Hello World

We learned HTML basics today, thanks to our colleague Phillip! He explained to us quite clearly what is an html because, even though I know it's a vital tool for web development, I had no idea what it was... now it's pretty much understandable... I just don't know how I would be able to use it in my DVD...

BUT

Thanks to Bieke, who showed us what our DVDrom would look like if we use html to program it, I now have an idea of what to do... my only problem now is, I have to rethink the structure of the DVD because I initially thought that I'd would only be showing powerpoint presentations, but with my new found knowledge of html, I think its more practical to use Flash or html as lecture presentations.  

Right now, what I'm doing is determining the text items and the animations that I would be doing for the course I'm teaching.  And... I'm also redoing my list... because now, everything has changed.

In a good way...

What rules my life

But first, what we did today

...was present a 'storyboard' of our individual project. I took on a more general perspective of what I wanted to do, so I did a mock up on how I'd like my DVD to look like, or at least an idea of what I wanted to do.

Rudi, Sandy and Bieke were there to enlighten us, advice us and they have also suggested ways of improving our individual projects.  I found their comments, suggestions and advice very helpful because there were some things I forget to think of , or simply miss.  I know what I want now, it's a DVD rom (but if it would fit in a CD that would be great).  I had initially thought that I would produce a DVD that would both run on a standard dvd player and computer... I didn't know any better then. So now I know! Thanks to Rudi, Sandy and Bieke!

The List

I'm an obsessive "lister".   I make lists... it is always the first step in doing everything that needs to be done.  Today, I crossed out 3 items off my To Do List:

X     DVD map (the chart/map of the DVD content)

X     Course Timetable

X     Inventory of Learning Materials

... and I have a lot more to do before I draw the last line on my list.  But as of tomorrow, what I would be working on is doing another To Do list (for the week) of the powerpoint presentations I would have to improve on. After that, I move to the next item, and that is to organize the files into one folder (with proper names and tags). My target for this week is to have at least 50% completion of the content folder. If I do that, I'd have crossed off 5 items easy off the list... and doing that action gives me some sense of accomplishment. It's a good feeling.  

I highly recommend it.

 

T.G.I.F.

I love fridays, it's full of possibilities and potentials... of FUN! Its a mindset I always have whenever the weekend arrives so even if we don't have any weekend plans, I can't help the feeling of euphoria.

Today though, I did my work in my room.  I already started it there so it was impossible to remove the post-its and my other junk from one place to another.  My chaotic arrangement makes my mind logically capable of organizing my materials so I spent the day mapping the content of my interactive DVD.

My individual project

So I decided to focus on the SFFG 20 (Social Forestry and Forest Governance 20: Communication Skills for Forestry Technicians) because I want to update it and integrate the uses of new media in its instruction.  

What I've accomplished so far is drafting the content of the DVD, making an inventory of what I have and what I should have (presentations, pictures etc.) and distributing the lessons/modules to the class days. 

My To Do's include: editing/finalizing the content, improving some of my powerpoint presentations, encode the unwritten (handwritten) exercises and activities and many many more! I'm glad it's clear to me what I should do, my only problem is, I've started doing each of them, and I'm confused as to what I should do next...

Solution: make a priority list--that's my task for tomorrow. Till then!

The Midweek

What happened in Wednesday...

Sandy was our teacher for the day.  She taught us how to make a bouncing ball!

After perfecting the bouncing ball, I thought of so many things I can do with my newfound animation skill... Hmmm... I attempted to make a ball fall on a puddle (it didn't work out), I tried to make a rolling eyeball (it reminded me of the Felix the Cat clock that creeped me out so I didn't save it).  Finally, I thought about making it bounce sideways, here's the result:

I did the "pass" by searching Google on how to add motion guides, and followed it step by step...it took me a long time! I wanted to make the bouncing ball text a button, that makes the other ball fall when clicked... but I didn't know how to do that yet.

Animations are eye catching, and I would really like to make my teaching portfolio full of interactivity using Flash.  But knowing the amount of work and time involved in making them, I can settle for keeping it simple (and elegant)... you know what they say... less is more.

Thursday.

Today, Sander taught us how to make a Flash video with a talking head--complete with slide sync and buttons. I learned that if I want to make more tricky things with Flash, I'd have to extend my tutorial reading list with Actionscript articles. The thing with this programming language is that always remember what files you named your files and what folders they are saved in.  I learned the hard way that items in the actionscript must correspond exactly to the files you want to animate or put in the flash video. We all learned that the hard way I guess.  But the good thing is, if we can practice it, one day it wouldn't be as hard. Right. (Yes)

Tuesday Starter...

What we did yesterday...

We started the week off by stating our individual projects.  I decided to focus on stabilizing my instructional materials by developing my very own teaching portfolio.  It's hard and tedious work because I have to compile and organize a semester's worth 

of lectures and exercises, but since I have some materials here with me, I can start composing and structuring it piecemeal.  Starting with my SFFG 20 course, I hope to make an interactive DVD that will facilitate the teaching of the course, accompanied by a Manual and Online Learning support for students.

It sounds hard and difficult...ambitious, would be the right term... but if I can start doing it, I'm already a step closer to realizing it, ain't I?  Anyway, my problem is... where to start???

Today.

I loved what I learned today! Storyboarding and making shotlists

are not entirely new to me because I'm so fond of watching DVD extras (Director's interviews and commentaries) and seeing "The Making of..." featurettes.  But now, I'm beginning to understand the process of creation and imagination... and I have to say, it's really hard work.

Visualization is a frequently unused talent of mine, but I really exhausted mine today. I worked and thought real hard when making the Shotlist exercise because I can't make up my mind on a scene that works.  In the end I was quite satisfied with what I did, but I knew that it wasn't perfect.  Usually I don't give up that easily, but I was really curious about what mistakes Kristof would point out to me and tell me how he would do it.  I like learning from other people because it enables me to see another perspective, one that I've missed or ignored.

What Made My Day Today

I had RICE for dinner!  I've been craving to eat hot rice for two weeks now which means I've been curbing my desire that long. I've gone on a no-carb diet before, forsaking rice at lunch and dinner but I can only last 4 days max without rice.  So I settled for the low-carb diet instead, where rice was a staple.

Thanks so much ALMA for making my dreams come true. I will sleep soundly tonight, and will have a great day tomorrow...

On Video Production: Compression

What you're seeing here is the output of our compression exercise.  We were able to compress this file in a 60:1 ratio, from 112.9 Mb to 16 Mb.  The original format is in .mov (quicktime) and then we converted it to its .mpg version.  

What I learned during this exercise was that there are so many ways of distributing video on the net, and that there are specific solutions for different intentions and contexts. We tried uploading this video in youtube... but somehow I can't find it there... So I just posted it here!

On Video Production: Editing

We started editing our video recording today.  It was good that Kristof was very patient with us.  He helped us bring fluidity in our video...

We made many mistakes during filming! But like Pina said, we need those mistakes so that we could learn.  Seeing what we did wrong now makes us remember what we should do so that in editing, we get the right shots.  

It was really difficult to combine uncomfortably looking clips.  At first I thought, "Oh no! We'd have to do a retake!" But fortunately, Kristof taught us some tips and tricks that could save our project.  So what we did was to insert fades in between shots of clips with the same angles.  It made it look like some time passed in between and we were only taking the important and interesting ones... but it works for me.

What I learned today, and what I'll always remember to do is that details are very important.  They will guide us in making the right cuts and pastes (marks) in editing.  It's also strategic to edit points between motion (but be careful about details) because the transition is guided accordingly.  

Boy, we really learned something today!

Next time we'll be better.