What a week of work and fun at Emma Lake! Multiple days of 8:00 a.m. to midnight editing sessions and we were still coming back smiling for more!
I was very happy that "Herb Grazer" turned out the way I had imagined. I am looking forward to the screening of everyone's finished projects.
Thanks to everyone in the 879 gang for making it such a productive and enjoyable week!
Sorry if the Herb Grazer song is still stuck in your head!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Day 3 of Production
Today, I moved indoors to shoot some remaining scenes that take place inside houses. Everything went fairly smoothly...largely because my expectations about how many scenes I am going to shoot in an evening are now much more realistic. As a result, I feel better about the scenes that do get shot.
I have been trying to convey some of the mood with the way I have been lighting the shots. I want Herb to have a comic-book detective feel to him. So on some shots of him and the suspects, I have purposely placed some shadows for effect. We'll see whether it works or if it just a distraction for the viewer!
I have completed all of the video shots that talent will appear in. I have some voice overs to record, graphics to create, a theme song to write and cutaways of leaves, needles and flowers to film.
I'm looking forward to having time at Emma to start sorting and arranging these raw elements into something that resembles my story idea.
I have been trying to convey some of the mood with the way I have been lighting the shots. I want Herb to have a comic-book detective feel to him. So on some shots of him and the suspects, I have purposely placed some shadows for effect. We'll see whether it works or if it just a distraction for the viewer!
I have completed all of the video shots that talent will appear in. I have some voice overs to record, graphics to create, a theme song to write and cutaways of leaves, needles and flowers to film.
I'm looking forward to having time at Emma to start sorting and arranging these raw elements into something that resembles my story idea.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Day 2 of Production
After last night's filming indoors, I was looking forward to shooting outside today. I rushed home after work eager to get at it. I thought this would be alot easier since I didn't have to worry about the lights as much. Since it was cloudy, I thought the light would be fairly soft and easier to manage.
Well.. I get home to find out that one of my cast members/kids has put her wardrobe in the washing machine and it is only half done...so production delay number one while we wait for it to finish and be dry (to pass the time I whined to my cast/kids about the importance of continuity). Eventually, we got underway, just in time for my neighbour to fire up his lawn mower and weed eater...not continuously mind you, just in short bursts half way through each scene. We tried to fight through it, but eventually we went on hiatus while we waited for him to finish. As a result we ended up reshooting every scene that we had already done due to the distracting noises on the audio.
On the up side, the second try went fairly smoothly since we had just completed our forced dress rehearsal...but by now the nice even cloud layer had broken up and I was getting intense sunlight and overcast conditions on a 25 second alternating schedule.
So in short, I definitely got a taste of some of the challenges of outdoor shooting in an environment beyond your control...maybe next time I'll ask all of my neighbours to leave town for the evening...I'll let you know how that goes!
Well.. I get home to find out that one of my cast members/kids has put her wardrobe in the washing machine and it is only half done...so production delay number one while we wait for it to finish and be dry (to pass the time I whined to my cast/kids about the importance of continuity). Eventually, we got underway, just in time for my neighbour to fire up his lawn mower and weed eater...not continuously mind you, just in short bursts half way through each scene. We tried to fight through it, but eventually we went on hiatus while we waited for him to finish. As a result we ended up reshooting every scene that we had already done due to the distracting noises on the audio.
On the up side, the second try went fairly smoothly since we had just completed our forced dress rehearsal...but by now the nice even cloud layer had broken up and I was getting intense sunlight and overcast conditions on a 25 second alternating schedule.
So in short, I definitely got a taste of some of the challenges of outdoor shooting in an environment beyond your control...maybe next time I'll ask all of my neighbours to leave town for the evening...I'll let you know how that goes!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Storyboard and Production Kick Off
Well, I finished the storyboard and shot list for my script yesterday. I decided to add another column to my script format to contain the storyboard, then I labelled each drawing with the scene number and consecutive letters of the alphabet to help me keep track of them on my shot list.
I started production this evening with some shots that require office scenes, so I used my school. I was worried that it would be too noisy, but it was quiet there and the wireless mic that I was using worked well.
If your talent needs help with their lines, I found this free online teleprompter. I can't remember if I heard about it in class or if I just found it on a wild google chase, so if I'm recommending something to you that you told me about...sorry! It worked well for me, but I also used large cue cards in some situations.
I started production this evening with some shots that require office scenes, so I used my school. I was worried that it would be too noisy, but it was quiet there and the wireless mic that I was using worked well.
If your talent needs help with their lines, I found this free online teleprompter. I can't remember if I heard about it in class or if I just found it on a wild google chase, so if I'm recommending something to you that you told me about...sorry! It worked well for me, but I also used large cue cards in some situations.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Links Fixed
If you tried the links to my script and schedules in my last post and they didn't work, now they should.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Getting Caught Up and Staying on Schedule
Well, I took the day off today from work to get caught up on work for 879. If you are interested here is my script, my pre-production schedule, my production schedule, and my post-production schedule. Hopefully, the date ranges that I chose are realistic. It's getting pretty hectic at work because the interior of our school is getting painted this year and we need to pack our classroom contents into the gym, but I hope to stick to my shooting schedule so that I have alot of footage to edit while at Emma Lake.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Treatment Draft: Suggestions Welcome!
Well, I have decided to go with the more dramatic format for my science video. Here is the first draft of the treatment. Please pass along any suggestions that you may have. Hopefully, by the end of the week, I'll have the production schedules and details like talent and locations worked out.
Title
“Herb Grazer: Plant Detective”
Summary
Herb Grazer, a private detective specializing in plant cases, comes to the rescue when his sister’s prize winning tomato plant is stolen. Several neighbours were seen leaving the area and many items were left behind. The police don’t have any leads and are considering closing the case. Using what he knows about plant characteristics and the habits of the suspects, Herb systematically eliminates all possible suspects except for one. The police use this new information to get a confession and the safe return of the tomato plant.
Story Overview
Herb is sitting at his desk, feet up reading the newspaper, crime headline visible (Garden Raids), police radio scanner audible in the background.
Calling all cars message to current crime scene.
Herb’s attention shifts to the radio. He listens intently. Shaking his head he comments out loud about the recent crime wave.
Time passes.
The phone rings. It’s Herb’s sister. Her prize winning tomato plant is missing. Witnesses have told the police that they saw some people from her neighbourhood walking away from her yard: Dr. Dicot, Monty Monocot, Count Coniferous and Leif Carrot. They all claim to be innocent. Several items were found in her garden, but the police don’t think they are useful and are going to close the file.
Herb visits the garden and finds:
An evergreen (spruce) branch, seeds (bean), a flower (dicot), and a leaf (oak). (This eventually point to Dr. Dicot as the culprit.)
Herb explains that evergreen trees can be identified by the characteristics of their needles. He explains the concepts of single vs clusters, flat vs round/square, and scaly vs. needle, giving examples of each. Herb then turns his attention to the evergreen branch found in his sister’s yard and systematically eliminates possibilities due to characteristics until the only logical possibility is spruce.
Herb comments that this does not incriminate Count Coniferous, because his yard is filled with pine trees and only pine trees.
Herb picks up the seeds and comments that a plant can be classified as a monocot or dicot by the characteristics of its seeds. He explains the terms monocot and dicot giving examples of each’s seeds. Herb points out that the seeds in his hand appear to be bean seeds. He carefully removes the seed coat to reveal two sections, and therefore a dicot.
Herb notes that Monty has an extensive seed collection made up exclusively of monocots, and that this information seems to point away from Monty being the culprit.
Herb lifts up the small tree branch and surveys its leaves. He mentions that the characteristics of a tree’s leaves can give clues about the type of tree. Herb mentions the categories of leaf shape, margin, arrangement and venation citing examples for each. He examines the leaves on the branch and describes it according to these categories. He uses a simple identification key to determine that it is an oak leaf.
Herb remarks that he was watching a “Where are they now..” show about Leif Carrot the other day and that in a bid to regain his past status, he cut down all trees on his property except for the Poplars (he thought it would make him more “poplar” with the public again!). Herb quickly contrasts the characteristics of a Poplar leaf with the Oak leaf to be certain and then states that this leaf does not seem to come from Leif Carrot’s yard.
Herb picks up the flower and points out the parts: stem, sepal, petals, pistil and stamen. He explains that the number of petals on a flower can help identify a plant as a monocot or dicot. He gives examples of each. Herb turns his attention back to the crime scene flower and carefully counts the petals. The number of petals indicate that it is a dicot.
Herb recounts reading a local newspaper interview with Dr. Dicot that mentioned he always wears a dicot flower when out in public. Maybe the police need to have another talk with the self-labeled evil Dr.
Herb calls the police and passes on his information. The police bring Dr. Dicot in for questioning again. They interrogate Dr. Dicot and get him to crack by talking about his mother (“what kind of mother must a person have in order to stoop so low as to steal a tomato plant?”…etc.) The police recover and return the tomato plant to Herb’s sister. Dr. Dicot is sentenced to 30 hours of community service and is now prohibited from living within 500 meters of a garden.
Herb puts his arm around his sister and turns to the camera and tells the viewer that the next time they look at petals, leaves and seeds: don’t just see them as parts of plant, but rather as clues to making a positive identification. Get good enough at it and maybe one day you can work with me;
HERB GRAAAAAAZZZZZER: PLANT DETECTIVE!
Purpose of Video
To provide visual examples of identification concepts taught in the classroom. These examples will be useful in the following ways:
Reinforce in-class and home experiences with the flowers, leaves and seeds of plants.
Provide a more cost effective and time efficient alternative to visiting many locations to view plants in person.
Help bridge distances between students in geographically isolated areas to plant species not in their immediate environment.
Allow students to review or enrich their learning anywhere and anytime that they wish to access the video.
Provide a mode of presentation which will assist aural and visual learners to incorporate new knowledge with their existing ideas about plants.
Learning Objectives
The viewer will be able to explain the branching structure of the seed vs non-seed plant system of classifying plants
The viewer will be able to discern flowering seed plants from non-flowering seed plants (conifers).
The viewer will be able to identify flowering plants as monocots or dicots based on seed characteristics.
The viewer will be able to identify flowering plants as monocots or dicots based on the number of flower petals.
The viewer will be able to identify coniferous species based on needle characteristics.
The viewer will be able to identify deciduous species based on leaf characteristics such as shape, margin, arrangement and blade division.
Format
DVD and Online Streamed Video
Audience
Elementary to middle school level students.
Main Characters
Herb Grazer: Plant Detective
Lily Grazer: Herb’s sister
Dr. Dicot: Self-Described Evil Scientist with signature dicot flower. Wants to destroy all monocots.
Monty Monocot: Collects monocot seeds.
Count Coniferous: Loves evergreens. Trying to get Poplars to become the new Christmas Tree.
Leif Carrot: former teen heart throb (wants to be Poplar again).
Running Time
22 minutes
Title
“Herb Grazer: Plant Detective”
Summary
Herb Grazer, a private detective specializing in plant cases, comes to the rescue when his sister’s prize winning tomato plant is stolen. Several neighbours were seen leaving the area and many items were left behind. The police don’t have any leads and are considering closing the case. Using what he knows about plant characteristics and the habits of the suspects, Herb systematically eliminates all possible suspects except for one. The police use this new information to get a confession and the safe return of the tomato plant.
Story Overview
Herb is sitting at his desk, feet up reading the newspaper, crime headline visible (Garden Raids), police radio scanner audible in the background.
Calling all cars message to current crime scene.
Herb’s attention shifts to the radio. He listens intently. Shaking his head he comments out loud about the recent crime wave.
Time passes.
The phone rings. It’s Herb’s sister. Her prize winning tomato plant is missing. Witnesses have told the police that they saw some people from her neighbourhood walking away from her yard: Dr. Dicot, Monty Monocot, Count Coniferous and Leif Carrot. They all claim to be innocent. Several items were found in her garden, but the police don’t think they are useful and are going to close the file.
Herb visits the garden and finds:
An evergreen (spruce) branch, seeds (bean), a flower (dicot), and a leaf (oak). (This eventually point to Dr. Dicot as the culprit.)
Herb explains that evergreen trees can be identified by the characteristics of their needles. He explains the concepts of single vs clusters, flat vs round/square, and scaly vs. needle, giving examples of each. Herb then turns his attention to the evergreen branch found in his sister’s yard and systematically eliminates possibilities due to characteristics until the only logical possibility is spruce.
Herb comments that this does not incriminate Count Coniferous, because his yard is filled with pine trees and only pine trees.
Herb picks up the seeds and comments that a plant can be classified as a monocot or dicot by the characteristics of its seeds. He explains the terms monocot and dicot giving examples of each’s seeds. Herb points out that the seeds in his hand appear to be bean seeds. He carefully removes the seed coat to reveal two sections, and therefore a dicot.
Herb notes that Monty has an extensive seed collection made up exclusively of monocots, and that this information seems to point away from Monty being the culprit.
Herb lifts up the small tree branch and surveys its leaves. He mentions that the characteristics of a tree’s leaves can give clues about the type of tree. Herb mentions the categories of leaf shape, margin, arrangement and venation citing examples for each. He examines the leaves on the branch and describes it according to these categories. He uses a simple identification key to determine that it is an oak leaf.
Herb remarks that he was watching a “Where are they now..” show about Leif Carrot the other day and that in a bid to regain his past status, he cut down all trees on his property except for the Poplars (he thought it would make him more “poplar” with the public again!). Herb quickly contrasts the characteristics of a Poplar leaf with the Oak leaf to be certain and then states that this leaf does not seem to come from Leif Carrot’s yard.
Herb picks up the flower and points out the parts: stem, sepal, petals, pistil and stamen. He explains that the number of petals on a flower can help identify a plant as a monocot or dicot. He gives examples of each. Herb turns his attention back to the crime scene flower and carefully counts the petals. The number of petals indicate that it is a dicot.
Herb recounts reading a local newspaper interview with Dr. Dicot that mentioned he always wears a dicot flower when out in public. Maybe the police need to have another talk with the self-labeled evil Dr.
Herb calls the police and passes on his information. The police bring Dr. Dicot in for questioning again. They interrogate Dr. Dicot and get him to crack by talking about his mother (“what kind of mother must a person have in order to stoop so low as to steal a tomato plant?”…etc.) The police recover and return the tomato plant to Herb’s sister. Dr. Dicot is sentenced to 30 hours of community service and is now prohibited from living within 500 meters of a garden.
Herb puts his arm around his sister and turns to the camera and tells the viewer that the next time they look at petals, leaves and seeds: don’t just see them as parts of plant, but rather as clues to making a positive identification. Get good enough at it and maybe one day you can work with me;
HERB GRAAAAAAZZZZZER: PLANT DETECTIVE!
Purpose of Video
To provide visual examples of identification concepts taught in the classroom. These examples will be useful in the following ways:
Reinforce in-class and home experiences with the flowers, leaves and seeds of plants.
Provide a more cost effective and time efficient alternative to visiting many locations to view plants in person.
Help bridge distances between students in geographically isolated areas to plant species not in their immediate environment.
Allow students to review or enrich their learning anywhere and anytime that they wish to access the video.
Provide a mode of presentation which will assist aural and visual learners to incorporate new knowledge with their existing ideas about plants.
Learning Objectives
The viewer will be able to explain the branching structure of the seed vs non-seed plant system of classifying plants
The viewer will be able to discern flowering seed plants from non-flowering seed plants (conifers).
The viewer will be able to identify flowering plants as monocots or dicots based on seed characteristics.
The viewer will be able to identify flowering plants as monocots or dicots based on the number of flower petals.
The viewer will be able to identify coniferous species based on needle characteristics.
The viewer will be able to identify deciduous species based on leaf characteristics such as shape, margin, arrangement and blade division.
Format
DVD and Online Streamed Video
Audience
Elementary to middle school level students.
Main Characters
Herb Grazer: Plant Detective
Lily Grazer: Herb’s sister
Dr. Dicot: Self-Described Evil Scientist with signature dicot flower. Wants to destroy all monocots.
Monty Monocot: Collects monocot seeds.
Count Coniferous: Loves evergreens. Trying to get Poplars to become the new Christmas Tree.
Leif Carrot: former teen heart throb (wants to be Poplar again).
Running Time
22 minutes
Monday, June 1, 2009
Possible Story Line
Now that I have a pretty good handle on the content that I want to include and the learning objectives that I intend the video to cover, I'm starting to think about the style in which I want to present the information.
At first, I was going to present the information as a "nature show" with voice overs explaining what is currently being viewed in a step by step fashion. Logical, but boring. I have been thinking about what would make kids want to stay and watch the video if they had the choice not to. I decided that I needed to grab the audience with a story that would entertain, while the content also happened to inform.
I am working on a treatment that places my plant indentification content in the context of mystery. "Herb Grazer" is a Plant Detective who is solving a mystery/crime with several suspects: "Dr. Dicot" (evil scientist), "Monty Monocot" (eccentric collector), "Count Coniferous" (Cold Corporate CEO motivated by profit), and "Leif Carrot" (former teen heart throb now on hard times). Several clues are found at the scene. Herb logically examines each clue and systematically classifies it by its characteristics. The newly classified evidence is compared to the known habits of the suspects which incriminates some and eliminates others. In the end, Herb is able to solve the mystery.
For now... that is my direction. I intend to decide for sure by the end of the week and hopefully have my draft treatment posted here by early next week.
At first, I was going to present the information as a "nature show" with voice overs explaining what is currently being viewed in a step by step fashion. Logical, but boring. I have been thinking about what would make kids want to stay and watch the video if they had the choice not to. I decided that I needed to grab the audience with a story that would entertain, while the content also happened to inform.
I am working on a treatment that places my plant indentification content in the context of mystery. "Herb Grazer" is a Plant Detective who is solving a mystery/crime with several suspects: "Dr. Dicot" (evil scientist), "Monty Monocot" (eccentric collector), "Count Coniferous" (Cold Corporate CEO motivated by profit), and "Leif Carrot" (former teen heart throb now on hard times). Several clues are found at the scene. Herb logically examines each clue and systematically classifies it by its characteristics. The newly classified evidence is compared to the known habits of the suspects which incriminates some and eliminates others. In the end, Herb is able to solve the mystery.
For now... that is my direction. I intend to decide for sure by the end of the week and hopefully have my draft treatment posted here by early next week.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Rough Outline
As I am preparing to write the first draft of my treatment, I want to clarify my own thinking about the scope of my video. I like lists, so here is a hierarchial list of what I plan on covering:
Plants
A. Classification System of Seed vs Non-Seed
1. Focus on seed plants
a) split into flowering plants vs conifers
i. focus on flowering plants (examples)
1) monocots vs dicots
I. identification via seed section
II. identification via petal #
2) tree identification via leaf appearance
I. leaf shape
II. leaf margins
III. leaf arrangement
IV. leaf blade division
ii. focus on conifers (examples)
2) identification by needles
I feel like I have a good idea of what content I want to convey, but now I need to think about how I am going to do it effectively.
Plants
A. Classification System of Seed vs Non-Seed
1. Focus on seed plants
a) split into flowering plants vs conifers
i. focus on flowering plants (examples)
1) monocots vs dicots
I. identification via seed section
II. identification via petal #
2) tree identification via leaf appearance
I. leaf shape
II. leaf margins
III. leaf arrangement
IV. leaf blade division
ii. focus on conifers (examples)
2) identification by needles
I feel like I have a good idea of what content I want to convey, but now I need to think about how I am going to do it effectively.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Deciding on a Video Topic
I've been thinking about which direction that I want to go with my video project. I have decided to create an instructional video about plants. Specifically, plant classification with a focus on seed plants. I want to explain how these plants can be identified through specific characteristics of leaves, flowers and cones.
I feel that this topic will give opportunities for a variety of shots: outdoors, indoors, scenery, close ups, and interviews. I hope to collect some of my footage prior to Emma Lake, but also get some great wide context shots of forests and additional species while there. In this way, I will have options for making productive use of time at the Kenderdine Campus that involve both filming and editing.
Deciding on a topic has given me some peace of mind... for now. Maybe during tomorrow's class I will learning something that will cause me to re-think this decision, but for now it's written in pencil (but very dark pencil).
I feel that this topic will give opportunities for a variety of shots: outdoors, indoors, scenery, close ups, and interviews. I hope to collect some of my footage prior to Emma Lake, but also get some great wide context shots of forests and additional species while there. In this way, I will have options for making productive use of time at the Kenderdine Campus that involve both filming and editing.
Deciding on a topic has given me some peace of mind... for now. Maybe during tomorrow's class I will learning something that will cause me to re-think this decision, but for now it's written in pencil (but very dark pencil).
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Class Meeting on May 16
We had our first group meeting today. There was alot to take in: new vocabulary, new skills and strange, noxious fumes. With David's help, we learned how to access Studio in a Box, how not to treat the equipment (never, never overtighten anything...ever) and how to avoid the wrath of Sheri and Gail in EMAP.
I have completed the first item on my to do list: reading the online text. What an excellent and interesting resource. I can't believe that it is free to use. I found the quizzes and tests helpful in making me go back over information that didn't quite sink in the first time (sometimes the playoffs are a little distracting for me!)
The next order of business was to get this blog off of the ground; so check off item #2 on the to do list.
Between now and Saturday I need to reflect more on the topic for my project. I still haven't decided if it is feasible to get the footage I need before the end of June for a school orientation video. Another possibility rolling around my head is a DIY video. I am building a new deck and intrigues me to use this as a teaching opportunity. The only downside is if I keep pulling out the camcorder every five minutes, my dad (who is helping) will stick a 2x4 in my ear.
I have completed the first item on my to do list: reading the online text. What an excellent and interesting resource. I can't believe that it is free to use. I found the quizzes and tests helpful in making me go back over information that didn't quite sink in the first time (sometimes the playoffs are a little distracting for me!)
The next order of business was to get this blog off of the ground; so check off item #2 on the to do list.
Between now and Saturday I need to reflect more on the topic for my project. I still haven't decided if it is feasible to get the footage I need before the end of June for a school orientation video. Another possibility rolling around my head is a DIY video. I am building a new deck and intrigues me to use this as a teaching opportunity. The only downside is if I keep pulling out the camcorder every five minutes, my dad (who is helping) will stick a 2x4 in my ear.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Posts
