I am not a newcomer to using Vine, but I still wonder about how to best utilize the restraints of its six seconds. Here, I wrote a poem about Vine, recorded it in pieces in Vine and then used an app called PicPlayPost to coordinate the Vine videos together as a collage.
Interestingly, the first time I uploaded to YouTube, I had the settings wrong, and it was set to run all of the videos in the collage at the same time. It’s a bit of cacophony, and yet …. it’s interesting, too. Your mind tries to grasp at the words, and the last sound heard is in the first video, a little “uttt.”
Director’s Notes:
I kept the poem rather simple. Four lines, two couplets. Each line had to be around six seconds long, of course, to fit into a single Vine post (I wonder what my Vine followers were thinking as I posted one after another.) I added a fifth intro video when I realized that the poem might need a little context.
With Vine, your videos also get posted to your Camera Roll, which allows PicPlayPost app to access them for a multimedia collage. I really like PicPlayPost for the way it can use various media. As noted above, you can also sequence the playback of videos. I did it rather linearly here, but I didn’t have to.
The shots themselves were simple, too. I did try to move the lens a bit for each of the posts, to give a bit of variety to the eye. As it is, the collage looks strange, with all of my faces looking at you. Sorry about that, but it will lay the grounds for a joke in my “how to” comic coming up for my Got Some ‘Splaining To Do Tumblr.
Blame this one on me .. but yesterday’s Daily Create at DS106 was my idea — getting people to yodel. And darn it if they didn’t. In fact, I completely forgot it was even my idea until Mariana called me out on it with a “Hey, where’s your yodel?” So I got my yodel on this morning and added it to the Soundcloud group.
How about you? Do you yodel? Come add yours.
Peace (in the yoleheehooo),
Kevin
I wrote a new song this week called Tell Everyone You Know.
Then I asked Terry Elliott to Zeega it up, as he has done in the past. He did.
Before I saw Terry’s final version, even as he was working on it, I thought to myself, what if I used Mozilla Popcorn Maker to do my own video version. How would my digital work compare to Terry’s? What would he focus on for the visual? I found myself thinking of phones and dancing ..
So what choices did we make?
Where the pieces converged:
Obviously, the music. I uploaded the song into Soundcloud so that he could use it in Zeega. Both Zeega and Popcorn have search functions within Soundcloud.
There’s a line about holding hands, and I think we both heard that as a visual cue. My hand-holding scene goes a bit longer than his, and he instilled some humor while I went for the emotional scene.
We both used mostly animated gifs. Actually, that’s all I used for mine. While Popcorn allows for videos to be edited and used, it seemed like the gif was the way to go. Terry sprinkled some static images in his.
Both videos conveyed the theme of the worlds, of coming together to change the the world for the better.
Where the videos diverged:
- Interestingly, Terry went very political in his, right from the first shot. He tweeted me about it, saying that the song coming out near to MLK Day had him in a political frame of mind. I was moving into another direction, choosing a lighter theme — with the dancing, and the phones. The tone of each piece is different due to those choices.
- Zeega and Popcorn are similar as video construction tools and yet, not …. particularly from the experience of the viewer. In Popcorn, you (the viewer) follow my editing trail, so I was very careful in where gifs started and ended, trying to sync ideas directly to the music and words. With Zeega, the reader has more agency. You (the viewer) click when you want the image to move on. Terry is thoughtful in the sequencing of images, and there is even a rhythm you can achieve with Zeega, if the viewer plays along.
Now here is where it could interesting, if you want to play along. Both Zeega and Popcorn allow the viewer to remix a project. If you have a Zeega account, you can hit the “reply” button on Terry’s project and it will bring you to a platform to remix his media in a multimedia reply. When you remix a reply, it gets tacked on to the end of the original project, which is interesting and disruptive in itself, right?
So:
In Popcorn, with a Mozilla Webmaker account, you can also remix any project. Just find the “remix” button at the top of the screen, click it and begin. So, if you go to my project, you can use your own vision for the song.
Think of it as an invitation. If you do remix, be sure to leave us a note. I’d be honored …
Peace (in the muse),
Kevin
I am a big Mark Ronson fan. I love how his music hits up against the modern sound and the classic sound (according to Ronson, in an interview about the recording process in Tape Op magazine, it is all about the drums.) In this TED talk, Ronson talks about music sampling.
Sampling isn’t about “hijacking nostalgia wholesale,” says Mark Ronson. It’s about inserting yourself into the narrative of a song while also pushing that story forward. — from TED site
And I noticed a TED talk playlist on remixing …
Peace (in the muse),
Kevin
(This is part of Slice of Life, a regular writing activity facilitated by Two Writing Teachers. We find small moments to write about. You come write, too, OK?)
Our video production budget would make the penny pinching budget dudes in Hollywood very proud: seven cups of hot chocolate and a overflowing plate of nachos as pay for the acting team. The creative energy that is going into the filming of my son’s second feature film? Priceless.
As the script for Robbers on the Loose 2 (a sequel to his last film, shot three years ago and featured at a local film festival) took shape in the past few weeks — written with friends, with advice from his parents and brothers — the excitement of shooting a movie took hold. Organizing the schedules of nearly 10 kids (all nine and ten years old) has been difficult, and we have about one-third more of the movie to shoot.
I won’t give away the story. Let’s just say, someone is on the loose. But in the script that they wrote on their own, I noticed references to the first movie, foreshadowing for something to be stolen, the use of frames within frames (done in the editing process), and the boys’ obsessions with Nerf guns (only one girl is in the acting team, as the police officer. She’s the best actor of the bunch.)
As an independent media activity, making a movie is interesting and complicated, as my 10-year-old son is finding out. He has his crew rehearsing their lines, making adaptations to the script, adjusting his vision to the reality of what is available to us, and more.
I am merely the camera operator, adding in some advice when I think it will help. (I am also taking still photos of the filming, which is where these collages came from). Seeing my son and his friends pouring over the footage of the day is such a nice sight to behold, as they laugh at the retakes, and critique their own performances.
What more could you ask for?
Peace (on the loose),
Kevin
So, it’s not that I don’t know what Tumblr is. It’s just that I never had any real reason to create a Tumblr blog site. But this weekend (Thanks, Greg!), I took the plunge and began a site called Got Some ‘Splaining to Do where I will share out comic-style tutorials for apps and technology that I use. I won’t guarantee that it will be all that regular, but as I work within Walk My World and YouShow projects, I figure it can be a resource/portfolio of some of my work.
You will see this as a recent post, as I share out using the free Make Beliefs Comix app on the iPad. It’s nifty, free (I said that, right?) and fun, with some limits.
See you on the web!
Peace (in the frame),
Kevin
My latest post at my Working Draft blog at MiddleWeb is a look at play, with Kevin Cordi’s new book as my guide. Come check out the post and think about how you play with stories in your classroom.
Peace (in the share),
Kevin
The other day, I wrote a review about The Best American Infographics of 2014, and noted the reference to a free data mapping tool called MapStack. I gave it a try and it was interesting. The image above is a map of where I live, with waterways and parks referenced in a watercolor overlay. It looks very artistic, doesn’t it?
Want to make your own? Here is a quick tutorial video, but I just went in and played around to make mine. I wish there were more data points to use, but I still found the site intriguing as a map representation of a geographic area.
Map Stack Tutorial from Stamen on Vimeo.
Peace (in the map),
Kevin
The other day, Terry left a comment here about the need for more of us to show our work when creating digital compositions. It not only provides reflection points but creates a path forward for others to also make things and learn from others.
That led me to create the comic there (I guess Terry is the giraffe), using an interesting view tool in Firefox that allows you to access a 3D version of a website, and then twist and turn it.
In the interest of showing your work, here is how to use Firefox (I think it only works with Firefox browser) to explore the architecture of a site and its connections beyond.
First, with Firefox open on a site, right-click mouse on your screen. Select “Inspect Element.”
Second, there is a little 3D box in the lower corner of the screen. Click that to access 3D view mode.
Now, use your mouse or cursor and drag the screen. The perspective will shift and spin, giving you a view of links and media, and even a true behind-the-scenes views of a website.
Have fun!
Peace (in the share),
Kevin