VideoAssignments1159 – Assignment Bank

A Conflict of Self-Interest

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Lately it seems there’s no way for me to have any free-time to do something that I want to do. Of course, I do want to learn things in school, as well as write this novel, but I also want to play video games! I bought Undertale at the beginning of this week, and I haven’t even gotten a chance to even open it. To even look at the main menu. Anything!

I’m always berating myself, no matter what I’m doing. “Oh, you’re writing? You should be doing homework” and “Oh, you’re doing homework? You haven’t finished today’s word count” always go through my mind. It’s also accompanied by this constant need to play video games. I’m basically a Sim with the “gamer” trait, constantly tense from not being able to play games.

But, alas, school comes first. And for the required assignment this week, we had to make a film of us talking to ourselves. This was probably the most stressful assignment I have ever encountered, because, as a PC user who doesn’t make videos often, I had no way of completing the assignment the way it was suggested we do it. I have Windows Movie Maker and no green screen; there was no way I was going to create a masterpiece with the equipment I had. Oh, I tried, but it was not going to work.

So instead, we went the good ol’ route of films from before we had special effects and green screens! Cutting back and forth between myself and myself, filming little scenes separately. I tried to increase the difficulty for myself, adding in that part at the end where the camera cuts back and forth and I’m arguing with myself. But we’ll go into how I did that now.

Process:

So, I began by making a small script and then filming each part (by holding the camera in my hand). I then added all of those little videos into Windows Movie Maker, cut them up, and rearranged them into the correct place. I also did further editing to each clip, when there was excess silence around dialogue, so that it didn’t seem so odd.

Then came the difficult part of the back-and-forth fight scene. This required me to extract the audio from the specific clips, using Audio-Extracter.net. I then took these two audio clips, put them into Audacity, cut out any of the parts I didn’t need, and exported it.

Then I muted the audio of the scenes in Windows Movie Maker, put the new audio in, and deleted several inbetween scenes, so that the video and audio would kind of sync up.

Then I just added the title and credits, and that was it.

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True Life: Every College Senior

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“Talking to Yourself!”

This was the “required” assignment for this week, and for this video, we had to record a video of us talking to ourselves or singing all the parts of a song. I do not sing, so that left me with the option of having a conversation with myself. I tried for a solid two hours and searched all over google to try and figure out how to do green screen with movie maker so that I could do a video like the one in the example. It did. not. work. I was forced to settle with the option of making it look as though I was filming two people at different points in the room instead of two people next to one another. I still think the effect came out well, but it isn’t what I had originally wanted.

I used my Iphone to record myself saying each line and then uploaded it to my laptop so I could work on movie maker. I used the split feature to split up and trim the video there since it’s a pain to do it on my phone itself. It was also easier than recording tons of little videos. I recently got over an infection that kept me home for over a week and landed me in the ER several times, and while I’m finally feeling better, finding the motivation to get caught up on work has been very challenging. I used that as the basis for my conversation as I’m sure a lot of people find themselves struggling to get work done at this point in the game, sick or not.

Once all the videos were uploaded, I needed to splice them and put them in order. To do that, I used the split tool and removed the extra bits of clip that weren’t necessary.

I ordered them in the way that I wanted and ran through to make sure there were no awkward points or breaks. Once I had it the way I wanted it, I added in a title and credit page to the beginning and end. I also used the effects option to make the title page a bit more interesting.

From there, I saved the movie and saved it to my desktop. I then logged into YouTube and uploaded it, copied the code, and embedded it above. Enjoy!

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Have a Convo: Gossip Mirandas

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Have a Conversation with Yourself: Have a conversation with yourself! Film yourself talking, then change clothes, hair styles, etc and then film the other half of the convo. Edit this in any movie editor program (I used Pinnacle movie maker) To overlap the two scenes so that you are talking to yourself! Play around, to figure out the most efficient way! Also, timing is everything in this! Make sure when talking to leave breaks for your other self to respond! (5 stars).

For this assignment, we needed to talk to ourselves using video. This was interesting because you have to record yourself talking, and then change it up by talking back to yourself.

I first used Photo Booth, which is an application on my computer, to record myself easily (twice). I wrote a script for each “person” and said my part while trying to create space with pauses. I changed my hair and my clothes so we would look a little different!!

I then dragged both videos into iMovie. I clipped each part how I wanted them, and then dragged totem into my timeline. I switched each character so I would literally be talking to myself! I added a title page and a credit page to the timeline. I also changed up the video by making it black and white. I thought this added to the “talking to myself” feel of the assignment so it would look like we were in the same room conversing on a couch. I did this by clicking “Adjust” on the top. Then I clicked the color palette, and I dragged the second bar to the left where it was darker.

Here is a clip of my work. The timeline I am discussing is at the bottom:

When I read this assignment, I thought of girls gossiping to each other. I thought it would be funny to have myself gossip with myself. So, my script contains a gossip story about a girl I know named Charlotte. I continue to talk about her bad day, but in the end, both characters want to help her out.

I liked doing this assignment. It was a little different to watch back because once I finished editing the video, it actually ended up seeming like I was talking to myself.

–SALTY SKINN

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Spooksy Goes To The Bathroom (VideoAssignments1159 5 Stars)

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When I started writing the script for this assignment, I was having a conversation with myself, like the assignment intended. When thinking about the challenges associated with the filming I said to myself, it would be easier if I had my girlfriend read one part, why didn’t I think of that before? I wrote the rest of the script, filmed it, and then looked back at the assignment and realized… I made a mistake, because I was supposed to play both parts. But… the video was really good. The story was good, the feeling the video had was good, and it really worked the way I made it. So I’m left with a choice, do I submit something that really isn’t even the assignment anymore, but is in itself a better story? Or do I re-film it and turn in something that’s more technically accurate, but of a lesser quality? I’m putting myself out on a limb here, and betting on the story. Technically, this is not what the assignment was, but I think it’s better for it. I said in one of my earlier posts I don’t want to directly associate Spooksy with the horrible things he does yet because I want him to be likable. Once we see him hurting someone, that goes out the window. I think one of the scariest things about him is you could see yourself hanging out with him, even though he’s a monster. Because of that, I wanted him to get a little more creepy, and elude more to his bad side, without ever quite making it real to the audience. I set out to make this lovable funny Spooksy, but also very unsettling and creepy. I wanted to elude to some behind the scenes things he has going on that motivate him to be who he is. I wanted to do all that, but still have you think he’d be fun to hang out with. I think that’s very much what I’m turning in.

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Why you talking to yourself Margaret?

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For this assignment we had to record ourselves having a conversation with myself; http://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/have-a-conversation-with-yourself/. I did this by recording myself in two different outfits on IMovie. After I got the recordings I put them together to flow together and make a conversation .

I did this assignment because who doesn’t want to have a conversation with themselves? I mean come on but I was having a discussion about the latest lose in my life with my second husband passing away. When are they going to learn? Thats all i want to know, well i guess I won’t know anytime soon. Oh well. I guess I am not called the Black Widow for no reason..

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The Voice in My Head that Keeps Me Going

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Everyone has their own little voice in their head that motivates them or un-motivates them. It’s why some people are more productive than others. This is what a typical day at work in my head sounds like. I have to keep pushing forward. And more importantly remember why. The voice in my head that motivates me is in green, while my actual self is in the lab coat. I edited these two parts of me to share with you in iMovie and added effects to make a clear distinction. This falls under the conversation with yourself video assignment

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A Conscience Fight

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Here is a video depicting one of my internal struggles. It is a conversation with myself. I made this video by following this tutorial. It’s worth 5 stars. I hope you can understand why I have this struggle, and why I can’t stop what I’m doing.

This video is a verbalization of a internal conversation that Edie has with her self. It is her subconscious feeling badly about what she’s done but also her knowing why she had to do it.

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Damon catches up with himself

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I caught up with myself this evening. Lately I’ve been feeling conflicted, as thought I’m not even able to speak to myself. I’m trying to work out everything that’s going on, but if I can’t even admit the truth to myself, how can I continue on?

Ever since Bev told me all that information, I’ve just felt confused — conflicted even. I’m not sure where to go next. I’ve always been on the run, but never quite so literally. Bev has really invaded my life, and the worse thing of all is that I never know when she’s going to show up.

I don’t know why I’m sharing this.. I guess since I couldn’t speak to myself I had to speak to someone.

This assignment was a lot of fun, and I knew immediately that it would work perfectly for my character. Damon is definitely conflicted, so the idea of him having a conversation with himself was the perfect opportunity to get inside his head and take a closer look at the confusion and fear that exists there.

Creating this video was not incredibly easy (I mean, it was a 5 star assignment!), but luckily I think I’ve really learned since my videos last week and I’m really starting to get a better feel of editing and playing with video.

I recorded each “Damon” separately, pausing between dialogue in order to give me ample editing room. I then placed the clips into iMovie, did some cutting and pasting, and threw on a black-and-white filter for some noir aesthetic. Honestly, the transitions could be smoother, but that’s something I’m working on figuring out, and for this scene at least I think the jumps work because it’s fairly representative of my character’s consciousness.

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Talking to Myself

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This video assignment can be found here: http://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/have-a-conversation-with-yourself/

I am not a big fan of this video but I needed it to complete the assignment. In this scene, I am basically just talking to myself about fake problems I have about a fake girl and I continually tell myself that I can do better.

Process:

I needed to film myself talking multiple times for each clone, so I filmed two separate videos, one for the first clone and another for the second clone. For a more efficient work flow, I said all of the lines for each clone in one take for both shots. Using Sony Vegas, I masked one video over another through layers and it resulted in two of me as seen in the video.

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The Dangers of Undiagnosed Schizophrenia

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For my final assignment this week, I wanted to get a bit creative. I chose to have a conversation with myself for 5 points. I brought some wigs from home, and I was aching to put them to use. Looking through the character dossiers, I saw Sarah Mustard. Where had I seen this name before? Oh, that’s right.

I have a massive crush on her.

I was also able to do a video this week because #bestbae was visiting. He’s a huge film nerd and helped me troubleshoot. Without him, I ~~probably~~ definitely would have thrown my laptop out a window.

First, I wrote the script out. I wanted it to be funny, because noir is still a joke. Let’s be real. What’s a problem that Delia would go to a PI for? Missing food. More specifically- missing bananas. Oh the humanity. I just let my absurdity run amok here.

After that, I got dressed as Sarah Mustard. Neutral colors, practical cuts, dark hair, check check and check. Peter helped me shoot because I wasn’t about to have a video shot entirely in selfies. What is this, snapchat? We used my iPad because it had a decent camera and the ITCC was too far away to walk to. A whole quarter mile.

I changed into Delia and did that makeup. I had to change her hair a bit to make the character more distinguishable, but I think the short blond hair works too. It’s very femme fatale-y

We then uploaded all of these videos, and put them into iMovie. Editing was the biggest challenge here. The actual process isn’t very difficult- put clips in order for a rough cut, clip them, add music and sound effects, make everything look and sound good. I also put things in black and white. Peter showed me how to do b-roll, layer audio in videos, and generally make iMovie behave. He is credited as Best Bae. All of the audio came from iMovie (except my voice, of course).

This assignment was a pain. I don’t even know if I did it the way it was intended, but I like the film that resulted. It was a lot of work. Watching yourself act is pretty cringe-worthy. I’m glad I did it, though. I really like the end product, I think it looks good, sounds good, and has plenty of jokes.