Second Multimedia Class

Today's multimedia class was less intimidating than last week's. Some students had been having difficulty setting up certain of their accounts, so we went through some of the basics in navigating the various multimedia sites which was very helpful. Dr. Chris appointed a class DJ and even rocked out and danced to Nelly's "Hot In Here," inspired by the outrageous temperature in the computer lab. It was quite a fun sight to see. This is definitely an unconventional college classroom environment.

Today's main focus was looking ahead to the rest of the semester and outlining our projects, exams, field trips, and assignments. We have two events coming up, one on February 16 and another on March 21. Both are events for the Federal Women's Council, of which Dr. Chris is the president. I'm looking forward to juggling a bunch of social media simultaneously and updating live at an event.

Dr. Chris told us about his usual "Judge Dr. Chris" moments in class when he puts certain individual students or group of students on trial for breaking a classroom rule. There is an entire library of videos of these "trials" on YouTube. The one immediately below really stood out to me as humorous and encompassing Dr. Chris' extraordinary personality. The second video is one I took myself in class tonight during Dr. Chris' first Intro to Multimedia Spring 2012 semester judgement session. Have a great laugh and enjoy the videos below.

 (seeufilms, 2011)

Three Point Lighting

As part of our first homework assignments, Dr. Chris had us watch a short YouTube video on the basics of three-point lighting. This video was really great - short, to the point, and a great learning tool for someone like myself who has no experience in lighting or any form of set design. Though I am a communication major, I have never been especially interested in the production side of things, so I never took any video classes through which I would have practiced this technique. I am very interested in becoming a film publicist, though, so even though I would not be behind-the-scenes on the set in such a job, it would be to my advantage to know these skills, even if only minimally. In this hard-to-penetrate job market, any skill will make me more marketable.

Dr. Chris says we are going to illustrate these techniques in class tonight. I am really looking forward to trying it out and developing an eye for the perfect lighting mix with the key light, the fill light, and the backlight. I really wasn't expecting video-production techniques to be a part of the curriculum in this class, but I guess if we are going to be doing a lot of blogging and posting our own video links, this is a necessary skill to have in order to produce quality videos. Take a look at the video below to start building your lighting design knowledge!

 (videomaker, 2009)

First Day of Multimedia Class

The first multimedia class was exciting! A lot of things happened because we all worked to set up our social media accounts -- Facebook, Google+, Gmail, and Blogger. I am very familiar with Facebook and Gmail, but have never used Google+ or blogged before, nor have I ever used a YouTube account, though I have used YouTube before. The class seems like it will be very fast-paced, but I think I am really going to learn a lot about how to make the most of this social media world. This will be a really great skill to have as I begin to search for a job this semester.
It's going to be really great to work in a small group to get things done. We helped each other set up all our accounts today since some of us were more knowledgeable in certain areas than others. Dr. Chris seems like he is really going to make EVERYTHING extremely interactive and fun. We are going to have class online, have field trips with live blogging, and even have show-and-tell days! I must admit, the atmosphere of the class is not what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised. I do hope that Dr. Chris gives us a little more guidance with these new social media tools next week as we really begin to dive into everything. He says in three weeks we will be expert users - I sure hope he is right!
Once i feel comfortable, I really think I am going to surprise myself and learn so so much. I can't wait to see what this semester brings. It seems like I will be surprised at every turn.
Here is a picture of Dr. Chris is action... I think I need to find out where he gets all his energy!!

(Batajoo, 2012)

And check out what Lauren, Scott, Kristen and Sudesna (my Group Row One!) had to say about our first day of multimedia class with Dr. Chris in the video above.