I thought Adrian’s technology demonstration in our class today was incredibly helpful, and I hope it got you thinking about the tools and techniques you want to use for your digital documentaries.
Next week will be a big change from what we’ve been doing recently, for a couple of reasons. First, we’ll be shifting our focus to the study of short documentaries to learn how others compose with film. Second, I’ll be at a conference for most of the week, so you’ll be spending time working in teams to plan your digital documentaries. Here’s the detailed plan:
- On Monday, we will analyze several short documentary films, paying particular attention to the filmmaking techniques used by the films’ creators. Before you come to class, please read “Camera Shots, Angles, and Movements” (watch the video on that page, too!), then watch the following short documentaries: Facts About Projection, Schlimazeltov!, Shinya Kimura, The Best Thing I Ever Done, and Comic Sans. The total running time for all five of these films is less than 45 minutes, so you should be able to watch all of them at least once (and preferably twice) before class on Monday. Put on your headphones, play the videos full-screen, and really focus on the techniques used in each of these films.
- On Wednesday and Friday, I will be at a conference, so you will have two days of dedicated research and drafting time to work on your team’s prospectus for Project #4. I know it will be tempting to view these days as vacation, but doing so will put your team behind schedule. On the Monday after I get back (April 11), I will meet with each team to review and (I hope) approve your prospectus. If you use your time wisely during Week 12, your prospectus should be ready to go. However, if you come to your team meeting on the 11th with an incomplete plan for your project, I will ask you to revise and resubmit your prospectus. You will not be allowed to begin work on Project #5 until I have signed off on Project #4.
Finally, some of you need to be reminded about submitting an electronic copy of your research paper. If you have not done so already, please follow these steps to submit your paper:
- Go to Google Docs and login with your Google/Gmail username and password. (If you don’t have a Google account, you should create one, since we’ll be using Google Docs for Projects #4 and #5.)
- Once you’re logged in, click on the “Upload” button near the top-left corner of the page. You’ll be prompted to locate your file on your hard drive and upload it to the site. Make sure that the box is checked next to this line: “Convert documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and drawings to the corresponding Google Docs formats,” then click “Start upload.”
- Once the file is uploaded, click the “Share” button in the top-right corner and add “email hidden; JavaScript is required” to the list of people sharing your document. Make sure that “Can edit” is selected next to my name, then click “Share.”
- That’s it. You’re done.
If you have any questions about your team’s ideas for Projects #4 and #5, please let me know. Otherwise, I’ll see you on Monday.