We just passed the halfway point of our Video Narrative unit, and Week 4 is when your project should really start taking shape. You left class today with a “shopping list” of items that you need to collect for your video, and this weekend is the time to complete that task. Over the next few days, you should begin assembling your “raw materials” into a rough cut of your video, using whatever software program you have chosen for this project.

Next week, we will work on refining your videos and reflect a bit on the process of composing and editing with video. Here’s how we’ll spend our time in class each day:

• On Monday, we will spend almost the full class period in workshop mode, so please bring your laptops (and headphones) or have your Unit #1 materials organized in such a way that you can work on one of the classroom computers. In order for this workshop to be productive, you’ll need to put in some serious time on this project before you come to class. I will be available during the workshop to help you resolve technological issues, or just to offer another perspective on your video, but I won’t be able to walk you through the entire process step-by-step. (For that, I highly recommend the Lynda.com tutorials!) At the end of class, the Innovation Space staff will make a short presentation about a research project that our class has been invited to join.
• Wednesday’s entire class will be devoted to a peer critique workshop. In order to participate in this workshop, you must come to class with a playable video containing a rough cut of your video narrative. It’s OK if your audio track needs to be re-recorded or a few images need to be edited/replaced, but your video should be far enough along that your classmates can give you helpful feedback on the project. Please bring your laptop (or put your video on a flash drive so you can copy it to one of the classroom computers) and a set of headphones. If you need help with your video, you can come to my office hours on Tuesday afternoon (1–4) or Wednesday morning (9–12), but postponing your work on this assignment until a few hours before class starts is a very risky strategy.

Finally, consider this (another) reminder to give your personal blog the attention it needs to become something worth sharing with the world. One suggestion: chronicling your work on this project as a series of blog posts would be a great way to fulfill two course requirements at the same time. I’ll be checking up on the motherblog again next week, and I hope I find a little more content than I did today.

As always, if you have any questions about our plans for next week, drop me a line via email or Twitter.