May Moqiu Ma
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J7802 What I have learned from doing Audio SlideShow A

10/18/2015

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There are just so many problems with my assignment this time. A lot of room for improvements.

First of all, I should do a better job taking pictures for the next slideshow assignment. This time, some of the pictures used in the slideshow are repetitive, such as girls holding the cardboard, or people putting money into the can. The topic itself was a bit dull, not very colorful or visually appealing. I tried to take several other pictures, such as the building behind and pedestrians passing by, but it was in the evening, so a lot of the photos were not properly exposed, and I had to stick with those which were not that blurry. I probably should take a lot more next time, and from different angles, just to make sure the slideshow doesn't look boring, and also try to fully demonstrate the event.

Audio: I interviewed two people for this assignment. One of the interviewees was talking too fast. Instead of using a 20 second recording of her interview, I should have broken it down into several pieces, and insert room tone to create pause. It is easier to take control of the pace of the audio when only interview one person. But in this case, I think the trick is to pay attention to the flow, make sure when there are multiple interviewees, there is no one sound too fast or one sound too slow.

Editing: For me, the editing probably is the hardest part. I photoshopped the pictures, used audition to edit the audio, and then put them together in Final Cut. However, I couldn't really make the picture tie to what the person is talking about. Sometimes it's because there is not enough photo to showcase the content, sometimes it's just the timing is not right... For my next assignment, I will try to improve my editing and make the visual and audio elements more connected.


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J7802 What I have learned from doing the short audio assignment

10/11/2015

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The short audio took me a longer time to put together than the previous photo assignments. For photos, I guess one of the tricks was to take a bunch of pictures, and choose the best ones and then edit. Even if most of the pictures were terribly taken, there should be at least one or two that were more or less presentable (this method works for me, as a beginner). However, it probably would not apply to the audio assignment.

When I was trying to record, first it was hard to find a quiet place to interview people. And even if the room is quiet enough, there would be people walking by in the corridor and making noises. Also, because the equipment is very sensitive, I got a lot of noise in the background when I checked the recording. And the noise sounded even bigger when I normalized the clip. When editing the audio, I had to use the "delete noise" function under the "effect" button. It worked like magic! but still,  although the noise is gone, it has created an echo effect in the sound clip.

I also learned that choosing the right background sound is important. Like the Tango dancing I recorded, it was great that I could collect some sound bites of the  tango music, footsteps, instructors talking to students, which made the audio clip sound more rich and vivid. But if it's just the music, it would be less like "learning to dance Tango," but more like "just Tango." It was the noise of footsteps and people communicating in the background that showed it was a class, and the focus was "learning."
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How photo work affected the way I see the world

10/4/2015

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How photo work has affected the way I see the world? The answer is, in multiple ways.

Looking for stories

Every picture should have a story behind it. A photo is not a combination of color and light, but also a representation of mood, action, tension and memory. Now even when I'm not taking photos, I would subconsciously pay more attention to those elements in people and the overall environment, and how to show them through color and light. That means being more observant to my surroundings. 


Paying attention to details

When taking pictures, I think sometimes it's the details that would make an image more compelling. For example, the shape and color of a flower in the sunset, the wrinkles on people's face when they smile, the color people were to a game day, and the reflection of a dog in the water fountain... I start to pay attention to those details and find beauty in them. Also, I'm using my eyes as a camera lens, when looking at something, I would consider the color combination, the composition, the lighting..

Becoming a better observer

And also, because I'm constantly observing, I tend to be aloof so I can have an "outsider's eye". Now I'm not only thinking about how to feel and experience the world, but also about how to present the world to others. To put it simply, I tend to be pulling out from the role of an "actor," and turning  into more of a "director," just without the making stories up part.


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    May Moqiu Ma, Mizzou J-school grad student.

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