Video Project Wrap Up

The video project that we made this semester was enjoyable for a few reasons.  Our group all had great chemistry and worked well together in bouncing ideas off each other and enhancing the quality of our video.  We seemed to be on the same page almost all of the time.  Catlin and I came up with the storyboard the first day that we were given the assignment.  We wanted to make it a fiction about what our perfect day at Hunter would be like.  We were acting in our own film so it was hard to also direct at the same time, especially if both of us were supposed to be in a scene.  That’s why it was perfect that the next week, our group gained a third member.  This enabled us to both act in scenes together of our “perfect day” and have someone work the camera.

A Look Back at the Semester: Media 160 Spring 2011

All in all I can say that I have valued and appreciate my time spent this semester in Media 160. Throughout its course, I have learned new and interesting techniques in creating multi media and have met cool people in doing so.

Right off the bat, I enjoyed working on the podcast project because that was the first real exposure I had to final cut and editing different sound files to make a creative and unique whole interview coupled with sound effects. 

I also enjoyed, in lecture, learning about how the making of a film works including the roles of all those involved in the process.  This has always been something that I wanted to learn more about and I’m glad that lecture enabled me to do so.

The video assignment was both fun and good for experience I just wish that we had more time to edit our final video.  We spent a lot of time that could have been used for editing on converting files and I thought that was unfortunate.

The creative aspect of the midterm is something that I liked about the class as well.  Instead of a standard test, I liked that we got a real “hands on” experience of what it takes to prepare for a film from a treatment to a sample of what our actual script would look like.  The midterm helped deepen my knowledge of film production in a fun and creative way.  I’ve always wondered the technicalities of creating a script and what it would actually be like and this midterm gave me a sneak peek and real life valuable knowledge. 

The Sounds of NYC

I notice sound most on the subways because I am constantly on the move and the subway is generally my primary means of transportation.  One thing that has always interested me about a subway car is that no matter if it is jam-packed with commuters, it can still be silent.  So many people venturing off by themselves, listening to headphones or reading the paper, secluded in their own little worlds in silence around the scores of other people around them.  The train I frequent most often, the R, is an especially loud sounding train because it is one of the older subway trains.  I think the sound of a subway train zooming by or the sound of being on one is one New York City’s greatest sounds.  The silence is broken however around 3:30pm every weekday when masses high school students board the trains and fill it with their loud laughter and crude conversations to each other.  One of my favorite sounds at Hunter is the sound of voices echoing off the glass windows in the skywalks, especially the one between the North and West Buildings.  You get a great flavor of Hunter students there because all conversations are loud and can be easily overheard.  Then you walk into the North Building and there are a handful of school clubs playing music or calling out as advertisement for the bake sale or what not.  Which neighborhood you’re in can affect the sounds you hear also because the languages vary from place to place.  In my neighborhood of Astoria for instance, there is a good mix of Greek, Spanish and English speakers.  In Manhattan the primary language is English but there are so many tourists in Manhattan that you are bound to hear a great variety of languages from all over the world.