Science Rocks!

I found a blog article relevant to our Science Rocks Presentation! :o)))

The most beautiful types of quartz

via ZME Science

Why the MAS is important

So, there was a survey done by the American Museum of Natural History that is the perfect example of why the MAS is a necessary entity.

They passed out a survey to see what the public knew about water, and the results were insanely ridiculous:

"Fewer than half of those surveyed answered correctly when asked how much of the planet is covered in water (about three-fourths). Hardly anyone knew how much of that water is drinkable (about 1 percent)."

Sad, huh? I mean, it's water...the stuff of life (literally)....there could be no life on our planet without it. And the public doesn't know diddly-squat about it.

When I see stuff like this it fills me with purpose. Being involved with the MAS means that we'll be able to bridge these gaps for people, which is obviously something that is sorely missing. I hope you guys see this and feel the same!

Click here to read the full article.

~Sara

I found the following tip to be helpful if you want to set up an interview to look professional. Here's what was on the site we were reading about How to Set a Scene, "Set your F Stop or aperture like the pros. To make your interview look like a “60-Minutes” television show, set your video camera to your lowest (1.6) manual F stop to compress the depth of focus. Set up your camera about 15 feet from subject and zoom into the proper framing, which will further compress depth of focus. To focus, zoom in tight and manual focus on the eyes, then zoom back to the proper framing. The background should appear slightly blurry yet the subject’s eyes will appear crisp."

Film Making

There are many tricks you can use to make your film more interesting and exciting. Audio is just as important as the visual images are. One way to make use of audio is to record natural noise that can fill any gaps there might be during editing. It is also important to monitor your audio as you go with good headphones. When selecting your scene chose one that will be quiet enough for the audio to be undisturbed but still creates the right effect for your video. Sometimes to accomplish this it is necessary to use many settings and locations to create the illusion of one setting. This can be done by using a variety of shots and angles.

The Scene!

For all the people that want to do a video for their podcast, one of the most important parts of it is the Scene.Your setting is where scene occurs and is an essential part of telling your story on film. Using a variety of scenes will make your film more interesting. They can be as big as a shot from the space shuttle looking down on the entire planet to as small as a flea on someone’s fingertip.
A bad setting can make a video boring or confusing.Both selecting and taking control of your scene is crucial if you want to be able to successfully capture your actors or host.

In order to do this, first , you need to find an appropiate location for your podcast:

• Aerial views or shots from high places such as hilltop or tall building.
• Pans of countryside or city showing setting maybe include landmark
• Medium shot of building or site where action will take place
• Medium shot of room, or location with characters walking into
• Close shots of faces of characters in dialog from different angles
• Extreme close-ups of items characters are focused on – for example, if we only saw the close-up of the pipe discharging pollution while we listened to Rob’s and Suz’s dialog, that alone would give us the feeling we were looking for that something sinister was happening.
• Keep in mind that the real world also contains very small scenes within the larger scene. So don’t overlook things as small as insects, plant leaves, tadpoles, water droplets, and the other elements that together make the greater scene.

Once you have chosen an appropiate location, you need to take control of the shooting enviroment.

1. Minimize visual distractions

2. Remove personal distractions

3.Minimize audio distractions

Filmmaking Trickst

I thought that it was really great that this website posted a number of personal tricks to assist in filmmaking. A few of the points that I found interesting...

-A clear plastic bag is about as effective as an expansive camera 'raincoat'. All you have to do is cut a slit the size of your camera lens and wrap it tightly with rubber bands.

-Carry an empty nylon bag with you for a variety of reasons. If it is windy while you are filming, you can fill the bag with weights in order to stead your camera. You can also fill the bag with rice, beans, or sand to hold your camera steady if you do not have a tripod.

-If you like to move around while filming, use a shoulder stabilizing brace instead of a tripod. You can hold it in your arms while running or you can place it on your shoulder for slower scenes.

Production - Hosting

A lot of people in our group are going to be doing interviews where they may want to introduce people. This is similar to hosting, so I thought that the tips listed in the article were helpful. I think that the most important one is to make eye contact with the camera. You want to direct what you are saying to the people listening and make them stay focused and involved in the podcast. News reporters often do this as well as talk show hosts, and many other TV personalities. The following video is a good example of what not to do when reporting, yet you can still see that there is a lot of eye contact made with the camera when those who are physically with the reporter are not being addressed.

Film Production

Audio is the difference between a good film and an exceptional film. Filmmakers should choose a location which is quite. A shotgun mic or lavaliere mic should be used to pick up sound close to the camera and block background sound. The scene your shot is taken in is also a huge contribution to film making. It is used to capture your audience and keep them focused. Controlling the elements of a scene is important because it will allow you to remove distractions and create a set which would appeal to the viewer. Filmmakers, like photographers, use the law of thirds to position the object to appeal to the viewer's eye. To create this effect, the object should always be looking towards the empty space on the frame. Instead of aligning the object's center with the middle of the frame, position it on the upper or 1/3 down area. The six basic camera shots are;

• extreme wide shot
• wide shot
• medium shot
• medium close up
• close up
• extreme close up

Adding an on camera host will create a more inviting production by interacting with the audience. Looking at the camera with confidence enthuses the viewer. You should be yourself but incorporate animation and excitement as well as knowledge about the subject you're filming. Tripods are used to stabilize the camera.

Producing

As far as audio is concerned it is important to scope out the scene in which you will be recording. The idea is to take note of the surroundings and the possible distractions that could ruin your recording. When it comes to picking the scene for visual purposes you want to make sure or at least try to pick a place that will allow you to be in control so you can have a wide range of choices with regard to the setting of your shoot. There are a number of shot types that can help you set up the scene, from extra wide shot to close up and even over the shoulder or point of view(from the main character's perspective). If you are on camera try to be animated but keep it natural, be yourself and always remember to make eye contact with the camera. If you are the one running the camera and you need some action shots, say you're chasing some predator during a hunt, you can use a shoulder stabilizer brace that will help with your run n' gun method and it can be used while standing still by just simply bringing it to rest on your shoulder, oh, and don't forget to turn the camera on!

Production

Audio is important in filming. A lavaliere mic is good to use for filming interviews because it picks up the vibration from the throat, so this could be used when doing our podcast (if accessible). Just like a story, our film should go in a chronological order... we are kinda telling a story. Therefore we should make it as interesting as possible. We can do this by using 'b rolls' or 'cover footage' to help portrait a point. Creative transitional pieces also enhances our film... The rule of third seems pretty cool and interesting, and since it is commonly used in framing interviews to make shots look more professional,we should be familar with it. Its basically dividing the shot into 9 parts, as seen in the pic. In an interview, the eyes of the interviewee should be in one of the upper 'power points' or frames and he or she should be looking in the empty space of the frame.

Assignment for tomorrow!

Hey guys!

Don St. John, the Web Editor for the Daily Hampshire Gazette is going to come talk to you guys about shooting for news tomorrow. I want you to bring 5 questions to ask him about filming, things you think might come up when you're shooting your footage or trying to piece it together in one cohesive story. I'm going to collect the questions after class, so be sure to have them written down and be ready to discuss filming!

Also, read about Production (the blue box) on The Wild Classroom's Website, and post a little paragraph about helpful information we could use along with a relevant picture....let's make the blog look more interesting!

See you tomorrow!

Sara

Learn from this great website.

Hi everyone,
This is Webster. I have been using this website to learn to master the art of webmastery. You can learn html,php,css,Mysql and actionscript 3 courses for totally free on this website below. Please if anyone wants to help with the devepment of the flash display on the MAS main website let me know. I will start this project this week. Also watch this cool video about how to make different flash objects display anytime one goes on your website. It's kind of cool. I think we could incorporate this into our flash for the MAS website.

This is the website for learning about the above mentioned courses- http://www.developphp.com/

This is the youtube video on how we could incorporate this changing flash object to make the MAS website cool looking when anyone goes on there. So it doesnt seem like one picture all the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olp-Hkx0CcA

There are other vids on how to make other flash displays with object/content.

Enjoy!!!!!

5 Legal Points

1. "If you interview someone for your podcast, you need to consider both copyright and publicity rights issues [...] In many interview scenarios, you may have an implied license to use the materials, but it safest to get your interviewee's written consent or (at minimum) record the interviewee's verbal consent before you use the interview in your podcasts".

2. "If you are interested in video podcasting, vlogging or otherwise including images or video with your podcast, you need to think about potential copyright issues and publicity issues [...] You need to isolate and think about each type of work that may be included in an image or video and identify whether you need to clear each of those works. For example, you will need to identify each piece of music you use and any still images or video footage created by other people and consider whether copyright applies and if so, whether your use requires the copyright owner's permission or whether your use falls within an exception to copyright".

3. "A claim of right to publicity generally arises if you use another person's image, likeness or voice in a podcast without their consent and for commercial purposes, which results in injury to the individual [...] This means that if you use another image, likeness or voice as a way of advertising or soliciting your podcast, you will need the individual's consent".

4. "Generally you do not need permission to make an informational use of a trademark [...] You will need permission if you're making a commercial use of the mark".

5."One method of marking your podcast before distribution is to use the “All Rights Reserved” model. Under this model, you would “reserve” all your copyright-related rights in your podcast by marking it with the © symbol".

5 Key Points in Copyrighting

5 points from the article:

1. You do not need permission to use work if material the is not covered by copyright.

2. You don’t need to have permission when you are making a “fair use” of the work and when you are using creative commons.

3. There are two kinds of copyright rights, the reproduction right and the public performance right. The reproduction right is when someone reproduces the copyright in a copy and public performance right is to perform the copyrighted work publicly in a play, movie or music.

4. You do not need permission if the material is U.S. Government work.

5. You do not need a permission to use an informational use of a trademark

Legal Information about Podcasting

5 points from the article that I find interesting are...

1. If you want to use a trademark, check the company's website that owns the trademark, and see if they post a trademark usage policy.

2. You must get consent from someone you interview. The consent should be in writing and it is good to record the person's verbal consent if you wish to publish the interview.

3. Several issues concerning podcast copyrights also apply to blog copyrights.

4. I think it is interesting that you do not need to copyright material if it is United States Government work.

5. It is always better to assume that something published is protected by copyright and therefor permission is needed in order to use it.

Possible copyright infringement...

Hey bloggers,

I wanted to show the class an example of using copyrighted material on a blog.

I stole the weather from http://www.weather.com and just copy and pasted it onto my blog, then I stated it was courtesy of them.

If you want, check it out.

Is it legal?

copyright

I found this lecture pretty boring, but I understood that all the information on it was very helpful, and it is a good tool for podcasting.
Five things that I found helpful , or that I did not really know were:
1. Written works don’t have to be very well done to qualify for copyright protection; if it is created by someone else, you need copyright permission.
2. You don’t need to use copyright permission when you are using a slogan , title of short phrase, when you are using works that are in the public domain, when you are using a US government work, when you are making a “fair use” of the work and when you are using creative commons –licensed or “podsafe” content
3. There are two kinds of copyright rights: the reproduction right and the public performance right.
4. All the licenses you need for every kind of work are: Licenses For Reproduction And Distribution Of Musical Works, Licenses For Public Performance Of Musical Works, Licenses For Reproduction, Distribution, And Public Performance), and Licenses For Use Of Music Together With Images (or Audiovisual Work), especially I did not know that each kind of work needed a different kind of license
5. You do not need a permission to use an informational use of a trademark

Podcasting Legalities

I thought that many parts of this reading were a little confusing so I'm not to clear on all of it, but here are some things I learned from it:

1. You do not need permission if:

• material is not covered by copyright
• text that was covered by copyright is now in public domain
• material is a U.S. Government work
• if you are making "fair use" of material
• if material is under a Creative Commons Licensee

2. Ideas and Facts are not copyrighted.

3. "Federal copyright protection of sound recordings only attaches for recordings created after 1971" (http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Podcasting_Legal_Guide).

4. Videos may include many pieces that are also copyrighted, such as music. All copyrighted pieces of the video need to be checked/credited.

5. Many of the copyright issues that apply to podcasts also apply to blogs!

Important Podcasting Info

* Copyright! it's important to copyright your work to prevent misuse. It is unfair to put in such hard work and creativity in your project to have someone else use or abuse it without your consent. This should also be taken in consideration when using other people's work... their permissions are required if the material is copyrighted.

*Consent from interviewee! If you including an interview in your podcast, be sure to have a written consent from the person you are interviewing, it is also good to record the person's verbal consent to publish his/her responses.

*Trademark! be careful in including trademarks in your podcast, considering the nature of your podcast to prevent dilution.

* CClicensed Materials! you can save time and protect yourself by google or yahoo searching creative commons licensed content for your podcast or you can even go on the website for a list.

*All Rights Reserved! this is a way to mark your podcats before aring it, be sure to include that you 'reserve all rights' also.

Podcasting

I think it is important to remember that by making your own content you will be the safest from copyright infringement laws.

However, if you do choose to use already made content from the internet or elsewhere, here are some tips to keep you out of hot water:

1.) If you want to use a trademark, check the company's website that owns the trademark, and see if they post a trademark usage policy.

2.) Using Creative Commons licensed material or CC-licensed material will ensure you have the rights to use copyrighted materials.

3.) According to the Podcasting Legal Guide in CC Wiki, "In the Google Advanced Search page (http://www.google.com/advanced_search), by limiting your search according to “Usage Rights”, this will restrict your searching to find CC-licensed materials only."

4.) It also states, "The Yahoo! Advanced search (http://search.yahoo.com/search/options) page clearly illustrates how you can limit your search results to Creative Commons-licensed works."

5.) According to the site (at http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Podcasting_Legal_Guide#Trademark_Issues), "There are also various content aggregator sites that offer a large amount of Creative Commons licensed works. These are listed at this page: http://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Content_Curators."