This is truely Epic!... Epic Productions that is!

As expected we would be working on the project last minute. Everyone is busy with final projects and finals week only around the corner. Tell you the truth I still don’t know the exact amount of how many people are in our group. Is it 15 or 16? I personally think the group should have been kept to a smaller size. With such a big group of diverse people on their own agendas it’s hard to communicate and organize productive meetings. I know it’s a lot of work but I still don’t know a few people’s names or what they have done. I still think the project would have turned out fine with fewer people in the group. Lame, I was hoping to get to know the group so there could be the possibility of future collaboration. This was when I thought it would be a good idea to come up with a production company’s name.

Before I start anything else I just have to give a big shout out to Sami Redmond for being the main director of this group. She took on a great role and did what she could to organize this great idea of a project. It’s truly hard to lead a big group of 16 students so thank you for taking on the role.

Throughout the course of this project I filmed and edited Ann Robinson and Pamela Cytrynbaum. We took them both into the KBVR studio A and prepared them with microphones and lights. Both of the interviews went great but at the time I wasn’t sure how exactly everyone else in the group filmed theirs. Did they ask the same questions? Did we get the right content? Do we have the right camera shots? This was an early error we hit as some of our videos varied in content, lighting, and camera angles. As a group we should have discussed more in depth what everyone should try to achieve from their interviews. Aside from this I still think we gathered an appropriate amount of material I just wish it would have been a bit more organized.

The Hoveland computer lab was the place to be as the group was seeking out completion of the project. At the lab I edited down footage from Robinson and Cytrynbaums interviews. We needed to break them down into quotes that we could put in the final product. We also had a bunch of voice over without any content to support it so we needed b roll which is extra footage that is intercut with an interview. I organized the entire b roll that we had for Brock Ameele who was the chief editor of the footage. I personally think we should have video recorded EVERYTHING rather than just some interviews all interviews and even behind the scenes work we did at the lab. Something interesting that I discovered in the search of b roll was the discovery of on screen recording, which allows you to record and area on your computer screen. This is great material to include with the voiceovers so I created one for getting to the NMC web page, KBVR TV, KBVR FM, and the Barometer.

I honestly feel like I spent a great amount of time working on this project figuring out how to record what’s on your screen takes a little bit longer than you think. Then trying to match up what is being said with what should be shown on the screen. Doing the filming for the interviews was great fun I am already familiar with most of the equipment in the studio so we were able to get everything set up quick and then torn down quick and out of there at a decent time. With the editing I just edited little clips that could be thrown into the video. I feel like I had a voice in the creation of the run sheet with what we should do and where it should go but I also feel like I would have made a more in detail run sheet including transitions, audio tracks, and overall organization of the film. With being a producer already I wanted to give others in the group a chance to get their hands dirty with some production so I really tried to be a utility for what anyone may need or need help with.

Overall I feel this production was like a roller coaster as it was my first time working in a big diverse 16 person group. It was crazy at times and it was awesome at times with a great breakthrough in the project. I personally think Cytrynbaum is going to have a great jaw dropping expression on her face after she sees the final product. Lastly I hope it is something that carries on through the College of Liberal Arts and does actually get shown at START. Let it be known that New Media Communications is here and here to stay!