Video Assignment

Return to the Silent Era – ds106 assignment worth 5 stars

The dawn of cinema had no audio; silent movies created an atmosphere with music and the use of cue cards. Take a 3-5 minute trailer of a modern movie and render it in the form os the silent era- convert to black and white, add effects to make it look antiquated, replace the audio with a musical sound track, and add title cards for the dialogue. As a prime example, see Silent Star Wars.

One of the best sources for music is Incompetech or the Internet Archive. For the title cards, try a google image search

This is one of the assignments that I chose to do the preparation work on in Week 10.  I found it was harder than I expected to find Moulin Rouge clips online – the copyright hounds have been hard at work for this movie.  I did, however, manage to find a great little scene from when Christian and Satine meet.  The scene and the conversation are both filled with complete confusion, and is definitely a classic from the film.  I love how the setting of the movie already creates a feel of the era that I’m trying to capture for this assignment – the silent film era.

For the music, I wanted something bouncy and old-timey and fun, to capture the feel of the scene.  I went to Incompetech as the assignment page suggested, and downloaded Betty McFaddin’s piano piece.

For the title cards, I did a google image search, also as suggested in the assignment description.  I scrolled through the images and selected the one I liked.  I saved it to my working file on my computer, and then went on to take a look at where the card came from.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Google had lead me to ds106′s own Michael Branson Smith‘s blog and Return to the Silent Era Assignment post!  I decided to stick with my choice, and send the appropriate nod of appreciation to the fellow ds106er in my blog and in my credits.

Next came the task of trying to figure out how to actually put this thing together.  I began doing research, and began to get frustrated with how much can be done with video on a Mac, and how little can be done on a PC.  Finally, I went to twitter, and browsed the #ds106 hashtag.  Eventually, I found that fellow ds106er Lauren had used Windows Live Movie Maker to make her silent era clip.

return to the silent era is DONE! check it out @cogdog #ds106: dontstrayaway.com/2012/11/12/sil…

— Lauren Strayhorn (@laurstray20) November 12, 2012

Thanks, Lauren!  I was literally about to give up on the project completely and start a new one, despite the prep work I’d done on this one.

So I downloaded Movie Maker (and opted out of all of the 5 million other programs it tried to give me ).  I had already shorted the YouTube clip (which I downloaded using the KeepVid KeepIt button I put on my browser toolbar), using MPEG Streamclip, to get just the parts I wanted.  I uploaded the music into the video, created a Title page and ending Credits, and uploaded the blank silent movie title card from Michael Branson, and copied and then pasted it a bunch of times so I could have it available each time I split the video.

I already had the script out, so I zoomed in on the clip and began hunting for the appropriate split moments, and inserted the blank title cards there.   I used Viner Hand IT font, just to be different and fun.  I also made the clip black and white, and changed the ratio to 4:3, because in one of the assignments I’d reviewed, I had read that this was standard of the silent movie era (I admit to having no idea whether it’s true or not, but it looked neat when I tried it, so I kept it).   I regretted not being able to do more to the clip to make it look old.  Stupid Windows.  But whatever.  Do what you can with what you’ve got, right?  Finally, I went through the final video and found the clips where there was only dancing and no talking.  These I sped up to 1.25x normal speed.  I was surprised to see how ridiculous it looked any faster than that, and pleased with 1.25x.

I had about 5,000 crashes of Windows Movie Maker while trying to make this.  I learned to save literally after every click.  ‘Select font, Ctrl+S, Type, Ctrl+S, Split, Ctrl+S…aaaaaaaaand crash.’  *sigh*  It was beyond frustrating.  Still, it deleted my credits with no explanation, and I had to redo things several times.

My husband never ceases to be amazed at the kind of craziness that happens with electronics when I come near.  But I knew going into this class that this was going to happen, and did it anyway.  So it’s my own fault.  I made it through, eventually.

And I think it turned out half decent, at least.    Not bad for a first go at this, anyway.

Title: Live Here!

Description: For this assignment I was asked to make a 90 second video about why my residence hall is the best place to live on campus.

Inspiration: After the description of this assignment I immediately thought about when I was a incoming freshman here at the University and I was trying to decide where to live. I wish there had been some sort of guide out there to help me decide on which dorm to live in! I didn’t know anything about the campus or the different themed living communities that they had on campus. This would have helped me so much and I think a lot of other students as well.

Process: For this assignment I recorded myself talking about my Iphone about the reasons to live in Eagle Landing. After recording myself I then uploaded my video on Youtube. After uploading it I downloaded it to my computer using WinX Youtube Downloader. I then opened the video into Windows Movie Maker, added some special effects, and title slide and credit slide. I used the Trim tool to do some editing and I added three visual effects to the movie (spin, wrap, and 3D ripple) to give it more substance. And Viola!

Example: There was only one previous example of this assignment done. Here is the link to that example:

Example 1

I felt that overall this example was not very effective at getting the story across. It honestly just reminded me of someone just documenting their day to day life. The video also didn’t really go by the directions of the assignment. First, the video was only supposed to be 90 seconds long and the girl lived off campus with her family (so it kind of really went against the purpose of the assignment). However, even ignoring all this she never really gives me any reason to want to come live at her house. She basically is just giving me a tour of her house.

My Video:

• Watching Movies with the Stereo on, in this assignment we had to mute the clip of a movie and add music to go along with the movie, here is the link. For some reason I was not able to look at any students work because they were not opening up for me but I was able to see the example provided and it was just of a war scene with fast paced music to go with the movie.
• I chose this assignment because I wanted to see what it is like to watch a movie with music playing and how the movie plays out. I love the movie Happy Feet and so I used it to complete this assignment.  It relates for me because Happy Feet is one of my favorite movies and the music I chose to go with it is one of todays hits.
•  I got a clip of the penguins dancing in Happy Feet off youtube and then used movie maker to add the audio. I used the song called Wobble and it goes with the movie because the penguins are wobbling. I was actually laughing after I was done with this video because they both go well together and its funny.
• I got the clip called fiesta of the penguins on youtube. Used movie maker to add the song in.
• Some people that I showed, the video made them laugh because the penguins are cute and they are wobbling so the song goes well.

• Return to the Silent Era, in this assignment we had to show a trailer and turn it to grayscale, make it olden day looking and lastly add music and sayings from the movie, and here is is the link. I watched the example given to us about Star Wars to get an idea of what I wanted to do.
• I chose this assignment because this was an opportunity to make something original. The back story of this is that I always wondered what peoples perspectives were of olden looking movies. Now a days these kind of movies are bringing back the film noir of back then.
• This is taking a modern day film and making it into a film of olden times. Its interesting because you really have to have a certain type of movie to make it seem realistic. as for mine I think its best as a modern day film. To make this movie known as a comedy I feel like the text had to be added. Of course the text is modern as well.
• I used youtube to find the movie trailer of Think like a Man. Then I also found the song Love on Top instrumental on youtube for the audio. I used Windows Movie Maker to put this whole assignment together. I added the effects of gray scale and old age to the movie. Lastly I added text where I wanted to put through out the video.
• I showed my roommates and they agreed that it looked good but it one thing they said is this movie Think like a Man should be kept in color.

• Cooking Show, this assignment consisted of making a recipe in steps to the end product, and here is the link. None of the other students work opened up for me to look at but I got my idea from watching the food network.
• I enjoy cooking and wanted to feel like a chef does on a show when they are being taped on video. Again I enjoy cooking. My inspiration come from cooking shows. Well now that I am in college I have to learn to cook so I can eat everyday and be healthy.
• In my cooking show I made homemade noodles with a homemade soup base. Using different ingredients. One thing i did different from most people is I did a lot of free hand in the amount of ingredients put into the meal where as most people have set amounts of what is supposed to be put in to make a meal.
• I used my friends iflip to video the steps to making my meal and then I used the iflip program to put the video together. I added a title and credits. I also added background music  that the iflip program has to make it more like a food show.
• Towards the end my roommates decided to be idiots and started yelling stupid thing and I did not know how to mute or cut it out. So that is the only thing I think needs to be figured out.

Title: Supercut It

Description: For this assignment I was asked to a supercut montage of overused dialogue, themes, motifs, filmmaking techniques, etc. for a particular character, tv show, film, and/or public figure. A supercut is basically a fast-paced montage of short video clips that obsessively isolates a single element from its source, usually a word, phrase, or cliche from film and TV.

Inspiration: I thought that this assignment would be fun and a bit challenging after I saw it in the Assignment Respiratory. I thought that this assignment would require me to go out of my normal comfort zone so I decided to just go for it. I decided to use ‘crying’ as my theme for this assignment.

Process: I went on Youtube and searched for a video that featured different crying scenes from an array of movies. Next I used the program Winx Youtube Downloader to download the video to my laptop so I could cut out the parts of it that I didn’t need. I accomplished this by using the tool Trim in Windows Movie Maker. Through this tool I was able to trim down to just the crying scenes. I then just saved the video and uploaded it to my Youtube account.

Example: Here are two previous examples of this project:

Jim Carrey

I Love You

I felt that overall they both got their message across in each of their videos. However, out of the two I felt that the first example was more effective since it was a bit longer.

My Video:

• That 70′s Show Circle, for this assignment we basically just had to talk about anything with a group of people and film there faces, and here is the link to the page. Nobody has done this assignment and the original does not load in youtube. As far as getting the assignment done I think I accomplished that, we started talking about a crazy topic and we just went from there.
• One of the reasons I chose this assignment is because no one has tried it so I thought I would give it a try. The back story behind this my friends and I always ask absurd things that they would do for a million dollars. I love 70′s show and it was cool to just sit around and talk about crazy stuff. We weren’t even high. I loved that fact that I can just have conversations like this with my friends.
• For the video I used an iflip to video it and then used a program to make into a a movie. As for the story behind this video we are just talking about a intense youtube video called two girls and one cup.
• I used my friends iflip and took a video of the whole conversation and then uploaded it to the iflip program to edit it. I did not add any title or anything because I wanted this video to seem like the person watching it was there too.
• I asked my suite-mates and other friends what they thought of the video and they all said it was hilarious. I loved how we could just sit around and come up with funny stuff to say on the spot.

Title: Product Review

Description: For this assignment I was asked to pick any item around my house that I either enjoy using, find helpful on a day-to-day basis, or even something that you own but don’t find worth the money you payed for it. After picking my item I was then asked to record myself giving a product review. I was asked to show how the item works, what it’s used for, what it’s features are, what you think of it, etc.

Inspiration: Before I buy any product I definitely try to find some sort of review on it! Whether the review comes from a friend, magazine, or internet source I could really care less! I think product reviews are a great asset to consumers world wide. It is a way for us to help one another spend our dollars correctly!

Process: For this assignment I just used my Web Cam on my computer and simply recorded myself giving a review on my earplugs. I then uploaded the video into my blog.

Example: Here are two links to previous examples of this assignment.

Example 1

Example 2

I felt that both of these videos got the point of this assignment across. They showed the item, explained how it worked, showed me how it worked, and told me how they felt about it. I loved how in the second example the alarm clock actually went off! That thing was super loud!

My Video:

Redub the Audio – 4 stars

Take a classic movie (or heck any movie you like), and rescript the audio of a key scene. You will want to re-write the lines to change the meaning or intent of the scene, delete the original audio, and record your own (this can be done many ways, voiceover in iMovie, recording the audio and editing the track in any other movie editor). For my example, I took Howard Beale’s on camera rampage from “Network”, and changed it to a diatribe on being bored in school.

This is one of the assignments that I had done preparations for in Week 10.  I had settled on the Miracle Max scene in The Princess Bride.  In particular, I always loved how the scene where Miracle Max and his witch-I mean his wife are arguing.  They go at it like mad, but are smiling together by the end.  The producers of The Princess Bride managed to capture the feel of an every-day married couple arguing, in such an odd setting as Miracle Max’s cottage in the make-believe world of the Gilda and Florin.  So, I decided to redo the argument.  I wrote a script (I got to pick what my husband had to say for this argument…guess who wins!!;), and I recorded this with the help of my husband.  I edited the video clip in MPEG Streamclip, and recorded (and edited) the audio using Audacity.

After this, I took both exported clips back into Windows Live Movie Maker, adjusted the timing a bit, and published the video.

I figured the argument over the remote control was one of the most classic arguments, so that’s what I ultimately settled on.  I actually had to do some Wikipedia research to figure out what to talk about in regards to TV shows, since we don’t get cable or anything like that (and haven’t for years).  Still, I figured this was a good choice.  We don’t really argue, so I figured it was just as well to pick something we don’t even know anything about to argue over.   It may be evident how horrible we are at arguing (and acting) when listening to the redub, but overall, I think it fit pretty well, and hopefully it’s at least a little entertaining.

Still, nothing will ever beat ‘I’m not a witch, I’m your wife!’  And not even Gangdam Style can beat ‘Humperdink! HUMPERDINK!!!’  Honor and credit to those to whom it is due.  *humbled curtsey*

• Movies by Numbers, In this assignment we had to use a number and then things that are relevant to that number, and here is the link. Some students did the number 1 and added music and pictures that are relevant to that number.
• I chose this assignment because I think it is cool how certain numbers symbolized certain things. The number 7 is one of my favorite numbers and so this is why I chose it. I have experience with the number 7 with buying a lottery ticket and winning some money.
• The story behind the number 7 is that I used different clips that represent the number 7 for example the 7 wonders of the world, 7 deadly sins, 007, triple 7 etc. It was fun to find different pictures that represent the number.
• I used movie maker to make my video. I got all my clips from google images. I put the clips together in movie maker and added the instrumental of 007  as the background music.
• I showed some friends and it was amazing how somethings were brought to their attention of how the number 7 represents certain things.