Chasing the Dragon's Tale

Some 30-40 new (and used) faculty members endured my three hour video workshop here at Belmont University yesterday. We had a great time even when presentation technology offered up a speed bump or two during the video capture phase. We looked at what our students are already doing on youtube.com and chatted about the ways our previous day's presenter, Dr. Ron Berk, encouraged the use of multimedia (and humor particularly) to engage today's net savvy students (Note!: some FireFox users will have to view Dr. Berk's site in a different browser...'sorry)

The project you see on the above-left was produced during yesterday's video workshop sessions. Faculty members were 'volunteered' to be talent, models, cheering section, and technical crew for the shoot. The basic premise for the workshop was to explore possibilities for personal video editing on campus PC's, using only the software for audio editing (Sound Recorder) and video editing (Windows Movie Maker) that is already installed in computers across the university. A large percentage of the people in the workshop had 'zero' video editing experience and many were not aware that the sound/video editing applications were on their computers. I commend them all for being attentive (and patient).

If nothing else, conversations have begun on expanding the role of multimedia in our classrooms. Several issues from the workshop warrant additional exploration: copyright questions, multi-media support staff, lab options, additional training, PC and/or MAC solutions, budget challenges, and how all of those issues mesh with the priorities of the university. I look forward to hearing more of those discussions.

Full disclosure: An additional 30 minutes of post production work was added this morning to tweak some of the more glaring issues (sound levels, funky credit roll, extra sound effects, missing still shot, and 10 minutes of etc.)...there are still a few several rough edges...I am over it! *grin* A hat tip to Dr. Berk for his influences in this video piece...if you ever have an opportunity to attend one of his presentations, don't you dare miss it. I have not read any of his books, but I assure you that they will show up on my Amazon.com wishlist very soon (did you hear that Santa?)

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It was a long weekend of documentary video editing for me. During a break or two while effects were going through "watching-the-grass-grow" paced sequences, I did some cleaning out of old VHS video tapes. There was one soccer video from October 2, 1999 that caught my attention and I knew that I had kept it for some reason (other than being a packrat). When I saw the "Keeper Sleeper" play on the tape yesterday, I grabbed it for a post on YouTube. The video below contains that bit of Belmont Bruins vs. Lipscomb Lady Bisons women's soccer history:

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Belmont's Bruin Blast, the pep band that plays at a bunch of sporting events through the year, adds a level of fun and entertainment that too often goes overlooked. Granted that competition is the focus of athletic events...but these students use their musical skills, practice, load tons of gear to games, lead fan cheers, annoy opposing teams, and add life to time-outs, halftime, and other breaks in the action. Give your pep band a hand at whatever March Madness game you may attend. They deserve the props (translation to older dragon chasers: proper respect).

One more thing: Go Bruins!

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...wouldn't you go to a basketball game where you just might get a shot at one free semester?

Shortly after students on campus were alerted to this video, one student questioned why such an annoying email came to them...after all, "they came to Belmont for the education". Well, let's hope that we all came to Belmont for the education. I would hope that more students might consider taking a couple of hours off for a ballgame, particularly if such a trip resulted in a semester's worth of free tuition for that education. Do the math. One semester's tuition divided by two...'perhaps the highest per hour return that any of us would ever see. The rest of us simply get to enjoy seeing a fellow student go crazy after making the shot. Enjoy the video (my first YouTube contribution, ever).

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At 2:00PM Tomorrow (Saturday, October 21), we are hosting a group of Podcasters (and Podcast-ettes?) here on the Belmont University campus. There is room for about 80-90 people comfortably in the Vince Gill Room of the Curb Event Center. If you are making plans to come, here are the driving instructions to get to Belmont's campus. And here is a PDF Campus map for your reference.

I recommend that you park in the parking garage directly off of Bernard Ave (behind the Curb Event Center). Make your way via garage elevator to the 3rd floor and over to the lobby of the Curb Event Center (the Maddox Grand Atrium). There will be signs in place to get you where you need to go from there.

Bring your wireless laptop or bring an ethernet cable with your laptop, there are several connections available in the room.

We look forward to seeing you and some of Nashville's distinguished bloggers on campus tomorrow... NOTE!: There will be a large group of visiting High School students on campus until 1:00PM for Preview Day. Parking should open up considerably after 1:30PM.

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Following up from an earlier post on Amanda Congdon's visit to Nashville, Brittney alerted the Nashville blogosphere that the video of Amanda's visit to WKRN is now online. Interesting use of video on the web... listen to Amanda and WKRN General Manager, Mike Sechrist, chat about the convergence of traditional news delivery systems, blogs, and VJ's (video journalists). Good stuff!

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A week or so ago, I was reading/watching a video over at Technology Enhanced Learning and Sue was kind enough to add a long response to the questions I asked. (Thank you, Sue) It still takes a significant investment of time to capture, edit, compress, and deliver video to a blog.

"I would say, it took me 4 hours to complete the 2 minutes!! I had about 30 minutes of raw footage that I cut up to go in the 2 minutes. In the end, I had to leave some problems in the video (you’ll notice about 1/4 of the way in the video transitions go out of sync badly) - it killed me, but I knew I just couldn’t spend any more time on the editing."

Sue's 2 hours per minute of delivered video is a little more than I generally estimate for production, however, I empathize completely...things do not always go as planned and there are such things as time limits and deadlines. For me, it speaks volumes to matching the most appropriate medium for the message.

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Reporting from Honduras continues even though the 8 team members are back in Middle Tennessee. The Belmont Vision Online features additional photos from our Honduras adventure and more artcles from Chansin Bird and Nathan Baker. I am double posting the 3 minute 'sneak preview video' here on CTDT because several of you played an important part with financial support for the trip. This is just another way that we as a team would like to say, Thank You!

A more polished video product will be completed and burned to DVD next month, but this rough version will give you a quick view of the soup kitchen and the painting project that were part of our Honduras experience.

Continue reading "Humanitarian Aid and Hunger Trump Technology Chase" »

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My wife elbowed me on the way out of bed at 4:30 this morning with an "excuse me, but I have to get to the Curb Event Center before Channel 2 shows up"...which is code for: 1. Get up now 2. Get dressed and ready to go and 3. I have a project that I need you to do, but forgot to mention it to you last night.

Big Joe Dubin showed up to find a small (but dedicated) group of Belmont students gathered and ready to make cheerful noises for the camera. It was great fun. Joe is wonderful to work with. He has a great sense of humor and did not eat nearly as many donuts as the video clip on this post implies.

If you're in the Nashville area tomorrow (Saturday) and not watching the plethora of rivalry footbal games, stop by Belmont University for the best kept secret in inexpensive entertainment in town: The A-Sun Volleyball Championship at 1:30PM and the Bruin Mens' basketball opener at 7:00PM.

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News@Belmont released the Belmont/Volunteer State partnership story this afternoon. Now, after several hiccups with editing hardware, compression software, and a network that wanted to exercise Murphy's Law of Thou Shalt Not Upload Files in a Hurry...there is video of the event.

Which raises the question (well, sort of), why isn't the Belmont University news blog on the Nashville is Talking aggregator? It is a news and public relations blog for the university, and certainly puts a good light on what is going on here on campus...as it should. Full disclosure: in case you had not noticed, CTDT is hosted by Belmont, I am a happy employee/student thereof, and I have more than a few great things to say about the university and students whom I have come to know and love over the last five years. So, why not allow Belmont a place in the Nashville Blogosphere to add their voice to other, perhaps less complementary voices??? (probably because no one has bothered to ask...hrummph. I'll be quiet now)...just watch the video in whatever format/flavor you choose.

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As mentioned previously, there was video captured of people capturing video of people capturing...(ok, you get the picture) during Saturday's inaugural Video 101 training session for Nashville area bloggers at WKRN. If you missed out on the fun or happen to be curious about what transpired, select either the Flash, Windows Media, or QuickTime versions of this video...the video is highly compressed, so don't expect broadcast quality...this IS a blog after all, not a broadcast facility.

If you get an invitation for the next session, whenever that may be, maybe you'll make plans. This was fun. And I am pretty sure that everyone walked away with a better appreciation of what it takes to pull together footage for a news story.

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Techlearning - Tips for Presentations with Movies provides an interesing comparison of options for using video in presentations. Videos credited to Wesley Fryer for a Spring 2003 TASA Technology Leadership Academy, www.educ.ttu.edu/tla/videos, are worth a look. The video below is a sample from Wesley's project and features interviews with several educators speaking on Digital Literacy (Requires Quicktime Plugin):

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From USAtoday.com: Generation raised with Internet grows up...and if this generation can imagine it, someone will put it in motion:

"AOL's (Malcom)Bird (head of America Online's services for kids and teens) predicts that teens will be among the first to embrace new, Web-based video technology. "You will very soon be able to shoot video messages and play those video messages on your blog that your friends can go to," Bird says. So your community, your scheduling, your friends, your holidays — all of this stuff will live in an online environment."

Most of us older academi-geeks remember the promise that computer technology would deliver the paperless office...a promise that generated the widespread need for personal shredding machines to rid ourselves of all the paper that we weren't supposed to produce in the first place (I regress). With the generation who has grown up with the Internet, I suspect that the promise of the video capabilities that Bird describes is not just a promise. Personal video delivery systems via cell phone (or other Internet appliance) will be as common as email, IM, SMS, and other CMC's...and slowly...very slowly, diffused within the paperless office generation.

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This is my second trip to Brazil this summer. The first assignment was with Belmont University's sports evangelism team. The second adventure was to follow and record the work of a construction crew and a medical team from Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, Tennessee...back in the same area where the sports team worked. Supplying video footage from the field has its challenges. All of the teams who work with the Tennessee Baptist Convention Rio Partnership stay busy...that generally means hopping on a bus at 7:00AM every morning and returning late, late in the evening.

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Will Richardson, author of Weblogg-ed and Supervisor of Instructional Technology and Communications at Hunterdon Central Regional High School (Flemington, NJ), graciously allowed me to grab his original 27MB Quicktime video on blogging and re-post it here along with a couple of smaller video file formats. The story is wonderfully told by students and instructors. I recommend a view by any educator who is considering the use of blogs as an instructional tool. I commend Will for his efforts and for the well deserved recognition.

The QuickTime Large link above is to a copy of the original 27MB presentation. The rest of the files are heavily compressed to about 8MB each. Enjoy!

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At what I would term a leisurely, campground pace, it took the best part of four hours to shoot, capture, edit, and compress video for a two minute long piece using a minimal amount of (although fairly sophisticated) equipment. From my experience over the last 10+ years of shooting video, that is not far from typical for documentary-type productions. A tripod and a remote control for the camera might have sped things up (not to mention more coffee)...and adding just one other person to my one man crew would have reduced the location time by at least half.

The point: if expensive resources are to be expended, and, if this ratio of production time to delivered product is any where near accurate, then the need and appropriateness of the medium should be weighed heavily against other options. Introducing myself could have been done with much less time and equipment in an audio format. The cave could have been captured in a few digital stills. The 'story' could have been communicated in a narrative text. What the video delivers is the character of the person in a context that reveals more about the person than any audio or still versions can reveal. There is a balancing act to perform here in weighing appropriateness of message, length and media selection that this type of project should address on the front end. The technology IS available. There are useful technical skills that should be acquired and practiced. Performance in front of a camera raises unfamiliar feelings and issues. We live in a world dominated by screen fed stories...the balance is tilting toward the need to include video in the toolbox of delivery systems for stories on the web. As promised on the video clip, I have documented the sequence of events for the video project included in this post:

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