Ruth Rosales Individual Progress Report Blog #6

Indvidual progress reports/blog (#6): Each person submits a progress report about what you have accomplished this past week and what you have left to do

This past week we shared our skeleton with the crew at ATP. Turns out, the whole student body saw it at the center and we have received positive reviews thus far. Also, this past Friday, a few of us went filming at the ATP center to get more B-roll of the students in their environment as well as walking out towards the bus, utilizing public transportation--skills these students learned while at the ATP center. We are going to Dogtopia today to get more b-roll and footage of the location and perhaps get better interview pieces from KC (she'll need some coaching).

What is left  to do? 

-In my eyes, polish up the skeleton and add more content so that the NCCSE can see what it's shaping up to look like.
-We discussed having more "staged"  B-roll of KC (i.e.) having her re-enact her work.
-We have also discussed "staging" B-roll of the students working at the Student Store in San Marcos so that it looks clean
-For the intro montage, I would like footage of the students smiling and having fun at the ATP center or out and about.
- We are also going to settle on a narrator for the project (this is in the works) 

--Ruth Rosales

Edgar #5

My role for this group has had to do with recording some footage or sometimes helping out with the audio sound check, setting up both the video/audio equipment and when we had our first interview I brought a kino ligh kit system, and set it up. Our group really just goes with the flow and helps each other out, and it has really worked out quite well I must say.  We are defitnately on track, but at the same time some of our footage can improve. But so far working along side my group has been a great learning experience, and fun at the same time. Im looking forward for how our finished project will look like.

Edgar #4

                   The social issues we are adressing, happen to be equal opportunity and treatment for all living people within and outside our comminities. We must declare within ourselves to let disabled people have the same opportunities as any other. By working together and teaching disabled students important tasks and developing their skills. We can then help them succeed in living a independent lifestlye. But first we must give these talented disabled people a chance for them to work amongst us, so they can one day be independent. So far our group has mainly been recording footage on tuesdays.    We already have both b-roll and interviews from the ATP center, as well as some footage from the San Marcos High student store. We already set a date for Dogtopia which we are very excited about. We are defitnately on track on our production schedule. 

Production Schedule Revised

Daniel Gamboa Blog #5

My role has remained for eh most part the same as far as production manager. Most recently I have emailed and called both teachers from the ATP center and employers to schedule shooting time. The most recent production day was Dogtopia location. I scheduled time with Diane Wheeler the manager at Dogtopia to shoot B Roll on site as well as interview on Friday. I have also been helping with the camera work as well. I feel as if our interview techniques have become better. The only issue we have come across which i am taking upon myself to try to help the team with is the audio issues. We have experienced difficult locations when it comes to audio. The interviews I will work on making sure we get a less noisy location to fix previous interviews as well as the other ones we may shoot.

Ali Blog #5

My participation thus far in the production process has varied. I have been taking production stills at each of the shoots as well as operating the video cameras. I feel that in the group we all trade off on all of the roles so that everyone has an opportunity to participate in all aspects of production. We discussed what we wanted to cover for the research project and how we wanted to arrange our footage for our video in progress screening. I have agreed to help in researching our topics and compiling our powerpoint as well as come together as a group to make the video in progress edits. I believe that are group is on track although we are finding it somewhat difficult to represent the ATP students in a good light. We have tried coaching them through the interviews but we are still struggling to have them answer questions in a way that makes them editable. We are working on making them feel comfortable with us so that they will be less nervous. I think that getting feedback on what footage we have thus far will help us head in the right direction. 

Ali Blog #4

I believe that the social issue that our project is addressing has to do with equal treatment for all individuals. I believe that most of the time people with disabilities are not given all of the opportunities that other people get. Often times they are thought to be incapable and cannot be independent individuals. Although people with disabilities face many obstacles I don't think that it is fair to assume that they cannot be valuable and independent individuals. I believe that if they have support and are taught important skills they will be able to overcome some of the obstacles they face. I believe that NCCSE offers services that provide these individuals with opportunities. By supporting NCCSE and other organizations of this kind we can ensure that people with disabilities are given a chance to reach their full potential and become more independent individuals. Our team has been shooting each week on Tuesday mornings and afternoons. We conducted test interviews with some of the students at the ATP center to get them comfortable being on camera and to see who would be a good interview candidate. We also did an interview with Mike, a teach from the ATP center and also shot some B roll on site. We have set up a date to shoot at Dogtopia to show KC (previous ATP student) on her job. We are working on getting as much footage together as possible. We also discussed how we would divide the work for are research project and video in progress.

Ruth Rosales Blog #5

Prompt: Video Blog #3, upload footage from you project (3 x 1:00 clips, or rough cut of one section); summarize your participation.


I am in the middle of uploading the video to YouTube (the quality is very low due to the fact that it's 8 minutes long and I wanted to just show a skeleton of what Gerald and I have developed so far).

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EoaG6qdwGc&feature=youtu.be


Basically my (Ruth Rosales) job has been everything from setting up, running the camera, checking out equipment, importing, organizing clips, editing, and exporting/uploading. Gerald helped organize and title clips so that I could easily find them and organize them on the timeline. Also, we are running two cameras on our shoots-my VG20H equipped with various lenses ranging from 18-200mm, 50mm,  and others, as well as an HMC40, shotgun, wireless lavalier, and a Zacuto stabilizer rig for the moving shots. On a personal note,  I am very happy with Redman's audio and composition, it looks great (wait until I upload a higher quality version). I feel like we could either re-do the Dogtopia audio or crank it up a bit and see what we get (the dog barking was a tad annoying). All in all, I feel like the project is starting to form. Let me know what you all think.

Production Day Dogtopia

Daniel Gamboa Blog #4

I feel as if the program that we are covering is one of very few programs that assist students after they exit high school. These type of programs can be very useful and help with allowing students with special needs to contribute within their community. When they lack the help with getting in the right direction they will also lack the experience they need to contribute to the community around them. As we have become more involved with the ATP center and everyone there we I personally have realized how much more they could use contributions to help the program. After we get time to see a former student in the work place it will Im sure open our eyes to the success of this program.

The issue at hand is simply the awareness that these type of programs have as well as the contributions whether it be funding or just volunteered time. The ATP program itself has some great people working currently but what we are hoping is that this video could help with the issue at hand. Allowing people something to see that sparks interest as well as sparking hopeful contribution for not only programs like ATP but all related programs.

Production Day ATP Site Interview

Ruth Rosales Blog #4

In your own words, describe the social issues your project is addressing. Besides the media project you are producing, what else do you think can be done to solve the issue or problem?; 2) update me on your progress in your team

Honestly, I find that the "special education" sector in education is often overlooked. As someone who worked through a school district for a high school, I cannot emphasize the fact that this population of students and community members are underestimated. Just because these individuals learn differently, doesn't mean they are "disabled," they are completely able to manage tasks and I don't think they are given a chance to fully integrate with society and be seen as a key workforce in society. From the start, I've found a passion in this project I am participating in as I hope to not only break down ignorant notions about the subjects we are filming, but to create awareness for these students so that they know they can continue to work in their programs in order to land wonderful jobs and be able to support themselves.

What else can be done by solving the issue at hand? Well, it starts out small in my opinion. Things like changing the language we use (i.e. the word "retarded") are steps we can use to fully become aware and compassionate humans.

As far as the progress our team has made:
We are all still fueled by the fire that burns within us to make a great film for the NCCSE to show. Everything seems to be running well, we just need to continue to go out and shoot and gather a lot of footage (it's always good to have more footage than come up short).

We are also currently working on our research project once we get our ideas covered.

-- 

Production Day #1 San Marcos High Student Store

Edgar Blog #3

Today we went to San Marcos High School to get some B-roll from their student store. We focused on the interaction amongst the NCCSE students. We noticed how hard working these students are and how much concentration they put into their work. I personally had a great time working along side these great spirited students. 

- for our B-roll we only encountered one main difficulty which was to not get the faces of the high school students in our frame shot. But other than that everything went quite well. 

Ruth Rosales Blog #3

What unique contribution have you brought to your group or to the project to date? If this contribution is something new you discovered about yourself or is something that is familiar to you that you feel secure about, how can you develop it further?

On Tuesday, we filmed at the San Marcos High School student store starting at around 1130am. Fortunately, all of our team made it to the first shoot session and we all contributed in various ways. In my case, I brought my personal camera, lighting, lenses, and rented out microphones and a boom stick to bring for the shoot. It turned out that the HMC40 (or maybe it was 150?) that we rented out had two low batteries, so we utilized my camera and Alli's T2i to film b-roll of the students working the student store at SMHS. Personally, I felt fairly secure holding a camera and going about gathering and framing shots as best I could. We all brought strengths to the group as we collaborated in garnering great b-roll and audio (once the HMC was up and running). 

One thing I feel we all need to work on with our students is communication, as they often times kept looking and smiling at the camera, whereas we wanted the "truest" depiction of their work to come through. We might need to coach them a bit to just be used to the camera and to film more with them so that they are accustomed to us running around with seemingly "intense" gear. Furthermore, I kept waiting for action to happen so that I could capture it, I feel as though i also need more comfort in asking the subjects to "dramatize" or create/repeat actions I missed out on. 

Ali Terwilliger Blog #2

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with my group and our partner so far in the process. We all are able to communicate well and work together fabulously. So far in the process I have helped teach two of the group members basic editing in Final Cut. By teaching them how to do things I was able to brush up on my editing skills at the same time as helping them learn new helpful things, both of which will greatly benefit our project. I also feel like I have stepped up more than I normally do in group work. I like to discuss my ideas and concerns with the group for feedback. I believe that through this constant communication our group is able to stay cooperative and on the same page for project ideas. During our shoot at San Marcos High School on Tuesday I took some production stills. One of the teachers from NCCSE asked if they could have the photos to print out and put into their office. It is a great feeling knowing that our partner is truly appreciative of our work and will use all the great things we give them. I am excited to further develop this project with my awesome group!