That's it! Wrote my last final today, school's almost over and this is the last blog post for the Mcom 63 class...
Wow, time really flies! And as a result of this fast passing by semester: I improved a lot! Compared with the first day of class where I could hardly spell Photoshop I do so much better by now! Also I discovered the options the web and its tools gives (including iMovie, PodOmatic etc.). Therefore I asked my boyfriend if we could buy a video camera sometimes so I can keep on making little fun movies of whatever. He was not to thrilled by the proposition... yet!
Further, the class and the project helped to socialize with people. After moving here in December I did not know anybody - now I have some email addresses and phone numbers : )
So thanks for teaching, Mrs. McCune, and your patience! Hope you had a bit of fun with us, too. I guess if you only had half the fun I had, you had a blast : )
(And I also hope this post is not too late for being graded...)
I will keep on writing blog posts - maybe in this one, maybe I start a new one and I will surely improve the frequency of my German blog posts for the people back home.
And who knows? Maybe that little video camera might motivate me to create the next vacation video!
Thanks,
tanja
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
A look back
So the final project is presented and therefore done with.
Looking back there are a few things that come to my mind I want to give some thoughts about:
- working with Trisia was not only fun, but also very productive. I guess we had a good communication going on so both of us knew what needed to be done by whom and until when. We also emailed lots to make sure we both were on the same level of knowledge concerning the project.
- I guess we could've made the Sharks project a bit more fun. After watching the other projects presented, ours seemed a bit boring... Maybe I think this way because I feel like we did not really use all the media in the most fun or entertaining efficent way. For a next project I definitively will bring in the fun factor!
Other than that I felt confident with our project. We tied everything in that was requested and did not a too bad job after all. At least in my perception it worked. Hope the others liked it, too.
Looking back there are a few things that come to my mind I want to give some thoughts about:
- working with Trisia was not only fun, but also very productive. I guess we had a good communication going on so both of us knew what needed to be done by whom and until when. We also emailed lots to make sure we both were on the same level of knowledge concerning the project.
- I guess we could've made the Sharks project a bit more fun. After watching the other projects presented, ours seemed a bit boring... Maybe I think this way because I feel like we did not really use all the media in the most fun or entertaining efficent way. For a next project I definitively will bring in the fun factor!
Other than that I felt confident with our project. We tied everything in that was requested and did not a too bad job after all. At least in my perception it worked. Hope the others liked it, too.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
In between
The title of this weeks blog post has a double meaning.
So we’re in the middle of our project: Adding, changing, discussing, trying, giving up, laughing, creating… a great process over all. It’s interesting to actually do – create! – something with all the stuff we learned in these past months.
And I learn: It’s lots of fun. Of course, not everything goes as smoothly as I want it to be. And it’s mostly not as easy as it looks when the pros do it… Guess there’s some more practice required. But this also means: Room for improvement!
In the middle. Right. Sometimes it seems as if the media project is in the middle between two other final projects that are themselves again in the middle between work and a class… The end of the semester – which is my first one at SJSU – seems to be a bit crazy. A creative, motivating craziness somehow. Weird – I feel that way even thought I am older than the average student. So maybe this means that I am not that old in the end. Or maybe I’m just in the middle – between 15 and 30 somewhere : )
So we’re in the middle of our project: Adding, changing, discussing, trying, giving up, laughing, creating… a great process over all. It’s interesting to actually do – create! – something with all the stuff we learned in these past months.
And I learn: It’s lots of fun. Of course, not everything goes as smoothly as I want it to be. And it’s mostly not as easy as it looks when the pros do it… Guess there’s some more practice required. But this also means: Room for improvement!
In the middle. Right. Sometimes it seems as if the media project is in the middle between two other final projects that are themselves again in the middle between work and a class… The end of the semester – which is my first one at SJSU – seems to be a bit crazy. A creative, motivating craziness somehow. Weird – I feel that way even thought I am older than the average student. So maybe this means that I am not that old in the end. Or maybe I’m just in the middle – between 15 and 30 somewhere : )
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Social Networks
I've have been having a Facebook account for a while now - actually only because my best friend kept bugging me about it. She was right thought, after having moved over here, Facebook seemed like a great medium to stay in touch. So I filled in the gaps and added some pictures.
After a while (I actually gathered some friends) I started receiving those mails from Facebook: "Someone wrote on your Fun Wall!", "Someone has sexy flirted with you!" and "You've been poked!". Hhmm... I wondered: What is a Fun Wall and where would I possibly have a thing like this? Flirting? If someone flirts with me, I usually realize this. And poke?? When did I get poked? So I ignored those mails for quite a while and deleted them. Just did not make too much sense to me.
But! Last week in class w got assigned to "go further" or "try new things" concerning social media. Instead of opening another account on myspace or any other of these platforms, I was going to actually read all the Facebook emails and see what's behind them.
Turns out: Some of them are games that can be played over time with friends on Facebook. Others are applications that - not sure, but I think - allow you to goof around with other friends having the same applications in their profile. So I spent about two whole hours replying all those requests, pokes, Fun Walls and anything else that piled up in my Inbox on Facebook.
Honestly, I got bored after a while. Especially since I seem to have two different kinds of friends in my Facebook: The ones I can send all kinds of crap to play with and the ones that might get annoyed by me forwarding all that stuff. So I had only a few possibilities to choose from when doing all those games and applications. Since the game often requests that you forward things to 8 - 15 friends, I got 8 - 15 friends now who have several requests from me in their mailbox.
Bottom line: Facebook (and I guess it's the same with other social media) is a great tool to keep in touch and see what's going on with some close and less close friends. But if you want to take part in ALL the games, applications and requests, you end up spending soo much time online, that you really only have the Internet and its social media platforms as a social connection to the outer world...
After a while (I actually gathered some friends) I started receiving those mails from Facebook: "Someone wrote on your Fun Wall!", "Someone has sexy flirted with you!" and "You've been poked!". Hhmm... I wondered: What is a Fun Wall and where would I possibly have a thing like this? Flirting? If someone flirts with me, I usually realize this. And poke?? When did I get poked? So I ignored those mails for quite a while and deleted them. Just did not make too much sense to me.
But! Last week in class w got assigned to "go further" or "try new things" concerning social media. Instead of opening another account on myspace or any other of these platforms, I was going to actually read all the Facebook emails and see what's behind them.
Turns out: Some of them are games that can be played over time with friends on Facebook. Others are applications that - not sure, but I think - allow you to goof around with other friends having the same applications in their profile. So I spent about two whole hours replying all those requests, pokes, Fun Walls and anything else that piled up in my Inbox on Facebook.
Honestly, I got bored after a while. Especially since I seem to have two different kinds of friends in my Facebook: The ones I can send all kinds of crap to play with and the ones that might get annoyed by me forwarding all that stuff. So I had only a few possibilities to choose from when doing all those games and applications. Since the game often requests that you forward things to 8 - 15 friends, I got 8 - 15 friends now who have several requests from me in their mailbox.
Bottom line: Facebook (and I guess it's the same with other social media) is a great tool to keep in touch and see what's going on with some close and less close friends. But if you want to take part in ALL the games, applications and requests, you end up spending soo much time online, that you really only have the Internet and its social media platforms as a social connection to the outer world...
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Reflection on a start
The end of the semester is in sight - finally. But with the joy of this fact and the almost reachable summer break, a tide schedule, short nights and smoking brains come along. It's almost the end of the semester - it's test and paper and final project time.
So for my Mcom63 class we ought to do a final media project. Gladly I found someone in class that shares the same interest and was willing to form a team with me. Thanks Tricia!
Starting off with this final project was not too hard so far. We decided on a topic pretty fast and since Tricia is a very passionate hockey fan (as I consider myself rather as a casual one), the ideas about content and the usage of different media came into our minds quite easy.
I guess the both of us want to create a fun project that's fun to watch and/or to participate in. I must say it's maybe not the most creative or most unique project ever - but I am convinced that with our content ideas, we will spark this thing and make it interesting.
Actually, I'm pretty excited about doing this. It's not a final project like in the other classes - it's actually a fun one (sorry to all my other instructors - nothing personal). So I don't think doing this is a waste of time, not at all! Even if the project itself will not be the greatest ever, it still will give me some good basic knowledge, I can gather some experience, learn something and actually show what I learned so far in class. And that's been quite a bit - I started off with only a clue of what's possible.
Compared to the in lab projects and assignments, the final one seems like a big firework of all we did so far. It's like puzzling: Gathering all the single parts, bring them together and we will get one picture of something bigger. I like that.
With Tricia as partner this teamwork has turned out working great so far. We divide up different tasks as we go along the project, add or remove ideas and just take one step after the other after each fulfilled job. So we will be working quite equally, splitting jobs according to talents and know how, time and possibilities. Actually it doesn't matter how much we spend on the thing - we just want to reach what we picture: An interesting, watch worthy, diverse media project.
So for my Mcom63 class we ought to do a final media project. Gladly I found someone in class that shares the same interest and was willing to form a team with me. Thanks Tricia!
Starting off with this final project was not too hard so far. We decided on a topic pretty fast and since Tricia is a very passionate hockey fan (as I consider myself rather as a casual one), the ideas about content and the usage of different media came into our minds quite easy.
I guess the both of us want to create a fun project that's fun to watch and/or to participate in. I must say it's maybe not the most creative or most unique project ever - but I am convinced that with our content ideas, we will spark this thing and make it interesting.
Actually, I'm pretty excited about doing this. It's not a final project like in the other classes - it's actually a fun one (sorry to all my other instructors - nothing personal). So I don't think doing this is a waste of time, not at all! Even if the project itself will not be the greatest ever, it still will give me some good basic knowledge, I can gather some experience, learn something and actually show what I learned so far in class. And that's been quite a bit - I started off with only a clue of what's possible.
Compared to the in lab projects and assignments, the final one seems like a big firework of all we did so far. It's like puzzling: Gathering all the single parts, bring them together and we will get one picture of something bigger. I like that.
With Tricia as partner this teamwork has turned out working great so far. We divide up different tasks as we go along the project, add or remove ideas and just take one step after the other after each fulfilled job. So we will be working quite equally, splitting jobs according to talents and know how, time and possibilities. Actually it doesn't matter how much we spend on the thing - we just want to reach what we picture: An interesting, watch worthy, diverse media project.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Not enough!
Mass media is also a mass OF media. That there are media everywhere we look and don’t look is no news. Sometimes it gets really annoying to have a 24/7 full media coverage over a topic that does seem important to some of us, but not to most of us. Or to receive breaking news that are not that big of a deal (I remember canceling my CNN Breaking News E-Mail alert after having received the ultimate breaking news that George W. chocked on a pretzel…).
Anyway. Have you ever felt you just don’t get enough media coverage? Probably not. You might have experienced not getting a story about a topic you really cared fore.
And this is where I come in. That’s exactly my problem right now and might remain until end of June.
Here’s the deal: This summer, the worlds second largest Soccer event takes place, it’s called "EURO 08".
The Euro is the soccer championship among 16 European soccer teams competing in 4 groups. If your are just a little bit of a soccer fan, you know what I am talking about. This years tournament (it’s held every 4 years) will take place in Switzerland and Austria. And as you might have learned from my former blog posts: I am Swiss…
Very bitter to have a huge event taking place in your country – and you’re not there. But even worse is the fact that I haven’t found a TV channel yet that will broadcast the games!
So what I want to point out: Even if we have so much news coverage from around the world at every single minute of the day – there are still gaps, large gaps! At least in my book… Not sure if anyone shares this, but I would say you just can’t have enough media coverage.
P.S. If anyone has an idea where I could see a live stream of the games, please let me know…
Anyway. Have you ever felt you just don’t get enough media coverage? Probably not. You might have experienced not getting a story about a topic you really cared fore.
And this is where I come in. That’s exactly my problem right now and might remain until end of June.
Here’s the deal: This summer, the worlds second largest Soccer event takes place, it’s called "EURO 08".
The Euro is the soccer championship among 16 European soccer teams competing in 4 groups. If your are just a little bit of a soccer fan, you know what I am talking about. This years tournament (it’s held every 4 years) will take place in Switzerland and Austria. And as you might have learned from my former blog posts: I am Swiss…
Very bitter to have a huge event taking place in your country – and you’re not there. But even worse is the fact that I haven’t found a TV channel yet that will broadcast the games!
So what I want to point out: Even if we have so much news coverage from around the world at every single minute of the day – there are still gaps, large gaps! At least in my book… Not sure if anyone shares this, but I would say you just can’t have enough media coverage.
P.S. If anyone has an idea where I could see a live stream of the games, please let me know…
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Video Project
My school video project had several stages; stages of productions, stages of frustration and finally stages of satisfaction.
Making the footage was a bit difficult. Since I don't own a video camera I used my regular photo camera. Turns out: It's hard to stay stable while taping with such a small camera...
Editing the whole material I had on the other hand was fun. Got to play quite a bit with imovie (the 2008 version that I have not figured so far...), added some text and other features. The result was a happy-maker, even thought it's not the greatest home video in history. But hey, it's my first one at all : )
A bummer was the exporting-and-uploading-to-the-class-blog-thing... Just couldn't get the movie exportet in a propper, website friendly way. So as last solution I uploaded the thing on youtube...
See how the movie from the Sharks game turned out.
And who knows? I might get more familiar with imovie 08 and become a professional home video maker... : )
Making the footage was a bit difficult. Since I don't own a video camera I used my regular photo camera. Turns out: It's hard to stay stable while taping with such a small camera...
Editing the whole material I had on the other hand was fun. Got to play quite a bit with imovie (the 2008 version that I have not figured so far...), added some text and other features. The result was a happy-maker, even thought it's not the greatest home video in history. But hey, it's my first one at all : )
A bummer was the exporting-and-uploading-to-the-class-blog-thing... Just couldn't get the movie exportet in a propper, website friendly way. So as last solution I uploaded the thing on youtube...
See how the movie from the Sharks game turned out.
And who knows? I might get more familiar with imovie 08 and become a professional home video maker... : )
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)