Escaping the Pull of Gravity!

This week was a fun one but some of those podcasts and videos were long. But the funny thing is I did not mind them since they were well done both production and story wise. I am also better able to appericate the thought that goes into these productions. When I started listening to Evelyn Glennie’s TED talk I had no idea she was deaf and played music. So once I figured that out it wowed me even more and made me so smart to be even hearing this amazing story.

Also, how great to start off the first assignment listening to some good radio programs and learning about audio editing and producing. I chose an NPR piece to write about and joked my Mom would be so proud. I must admit that I never thought of the fact that someone could record three different audio tracks for program that could include the sounds around them, the interview with no sound, and then the interview with someone doing something. It just allowed for a lot of different layering and shaping of the story. It also made me think how it could also be used to reshape a story to be what you wanted like a political ad. So hopefully people use it for good and not bad!

I cannot wait to tell people that part of my assignment this week was to blog about a commercial. Okay for the second assignment 2 you really were treating it like a good short film and they were good commercials. If they were bad or just dumb you could find this assignment boring. I did find the work a little time exhausting with the break down every 5 seconds but it actually made me pay attention to all the thought, camera work, storyline, and audio that went it producing it. I remember the 1984 commercial and now just know I can capture some of the key elements in a commercial now. Bring on the Super Bowl commercials! I need another Star Wars kid Darth Vader vs VW car to watch. That inner Sci-Fi fan can watch those commercials over and over again. Make sure you read about it here and for fun re-watch it here:

I was glad I got to catch up with my classmates and read/comment on some of their blog entries and see what was said on mine. When I was looking at some of the blogs I found a clean looking blog that was crisp and fresh on the eyes. I will need to keep that crisp theme in mind for mine. On that same blog I found it interesting that they divided up some of the blog entries into more pieces than I decided. I think that could help focus a reader but also miss some of the overall stories. Also on another blog I was reminded how much I love gif and surprised I did not think to use them in my blog posts. I use them all the time in texts and now need to figure out a way to do it in my blogs. Also I liked the use of youtube videos and links to give context.

The class was really good at giving me feedback and glad to see my Bus Story idea is a hit and folks get it. I also need to up my game with images and links to keep folks engaged . I think next week I will have to do more with gifs.

Wish there was a gif key – from shutterstock

My second idea around a story is one related to performance reviews. I thought this one could be a different way to teach a concept that has system and people aspects. I am not sure how folks will get excited about it but I know it is a twice a year requirement for me!

Overall, I can tell I becoming more comfortable with the format of the class, the time commitment, the videos/audios we must read, and used to the blog tool. I feel like week 1 was my rocket just starting to blast off from Earth and now I am starting to escape the pull of gravity and really speed forward! I feel I gave each post a lot of thought and tried to get the concepts down. I feel I am getting better and better!