Thursday, April 9, 2020

Creative Uses for ThingLink?

Think about how you can use ThingLink to promote, disseminate, or creatively link to your online work...

Design a "personally branded" ThingLink photo, map, 360, etc., image that connects all about YOU in one image! You could link to news about you, samples of your work, your resume, specially produced video clips, galleries, blog, website, & social media.

Post a link and embed the image in a blog entry - and post it in social media, your website and wherever you deem appropriate. Write a reflection on your process in the blog entry, too.

My cheap and quick sample is below - you will do better!

Friday, April 3, 2020

ThingLink Interactive Images


ThingLink Interactive Image Assignment
(Your group is “Digital Comm” and your code is in your email)
Assignment: You will make an interactive Personal Campus Map of Limestone College, using a sample campus map and your own photos, comments, video, sound, etc. You will embed the image in your blog or website and share a link in Blackboard to your published image.
1.      Use the ThingLink interface (http://www.thinglink.com) – sign up with the code provided in your email to build a dynamic, interactive VIRTUAL PERSONAL CAMPUS MAP with digital collateral.

3.      Try your hand by building a “Personal Campus Map” using the campus map image attached. (Use “upload image” for this one – we will do 360 images later.) Create and use at least one of each of these “tags” below.
a.      Add text and media with each of these elements:
                                                    i.     Text
                                                   ii.     Photo
                                                  iii.     Audio
b.      Add text label
c.      Add content from website:
                                                    i.     YouTube/Vimeo video OR
                                                   ii.     Embed code from one of your creations
d.      (No need to do “tour button” yet. But play around an add as much as you like.)

4.      When you finish, PUBLISH a brief blog entry describing your experience and INCLUDE your interactive image (you can make public or unlisted,) via the EMBED the code, in your blog or website. (I think you will see there are many potential uses for your own website for this!)

5.      Lastly, post the link to your interactive image in the Blackboard assignment!
I have done a hasty sample for you with some of these elements here:

Monday, March 30, 2020

Resume Refresh!


It's time for a resume refresh. Many of you are at the point when you will be sending out resumes - if you haven't already started.

Go to Blackboard for these instructions in an "assignment" under 2nd half section!

This assignment helps you leverage your previous work in personal branding, as well as you previous resume work. Follow these steps and submit your revised print/digital resume document here, as well as placing it on your website in the appropriate spots.
  1. Review the attached document, "Resume Basics." Make notes of elements and features you wish to add, change or remove from yoru current resume document.
  2. Log in and use the "Resume Builder" as described in the other attached document. (If you've already used Resume Builder before, go back through it to make adjustments and updates as your current situation requires.)
  3. Refresh the visual rhetoric of your resume document so that your design most accurately reflects your brand and persona. You can use tools like Illustrator or Indesign, or try out the Resume Design feature in CANVA: https://www.canva.com/create/resumes/
  4. POST your finished resume here by midnight, Wednesday, April 1.
There are two documents available in Blackboard to assist you: Resume Basics and Resume Builder-Start.  Use them!

 

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Remix, Remake, Repurpose

Students will take their video production skills and dial them up to 11 in a Remix Project!

https://limestonedigital.weebly.com/digital-communication-2.html
Students will read the article, "Remix: The Art and Craft of Endless Hybridization," and will post their reflections on such questions as:
  1. What is "Remix," and how does it work in various media forms?
  2. Why do people "remix," and what are positive (or negative) takeaways of the practice?
  3. What remixes am I familiar with, and in what ways have I already been remixing?
  4. In what ways is remix an "art?" or a "craft?" How can I incorporate remix into my development as an artist or into my craft as a communicator?
THEN, using materials available in the "purple-pink section" of the course website, students will then make their own remix in the form of Machinima, Mix-ups, Photoshop play, voice-overs, adding sub-titles, etc.

They will post their remix on their blog with a description of their choices and their techniques used in the production of the piece.

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Producing a Video Resume

Students in CM412 will write, storyboard, create shot lists, and prepare to shoot, edit, and produce a Video Resume for their Website and Social Media platforms.

The Video Resume will include many of the elements in their print-centric resumes, such as:

  1. Education background: When recording video resumes, briefly introduce the educational experience and qualifications, the majors and graduates, and the specific skills and abilities if necessary.
  2. Work experience: Focus on past jobs and positions and achievements.
  3. Training experience: What kind of skills training did you participate in, and what benefits do you get from it?
  4. Job intention: which position you’re applying for, and why do you want to this job. You can state it from your majors and your future career plans.
  5. Concluding remarks: you can end your resume recording with sentences like Thank you for watching my resume and looking forward to the opportunity to get an interview.
 Students will research contemporary sources and read articles like THIS ONE: https://www.wyzowl.com/how-to-make-a-video-resume/ 
... and THIS ONE: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/tips-for-creating-a-video-resume-2064219

Students will also check out samples of Video Resumes online, like this one:

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Shooting the Vocabulary - and Producing a Vocab Video!

CM412 Students will be "shooting the vocabulary" - that is to say, shooting original video illustrating a number of shots used in video production, ranging from the EWS (Extremely Wide Shot) to the ECU (Extreme Close-up), as well as a few B-roll shots like the Noddy Shot, Cut-in, etc.
(Examples can be found here!

Students will also add samples of the four basic camera movements: Pan, Tilt, Zoom, and Dolly/Truck.  (See Pan, Tilt, Dolly, Zooming)

Students will then make a "Video Vocabulary Examples" piece with titling, music, etc. to illustrate all the techniques and shots. Students will embed their videos in to a blog entry with reflection and discussion of their projects.

BONUS HOT TAKES - Research these two topics and come to class ready to discuss:
  • FINSTA
  • FIK FOK

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Making a Music Video with Freegal Footage and Images

Students will hone their editing chops by producing a "music video" using song lyrics and "freegal" video & photo resources. This will help develop a simple planning process for editing (which can be transferred to shooting video, too.)
  1. Students will select a song to make into a video, and will script out the lyrics (with time codes) in a table to create a "shot list."
  2. Students will complete the table with a description of what images they want for each lyrical segment, making a "shopping list" for video footage and photos, etc.
  3. Students will begin "shopping" for "freegal" visual collateral, saving all assets in a folder dedicated to the project.
  4. Along the way, students should keep records of the assets which require attribution, (e.g. CC BY licenses.)
  5. Students will revise their shot list based on the images they actually chose to use, making the list into a Video Editing Guide - which will guide their editing in the lab.
  6. Students should refresh their knowledge of copyright laws and Fair Use guidelines to discuss how such materials may or may not be used.
Below is an example of a couple minutes of a music video of Mary Chapin Carpenter's "I am a Town"  using CC 0 (Public Domain) image resources from the Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons, and video footage licensed through VideoBlocks, and a few CC BY images from VisualHunt (which will be acknowledge in the credits of the finished video.)




The Shot List / Editing List looks like this:


MIXING: Music,Titles, Ken Burns Effect, & Video Editing

Students will use Premiere Pro (and provided video, audio and photos) to recreate the 25-second introduction to a fictitious documentary called "Baseball: America's Pasttime."



In doing so, students will demonstrate their learning of the program interface, importing collateral, using photos, layers, timeline, transitions, effects, editing clips before and after insertion to the timeline, titling, the Ken Burns effect, and exporting to various video formats (in this case, a format suitable for YouTube.)

They will upload their videos to YouTube and embed them in their blogs (or upload them directly to their blogs) with additional prose commentary on the process.

(In follow-up projects, students will create a sample of camera shots, and a brief tutorial on tips to make video better.)

Students will build on the instruction in the classroom, but can find additional support at sites like these:

Adobe has some helpful links to instructions and video tutorials to help you get started HERE.

A couple of tutorials you might have particular interest in are these:
  1. Managing & Viewing Assets
  2. Dynamic Slide Shows (aka the "Ken Burns Effect")
MORE HELP Available at the Course Website!

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

The Actual "Clickbait" Headlines

1.  Giant pythons keep attacking people in Indonesia — and humans might be to
blame (The Washington Post, http://wapo.st/2zQiAAW)
2.  Oyster vending machines installed at French seaside resort (NBC News,
http://nbcnews.to/2zPCV9F)
3.  Working too hard literally killed this Japanese woman (Newsweek, http://bit.ly/2A0uvgj)
4.  Ryan Gosling’s tribute to his dead dog George will melt your heart (Entertainment Weekly,
http://bit.ly/2xlUktJ)
5.  Facebook will invest $1 billion in Virginia to build data center and ‘multiple’ solar
facilities (CNBC, http://cnb.cx/2yNiMAw)
6.  Adorable fluffy cat joins New Zealand cop on his shift (Huffington Post,
http://bit.ly/2xzC3W3)

Friday, January 10, 2020

Welcome to 2020: The Age of (Fake/Mis/Dis) Information! (Pt. 1: Clickbait)


Students will play a game of Clickbait Creator, and try their hand at a convincing social media graphic they will feature on their blogs.

They will then explore this interactive article https://insertlearning.com/v1/lesson/5e18969c6dde50413513f18b
and discuss in class. They will compose a brief educational message to those who click on clickbait without thinking - so that the clickers may be better informed about what just happened to them!

They will build a blog entry or a web page with their "educational message about clickbait," and use it as the target URL for their own previously created clickbait graphics. They will publish their clickbait graphics to their various social media platforms (using HootSutie, etc.) - and, in the next class, will share any responses or feedback from their "clickers."

Add your name as "keyword" for fun.


Here are the actual headlines that inspired your game examples:
https://limestonedigital.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-actual-clickbait-headlines.html
How would fake news try to target you?
Take this survey! https://disinformation-nation.org/