Class 5

Good afternoon all,

We need to reiterate a couple of items before we move on to saving our movies in a format other than a wlmp (Windows Live Media Project). At the end of Tuesday's class, a couple of class members had trouble saving their wlmp files to the server. I didn't see what they were doing or how they did it, so I cannot say with certainty what happened. Luckily (I hope) they saved all their component files to their flash drives. Remember that we discussed keeping everything together in one folder in case we had to reconstruct our projects.

Another class member separated their wlmp project file from its related assets and found their clips and pics showed up as ghost icons in their storyboard when they launched it in Movie Maker.

Usually, employing an abundance of caution, I save computer files in their primal state so that later reconstruction, if necessary, is not that complicated. Unfortunately, it carries over into Life for me sometimes, leading to excessive clutter. Computer files take up negligible amounts of space, while tangible items do not.

Your original project was saved as a wlmp along with it's related files in a folder. Please do not consider turning it into an actual movie file until I get a chance to speak with you about the possibilities.

The best course for us is to come to class next week with everything related to your movie project loaded on a flash drive. That will allow us to save it as a movie in multiple formats at any time in the future. Different formats will allow you to utilize different methods of delivery constraints due to resolution quality and file size. We'll use a lower res movie file for the Web posting we'll use for our online class while you may wish to use a high res movie file to play on a DVD.

Next week, we'll spend a couple of minutes viewing short tutorials explaining movie file options and how to save them. Windows Live Movie Maker uses the term, to save, for both the initial save when you create a wlmp as well as when you essentially export it to another format.

Also very important:

1. save to your flash drive only (we want to avoid the nasty network gremlins)
2. save you original project (wlmp) file early and often
3. keep all your related files in the same relative location as your project file
4. do not relocate any files or rename any of them
5. please call me over to your computer if:

• you have any trouble saving
• you are uncertain about where your saved files will go
• you are uncertain about where your saved files have gone
• you have files related to you movie scattered about

I hope you enjoy this quickly done movie below. I used a video that I took of you all in class while I was droning on and on, mainly with Jon, to cover my tracks. The stills were created from simple pngs and jpegs that I took of the Web after doing a search for images related to Monty Tech. The introductory audio track was recorded using the Open Source and cost free program called Audacity. It was exported as an mp3 and imported into this movie. The subsequent music that you'll hear in later was downloaded, again cost free, as part of a Creative Commons site.

I did the movie for a couple of reasons:

The first is that while thinking about how we could conduct our vacation class, I wanted to chose the most effective virtual space for our classroom. Should it be in my office at TappedIn (a synchronous session requiring all to appear there at the same time) or would it be better to conduct it through our blog (asynchrous-meaning anyone could view the subject matter anytime, anywhere independent of the others in the class).

I think that a good use of that time would be to use the allotment provided for in the syllabus to view our movie creations. Since the week when I asked you all who would not be around during that makeup class when everyone said they would, a few people have told me they wouldn't. So, I guess that makes me lean toward the asynchrous. That way you can view all the movies at your leisure wherever you may be that week.

The second reason is that if you all can view this movie where I posted it to the Web linked through our blog, then I could post all of yours to be viewed by each of you sometime during our vacation week. I just need to be sure that you all can do it.

I also posted a movie shot by Donnalee on her cellphone. She prepared a wonderful short with a student in Automotive. The purpose of it was to educate the viewer about the meaning of numbers on the sidewalls of all the tires we all purchase.

*Assignment:

Please view both movies and comment on your ease of access in doing so by using the comment component of our blog. Simply let me know if you can view mine, but be sure to let Donnalee know what a great idea she had.

MontyTechSampleMovie
DonnaLee
More to follow...