My First Experience behind the Camera

I found the Video Content assignment much easier to handle than the Video Basics assignment.

For my content video, I interviewed a friend who is a local CPA. I teach accounting at the high school level, so interviewing a CPA seemed like a great way to bring what we are studying in the classroom to life. The actual video recording part was a snap. We found a high enough surface, placed the camera on it, faced it towards us, and hit record. Both my friend and I were a little nervous, but it didn't show too badly on our faces. When the interview was complete, all I needed to do was press stop. Super easy! The only real glitch I had with this assignment was how dark the room looked when I uploaded the video to Movie Maker. I was terrified that I was going to have to reshoot the interview, but thanks to the editing features in Movie Maker I was able to brighten the room up enough to get a nice view of my interviewee. When I first uploaded the video it looked like I was talking to a black blob, but once I added brightness to each shot, my friend appeared and was clearly seen. Thank you editing features in Movie Maker! :)

The video basics assignment had me a little nervous. I had to say what shot I was shooting and then take the shot for a long enough period of time just in case some editing needed to happen afterwards. I was very surprised at how shaky I was the first couple of takes for this assignment. I had no idea how easy it is to make a shot look like an earthquake is happening when all I'm actually doing is moving awkwardly. After a few practice takes, the recording got a bit easier. However, I'm sure some of our neighbors think my husband and I are crazy. Especially when I had to walk behind him for half a block to complete the "follow" camera move.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy Windows Movie Maker is to use. I plugged the Firewire into the camera and the computer and Movie Maker walked me through how to capture what footage I wanted to use for the project. I really had fun adding transistions, effects, and titles over the shots. I had a little trouble with adding music, but once I understood how to do that within the video timeline all was good.

Overall, I enjoyed the assignments. I can't wait to show my accounting classes the video interview. My only concern now is uploading the files to MediaFire. So far, two of my files uploaded without problem. But, my interview file is giving me some trouble. Hopefully, it will all work out. :)