For the 4th session of the extra awesome fun lab, the students had to put into practice their promise to work independently to learn and understand technology at their own pace.
A.J. filled in, with Ryan and Chris' help. Here's how it went down, by student:
Gavin decided to audit the ACID class with Chris and Cristina, with the explicit instructions that he is not to ask for help, but rather figure things out himself, and pay very close attention. We've never seen such a focused and driven Gavin. It was wonderful to see that he not only stayed with it, but did a great job with one of the only preserved beats in the class.
Jamarra got a little antsy sitting in the back of the Senior classroom. Definitely the Seniors hard at work rubbed off a little on her and her friends though, because they were all pretty focused as well. Jamarra delved into Lynda.com to watch and learn how that site works. She also went around and helped her classmates to sign up for Lynda.com accounts through the STS site.
Maddie was another star for the day. She finished her powerpoint, started working on an adventure shopping spree with GoogleSpreadsheets, and also helped her classmates out. In the end, she sent A.J. her powerpoint and her blog entry which was a detailed account of her accomplishments of the day.
Jenny was hard at work as well. She mostly worked on getting pictures of all her friends and finishing her powerpoint. We are unsure if she wrote a blog entry.
Finally, Aliyah was also hard at work. She had a fabulous powerpoint emailed to A.J. by the end of the day. She put a lot of effort into it and obviously was able to successfully try new and exciting ways to layout a powerpoint slideshow.
Overall, good day. Next time we have to present those powerpoints and possibly take a Permit test on the subject!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Digital Audio Day 4
Today was a big day for the Storytelling group. First, Tony filled in for Elizabeth, doing a great job of leading the students through a quick review of several key concepts. He showed them how to use Distortion and Flange in their projects, and how to remember to use the Track FX tool. Since this was a review, a lot of the students already knew how to use a lot of these tools already, and Jose and Jaylah were able to answer a lot of his questions without help.
Next, they went straight to work, finishing their "Stories Without Dialogue" exercise. They all did a great job staying on task and helping each other as needed. By the time they were finished, there were some really good projects, including Diana's, which was a humorous take on the Chariots of Fire theme, and Jose's, which was about a man running from a zombie attack. Good job, everyone!
Here's some nice screenshots of what they did:
Jose:
Diana:
After they finished that project, we let them get into their groups and work on their BTWs. I gave them a sheet with a bunch of helpful hints for writing script outlines, character sketches, mapping out settings and music/FX lists. The groups did some great work, delegating responsibility in preparation for getting their rough drafts for their scripts finished. They're due March 3rd, so good luck everybody!
Next, they went straight to work, finishing their "Stories Without Dialogue" exercise. They all did a great job staying on task and helping each other as needed. By the time they were finished, there were some really good projects, including Diana's, which was a humorous take on the Chariots of Fire theme, and Jose's, which was about a man running from a zombie attack. Good job, everyone!
Here's some nice screenshots of what they did:
Jose:
Diana:
After they finished that project, we let them get into their groups and work on their BTWs. I gave them a sheet with a bunch of helpful hints for writing script outlines, character sketches, mapping out settings and music/FX lists. The groups did some great work, delegating responsibility in preparation for getting their rough drafts for their scripts finished. They're due March 3rd, so good luck everybody!
ACID Day IV
It seems like "Technical Difficulties" is the theme for Chris and Cristina today. All pumped up, Chris was excited to show the students his Double Dutch Bus video (by Frankie Smith) BUT... the speakers weren't working.
AJ to the rescue!
The speakers started working and the dance floor was set!
AJ and Chris were dancing all over the aisle of students. Unfortunately, (except for Brandon) the students were all sitting down.
At the end of the song, Chris asked the class, "Did it click?" and received no response. What he was getting to was the song Double Dutch Bus was sampled by Missy Elliot's Gossip Folks.
Next, the students went to search for their own sampled songs and the class discussed where the original sampled part came from and how it was manipulated.
Once the sharing ended, the learn @ UW quizzes were up and being completed.
Next, Chris showed examples of how to being making a song to the class and then played some of his first works. AJ also played his first beats/songs.
During the exploration unit, the students were let loose to create their own song. Although they only needed 24 measures, the students felt like they needed more time. They only had 38 minutes and counting.
At some point in time, the room became deadly silent. The students were vigorously working on their "Mini BTWs."
Then Chris decides to make an announcement, asking if all of the students found where the beats are. He called out, "Tenzin!" Which is common, but... there were no Tenzin present in the class. Doundup once again corrected him, but this time, his classmates corrected Chris.
After this moment of noise, the class went back to their silence. Back to working on their songs.
When it was time to share their projects, some of the students were eager to showcase their works while others hid in their shells and closed out of ACID (just in case they were forced to share their works).
AJ to the rescue!
The speakers started working and the dance floor was set!
AJ and Chris were dancing all over the aisle of students. Unfortunately, (except for Brandon) the students were all sitting down.
At the end of the song, Chris asked the class, "Did it click?" and received no response. What he was getting to was the song Double Dutch Bus was sampled by Missy Elliot's Gossip Folks.
Next, the students went to search for their own sampled songs and the class discussed where the original sampled part came from and how it was manipulated.
Once the sharing ended, the learn @ UW quizzes were up and being completed.
Next, Chris showed examples of how to being making a song to the class and then played some of his first works. AJ also played his first beats/songs.
During the exploration unit, the students were let loose to create their own song. Although they only needed 24 measures, the students felt like they needed more time. They only had 38 minutes and counting.
At some point in time, the room became deadly silent. The students were vigorously working on their "Mini BTWs."
Then Chris decides to make an announcement, asking if all of the students found where the beats are. He called out, "Tenzin!" Which is common, but... there were no Tenzin present in the class. Doundup once again corrected him, but this time, his classmates corrected Chris.
After this moment of noise, the class went back to their silence. Back to working on their songs.
When it was time to share their projects, some of the students were eager to showcase their works while others hid in their shells and closed out of ACID (just in case they were forced to share their works).
Saturday, February 6, 2010
ACID Day 2
Today started off with a Song Analysis exercise. AJ joined Chris and I to extend his knowledge of drumming with us. Richie's pick "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Marvin Gaye challenged everyone to pick out all the different percussion in the song. David's pick "Forever" by Drake featuring Travis Barker got the discussion flowing about pace. AJ shared a Keith Moon clip before we moved on.
Chris then went through the powerpoint and introduced sampling using various examples including Drake's "Best I Ever Had" which samples a song from 1975.
Chris opened the floor up with challenges using ACID. These involved what we covered today. In all, the Beatmapper, Chopper, rhythm, and song analysis was covered today.
The session finished with the students blogging about how this ACID session was the "Best They Ever Had."
The Story of Storytelling (day 3!)
Another fine day of storytelling through digital audio! The day started off with an enjoyable break from the norm - watching a film making documentary! Elizabeth explained a little of the background of the film, Persepolis; it portrays the story of a young girl growing up under the tyrannical state of Iran before and during the revolution. The story is crafted completely in black and white old style animation, each frame of the movie painstakingly drawn.
In discussion afterwards, Carrie mentioned that she enjoyed the film, though she had come in the middle of it. Jose pointed out that each of the actors really put a lot of emotion behind everything they said, even though they wouldn't be seen in the end by their audience. Elizabeth pointed out the the scenes describing the Foley Artist and his work - a foley artist is a professional job where you create the sounds necessary for a film or cartoon. The foley artist for Persepolis would move, dance, sway, using regular household items to create sounds as ordinary as the swishing of clothing in a crowd to the rolling chains of approaching tanks. For more information, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foley_artist
Afterwards, Paul led a lecture on SFX, explaining various sound effects in Vegas and the basics of creating them. For more information, see the examples on the student wiki: https://ita.wisc.edu/studentwiki/doku.php?id=program_knowledgebase:digital_audio:audio_effects_run-down
Paul challenged everyone to create a "story without words", a scene that is completely told through sound effects. Two examples he played were: someone coming in out of the cold and sitting in a rocking chair; and someone sharpening a sword, then fighting someone else, and then going back to sharpening the sword. Students nodded around the room as the scene began to make sense to them, as they caught on to how Paul had crafted a small 'storyline' using only sound effects and strategy.
Afterwards, break time! Most everyone sat at their computers and checked facebook, myspace, etc.
The Exploration section of the class began with Paul splitting the class up into groups to continue working on the "recording a scene" projct from the previous week. Tenzin, Diana, Nina, and Jose all stayed in the room to create a restuarant scene - Alli and her group ended up in the recording studio, though the H4 wasn't working so they ended up having to wait for the H2 from another group. Michelle, Jaylah, Malibu, Krystal were in the conference room on the other wing recording.
After the break, not many people had finished working on their projects - Alli's group was still adding sound effects and Krystal and Malibu's group still had editing to do . . . but soon after a little more work time, the groups were able to render their projects! Taylor and Diana's group shared a scene they had created of a French restaurant scene, with Jose as the waiter! Alli did a lot of the editing for their group. Michelle's group did a scene of girls at a dance discovering one another outside the dance room and going back in. And apparently, the groups switched a little since last week and they took the same idea with them! Because Taylor and and Alli had a very similar restaurant idea! Eventually, they also finished and we listened to a funny scene about people getting angry about a piece of hair in their salad and throwing food on one another!
In the midst of waiting for everything to be rendered, everyone worked on their blogs/did the learn@UW quiz. Paul went through the questions, getting answers from the students as they went - mostly from Jose, Keke, and Alli in the back!
Overall, it was a fun day - learning about editing and sound effects. Till next week!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Storytelling: LIVE PERFORMANCES!!
That's right . . . today was LIVE PERFORMANCES!! Unfortunately, even as Paul and Elizabeth tried to get everyone excited about this opportunity to exercise acting skills, things were off to a bit of a slow start! Not many people were there right at 12:15, but Elizabeth got them started on the learn@UW quiz while Paul went downstairs to find everyone. Eventually, we were all here and ready to start!
The learn@UW quiz had questions at the end having to do with one of the lesson plans - "Narrating without a Narrator". Elizabeth had the class listen to an episode from "Adventures in Odyssey", a radio drama for kids. Students had to listen to the scene and tell what was going on based on sound effects, dialogue, and other clues in the scene, since there wasn't a person narrating the entire scene. Afterwards, Elizabeth transitioned into some other examples, including a battle scene from the Chronicles of Narnia and another Adventures in Odyssey example story in which the kids get a rather eccentric substitute teacher.
After this, Paul and AJ took over with the live performances! The class was given 10 minutes before break to brainstorm and talk about what they were going to do . . . and then, when the Exploration section began, so did the live performances! Paul took each group to the conference room in the other tower to record, while Elizabeth and AJ hooked up the computers to skype the recording computer and record the performance on audacity. Everything ran smoothly - the groups got set up and then performed. The first group did a fun scene about a robbery in a walmart with really amazingly convincing emotions (including screams!), Jose's group did a creative story in which the characters, fruit and vegetables in a bowl, debated the values of vegetables vs fruit, and Michelle's group did a funny story about being in a movie theatre and talking too much - great sound effects girls! Overall, Paul and Elizabeth were VERY impressed and really enjoyed seeing the students creativity. But the day wasn't over yet! The students soon pressure Elizabeth and Paul to go do their own live performance! They grudgingly complied - Paul ended up coming up with a great story about a guy getting hit by a car as a woman is walking past. He wouldn't accept medical attention even though two of his limbs had fallen off :P Go Paul! Everyone seemed to enjoy it (Jaylah declared she would buy it if it were on itunes) but unfortunately it was the one performance that didn't record!
A taste of what the audactiy recordings looked like :)
The learn@UW quiz had questions at the end having to do with one of the lesson plans - "Narrating without a Narrator". Elizabeth had the class listen to an episode from "Adventures in Odyssey", a radio drama for kids. Students had to listen to the scene and tell what was going on based on sound effects, dialogue, and other clues in the scene, since there wasn't a person narrating the entire scene. Afterwards, Elizabeth transitioned into some other examples, including a battle scene from the Chronicles of Narnia and another Adventures in Odyssey example story in which the kids get a rather eccentric substitute teacher.
After this, Paul and AJ took over with the live performances! The class was given 10 minutes before break to brainstorm and talk about what they were going to do . . . and then, when the Exploration section began, so did the live performances! Paul took each group to the conference room in the other tower to record, while Elizabeth and AJ hooked up the computers to skype the recording computer and record the performance on audacity. Everything ran smoothly - the groups got set up and then performed. The first group did a fun scene about a robbery in a walmart with really amazingly convincing emotions (including screams!), Jose's group did a creative story in which the characters, fruit and vegetables in a bowl, debated the values of vegetables vs fruit, and Michelle's group did a funny story about being in a movie theatre and talking too much - great sound effects girls! Overall, Paul and Elizabeth were VERY impressed and really enjoyed seeing the students creativity. But the day wasn't over yet! The students soon pressure Elizabeth and Paul to go do their own live performance! They grudgingly complied - Paul ended up coming up with a great story about a guy getting hit by a car as a woman is walking past. He wouldn't accept medical attention even though two of his limbs had fallen off :P Go Paul! Everyone seemed to enjoy it (Jaylah declared she would buy it if it were on itunes) but unfortunately it was the one performance that didn't record!
A taste of what the audactiy recordings looked like :) After the live performances, Elizabeth and Paul led a discussion on them - what went well, what didn't. Elizabeth made the connection that in the future, when everyone has more time, the projects will be even better because the students will be able to go over lines again and again and have separate tracks in Vegas for editing. From there, she showed the students a BTW she had done a few weeks ago with a friend. She explained to the class how she had a separate track for each individual sound effect (fire crackling in the back, a door slamming, etc) and that she had each of these tracks named. Michelle knew right away that the 'crunching' noise at the beginning was supposed to be snow and imagined that the whooshing noise was wind in the woods by a cabin. That was exactly what Elizabeth was going for, though other students thought it was crunching leaves. Overall, the class talked about using creativity - about the fact that it isn't necessary to have snow in order to have a snow-like sound!
Afterwards, Paul discussed Theme, Story Arc, and Concept with the students. He used the example of Spiderman to point out where the exposition (beginning and setting) and climax (for Spiderman for instance, the climactic scene is when Mary Jane is held captive by the Green Goblin and Spidey comes to save her and fight him). He also talked about the Concept in stories like the Pirates of the Carribean - the concept being "the golden age of pirates". He explained how, if one has such a theme, it would be anachronistic to have, say, a cell phone appear in the movie. All these amazing storytelling techniques will give the class a good vocabulary to discuss their stories.
During the certification section, the students were released to play around with the H2 and H4 and record a short scene. Paul and Elizabeth had a few scripts they could use (one from the Princess Bride and the other that Paul had written) though most groups decided to use their own ideas. Elizabeth took one group off into a conference room where they practiced their scene (in a Mexican restaurant with two people who only speak English and can't understand the menu and another person who only speaks French!) and Paul took another group to the recording studio with an H2.
Soon after, the whole class gathered back in 3139 to blog about the day - Paul and Elizabeth emphasized getting everyone invited to the blogs! And it seemed to work! Hurray! Another successful day of ITA!!
Afterwards, Paul discussed Theme, Story Arc, and Concept with the students. He used the example of Spiderman to point out where the exposition (beginning and setting) and climax (for Spiderman for instance, the climactic scene is when Mary Jane is held captive by the Green Goblin and Spidey comes to save her and fight him). He also talked about the Concept in stories like the Pirates of the Carribean - the concept being "the golden age of pirates". He explained how, if one has such a theme, it would be anachronistic to have, say, a cell phone appear in the movie. All these amazing storytelling techniques will give the class a good vocabulary to discuss their stories.
During the certification section, the students were released to play around with the H2 and H4 and record a short scene. Paul and Elizabeth had a few scripts they could use (one from the Princess Bride and the other that Paul had written) though most groups decided to use their own ideas. Elizabeth took one group off into a conference room where they practiced their scene (in a Mexican restaurant with two people who only speak English and can't understand the menu and another person who only speaks French!) and Paul took another group to the recording studio with an H2.
Soon after, the whole class gathered back in 3139 to blog about the day - Paul and Elizabeth emphasized getting everyone invited to the blogs! And it seemed to work! Hurray! Another successful day of ITA!!
Re-Power! HP Class Session 2
Class didn't start on time. Zon and Gavin had to wait for the rest of the students, but only four of them showed up. Regina and Aliyah were not there.
Despite two missing students and a late class, Zon resumed with what she had planned.
The class started out with Zon listing off her goals for the students. After that, the students emailed their goals to Zon and took the Learn@UW quiz. There were some problems with the quiz, because Zon made some mistakes when creating the questions.
The questions were about PowerPoint. From the look of the answers, the students needed some refreshing on PowerPoint. Which was what Zon had planned.
The class looked over what kinds of tools PowerPoint have and how it had changed over the years. After a quick review, the played a quick jeopardy game. They also went through the world's worst PowerPoint, keeping in mind on how they can improve their PowerPoint from their previous ITA session.
After a long lecture on PowerPoint, the students were finally able to take a break.
When the students got back from their break. Zon showed the students how to make buttons and link them to other slides. This was in preparation for their challenge of the day to make their previous PowerPoint better.
Since class started late, the students got only thirty minutes to work on their PowerPoint. After improving their slideshow, they saved their work and presented it to the class. However, there were some technical problems, so some things didn't get saved. Maddy's Mac number 15 kept on crashing.
When the presentations were done, the students began on their blog. However, all of them claimed they had forgotten their Gmail to log in to their blogger. So, the students were asked to create new accounts and write down their information so that they won't forget them. All the students were able to post up a blog except for Maddy. She was in the middle of writing her blog when her laptop crashed again.
There were many technical problems, so the class didn't get out until five minutes after. The students were all late to Community Hour.
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