Team 2 Blog

Katie Squier

This week I presented my interactive analysis. I did my presentation on the PBS site After the Storm. This site tells the story of the tornadoes that hit Alabama in 2011. The media on this site is done really well. I really loved the use of audio to hear about the events of the storm, first hand from the creator of the story. The images and video that are presented are really powerful and I think the overall creates a really emotional and captivating story.

Between the presentations that we saw this week, something that I consistently saw was the use of animations. Whether it was moving text or images, each of the sites had some sort animation so I think this could be something current and interesting to try to add to my own group presentation at the end of the semester. One thing that I didn’t like, in terms of my own site that I presented was the inability to skip through some parts. While I was presenting I wanted to show the class as much as the site as possible without it taking forever. This would be something that I want to avoid in my own site just because I dont think people want to spend an extremely long time on each section of your website.

A challenge I faced this week was a miscommunication with my group. I like to work ahead and wanted to submit the group schedule early in the week. Another group member said it wasn’t ready yet and I was under the impression that they would submit it when they finished whatever was left. It didn’t get submitted on time because of the miscommunication and everything ended up being fine but going forward I think our group needs to have clear and constant communication when it comes to submitting assignments for the team.

Ranya Aribi

This week, I was not able to make it to class, but I was still able to review all the material on video and audio. Within the team schedule, my team decided we wanted to get our media in various ways.

We discussed the use of a DSLR camera, a go-pro, 360 cam, and even just recording with an iphone and using a solid microphone. We decided in the end that we would bring a couple options with us and decide what would be easiest to record content with depending on the situation and location. I think a DSLR camera and an iphone would be efficient and safe considering we will be on ice.

For the team schedule, we included when we want to go to our first ice skating outing. We will then decide after the first time, depending on how much content and the accessibility to record, if we want to go back and do another trip. Personally, I think for the best content, we would need more than one outing, but we will determine that in the future.

Since I was not in class this week, my contributions included working on the team schedule outside of class. It was definitely a challenge to do it and even write this blog since I did not go to class, but my situation on Tuesday gave me no other . choice. I don’t plan on missing another class this semester, so hopefully I won’t have this challenge again.

Activity of Ice Skating

We want to go ice skating at least four times, to ensure enough quality footage, and get better over time. 

The actual dates we go will be discussed further with each other to ensure all of our schedules add up. We understand it’s hard to plan so far in advance. 

• Week 5
  • Pick WIX template
  • Pick date to skate
    • Tuesday right after class(?)

• Week 6
  • Create box folder
  • Make all plans on the technology we need, including the cameras, mics, and equipment.
  • Plan all the shots we need to take for the first time we go skating.
    • Introduction of each person 
    • A shot of each person’s skills for the first time

• Week 7
  • Must skate by week 7
  • Assign who will check out equipment and who will bring it to the rink. 
  • One person will need to set up the equipment and test it 
  • Once set up, one person records the other four, and then switches to be recorded themselves. 
    • Photos
      • DSLR
      • Osmo 
    • Videos
      • Go pro
      • 360 cam
    • Audio 
      • Mic- snap-on iPhone

• Week 8
  • Worked on, and finalized the preliminary submission together in a meeting, 
  • Preliminary submission is due. 

• Week 9
  • Another skating trip
    • All content not taken the first time will be taken
    • Another shot of each person’s progress. 

• Week 10
  • The website has already been started and set up. 
  • The content we have taken so far is edited and organized. 
  • The plan for what goes on the website will be discussed and decided on. 

• Week 11
  • Final skating trip if needed
    • Final shots of everyone’s progress. 
• Week 12
  • All content is done and recorded. 
  • The process of putting it all together has started. 

• Week 13
  • Final touches being put on the project website. 

• Week 14
  • The project is hopefully completed and edited together. 

• Week 15
  • Meet the day, or a couple of days before the presentation and do a final practice. 
  • Presentation of our project to the class. 

This week we really sat down and figured out how we were going to present this in class with media and also within the website that we are creating. After discussing it all, it become evident that a lot of equipment will be used in order to be sure that we have all the media to make sure we meet the requirements. We also decided on when the best times would be for us to go ice skating as well and that we needed to start our media coverage at least by week 7. This will give us a very good idea on how much media we will be able to get within one visit of going to the ice rink. We will all be doing different types of media and we will be using all different types of media such as 360 cameras, DSLR, and Go Pros. Also, we have decided to start a box folder so we will all be able to access the media that way we can make changes and edit not just while we are in class. This will be monumental if someone is unable to come to one of our meetings that way we will all be able to move forward so our presentation is done. 

This week we got to dive deeper into how we want to capture our journey of learning to ice skate. We discussed setting up wireless mics on each other to record our falls and possible profanities for a comical factor. To get video clips, some of the ideas we’re using an Osmo to capture stable shots as we follow one another around the rink and possibly set up a 360-degree camera in the middle of the ice rink. We can do that best if we are able to reserve a time for just us. That way to don’t run into any issues with upsetting someone. The same can be said about the photography needed. I think the ideas we have now are a solid start. I am sure even more will pop into our heads once we start skating.

Most of my contributions this week came from just laying out some ideas with the rest of my group on how to capture the media. I had the idea of the camera stabilizer but wasn’t sure what it was called, so thankfully Kaci was able to help us out there. That will make out recording sessions so much easier and more manageable. For the next time, we meet we should discuss other ways to create the content. Even going to talk to Susan in the equipment center would have been super helpful

This week my group and I talked about what our schedule is going to look like for the rest of the semester. Also we decided on what equipment we are looking to use while we capture our media and how we are looking to capture it. I helped to propose interesting plans as to how we will record our process of learning how to ice skate and also helped to plan out our schedule.

We are looking to use a DSLR camera, a 360 camera (depending on how busy the rink is), a Gopro, lavaliers, and our phones. I am sure that we will be adding on to this as we go, but for now I believe that we have a great foundation.

Throughout the week the only problem that we encountered was creating our schedule. Being able to find a time that not only works for everyone during the week to go to the ice rink was difficult, but we also were having trouble thinking about which times the rink will be busy or not. Ultimately we ended up figuring out what we needed in the end.

I am very excited to see what we accomplish as a group for this project. I think that everything is starting to mold together in a great way, and as long as we are able to successfully capture our media we will be in a great position the rest of the way.

Katie Squier

For our project we wanted to get a variety of different media from ice skating. We thought that using the 360 camera would be really fun and interesting. The only problem that arises with this is that we would have to be the only skaters on the rink at the time. We also thought it would be fun to strap a GoPro on to a couple group members to get a point of view from a skater. We are still looking into different forms of media and using equipment that we didn’t get a chance to use in the lower level Visual Communications classes.

This week I helped set up the schedule for the semester. With the help of my group we discussed the timeline of when things should need to be done throughout the semester. We thought that the earlier that we could get things done, the easier it would be on our part. We were missing a group member today so that made some of the planning a bit of a challenge. We were trying to coordinate schedules to find the best time to go skate together, but we will have to discuss further in our Group Me.

I believe that creating a schedule when working as a team is a huge part of being successful. With a schedule a group is able to find times that not only work for everyone, but hold each member of the group accountable for their contribution. Also a well planned schedule can make the flow of the project go better which will show in the work of the team because all the work will not be crammed in on one day.

After our pitches it was obvious to my group that we will be choosing learning how to ice skate as our project because it will be the most fun for all of us and will be able to provide us with the most content. The only problem that I find with this is that I am, to my knowledge, the only person who knows how to ice skate in my group. Although this kind of takes away from what the purpose of the project is, I believe that I can utilize this skill to capture some awesome looking footage or camera shots.

This week I contributed by talking through one of ideas that was pitched. The only challenge that I encountered was being able to smoothly describe the idea that we had, but I still feel as if I got my point across for the most part fairly well. The only thing that I would like to change over the upcoming weeks is being able to be involved more, which will be very easy because the real work is soon to come.

This week we gave our presentation over the final three ideas that we decided on. We presented the ideas of learning to ice skate, making a “pop-up” brand and starting a podcast. We got some great feedback from some of the instructors and chose to do the ice skating idea.

This was the best idea out of the three when it came to media content, price/availability and overall enjoyment. The difficult part is going to be filming in public. Some people might get upset from being on camera in the background. That was brought up to us when we were answering questions about it. If we were to remake a list of possibilities, the first thing we should do is think logistically. Instead of just thinking what sounds fun.

Now that we have the route of our project, we need to develop a schedule to help keep the whole thing moving along smoothly and in a timely manner. This will help make sure that we don’t get behind on anything because procrastinating this would make for a bad time.

Overall the week went pretty well. We talked collectively as a group to determine our project, which mentioned before, wasn’t too difficult. I just helped pitch in ideas on how to make sure our project can be done.

Katie Squier

This week we presented our pitches to the class. After our presentation we have decided to go with the ice skating activity. I think that this activity will allow us to get really fun and creative media for the project as well as it will just be a fun activity to get to know my other group members.

I think it is important to create a schedule for the completion of the project because if we do not, the odds of us waiting until the last minute to iron out the details, is high. I think it is important to stay on top of the due dates for individual parts of the project just in case we reach a snag in the process. Completing things early creates flexibility if we were to need it.

A challenge that we may encounter is the access to bring in differnet cameras (still photos and video) into the ice skating rink. Parents are often wary of their children being filed or photographed and I think the chances of children or families being in the background of our media is high depending on the time of day that we go.

This week I set up the powerpoint of our presentation during class. I helped run the presentation by explaining the ideas that we had for the ice skating project. One challenge is we faced this week is that our group didn’t communicate well before the presentation. Going forward I think it would be more helpful if we all could talk beforehand. I think as things pick up it will be easier to communicate because we will have more things going on and more to discuss as a group.