This week was probably the most difficult part of the course as we discovered that it was hard to incorporate all the necessary elements required in the rubric in so little time. The time allocated for the video was only sixty seconds however we felt that was not nearly enough time for the message to be portrayed. In our group video we decided to film students and we acquired the necessary parental release forms to film the students. I was surprised to see the overwhelming response and enthusiasm from willing participants (students). The students I selected were quite eager to be on camera and promote the topic of banning texting and driving. They did their own research on the topic and suggested their own lines for the film. Unfortunately, we stuck to our plan and script because their lines were lengthier and made the film go over 3 minutes. In the post production process we ran into other technical difficulties. First was the elimination of the background noise. The students were filmed in a rather quiet place however the camera still picked up unwanted background noise. We attempted to remove the background noise using Audacity software. It worked to a certain extent but did not remove all of the noise. Once the audio was imported into iMovie we were able to remove some additional noise but it was still noticeable when finalized. Also, the external microphone did not work well and the students voice was rather low. Again, we used iMovie to increase voice as much as possible. Overall, I believe our team succeeded in creating a sound a coherent PSA that encourages viewers to avoid texting and driving. Our team worked rather well despite the time and distance constraints. I was made the leader of the team and I took on the editing role. As mentioned in my reflections for this course, I need to improve my collaboration skills. All of the photos and text used for this video was credited at the end of the video. Although our video turned out great, our video would have been better if we collaborated more often in real time and perhaps met in person. Nonetheless, I was surprised to see that despite the barriers and constraints of online collaboration, projects and assignments can certainly be completed and be of high quality!
*The video is unlisted and can only be seen with the link provided to protect the students identity.
