Requirements for Podcast #4

It’s hard to believe that we’ve hit that point in the semester, but you are closing in on the final podcast for the course. The podcast is due by 8:50 on Tuesday April 10. As you may recall, Podcast #4 is a presentation about your term paper or final project. I expect your research to be largely, if not fully, complete by the time you put together your presentation. The presentation should be 7-10 minutes long and should include the use of graphics/slides to help make your point. The project is comparable to a short conference presentation—it will need to include an introduction and a conclusion. Make sure the viewer gets the key points about your research/project. If you are presenting a paper/proposal, you will need to include a brief literature review—this should not be exhaustive, just hit the highlights (key works). For those presenting a proposal, make sure you discuss how/when you might implement the research. If you are presenting about your project, you will need to discuss the project, its purpose, its structure, and how it was/is being produced. You should also address who the audience is, how the project will be used, and what you have learned/are learning in the process of developing it. This should not be a rough draft of the project. Please pay attention to jump cuts and stray clips when you are editing. This is last podcast, make it good.

I would like to see a draft of the paper or project for April 17th so that I can provide you feedback on the 24th and give you time to implement it by the final due date of May 1. Don’t forget that you need to leave feedback for all of your classmates this time. You will need to leave feedback by the beginning of class on April 24th.

I will be here on the 10th, class is optional, turning the assignment in, however, is not. I will not be here on the 17th. Feel free to meet and discuss without me if you like (or not).

See you in class.

Exporting Video in iMovie 5 (at the library)

Several of you have tried editing at the library with what could only be called limited success. The version of iMovie at the library is iMovie 5. You may want to look at Atomic Learning (see the syllabus) for help files. To share (export) a file for YouTube the way we have been doing in class do the following:

File | Share

Select QuickTime from the icons and select "Expert Setting" from the "Compress movie for" menu. 

Click "Share"

Select where you want your movie to go and the title.

In the "Export" section, select "Movie to MPEG-4"

(you may be able to skip this next part) 

I usually also click on the options button and set the video size to 320x240 QVGA--you may not need to do that. If you want to drop your file size a bit, you can go into the audio section in options and set your audio to "mono." This puts your voice on both the left and right channels when you export. Click "Okay" when you are done.

(end optional settings)

Click save.

I am also checking to see if we can get iMovie 6 on a couple of systems, but this will help with the export issues.

UPDATE: The workstations in the animation lab have iMovie 6 (the version we are using in the lab). They also have 30" monitors--way cool. There should not be a problem editing in those rooms. 

Copyright and New Media

This week's readings deal with the issue of copyright, video, and new media. First, an older article looking at how copyright laws are being used (you'll find this one in your email). Second, an article from the most recent issue of Wired, which questions Hollywood's use of DRM. Next, an article from the New York Times, beginning "A winner has finally been declared in Hollywood's high-definition DVD war. So why isn't there more cheering?" I'd also like you take a look at two very different views on the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and video, one from the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) and one from the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation). I've kept the readings short this week as they were posted later than I had planned. For the reading response, tell me what you took away from these readings. Did anything surprise you or cause you to rethink your opinion on copyright and copyright enforcement?

If you are interested in how to embed QuickTime, please check an addition I have made to last week's post.