PSA Project final thoughts
The production project we have been through along this class gave to us insights to make this process in a formal way starting from the idea of a multimedia project, to the screen writing, to storyboarding, to production, and to post-production. The visual arts are the sum of most arts, and it is wonderful to approach that world in a class dedicated to learn how to produce a multimedia project in a collaborative team. We were fortunate to work along with respect, tolerance, welcoming ideas and very good spirits.
The beginning of our group was not having a group and being lonely in the web. Then Daphney gave us a hand and we were able to connect with each other and start working together. We started by reading and analyzing the material from our class every week to start applying in our project what in theory was explained. The using all elements available to put together an idea focus on purpose of the Public Service Add (PSA) and its audience. Once we agreed in a basic script for our story, we started a list of tasks and responsibilities for all the group members. Then, Irma started our wiki where we have been collaborating in producing documents, discussing ideas, voting on possible shots of our PSA, and having a great time interaction with each other in this amazing Web 2.0 tool. Once we had the initial script I make a page for the storyboard. Storyboarding was the graphic representation of the sequences we would do along these weeks. The storyboard helped us to brainstorm ideas of how much time, movement or transition from one scene to another and what special effects could be used.
The video-shooting was very interesting because we came with different shots each member of the group did to upload them to our youtube.com account to be evaluated by the team to select the most suitable for the project. Consider the types of camera shots that can be used. We discussed about close-ups and how they show details, expressions and emotions, medium-range shots to make visual the bullying scenes, and any other technique used to promote visual language to captivate our audience and transmit a message.
We learn basic principles of copyright and how to apply them in http://creativecommons.org and other readings along this class. This is one of the most important parts of the project. How to finish our clip in a copyrighted ethical environment? The question was always part of our discussion. When we explore the idea of using some students to shoot a scene, the parental permission was needed. The music we ended up using came from War Sounds Audio, and we confirmed that was a Navy public domain.
The publication of our PSA included the question of how to upload videos in format acceptable for the web. We learn to modify our videos to .mp4 videos that youtube.com accepts. This and many other details were crafted in a collaborative manner. Our group is a wonderful learning community that makes projects more efficiently by using each member skills to develop projects.
