This class didn’t end quite as fast paced or high workload as we all may have anticipated, and I am certain that we as a class lost out on a load of important information, technical skills, and hands on learning. Fortunately for me, this class was just for my minor of Sports Communication and probably won’t be essential for me or my career in thee future. However, many of my classmates are Mass Communication and not Speech Communication majors and this class is vital for them. The upside is that none of them are graduating and will have the ability to catch up or fill in anything we were unable to learn or accomplish this semester.

On a positive note, i believe the workbooks played a very key role for me this semester and enhancing my knowledge on the terms and where everything goes on set and in the making of a production. I firmly believe and know this class has vastly enhanced my knowledge on multimedia production and will allow me to use the tools and knowledge i learned in the real world. For example, i have my own podcast show with my friends and the increased knowledge and usage of Audacity has also increased the quality of content we are creating.

• While experimenting with lighting, I choose to do four still shots of two different objects in my apartment.
• The first is my lamp, I did two still shots. The first still shot of the lamp was without flash using only interior orange light. This made the photo look orange and the color of the lamp and walls look a bit faded. It also made the shadows much darker black. When I used the flash and it made the picture of the lamp much better in contrast. It became much whiter and shows colors much more clearly. It also faded out the shadow and made it much less noticeable.
• The second is a football I have. When I took the first still shot without flash, it made the football really blend in with the dark brown carpet and also had the shadow really impact the visibility of the football itself. When I took another still shot of the football using flash, it really made the brown of the football and carpet differentiate. It also almost completely faded out the shadow of the football.
• Attached below is the pictures I took.

In the last couple of weeks, I have begun understanding why we needed to complete the workbook and Cengage assignments, and how the class builds off each other so dramatically. I didn’t initially believe it was all necessary and that the workload was virtually impossible to keep up with, however I have now begun to actually enjoy the class and how it is all coming together.

I just took my camera test, and now we are running through all of the parts of a show. My favorite part thus far is without a doubt being the talent and getting to observe all of the little details that get put together so differently to put on a show. The switcher is becoming easier to understand for me, but I know I still have a great learning curve to become very confident in working the switcher. I am also very excited to begin working and producing my ten-minute show, and thirty second commercial. My hope is that it comes out as a great success, I’ll keep you all updated.

In the meantime, I should let you all know that at the end of the semester, if you have or know anyone who wants to learn how to properly kick and play soccer, I will have a ten-minute show you can show them that will break it down in great detail.

This past week the class picked up a little for me and we were given the opportunity to get a taste of what is too come in the second half of the semester once we have finished the workbook. We had the opportunity to go through studio control room practice. This allowed me to gain some insight on how the announcer, talent, audio engineer, and observers all play a role in the production process.

Although it may seem very basic, my favorite job during this studio practice was being the talent. However it is not for the reasons you might think. While being the talent and having the opportunity to sit back and watch the rest of the crew work so hard and put together all the little details that allow the talent to even be able to go on air and have a successful set, I gained a newfound respect for all the people who are involved in the production process and not just over crediting the talent. I will say that being the talent even in a studio control room practice set, was still very nerve racking and fun at the same time.

On the production side, I have enjoyed getting accompanied with audacity, mic checks, and the switcher board. These are all newish to me and I feel like I am grasping them very well so far, and that I am growing more comfortable with them and the class every week that goes by. While looking a little bit ahead, I would say I am nervous about the first exam, just because all of this is still so new to me and there are so many new terms I am trying to learn as well.

As usual, learning something new is never really easy. However, sports for me have always come quite natural. Unfortunately, multimedia production is not. Throughout these first couple of weeks of class, I am having to embrace a steep learning curve. Coming in I was sure this class would consist of making movies, commercials, music videos, and other similar things would be instore for me. I have come to the realization that I had no clue how much actually goes into creating media that we use everyday and that I take for granted.

Using final cut pro has been very eye opening for me, and has been one of my favorite parts of the class so far. It has already taught me so much, and shown me that creating media content is just as interesting and entertaining as the media itself. Learning to use final cut pro wasn’t easy at all, but having a tutorial video walk me through it in a ten step process, was very encouraging and allowed me to learn at my own pace. I found that while using final cut pro, it is very important to make it your own process and to memorize the tools in the way you prefer to use them.

Learning to use the audio editing software Audacity has been really interesting and useful for me in my everyday life. I have a podcast with my friends and learning to use this will only make my podcast more clear and sound much better. Audacity to me, has also been one of the easier concepts to grasp and become better at as well. I really like that it is useable in many different aspects outside of just movie making.

This first month has been extremely nervy and out of my comfort zone, but I am ready to see what the semester has in store for me in multimedia production. I am ready to face the challenges it will present head on.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.