Final Project Nightmares: Deadlines, Outages, Sleepless in Corvallis

Power Outage

 June 3, 2008 • No Comments

Like the title says the power to Houvland went out a little after 9. I still have not slept and will most likely not sleep more than 2-3 hours after class tonight because another project is due tomorrow morning. I freaked out when the power cut. Fortunately there are temp files and so my info was saved otherwise I would have had nothing to bring tonight. Back to work.

Deadlines!!

 June 3, 2008 • No Comments

The filming went well yesterday. It took me about 7 or 8 hours and I filmed 12 different people. I even had a little round table discussion with 3 students and then a parent. The parent happens to be my mom but I thought it was a different approach that could have worked even better if I had more time. Filming parents would have been very beneficial. I interviewed my mom for a parents perspective. They happened to stop by yesterday and watched virtually all of my filming. My dad would not participate because he’s really shy and gets nervous. I went to Houvland to upload my hour long tape and a smaller one. It takes just as long to log and capture onto a computer as it does to film. After that I have to put it on the server which takes at least another half hour to an hour. My hour tape did not work so I wasted a large portion of my time in which i should have been working on a project that was due this morning. I did not get the project done and will turn it in Wednesday in which I will most likely get only partial credit. I have been in Houvland now for the past 6 hours editing and it will take me a good 7 more. One of my friends is helping me to edit which is fantastic because the quality will be much higher and it will cut my time working. I may get to take a nap before class.  I haven’t really written anything unfortunately because I have been devoting my time to the video. I think it will work out because Theo is writing and I’m doing a lot of video. I hope to contribute a little bit of writing but I doubt I will have the time. I’m going back to editing now but this will probably be one of my last  updates before it’s finally due. I also need to get a dvd so I can burn the finished product. I’m exhausted.

 

Team Iraq: It’s Showtime, Folks!

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Nick Conley’s Weblog

ENTREE #8

June 3, 2008 ·

Hi again, the day has arrived and tonight we will show our video. We worked for several hours yesterday editing and putting in stats and other info in the video. We met in Hovland Computer lab and watched the rough edit, which was about 17 minutes long, then we used that and added an took away a couple clips. We put in all the text we needed to convey the message we were trying to send and also put in some background music in parts. We only have a couple of small things to do today to get ready. Last night all the people who were in our video should have gotten e-mailed to invite them to the showing of our video tonight at 6:00 pm. We are also writing our biographies and introduction to our project today. To make last minute edits to our video and to fine tune a couple things, we will be meeting in Hovland again today at around noon. I am really excited to see people’s reaction to the video. I will be putting on a link to you tube where we will post the video in the near future.

 

 

Debt Team YouTube sampler

YouTube Vids

From Matthew Johnson’s blog

 

May 31, 2008 • No Comments

I searched YouTube for videos that relate to our topic. Here are a few links that go more towards credit cards and debt.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y2lBnkCx1j8

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ofyqwytcwPU&feature=related

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qGd1nd11rtU&feature=related

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DPWvcUzrtU4&feature=related
Loan Consolidation
http://youtube.com/watch?v=trfJfC7H8y0&feature=related

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JUVa3f0LB6A

“Tips to use Credit Cards to Your Advantage”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=F8alyEXJEk&feature=related

Brass Media has an amazing magazine that is also online. It is extremely helpful for college students.
http://www.brassmagazine.com/articles/stry_temp.asp?aid=210

Just because it’s hilarious!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HuGIgf-ICHM&feature=related

 

 

War Team: Progress Reports from Nick

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Nick Conley’s Weblog

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ENTREE #5

May 28, 2008 · No Comments

Well our group met tonight and we a still just cruising along. I heard that the interview that Devin and Jenna did last Thursday went well and we now have just about enough footage to make an outstanding documentary. We are still planning on doing some random interviews with students in the OSU quad and we made arrangements to meet this Thursday to do that. Other than that we are waiting to get server space on the OSU server that way we can save all our editing and we all can have access to it. Until next time…

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ENTREE #4

May 28, 2008 · No Comments

After a long weekend without a computer I thought I would just check in and let everyone know what is going on. After our interviews late last week I took off for Lake Billy Chinook and was without work for a couple of days. So what I am now working on is getting some questionnaire information compiled so that we can use it in our documentary. At class tonight I’m sure our group will meet and we can all get caught up with everyone’s latest developments. 

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ENTREE #3 / 21 May

May 22, 2008 · No Comments

Last night our group went to the democratic parties nomination celebration and the Obama headquarters in downtown Corvallis. We ended up getting interviews with 3 different students and got their comments on their views on the war and how they feel students are effected by it. We even were lucky enough to get an interview with the OSU democratic leader. We ended up doing the interviews outside and I think the worked out well. We got wireless mics and I think that helped keep surrounding sounds out and concentrate on the voice of the interviewee. Here are some clips of the shots we got.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD-2093B_iI&eurl=http://devinarobinson.wordpress.com/about/

 

Today I scheduled a more formal interview with one of the best soldiers the Oregon Army National Guard has to offer. I chose to interview him because first of all he is a student at OSU, secondly because he is in the military and has been to Iraq, and finally because of his achievements he is a spokesman for the Oregon Army National Guard. Devin and I got together and picked up a lighting kit at the library and we had the wireless mic from the day before. Devin also brought his tripod, which will help in the quality of the video. We did have to wait outside the the house of the soldier for about 15 minutes for him to get home, but once he did he let us in and we began to set up. He helped us out by clearing out a good place for him to sit down in his living room. He even cleaned the wall that was going to be in the background. Devin set up his camera while I took care of the lights and the mic and in about 15 min we were ready to shoot. The interview went well, he seemed like he had alot of experience in talking about these issues. We had him talk about his time in Iraq, his jobs, how the military has effected him, how the military has helped him with school, along with many other things. I really feel like we will use alot of what he said and I appreciate all his help. So we are well on our way but I am very optimistic. 

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ENTREE #2

May 21, 2008 · No Comments

This past weekend I went to drill and didn’t have alot of time to work on any homework. One thing that I was able to do was make a questionnaire and have soldiers fill it out. I was able to get about 50 guys to fill out the questionnaire, and I tried to keep it restricted to soldiers ages 18-25 and anyone who is enrolled in school. In just glancing over the answers I feel like there was a wide range of opinions. Today we have class again and our group will be meeting and figuring out our schedule for the next week. We will be shooting all of our interviews for our film and I believe our goal will be to have all shooting done by next week. 

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Final Project: ENTREE #1

May 15, 2008 · No Comments

So in class on May 13 our group met and put a pretty good plan together for what we wanted to do and how we were going to accomplish our goals for our final project. Which is going to be a documentary type video about the Iraq war and its effect on students now and in the future. We want to include several interviews with a variety of different types of sources, statistical data found by survey and the Internet, and many good shots from around town, campus and the nearby armory. 

Today, May 14, Devon and I were planning on starting our shooting for our video, when we already ran into our first hick-up. We were planning on shooting the grassy field in front of the library, which for the past week had been filled with miniature flags representing friendly and enemy deaths in Iraq, but when we got there the flags were all torn down. We were also going to ask some students to comment on the flags, but there was no point with all the flags not being there. However we did make up or questionnaire and we made many copies which we are planning to hand out around campus and several other places. So work has started, and although we already got screwed with one aspect of our idea we are in the works and the wheels are in motion. 

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Debt Team

By Matthew Johnson

Shoot!

 May 29, 2008 • No Comments

So while writing my ethics paper last night I forgot about an interview at 11. That was 30 minutes ago when Theo called me up. We are going to hopefully talk to a councilor at 12. I’le make that one.

 May 29, 2008 • No Comments

I have received several replies to the surveys and am feeling better. After reading some of the responses I feel it would be interesting to know the parents perspective but that would be close to impossible at this time. I feel overly stressed with all my classes having a paper or major project due within days of each other. It’s also not great to hear that my grandpa’s back in the hospital tonight and has been in and out 6 times for a total of 6 weeks in the past 8. I feel like I’m being productive and overwhelmed at the same time. I’m hoping interviews tomorrow go well and provide lots of information. I have a couple of people who agreed to be video interviewed. I’m still crossing my fingers hoping all goes well with everything.

Mass Email

 May 29, 2008 • No Comments

So I sent this email to all my friends at OSU. I have 2 responses so far which is great but nothing so far indicating interest to be interviewed on video.

Hey, I’m in NMC 301: Writing for the Media Profession and was hoping you could help me out.  Our class is basically researching ways in which college students are helping or hurting themselves. We need to interview or talk to students about these issues. I am in the financial group and would really appreciate it if you could answer some of the questions below. It’s for my final project. You don’t have to answer all of the questions; some may seem too personal so skip them if you wish. If you have any questions just write me back or give me a call at 503-931-1168. Please answer at least three! I understand if you don’t.

 

I also am hoping to do a few video interviews. It’s really hard to ask strangers and it would help even more if you’d be interested in taking 15-30 minutes of your time between now and Sunday. The questions I would ask would be identical or similar to those listed below.

 

These aren’t in any particular order of importance. They are also your opinion so write whatever you want. If you have additional questions that would be helpful let me know!

 

Name:

Age:

Contact Information:

Hometown:

 

• What is the number one thing that students are doing to hurt themselves financially, today?

 

• Alternately, what are they doing best or is their most prevalent area of progress financially?

 

• Is money a big issue for college students? Does it affect you personally?

 

• How would you gauge the typical OSU student’s awareness level of their financial options?

 

• How would you gauge most students’ level of stress due to their financial situation? Would you say it has increased over recent years?

 

• What role can new technology, such as social media, play as far as helping to disseminate financial advice to students? This involves blogs, facebook groups, youtube among many others.

 

• Do you apply for Scholarships? Have you received any scholarships?

 

• What do you know about The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships? Have you been there?

 

• Do financial problems create stress among college students? Does it affect their lives and how so? Do you have any personal experience?

 

• Do many students receive help financially from their parents? Have you?

 

• Do you have a job? How many hours per week do you work? Does it come in conflict with school?

 

• What is your opinion about credit cards? Do they affect students?

 

• Will you have you pay back loans after college? How long do you think it will take?

 

Stressing Out

 May 29, 2008 • No Comments

I am sending out a mass email to my friends at OSU with a little survey. It also asks if they would be able to participate in a video interview over the next fews days. I am really hoping I get a few people to respond kindly. We are going to talk to interview someone tomorrow. Theo knows more about it than I do. I really hope I can get this video shot sooner than later. During the last few days nothing has happened and it’s scaring me.

1st Interview

 May 23, 2008 • No Comments

We talked with Patti Brady-Glassman, the Associate Director of the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. It was a great interview and she provided alot of information and quality quotes. She even told us we could contact her again and we will hopefully get some video of her answering a few questions within the next week.

 

Green Team Interview Questions

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Interview questions

May 28, 2008 · No Comments

Here are the questions I asked for the individual interviews in the documentary:

1. what is your name, age, and major?
2. Why did you join the Solar Vehicle Team?
3. How long have you been involved?
4. What is your specific contribution?
5. What is your personal view of global warming? (i.e., is it real or media hype?)
6. How does this project affect the future condition of the Earth? Is it realistic?
7. How do you think young people impact the environment?
8. What other steps are you taking in your life to improve the quality of the environment?

The general questions for the co-captain are as follow:

1. What is the team’s goal?
2. What’s the cost of building the car?
3. Where does the money come from?
4. What are the specifications of the car?
5. How many team members are there?
6. How did the team get in the competition?  Does every team get in?
7. How many other teams are competing?

 

Going Green Team Progress

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Going Green

May 28, 2008 ·

I met with Steve Cook this morning for about an hour.  I asked him a number of questions regarding global warming and his opinion towards sustainability.  It was interesting speaking to him however it was much more difficult than I had expected.  He spoke quite quickly and used a number of technical terms that I had not heard of.  I think I will have to read through my notes and follow up on anything that is unclear.  He did mention Nicholas Drapellar and mentioned that he has little knowledge about global warming and simply speaks his opinion, rather than looking at the evidence. This will be interesting to compare to what Jake finds when he speaks to Drapellar himself.

 I’m not exactly sure whether this should be presented as a profile story or simply an article about global warming and what some people are doing to combat it.  I guess this way I could include some of the information provided in The New York Times article about students and the environment.  I also think it would be great to include the ‘how to’ piece somewhere on our blog, so I might do some extra research on that. 

 

Production Diary

May 13, 2008 – Evening

Location: In the classroom

Feeling: Enticed 

We finally got to speak together as a group, and I think we’ve got a great project on our hands.  We’re going to put together a documentary about student reactions to the war in Iraq.  We’ve got some good ideas for interviews, like current students that already have done a tour in Iraq, or that will be re-enlisting after school (we’re lucky to have Nick on our team who is actually involved with the military so he can help us get an inside perspective).  Also we’ll be talking to students on campus about what they think of the war and if they’ve considered the age similarity between their peers and soldiers, if they know anyone in the military and why they think someone their age might join the military.  Jenna has got a great lead for a profile about a girl who’s fiance will be going to Iraq, so I think we’ve got some good material. I’ll be putting my video skills to work and Nick is skilled as well in those matters, Jenna is eager to learn, I’d say we’re going to make a nice documentary.

 

 

Production Diary: Devin’s Team Journey

May 13, 2008 – Evening

Location: In the classroom

Feeling: Enticed 

We finally got to speak together as a group, and I think we’ve got a great project on our hands.  We’re going to put together a documentary about student reactions to the war in Iraq.  We’ve got some good ideas for interviews, like current students that already have done a tour in Iraq, or that will be re-enlisting after school (we’re lucky to have Nick on our team who is actually involved with the military so he can help us get an inside perspective).  Also we’ll be talking to students on campus about what they think of the war and if they’ve considered the age similarity between their peers and soldiers, if they know anyone in the military and why they think someone their age might join the military.  Jenna has got a great lead for a profile about a girl who’s fiance will be going to Iraq, so I think we’ve got some good material. I’ll be putting my video skills to work and Nick is skilled as well in those matters, Jenna is eager to learn, I’d say we’re going to make a nice documentary.