DS106, Tying a Tie 101 - Remix Project
The Process:
For some reason, this project gave me the most difficulty! Like...for real...very frustrating! I started it last weekend with a couple of ideas, but nothing that I really liked. By Sunday, still nothing. On Monday night I had a perfect idea with the "Redub Project" with the movie Se7en and began working. After a couple hours of struggling to piece together my project, I realized my shortcomings as a "remixer". I soon abandoned that project all together, mad and angry at the time that I had wasted. Or maybe it wasn't a waste?? I'm a wishful thinker.
For this project, I looked up a couple of things that I could very "easily" teach to someone. Something very basic with a few steps. When I saw, "Tying a tie", I immediately got the idea for this project--that "aha" moment that I was finally so excited to get. I pulled out three ties from my closet and elicited the help of some of my homeroom students to make this video.
The process went along very smoothly. I got to school very early, along with two students who are there at around 7:15 as well. Alyssa filmed my step-by-step process before anyone showed up. When the homeroom bell rang, I went to work on filming what I needed for the rest of the video. I used Jabril and Asher in the video because they are some of the most animated guys in my homeroom. Surprisingly, the filming didn't take long at all.
The next day, I went to work on editing the video using Moviemaker. I have used Moviemaker in the past, so it wasn't too unfamiliar to me. However, the format did change a little bit (last time I used it was approx. 2 years ago). It did take some refreshing. The whole editing process took maybe 90 minutes, tops--nothing too crazy. I think I spent more time deciding what project to work on than the time I took with the editing.
For the music selection, I wanted to have something "old-timey", but also something that had a very "monumental" feel to it. I think that I achieved that with the selection I made. In order to change the color of the video to make it look old-fashioned, I very simply changed the color to "sepia"--a simple alteration, but still a really cool effect.
Reflections:
All in all, my homeroom students and I really got a kick out of doing this video. We watched it in our homeroom class today and the kids really liked it. Interestingly enough, Jabril, one of the students tying a tie in the video, taught me a different, more simpler way, of tying a tie. It is funny what you learn from doing projects like these.
A side note: Ever since I was a little kid, I always dreamed of directing movies. Growing up in Arizona, I spent almost every summer creating a new movie and using the neighborhood kids to star in the short films. It was some of the most fun. And to get all sentimental for a second...this project brought back a lot of those great memories. Haha...I feel old now.