27.5.14

Today was a challenging and a long day as today was the day when I combined everything using Windows Movie Maker and took the second last step to the finish line. It was quite a difficult job as I was not very experienced at doing this. But I somehow managed to complete joining them all. For this very first time, I took more time than predicted/expected. This happened because, I did both joining and editing today! I had a lot of fun and learnt a lot! Joining the videos and the different scenes were very easy. But then I realized that the videos that I recorded- its audio was not very clear. To prevent any confusion, I decided to add subtitles which was not difficult, but was very time consuming! Initially, I wS very unsure about adding subtitles and did it in a very complicated way. But when I started experimenting this software a little more, I realized there was a faster and an easier method to this! I used this method and finished adding subtitles quickly! Then I added the music, which was quite challenging. It was difficult because I had to know the exact timings of when I need the music and when I did not! Sometimes, the music collided with dialogues which made it sound weird. But then eventually, I realized that it did not sound that bad! I was also hesitant to trim the music again as my internet was very very very slow!Then I added the transitions which was the easiest. I added random transitions which surprisingly made it look very very professional and good! I love my video and I am very proud of it! 

                                                                 19.5.14

Today's activity was very easy as I was only doing the last three scenes which were Acknowledgements, Production name and Cast photo. This was very easy and only took 15 minutes for me to complete it! Firstly, for my acknowledgements, I had to acknowledge only three people who were, Namrata, Saumya and Rithwik! This took around 5 minutes. I liked it when the acknowledgments scrolled as it made it look very professional and nice! Secondly, for the production name, I only had to copy and paste the first scene and remove "presents" from it. This took less than 5 minutes!Thirdly, I already had the cast and group picture which made my work easier. I just had to add the picture in a scene and then lastly make another scene which thanks the audience for watching! Making all this was very easy and I feel that this activty was one of the easiest I had ever done during create stage. I did not face any challenges while doing this activity and enjoyed a lot as it finished quickly! 

                                                              18.5.14 

Today I called over Saumya and Namarata to my house to act in my video. I had allotted more than 3 days for acting, but surprisingly, all the acting got finished within 4 hours. It was very fun working with Samuya and Namrata and I can proudly say that both are amazing at acting! They did most of the acting and the most difficult job for them was that they had to play various characters. But, both did it with such an ease that I was very happy. It was an amazing experience working them and I myself learnt a lot from their acting skills. I did not want to act as Acting is not my cup of tea. Most of recording was done by but one scene was done by my brother. We did not face any challenges and also managed to show fire in a room by moving the curtains and also by using a torch. This was very fun and loved the idea which was suggested by Saumya. I did not face any challenges today and had a lot of fun working with my two good friends!! 

                                                                                     17.5.14 

Today I was to look for video showing a kitchen on fire and videos showing a fire brigade extinguishing the fire and download them. This was quite a difficult job and now I have a feeling that I might not use this idea as I will face many challenges while adding it to my video. I went on YouTube and tried to find videos showing a house on fire and a fire brigade on its way to rescue. I did find the video but I was not very sure if I should use them as I did not like them much. I have downloaded and trimmed them for now, but I am not sure if I should use them or not. To overcome this challenge, I would like to take my peers' opinions and then take the final decision. But I have downloaded and trimmed the parts I want to be on a safer side! Until then I will try and look for other ways of showing fire in the kitchen. Today I did enjoy quite a lot but not as much as I had expected to because I was not able to find appropriate video to use for my video. On Monday, I will also ask my peers and my teachers if I should stick to the plan of having the video or just throw it away in the bin. Overall, today was not very productive and I am quite disappointed with myself and hope to work harder during the next activity! 

                                                     16.5.14

Today, I Created the 34^th, 47^th, 48^th, 49^th and the 50^th scenes as these do not also require any acting or the cast. Today was very similar to yesterday because, the activity is almost the same but it is just that the scenes that I was creating were different. I had a lot of fun and I enjoyed doing today's activity unlike the previous activity where I was depressed about not being able to completely follow my plan and did not enjoyed doing my work as much as I did today. It was a very simple activity and did not eat up as much time as I had expected it to. I had expected it to take up maximum 150 minutes while it only took 30 minutes. It took less time than expected because the backgrounds were already ready. All I had to do was summarize the information and write on the scene. Again I faced the challenge of summarizing my information. But this time I took my peers help to overcome that challenge. Making each scene took around 5 minutes which meant that I took approximately 30 minutes to create 5 scenes today. Overall, today I had a fun experience and hope to continue being active and excited about the rest of the create stage!

                                                              15.5.14 

Today I created the 26^th, 27^th, 28^th and the 29^th scene as they do not involve acting.This was quite simple. According to my plan, I was supposed to be done with the shooting of the videos. But I had completely forgotten that that weekend was just before the day of exams and that no one would sacrifice their time to act for my video. That is the reason why I did not record the scenes during the weekend. I don't think that this will cause much of a problem because I have allotted another weekend and 2-3 days only for recording which will be more than sufficient for me. I feel I did the correct thing by not taking the risk and keeping backup days for recording. The scenes I created today mainly contained information. I had to summarize the information from the design stage as it looked very cramped and boring with too many words in a video! I faced a little challenge when summarizing the information as I kept getting confused about which information is important and should be kept and which one should not be kept! I overcame this my taking my parents help which made my work easier and faster! But overall, I enjoyed today's activity and hope to enjoy the same way  but follow my plan at the same time! 

                                         Friday 9th May 2014

Today's activity was also pretty easy! I had kept today's day for finishing yesterday's activity if I had not! But then I had completely finished yesterday's activity, so I did not have any other work except for making the fourth scene which was so very easy!! But I am going to face a very major challenge in the near future and the cause of this was not planning properly! I had forgotten that there is going to be exams next week and it will be impossible for me to call the cast over the weekend as they will be extremely busy! I am really not sure what I should do next! I should have thought properly before planning! I am thinking of replacing next weeks activity with the one of this week as I will be able to call them next week. I will think about this idea and see what I can do next! 

                                           Thursday 8th May 2014    

Today was a fun lesson time! I think I used my time quite effectively and I am happy about that because usually I am not the type of person who works during lesson time! I am very happy that I am trying my best to follow my plan! Making the first scene was very easy, but making the 2nd, and the third scene was  quite challenging initially, but fortunately I overcame it! I had quite a challenging time trying to make the 2nd and the 3rd scene on Windows Movie Maker itself! I had not idea how to put writing and pictures on the background image! I asked almost everyone in my class but none of their suggestions helped! Then I asked Saumya and she suggested a brilliant idea! She told me to make my scenes on Microsoft PowerPoint and then record my screen using http://www.screencast-o-matic.com. I made my scenes suring class time, and recorded it once I came home as it required fast internet and some time for Java to download and install (as Java was necessary for recording my screen). But alas, I finished before sleeping! I had a lot of fun and learnt many things too! 

            7th May 2014 - Getting all the backgrounds and text boxes

Today's activity was very entertaining and fun. Today I got to explore the different types of backgrounds and download them. It was a different expereince and I enjoyed a lot as I love simply surfing through the internet. I found many backgrounds that I loved and looked amazing! I had to collect around 15 backgrounds. Some of them had to be realted to the information that will be put on that scene, but some of them could be random. I loved collecting the random ones becuase I could choose what I liked and did not have to related to the information! I also had to look for creative text boxes which was a little challenging. At first I thought I will look for them one at time, then I realized that it would not be practical and will be very time consuming. That is why, I looked for some websites that generated different text boxes. The links that I found are: 

http://www.freepik.com/free-vector/cool-black-background-text-box-vector_558363.htm

http://www.fordesigner.com/maps/13610-0.htm

http://html-generator.weebly.com/css-textbox-style.html


I went through the webistes and they seem quite interesting and suitable to use! I had a lot of fun and am very proud that I am properly following my plan and trying to stay organized. 

This is what my background folder looks like: 

       6th May 2014 - Getting all the information and making them persuasive

Today's activity was also fun and easy. I love changing normal information into persuasive language as I am quite good at it! Most of the information on the design will remain the same becuase they are quite persuasive and appealing. I just did not like the introduction to Facebook. It was very simple and straightforward even though it is one of the most important parts in the video. The introduction is the one of the most important parts of the video as this is the part which actually keeps the audience hooked to the video. If the introduciton is boring, then nobody would want to sit through the video even if it is interesting afterwards! So today, I changed the introduction a little, making it more appealing and alluring. I also changed one of the titles. Here is what I did today: 

               5th May 2014 - Getting all the resources needed

Today's activity was very simple as I only had to collect the resources/materials that I needed during the create stage. I was aiming to get The Windows Movie maker software, a tripod stand (not very sure), the HD camera, props and costumes. I have downloaded the Windows Movie maker software, have an HD camera and have made a list of the props and costumes that I will require (from what I have). I have made sure, I have my laptop, camera and internet connection on the days I will be requiring them! Everything went well today except that I was not able to make arrangements for a tripod stand! I wanted a tripod stand badly becuase my hands are very unstable and shaky and I am recording everything. To overcome this challenge, I have decided to use an alternative support for my camera! Other than that, I enjoyed today's activity and most of it went well and as planned!