. The railroad with the train extending into the distance creates depth and leads your eyes to the top left of the frame. The rule of thirds is also used with the position of the horizon in the frame.

“Wyoming clouds on an autumn afternoon”

Texture and color help to make this photo appealing. The clouds present a texture close to that of a cotton ball being pulled apart. The vibrant blue of the sky gives a cool feeling, almost as if you were standing in the autumn chill yourself. The sign follows the rule of thirds as it is in the bottom and left third of the frame. The horizon also draws along the lower third of the frame. The road, curving off into the distance helps to add depth to the photo.

The Great Outdoors

If you are a student at the University of Wyoming or a resident of Laramie, you might be familiar with staying inside or even getting stuck in the same routine. There are many people who do not venture outside of town limits and prefer to stay inside. This might be because they either do not have the motivation or they have no idea what is available to them.

Wyoming is well known for its nature and scenery. Many students come to Laramie from other places, places without such available beauty. Many of these people don’t ever venture out of town to see what the Wyoming landscape has to offer.

Everybody has heard someone complain about how miserable the town is and how the only thing to do is drink. There is much more to do in and around Laramie than that.

“It’s a good change of pace to get out” according to Cody Cikanek, a fly fisher  and UW student from Colorado. “It relieves stress and is a much needed break from reality”. Getting away from the drinking mindset and out in the wild is natural for Cikanek.

His preferred outdoor activity is outsmarting fish in their natural environment using a variety of specialized fishing equipment. He believes that traditions are being lost and that

“fly fishing is a good skill to have, and that not many people know how”

He loves the catch and release process and seeing wildlife that not many other people get the chance to see.

Fishing is just one of the many activities available to anyone who takes the time to get out. If you aren’t very good at fishing or just don’t like fish, maybe camping would be a better way to enjoy the wild.

Trevor Andersen, a Journalism major from Cheyenne described one of his first camping experiences in the area. Andersen and two other friends journeyed out to the Snowy Range with just a tarp and a hatchet. It was the first snowfall of the year and with little protection from the elements, they chopped a few trees down and made a shelter. With remaining wood they built a small fire to keep warm.

The temperature dropped down to a bone chilling ten below zero, “It was like being in the Donner party but nobody ate each other” he said laughing. “We just took turns watching the fire while two of us slept”, he said.

It sounds like it might be miserable to the average person but “it was cool to know that we could go out there and survive”.  They even enjoyed it.

That is an extreme example of getting back to Mother Nature, as some would say. There are many less dangerous ways to get out and about, such as Vedauwoo.

Vedauwoo is compiled of many rock structures jutting out of the ground with hiking trails winding every direction. It is just a short drive east on Interstate 80. You do not even have to take a trail to get somewhere. Rock formations covering the area offer a range of climbing options from walkable to harness required routes.

Camping is also plentiful in this area. Davis Fay, a member of The Adventure Club on Facebook describes his most memorable expedition. “We were meeting a bunch of friends out in a remote campsite in Vedauwoo” Fay says, “it was already dark when we finally got out there”.

Fay and a handful of friends climbed up one of the many natural rock structures “it was a moonless, cloudless night and we sat there in silence just star gazing”. Fay described feeling completely alone, and loving it. They sat there in awe under a ceiling of stars for quite a while.

There are many easy ways for Laramie residents to get out of town and into nature.

Fay’s advice is, “Just go, there is something out there for everyone. All you need is transportation and a pair of shoes. Don’t procrastinate. It doesn’t have to be something big, you could even go on a Tuesday afternoon hike”.

Andersen’s advice was to take someone with you if you are going out into the wilderness, but not too many people to ruin the moment. But it is also important to just get outside as much as possible in town. You could ride a bike, play basketball, or even just skateboard down the sidewalk.

“Find someone with similar interests, make plans, and just get out” said Cikanek. “It’s really not that hard”

Whether you are up for a small hike or an extreme survival situation, just go out and enjoy the world around you.

Post 2, Usability analysis

The website, poweringanation.org/coal/# is visually made well. Navigation is simple, as it is only scroll up or down. There are eye-catching pictures with a video story explaining them. The actual website is well made, but the message is unclear. I started with the first video, labeled “start your experience”. This video, along with all the others, is well edited and aesthetically appealing. Yet, after this video and all the others I am still not sure what goal this website has other than informative. It presents points for, against, and information about coal. The contact information on the site is at the bottom and includes a way to join the movement or contact them on various social media.

I conducted the usability test on my roommate. He first scrolled all the way through the site and commented on how well it looks. He, then went to the top and clicked the first video. The second video he clicked on did not work for some reason. He proceeded to click on the next couple videos. After spending a little time on the site, he was also confused on the message that they were trying to convey. He said he liked how interactive the site was and how it was laid out, but wasn’t sure what exactly they were trying to say. He found the contact information almost right away.

My roommate and I had very similar experiences on this website. The difference was that I clicked on the first link before exploring the page. My roommate got an idea of how the site was put together and then began looking into links while I just dove right in. After that, both of us followed the website along in a linear fashion.

The things about this website that should not change are:

1. The feel and design. The creators of this page put a lot of effort into making it look good.

2. The simplicity. There is no way to get lost in this site. It is straight forward and easy to navigate

3. The layout. Even if I am not interested in the content, the layout of the site makes me want to stay and look around. It is well done and caught my attention immediately.

The things about this website that should change are:

1. The purpose. The purpose of the site is unclear and confusing. There should be a mission statement right at the beginning to make its goals clear

2. The clarity. When watching the videos, I was unsure what side of the debate the website was taking. Are they for coal power or against it? There are stories of people on each side.

3.  The uniformity. The videos were well done, but the stories could be told in different ways. Instead of only having videos telling the story, there could be interactive graphics or text to present data. Possibly even quizzes or questionnaires to test the user’s knowledge. When involved in this website, I am just sitting there watching videos. I wouldn’t call that very involving.

First Post

I usually obtain my news from the New York Times website, the Huffington Post, and Yahoo. I am not always up to date on political affairs, but when I do read up on current events I try to stick to non-opinion articles. I will read about the same happenings on different websites to get the compare facts and data to obtain more precise details. I like to avoid bias or slanted sources, but sometimes that is not entirely possible. It seems that most corporate news sources lean one way or the other based on their financial backer’s political associations.

I do think that certain entertainment sources can be very informative. It matters what content you are trying to access. I regularly access Thrasher Magazine, The Skateboard Mag, Hellaclips.com, and other various skateboarding publications, both online and physical copy. These sources help me stay up to date in who I consider “celebrities”. Professional skateboarders and others involved in the business matter more to me than millionaire actors dating each other and the drama associated. I am currently working on editorials to submit to such publications. I would like to add my own thoughts and opinions to the discussion.

I talk to friends, family and others affected by news. When an event impacts me large enough to encourage a conversation, I will usually know someone else effected by the news that I will talk to in person or over the phone. I am not very big on instant messaging or email quite as much. I enjoy a good discussion or an intellectual debate. I try to avoid arguments involving opinion, biases, and false facts. When such arguments occur I might as well walk away. There are certainly subjects of which I have nothing to say, and I will not have any biases to encourage agreement or disagreement.

I could improve my news intake by regularly checking-in on sites instead of occasionally informing myself on issues. I could also subscribe to many more publications.