Maker Term 1 Reflection Post

This term is almost over, and there has been a lot of stuff we’ve done, especially in Maker class. That’s why I’m reflecting on all the videos we’ve done in Maker so far, which there are ten of! I’m also going to be reflecting on the core competencies throughout this post, and I’ll be providing evidence as to how I think I did. But, let’s start out with the videos themselves! The first video we did this term was the 4 shot film. This video was a bit of a refresher for me, as I hadn’t made any videos for a long time, and was starting to get a little rusty. For this video were put into a group, and told we could make a video about anything we wanted, but it had to only use four different camera angles. My group decided we wanted to do a creepy video, although I’ll let you decide if that was actually the case. There is also kind of a comedic element to it, but you’ll have to watch the video to find out what it is.

The main challenge of this video was getting the room set up, as it had to be dark, which only really involved turning off the lights, but we also had to have no background noise, which took a bit to actually get. Overall, I think this video turned out how we imagined, and was pretty nice for only four shots. Moving on to the next video, this one was called the ghost town video. It was actually the first video we did on our Alberta trip, and took place in the ghost town in three valley gap. We were put into groups, and I was put with Thomas, Malaika, and Meg. Obviously we had to do a film about the Wild West, as there were saloons, banks, everything! However, this video could have no audio in it other than music. And with the four shot film, all we wrote out was our basic idea, but with this video we had to do a screenplay and a storyboard. One of the main challenges of this video was the time restraint. We only had so much time in the ghost town, so we had to film every scene fast. Despite this, we still got every shot we needed, and here is the final video:

In my opinion, the video was pretty good, and went exactly how we planned it to (which is a good thing). This video helped re-educate me on the planning that comes before the video, and it all paid off in the end. The video was entertaining, silent, and a success. The next video we did was also from our Alberta trip, and it was all about Drumheller. If you don’t know about Drumheller, it’s a part of the badlands in Alberta we’re they have found tons of dinosaur bones. They have a museum there as well, and that was the topic of our video, a two minute documentary on some of the things in the museum. The first part was about us discussing one of the exhibits, and the second was an interview with someone about the museum, Drumheller, and dinosaurs. Same as the last video, time was a huge problem in this video, which is why the video maybe isn’t as good as what I would have liked it to be, but regardless, here’s the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPOxr25zdfM&list=UUqJcEm84M1KCsxoCAYY-VfA&index=1

Like I said, the quality isn’t the best, but we were under a time limit, and I think this video helped teach me how to come up wth ideas and execute them quickly. The next video was the final video we did in Alberta, and it was much bigger than the previous two. The Alberta people video was a project in of itself, and the culmination of our efforts in Alberta. It deserves its own blog post, which is why it has one! You should definitely read the blog post, as it gives a really detailed explanation, but if you want a shortened version, I’ll explain it again now. Basically, we had to make a video that shows how a certain group of people have changed over time. The group of people I did was the First Nations, and there were a lot of things required in this video. I started out by having to do a bunch of research, and then had to get an interview and a much footage of First Nations art and nature itself before we left Alberta. Then I had to put it all together in iMovie with the help of several other programs to get my final product:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaAQxyKMA7s&list=UUqJcEm84M1KCsxoCAYY-VfA&index=7

Overall, I think it turned out pretty well and definitely answered the driving question of the project, but what I learned from a video skills standpoint was much different. I think this project really taught me about interviews and filming in the field, and reinstate the importance of planning ahead what you will shoot when you have a limited amount of time, and just planning in general. The next video also has a blog post on it, which explains it in much more detail than I will here, and I definitely recommend checking it out. The project that I’m talking about the running a remake project. The premise of the project was that we had to remake a horror short film called Run with the tools at our disposal. I was put into a group with Thomas and Liam, and the project ultimately began with a storyboard and screenplay in the planning part of the project. We also made a call sheet so that we would know when to meet to film it. We did our first draft, and here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0b1uA9kXcw&list=UUqJcEm84M1KCsxoCAYY-VfA&index=6

Not bad right? Well, wrong, after feedback we found we had a LOT to revise, so we set out to do our second draft. This draft was better in terms of the camera angles and timing, but since this time we had to make the sound ourselves, which we didn’t realize in the first draft, it was kind of a downgrade, but we had a due date, and after messing with the audio for two hours straight I think I got it to the best it would get.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvyOztzKUfY&list=UUqJcEm84M1KCsxoCAYY-VfA&index=5

Overall, I think we did alright on the final video, because although the actual video is good, the audio was kind of disappointing. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a learning experience, and it really helped give me a better understanding of how to use and replicate camera angles, as well as give me a lot more experience in GarageBand. The next video(s) are actually all part of the same project, which I explain more in my blog post about it, which I recommend reading if you have the time. For this project I was put in a group with Noah, Kaia, and Rhiann. This project was all about revolutions, and we had to do a video on the French, American, and Russian revolutions, as well as another revolution of our choice, which could be a repeat. There were several video types to choose from, song, explain everything, heritage minute, and John Green. After doing research on the French Revolution, we decided to do a song. We made a storyboard and screenplay, and then worked on the lyrics. We decided to put in a part in French as well, because it’s the French Revolution. The hardest part was pretty much just writing the lyrics, so after getting all the lyrics, and the music itself, we actually recorded everything. Then we finished editing, and here is our song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZXIHVDGRrE

It might have been good if it weren’t for a couple major flaws. 1. Being inconsistent audio, which resulted in many of are lyrics being unintelligible, and 2. We didn’t put subtitles on the French part. These two flaws really downgraded the quality of the song, so I guess I learned that I should actually watch what we make before we upload it, and that subtitles are generally a good idea. Moving on to the next video, we had the American revolution. We decided to do this one John Green style, but before we started the video, we had to finish a screenplay and storyboard. This video required a lot of research, which was a major part of the video, and animations were also a challenge. The actual physical filming wasn’t too hard to do, as it was pretty much just Rhiann talking the whole time. But after we merged it all together through the power of editing, we had our video:

I personally think this video turned out pretty well, and did a good job of explaining the revolution and it’s parts. The animations also turned out well, which is good because our group struggled with them for a bit. Anyways, next video, and next revolution, and next research! The next revolution being the Russian revolution, and the type of video being the heritage minute, and the research being a bunch of research. We did the usual storyboard and screenplay, which took longer than for the previous videos because we had to plan out all the acting and scenes. Costume was actually a part of the video, so we had to organize who would bring that as well. Then we got around to actually filming which took a while, not because it was hard to do, just because we had a lot of shots to take. Anyways, an eternity of applying and removing fake moustaches, and a bunch of editing, we finished our video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvBRq_DjMAc

I though this one was really good, better than the last two revolution videos we did at the very least. I just thought it did a really good job of explaining the Russian revolution, and had good scenes to showcase important moments. While making this video, we didn’t really have any problems either, our biggest concern was our due date. Moving on to the next, and final, revolution video, we decided to have another round at a song for the French Revolution. We start out with the screenplay and storyboard, but didn’t have to do as much research this time around because we already had done research the first time we did it. We still had to write new lyrics though, which took a while to do, and we tried to put more information about the revolution this time around. While not particularly challenging, like I said, it took a while to do. There were also drawing that needed to be done which also took a while. Because of the time these tasks were taking up, we barely managed to finish editing in time of the due date, but we still got in our finished song.

This was basically our first French Revolution song, just better in every way. We basically took everything we had learned from the first video and put it to good use. There was no more weird audio, and the lyrics told more about the revolution itself. There was no need for subtitles in this one, as we axed the French part because we realized we didn’t like it. The main challenge to creating this was getting it in on time, and although my singing skills did not improve, my ability to work fast certainly did. That was it for the Revolutions project, but we still had one more video left in the term. That video was the take your kid to work day video, which I actually have a blog post about. You should give that a read, but if you can’t, I’ll give you the rundown. We had take your kid to work day, and we had to make a video about our experience and what we learned, and how the jobs at wherever the place is at give back to the community. I won’t talk about too much what actually happened at take your kid to work day, I have a post for that, but I will explain my video. First things first, we obviously could only film on the day we where there, which added a bit of pressure to get all the shots I needed. I also had to conduct an interview in the time I had to film, and I didn’t have a mic or anything, but I used what I had. After getting the footage I needed, I edited it later, and finished my video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5saL-m4zG_g&list=UUqJcEm84M1KCsxoCAYY-VfA&index=2

It turned out well for what it was supposed to be, and I think the main challenge was actually getting everything filmed on time, and iMovie breaking, although the project did help me refresh my interview skills. So, know that we’ve gone through all the videos, it’s time to talk about the competencies.

For the first competency, I think I have demonstrated it in pretty much every video I did, as I used technology in every one of them, which has helped bring me forward in demonstrating the other competencies. For Knowledge Constructor, I think several of my videos have shown this competency, notably the revolutions videos, as me and my group used several different digital tools to make them into meaningful experiences that fulfilled their role at the same time. For innovative designer, I think I have also demonstrated competency in several of my video, most prominent among them being the run final draft, were I used like five different apps, and bizarre combinations of screen recordings and GarageBand to try and fix the audio, and surprisingly some of them actually worked. For the computational thinker competency, I think I displayed it prominently in again the run remake final draft, as I developed many strategies to try and fix the many problems, and tested them all with digital tools to see if they would work, some of which did, and some of which didn’t. And for the final milestone, creative communicator, I believe I have proven myself competent and shown it in many of my videos, one of them being my Alberta field school video, as I used many different tools and platforms to express myself creatively in my final product. I think that’s about everything covering my first maker term this year, I now this post was a biggie, so thanks for sticking around until the end!