EDLD 5363 - Course Reflection

This course was one I have been looking forward to. I envisioned the course to be full of technical projects that involved video and the web. I was not disappointed. The course laid out the different kinds of multimedia projects and explained why they were important. I thought the digital story telling was a way to impress a point with very little media. The projects I saw were only a few photos long but in most cases were very informative. I liked the project because they were close to what I have to do at my current job. Though I do not usually create the content I do usually help in the editing and troubleshooting aspects of the programs. I thought I knew most of what was going to be taught in this course but I still was able to pick up a few new items. I believe I achieved all of the outcomes I was hoping for. I still do not like working in groups but I was able to find one that did an exceptional job. I did find that during the web chats I could move things along by clearing what was said and what we as a group were going to do. I think people just kind of wait for someone else to get things going in a web chat. In the end I think this was another positive experience with Lamar.

EDLD 5363 - PSA

In the course EDLD 5363 myself and my group created a PSA to urge parents to talk with their teen drivers about the dangers of text messaging while driving. We all agreed in our initial meeting that this would be a good topic for our PSA. As our meeting progressed we came up with a basic framework of how we wanted to illustrate our vision for the PSA. After we had the basic idea down on a web document we agreed on individual tasks. I was quite pleased that everyone was willing to do whatever they could to get the PSA done. I ended up with the task of doing the voice narration for the PSA. My team decided I was a good fit for this because I sound calm and I am from Michigan so I do not have the Texas accent. I completed my part of the task and gave the files to the editor who was able to piece everything together. The final product was a pleasant surprise. The PSA was not exactly how I had pictured it in my head but it was a good looking video in the end. We met and discussed the final product and everyone was pleased. The PSA was complete and my group had successfully completed what they had set out to do.

EDLD 5363 - Video Editing Software

Analysis:

I like the fact that all the video editors were free. When I spend a lot of money on a camera to capture video I do not want to blow more on software. Windows Movie Maker is very familiar and I work a lot with it at work but I still do not choose to use it personally. I think the reason is that I have so many errors or problems with it at work. I was surprised that Avidmux had so much to offer. The ease of use was very good and I was able to clip video within a couple of minutes of opening the program for the first time. The features and simple output to most portable devices was great. I often have to convert video to appropriate formats, including screen size for files to work on my video iPod and having this built in was very convenient. I may use this as my default from now on. I really did not like Wax 2.0. The interface reminded me of using visual C++ to write code. Not an appealing memory to me. This also made it hard to find the controls I was looking for. The whole program seemed to be focused more as a plug-in for other video editing programs such as Adobe Premiere. Over all I would have to pick Avidmux as the champion today, but I was surprised my how many programs are available and will most likely evaluate more.