My Public Service Announcement

Here is the video of the PSA Chris West and I worked on together.
The Dangers of Texting and Driving

Week 5 Post Production Comments

Work on our PSA has been intermittent. We came up with the idea of cell phone use in school zones. The shots for this idea seemed simple. So it was time to work on a script. We researched and found the Texas law, HB 55, that established a law restricting cell phone use in school zones. Then we thought we could add information about the number of accidents in school zones involving cell phones. As we looked at the data on the TXDOT website we ended up changing the focus of our PSA to the dangers of texting while driving. We used the data to write the script. Much of the footage that had already been taken was usable for the changed script. We had to go back and take a little more footage of someone texting. We chose to use teenage students for the talent since these are the persons that have the most wrecks.
I like the data that is reported in the narration of the video but I think the video could be a little more attention grabbing although it gets the point across. We used the following articles and websites for the information in the script.
1.http://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=18043
2.http://www.textndrive.com/wordpress/2010/09/plano-police-enforcing-texting-ban-in-school-zone/
3.http://hfs.sagepub.com/content/51/5/762.full.pdf/keytype=ref&siteid=sphfs&ijkey=gRQOLrGlYnBfc

Week Three EDLD 5363

This week has been interesting. We are to join with 2 or 3 other people in the class for the last three weeks of the class. This week we had to get our groups together and agree on a subject for our Public Service Announcement(PSA). We finally agreed on the cellphone ban in school zones. Once we decided on the subject coming up with shots was easy. Now in the next two weeks we will have to finalize the shots and the narration for the PSA. OH, we will also have to shoot and edit the video. We are going to use a wiki to keep in touch. The other members of our group are Ashley Dietz, Christopher West, and Stephen Rektenwald.

Web Conference Participation Week 2

I did not find the time to participate in one of the web conferences this week. BUT, the IA sent a link to a saved conference, so I watched/read the conference at a later time. It was very interesting. This was the first time I had "participated" in a web conference after the fact. When the conference first showed up on the screen, I started reading the posts and then tried to scroll down and read more, but the screen kept jumping back up. I finally realized that this was like real time. I had to read the questions and answers the same as if I had participated live.

Many of the questions that I had, and some I didn't know I needed to ask, were covered in this session. I was a bit confused about audio/video and where to post the podcast but those questions were asked and answered. I felt much better after sitting through the conference.

Video Editing Podcast

This is my video editing tutorial podcast. I chose Roxio VideoWave because I already had it on my computer. I purchased and downloaded it from the website for under $100.

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Video Editing Software Evaluation

Week Two: This week we are to evaluate free video editing software. I found links in one of the readings and downloaded Jahshaka. I chose it because the name reminded me of a song. I know that is exactly the way we all choose products. The download process was easy. I found plenty of tutorial videos, 17 of them were by the same person. The tutorials were very easy to follow but I must say this program is not for beginners. There was no menu toolbar, only buttons to click on. Some of them were words and some were pictures. The Load and Delete buttons were easy to figure out. There were 6 main action buttons, 5 tabs for different parts of those actions. The animation button transferred you to a section where you could apply transformations. This was the only part that was self-explanatory and easy to use. I had to keep flipping back and forth between the Jahshaka software and the tutorial videos to guide me through what I was doing. I found that frustrating. The next day I sat down to try and edit some video with Jahshaka and could not get past doing a few transformations. When I tried to do some actual editing I could not remember how without going back to the tutorial videos. If you have become proficient with some of the easier programs you might like to try Jahshaka since it is free.

I personally have used Windows Movie Maker and Roxio VideoWave and both of them are easier to use than Jahshaka. I have taught Adobe Premiere and Adobe AfterEffects,and used them, but since I had books and textbooks the process was easy to follow, but I have not used them to their maximum abilities.

After using Roxio MyDVD 9 at school, I purchased it to use on my home computer so I will compare Roxio VideoWave to Jahshaka. The VideoWave video editing portion is easy to use. The links for importing, exporting, choosing transitions, creating effects and text with effects are self-explanatory. You have two ways of showing what you have imported. There is the timeline version and the storyline version. I prefer the timeline version because I am used to it after using Adobe Premiere. The buttons for editing are all pictures that make sense for what you are about to do. There are also menu toolbars which I like. The cost of the Roxio package is less than $100 and contains more than just video editing. It has six applications including creating custom DVD's with your movies. I know I will continue to use video editing software and will be willing to try new ones.

Of the two programs that I have chosen to compare, the user-friendly Roxio VideoWave would be my choice.

Thoughts about my Digital Story

Well, I have finally created my Digital Story. I only changed my mind about what I was going to do two times. First, I thought about my experiences as a JH and HS cheerleading sponsor. Then I thought about writing a story about my grandmother. I even went so far as writing a script in my head, gathering pictures from old albums, and scanning them into the computer. Then, while I am in the shower, I have an AHA! momen. That is when I usually have my AHA! moments. I had a really neat experience for my 50th birthday. I had, I guess you could say, three different events. One in Kentucky, one in Austin, and one in San Marcos. The one in San Marcos took place seven months after my birthday, but it was the only time when everything and everyone were in line. All of my family that lives in Austin and one family that lives in Houston were there to see me do a tandem skydive. It was absolutely the most awesome thing that I have done and I would do it again in a heartbeart except that my husband, who had no idea I was doing it, has put his foot down and said not again while he is living. Even after the fact, he was scared that something could have happened to me, so I have told him that I won't.
I am pleased about how the story turned out. I am looking forward to creating the next movie.