Our Last Blog

Our Last Blog ='(

Despite the different video editting software, the presentations were all the same. They began with some sort of music relating to the issue at hand,(Enter Sandman for A sleep related Video or Party in the USA for a Drinking Age video) and that music would dim and a voiceover would begin, introducing the issue. Music seems to break the "awkward" behind listening to somebody talk about something you don't care all too much about. Speeches are boring because there's no music. It gives you something to think about other than the topic at hand, and most of the time it's good music. But it also helps relate your topic to something your audience has already heard about. You don't play obscure music in your video, you play something that everyone's heard, so everyone can relate in some way to what you're trying to communicate. Using music and flying words and cool effects helps peek your audience's interest as well. Neat effects grab your audience's attention and they will be more interested in watching. Also, it shows that you put time and effort into your work, and if you put time into it, then it might be worth your audience's time. I found that eye grabbing transitions were very important. If you talk for a long time, and then subtly change topic, everyone who drifted off before will be completely lost, but if you have a bright flash, a loud sound, other such attention grabber, it will waken those who've drifted off, and it will grab the attention of your audience. Most people did straight videos, but several groups did powerpoints and prezis. Video's were more interesting and they grabbed the audience's attention better. After all, videos are generally interesting, for the reasons stated above. However, the prezis and powerpoints had much more information about the topic at hand. Facts were readily available and paragraphs are easier to pull information from than videos. Finding the correct balance between interesting content and good information is key to conveying your opinion effectively. Professional documentists typically had music introducing a new topic or "chapter" in their movies, as seen in Supersize Me, where a new "fat" based song was played when a new topic was introduced, like the obesity rate or school lunches. All in all, I enjoyed the product, it was fun being able to research something I care about, and while I don't believe the policy I selected will get changed, it's still nice to know that it's out there now, and possibly subject to change. I wouldn't change anything about the process, as we certainly had enough time both in and out of school to complete the project.