Final Thoughts

I've had a complete attitude adjustment. I often scowl when I have to learn a new technology, not because I don't want to learn, but because I dread dealing with the problems that can arise. In the past, this poor attitude has kept me from advancing my tech-savviness. Now that I have completed all of the necessary assignments for my multimedia class, I can officially say that I am so happy I had to learn the many new software programs and other fun computer tricks. There was a lot of trial, and even more errors, but I honestly see the value in the errors I made. Of course I can not see the value in why Internet Explorer stopped working on my computer - and I blame one of the many free software downloads I used - but fortunately I'm going to be retiring my computer once the semester is finished so the problems with Explorer will trouble me no more. See - my attitude is adjusted:).

Multimedia Project

My multimedia project is the website I created for DCN. Overall, I've been fairly pleased with the way it has turned out, but I still feel as though it needs a designer's touch. Fortunately, my sister gave me some great feedback on the aesthetics and I think the design has improved. Simply changing the template from deep red and gray to a soft gray and blue made a huge difference. A website that discusses a project that helps disadvantaged children should not have such stark colors on the website. I was very happy with the new template and colors. Additionally, I had not realized that I was inconsistent with the choice of text throughout the site. I'm so glad this was caught in my sister's review. What an obvious detail that needed to be fixed! I also worked on picture placement and a few other design aspects and overall the changes I made were satisfying. However, I hope at some point we can bring in a web designer to take my prototype and turn my ideas into something even better.

Podcast

I recorded a podcast for my DCN website a few weeks ago using Audacity. I interviewed Dr. Springer and Dr. Diffily on why a project such as DCN is important to a community like South Dallas. Overall I was very pleased with the quality and I enjoyed the editing process. It was very easy to edit out the "ums" and a few times both Dr. Springer and Dr. Diffily would ask during the recording for certain parts of an answer to be deleted. This not only served as a reminder for me to make edits and cuts where appropriate, but it gave all of those involved a sense of ease, knowing that answers could be improved with the click of a mouse. Even after I published the first version of the podcast, just like my website, I found areas that need improvement. I still need to add graphics or pictures and music, however I also found that my introduction and ending need to be a bit more informal and casual. Given that this is the first time I have published a podcast, I think the product is solid.

Website

For my comprehensive multimedia assignment, I created a website for a research project. The research project is titled Dallas Children's Network (DCN) and is a project that intends to help non-profit organizations expand services to better the educational opportunity for poor children in South Dallas. The project relies on partnerships with neighboring non-profit organizations and foundations for grant funding. Therefore the audience for this website is the two aforementioned. To show the needs of the community of South Dallas and how DCN hopes to meet these needs, a multimedia website was born. I used an animation to describe the vision of DCN, audio for a general overview, video to help others unfamiliar with South Dallas learn more about this community, and a podcast to discuss how researchers involved in DCN hope to contribute to educational research.

I started creating a website using the free downloadable software Nvu. Generally speaking the software was user friendly and I created a respectable website. Even with these various multimedia components embedded, the website was still very basic, with few design elements. Fortunately with the purchase of a domain name and server space, I was able to create another website using a software provided by the hosting company. This program provided me with the design aspect of websites that are normally created by graphic designers. This program came with free templates and was tremendously helpful. After this website was published, I was beginning to feel better about my product. However, as I reflect and make changes on an almost daily basis, I realized that the DCN website will always need improvement. I will always find a way to make it better, more eye appealing, more user friendly, better organized, or faster. Although I have completed the tasks required for the assignment for my multimedia class, this website will always need to be updated. It is a work in progress that might never be completed.

My Experience With Digital Video

My previous post describes the problems I had initially with my video clips, however once I mastered the conversion process, I realized the rest of the process would be relatively easy. For my first production, I convinced my two children to by my actors. I thought they did a superb job, and of course I edited out the "are you done, yet" comments. Since my group did their presentation on MovieMaker, I was pretty familiar with how the program worked. If anything the process was tedious because the program had trouble running with all of the clips I had imported and added to the storyline. I was definitely saving after each change because at times the program would run so slowly that I had to stop and restart my computer. Overall, I gained an incredible appreciation for the video editing process.

My second assignment for video production stirred quite a few emotions, from apprehensive, to scared, to excited, and then back to worrisome. Since I am working on a project for Dallas Children's Network, we decided to shoot some footage of the area in which which the project is focusing, South Dallas. South Dallas is a low-income area of Dallas where crime is one of the highest in the city. Dr. Springer and I were headed down to the area to meet with the executive director of the Jubilee Center and we decided this would be a good time to shoot our video as well. I started feeling apprehensive about the shoot prior to our meeting because I wasn't sure I would be able to get decent video. Driving around in South Dallas makes me nervous. We made our plan after our meeting to drive around, as slowly as possible, without drawing too much attention. I took quite a bit of video and got quite a few strange looks from pedestrians. At one point I will admit to being scared and I was very close to saying I had shot enough, even though I knew I wanted a few more clips. South Dallas has very little economic development, boarded houses are common, and men walking around at 10 a.m. with drinks in brown paper bags are more than one would like to see. After getting decent footage of boarded homes and boarded businesses, there was one shot I definitely wanted to shoot. Directly across the street from DISD's Lincoln High School is a local nightclub. I thought this pan shot would tell a great story in my movie. The only problem was that I wasn't willing to get out of my car to shoot the entire shot from one side of the street to the other. Once I arrived safely back home, I converted the clips using my free download of DivX and got to work with MovieMaker. I worked with what I had, edited as well as I could, and was overall thrilled and excited about how the clips were coming together. Although I'm very happy with my movie, I do wish I would have felt comfortable shooting the video outside the confines of the car. So, this is where my worry comes in regarding my assignment. I didn't complete each of the four requirements, however for Dallas Children's Network, I think my movie tells a good story, and one I want others to know.

I knew how to switch it on and press record....

Sure, I've got two children and I have recorded various memories of them with our digital camera, but I simply turned it on and pressed record. My husband also usually confiscates the camera often because he attaches it to his race car and then comes home and studies the lines at the track. Therefore, he usually downloads, stores, and deals with all of the videos. I consider him very tech savvy, and I'm quick to pick up the phone or call him to deal with my computer problems. He's also a professor of finance at SMU, and has been integrating multimedia projects into his classes since we lived in Bloomington, Indiana almost 8 years ago. So, I usually trust him when he has technology advice.

I had all the knowledge I needed to shoot clips for the two assignments we were given. I got this part of the assignment finished, sat down to download the files, found a hole in my computer where the chip would fit and transferred the clips easily. I viewed the clips and they looked great. I opened MovieMaker, and this is where my problems began. Every time I attempted to import the video I received a horrible error. I did some Internet searching found out I needed a codec to turn my mod files into avi files. At this point I decided to call my husband to see if he had experienced the same situation. His answer was, "I hate to tell you this, but I've spent days and weeks working on this same problem, and I have never been able to download the video into MovieMaker." My spirits dropped, I asked him if he had ever tried DivX, and I thought to myself, I'll give at least one converter a shot and then I will give up. After a quick download, I was converting files within 10 minutes. Hahaha, I did it. I was so pumped and excited, to be honest. I had mastered a technology problem and felt quite empowered. I spent the next 5 hours converting files. It was very tedious, but I was able to get it done. Now my first assignment is complete and I'm ready to work with my clips for DCN's website.

P.S. If you are wondering if I called my husband back to rub it in that I was able to convert files he had tried for weeks to do......of course I did.

Animation Continued and Audio Software

After working through Alice, the animations program I discussed in my previous post, I was feeling overly confident and decided to download a free trial of Adobe After Effects CS4. Let's just say I should have stopped with Alice while my confidence was still in tact. CS4 was incredibly difficult. I found a few online tutorials, but I still struggled to make much sense of the software program. Therefore, for now I have put this program to the side.

To compensate for my inability to navigate CS4, I downloaded and successfully used Audacity within minutes of it opening. I recorded my son's voice, and we had a great time speeding up his recording, slowing it down, creating an echo effect, changing the pitch, and changing the tempo. Additionally, I was able to record a few sentences for my PowerPoint animation and insert the WAV files successfully. I was very happy with the quality and editing my voice was easy to do. Audacity is a great free download.