ETEC 540- Documentary: The History of Paper and the Pen
Looking back upon this artifact and the way that I felt during this undertaking, I cannot believe the growth that I have made since this particular learning endeavour. Apart from using Powtoon and Moovly a few times for short animated videos, at this point in the program, I had not had any experience at all with movie making. Because I felt more comfortable on my computer than I did on my iPad, I chose to use Windows Movie Maker for this media production. Although it was a very challenging assignment for me, I was pleased with the end result. Since the creation of this documentary back in my second year of studies, I have learned how to use Camtasia which is a much more complex tool to work with, but it also has a great deal more to offer in regard to design choices and functionality. When I first completed this documentary, I felt like I had accomplished this amazing feat. Taking another look at the end result now as I am completing my MET journey, makes me think of all of the ways in which I could improve upon this media production. I am including this artifact in my e-portfolio because I feel that it helps to illustrate the growth that I made in regard to both my confidence level and my media production skills. Below you will find my forum post, video and a copy of the script for my documentary on the history of paper and the pen.
Forum Post
My video documentary is a brief history of paper and the pen. As I chose to present information on both of these important tools in the development of writing, the historical account that I was able to give for each is quite brief and really only scratches the surface of the evolution of the two. I chose to cover both topics as I felt that they are so tightly bound together that addressing one without the other would have resulted in an end product that felt incomplete. I tried to share information about the way in which paper and the pen changed over time, while also addressing the way in which these changes impacted the development of writing in society.
I chose to create my video using Windows Movie Maker. Having not ever made a video of any sort outside of making short animated movies online using tools such as powtoon.com and moovly.com, I had very little experience with the movie making process. I initially began to create my video with a newer version of Windows Movie Maker, but after too many frustrating attempts to get started I called upon the assistance of my husband to help me download an older version of the program that used an interface that was much more similar to the drag and drop timeline format that I was used to from my experience with the above mentioned web resources. Once I had this older version at my fingertips, I was able to import my selected images and record the narration for each section of my video with little to no trouble. Although my video may appear plain, and lacks video transitions, after viewing my production with and without animation, I actually preferred the simplicity of the video without transitions. I felt that in leaving out the slide transitions, it looked more polished and professional and less like a novice video presentation. I selected my images thoughtfully and carefully and tried to pair my graphics with the related narration as much as possible. All of the images that were used in the making of the documentary were taken either from flickr.com’s Creative Commons gallery, or from the Wikimedia Commons.
For a first attempt at making a video production such as this, I am pleased with my end product. I was actually grateful for the time limit criteria for this video assignment, as it forced me to really narrow in on my topic and revise my research to focus on what I felt was the most relevant information in regard to my selected topic.
My video documentary is a brief history of paper and the pen. As I chose to present information on both of these important tools in the development of writing, the historical account that I was able to give for each is quite brief and really only scratches the surface of the evolution of the two. I chose to cover both topics as I felt that they are so tightly bound together that addressing one without the other would have resulted in an end product that felt incomplete. I tried to share information about the way in which paper and the pen changed over time, while also addressing the way in which these changes impacted the development of writing in society.
I chose to create my video using Windows Movie Maker. Having not ever made a video of any sort outside of making short animated movies online using tools such as powtoon.com and moovly.com, I had very little experience with the movie making process. I initially began to create my video with a newer version of Windows Movie Maker, but after too many frustrating attempts to get started I called upon the assistance of my husband to help me download an older version of the program that used an interface that was much more similar to the drag and drop timeline format that I was used to from my experience with the above mentioned web resources. Once I had this older version at my fingertips, I was able to import my selected images and record the narration for each section of my video with little to no trouble. Although my video may appear plain, and lacks video transitions, after viewing my production with and without animation, I actually preferred the simplicity of the video without transitions. I felt that in leaving out the slide transitions, it looked more polished and professional and less like a novice video presentation. I selected my images thoughtfully and carefully and tried to pair my graphics with the related narration as much as possible. All of the images that were used in the making of the documentary were taken either from flickr.com’s Creative Commons gallery, or from the Wikimedia Commons.
For a first attempt at making a video production such as this, I am pleased with my end product. I was actually grateful for the time limit criteria for this video assignment, as it forced me to really narrow in on my topic and revise my research to focus on what I felt was the most relevant information in regard to my selected topic.
script_for_documentary.pdf | |
File Size: | 332 kb |
File Type: |