20.219 Class Tumblr

I did want to wait to write this until after I had the experience of working with a pro crew.  Wow, exhilarating and exhausting at the same time - I had to take yesterday (and some Toscanini's mimosa sorbet) to recover.

Out of the entire experience, from ideation to script writing to shooting to editing to repeat, it would be easy for me to stick with the part I feel most comfortable with - the script writing part. But we only get growth when we throw ourselves at the things we suck at. It was reiterated when my sister-in-law (an artist) posted something on Facebook that was a riff on the Ira Glass piece that Elizabeth showed (here: http://m.omeleto.com/188186), namely that when you create art, often it's pretty bad when you first start out. And because you have good taste, you *know* it's bad. And often, that's when people quit, because of that gap between what you want to accomplish and what you did accomplish. 

I'm so glad I didn't quit this class. But it was close there for a while...

As for the parts that I didn't do well (camera work in particular), I did enjoy editing. The advice to wait overnight before working with the clips was especially relevant.  Often after filming, I thought stuff was great. Then the next day, I was able to view it more objectively. This also applied to the editing I did. While I was editing, it seemed to go well.  But when I viewed the final product the next day, I could more easily see how it could be improved. While I can't say I'm happy with my final product (I think I went a little crazy speeding up my speech - should have backed off from 115% to maybe 110%), I can say that it was much improved over the rough cut. And looking back I'm somewhat proud of what I have learned.

I'm also super-impressed by my classmates! You all have great taste, and came a lot closer to realizing that than perhaps you believe.

Back to working with the pros - I didn't see any of the clips they filmed, but I did gain an appreciation for the importance of lighting to set a mood. It's more important than the physicality of my movements, and rivals the impact of tone of voice.  I also thought it was ironic that I was called "the talent" - it seems to me that all of the talent is in the script, camerawork/direction, and lighting (and editing!). 

And finally, just one more confession: I had always dreamed of hosting a science/natural history show since I was in middle school! But sometime during high school, I got it into my head that I was too unattractive to even be on camera. Nonetheless, I loved watching PBS (Crockett's Victory Garden, This Old House, etc.) and I especially loved how the hosts were such approachable people. They weren't drop-dead gorgeous, but they had a kind of authenticity and gravitas (leavened with humor). I struggled with my camera-phobic block during this class. But then I read an article on the defense lawyer for the Marathon Bomber. The lawyer, Judy Clark, has the kindest face, almost sad. The article talked about how she is very effective at gaining her clients' trust, and in conveying her clients' humanity to a jury. That power lies partly in her appearance and demeanor. And I thought I wouldn't mind having that kind of power - the power to make people trust and understand. I hope that I managed to convey just a little sliver of that in my video (and the one for Science Out Loud as well).

Most of my final video has been competed, with a couple additional scenes to shoot later in the month. It was really interesting seeing the how final video production progressed. Having a professional film/lighting guy made me realize how meticulous lighting and audio is to developing a good final product. Although I will probably never go into this field, I was able to witness firsthand most if not all of the production principles that we learned in class. I did seem to drone on quite a bit at first, but I think I got more and more comfortable as the day progressed. It was very tiring though, and compared to other people who shot their videos, mine was probably one of the quickest! Ceri was spot on with drinking water too, my throat is killing me.

Overall, taking this class has been a good experience for me. It was one of the first "unconventional" courses I have ever taken. I always had information drilled into me during undergrad, but it was nice to be able to share my thoughts via blogs and seeing other people's thoughts; this really helped my learning. I really think that people are on to something with these YouTube educational videos, because after seeing everyone's videos I understood a lot more about different topics than I would have had I read a textbook. Also, I was very impressed with the quality of everyone's videos. I think that all our comments helped make our videos much better than the rough cuts.

My biggest takeaway from this class was what I set out to do from the beginning: get better at talking. Specifically, explaining difficult concepts in a simple way. I can already see changes in how I explain things to friends and family about what I do for research. My second biggest takeaway was learning how to be comfortable on camera, and generally being comfortable in front of complete strangers. I would advertise this class almost as a Toastmasters, because it really helped out my public speaking abilities (even though I have a lot more room to improve).

I want to thank all of my classmates who helped me out in making a better product; all of your suggestions were on point and addressed many of my shortcomings... I'm no fun :-(   Also, thank you to the guest lecturers and teachers (Elizabeth, Jaime, Ceri, George, et. al) for teaching the art of shooting YouTube videos and explaining scientific topics in a simple way. I am excited to finish my video later in the month and see what the final product looks like! I hope everyone keeps in contact in the future! My email is [email protected] (no Facebook).

The production of the fractal video has been completed. I’m thrilled to see the final product. I hope the video’s soul is not gone after its bits are pieced together after tens of repetitions. I did my best to keep the meaning of the phrases as I said them again and again.

The original for-grade production was quite different. My directors, Paul and Kenneth, did their best to apply the principles learned in class, but with the poor quality equipment, limited resources, and time constraints, we couldn’t explore a variety of angles and deliveries.

If I could alter the video, the first part I’d change is the sound. My voice sounded high-pitched and unnatural in many places, and, as I realize now after the professional production, that can be quite distracting. Also, the music levels were off in most places. After multiple conversions and adjustments, many parts of the video only featured percussion, which wasn’t my intent. Sound levels (video vs music) are a tricky part to adjust. If I had more time, I’d definitely experiment with various levels of ducking. After all the video clips were divided into small cropped segments, adjustments were impossibly long (especially on my old version of iMovie which had the most annoying slider tool).

I would also ask my groupmates to change the filming angle. In many shots, the camera is filming from below. Much of the attention is given to my chin rather than, say, eyes. Also, I tend to look up while talking, which doesn’t help when the camera is underneath. I’d prefer if the camera was above eye level. This would be most helpful in the in-shower scene as well as the one where I sit on the windowsill and talk. That part was borderline condescending because of the angle (though the background was cool).

Having better animations would be awesome. I wasn’t able to do too much with those because my computer didn’t have the capabilities, and I could only transfer the video to another computer as one full clip, with no necessary breaks. For example, the phone image in the beginning looked odd because it had a white border around it and was different in shape and framing from the snowflake. Fortunately, the timing worked out well for those, and if the pictures were better, it may seem like I’m actually sliding them onto the screen.

The timing didn’t work that well for the image of the Menger Sponge. I intended to use the zoom in feature to cover up the odd shower transition (when I turn on the water for no apparent reason). The idea was for the Menger Sponge to slide out gradually as I turned the knob, as if I was “turning on” the sponge. The zoom would stop at the next section, and I’d have a static sponge for the next clip, until it disappeared quickly at the next transition (where I was centered). And I was able to achieve that, but for some reason, iMovie didn’t upload it to YouTube that way (which was heartbreaking, because the zoom in as I turn on the water part was probably my favorite part of the video and accomplishment).

On the topic of the Menger Sponge, I wish that I’d considered the animations more when filming. The part where I first introduce the fractal looked odd because I held up the hand to receive the sponge too close to the right edge, leaving lots of space on the left unused. To hide that flaw, I zoomed the Menger Sponge to full screen instead. Similarly, I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to animate a hedgehog from an iPhone. The hedgehog clip I found on YouTube was a cute replacement, but not the best fitting piece of the video (and it took a long time to make it look sort of natural).

Lastly, I’d adjust lighting. The first/last scenes by the Stata mural looked the best. i didn’t even need to adjust the color levels. The lounge scene was also pretty good. I would, however, rethink the other locations. iMovie video editor helped a lot in covering up the odd shadows (and the bathroom stall), but if I’d had more time, I’d put more thought into good lighting from the beginning.

On a positive note, I am pretty happy with my final product. The final idea was way more concrete and clear than the first (I’m still shocked at how I ever thought Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem would appeal to middle schoolers). And, I learned a lot about fractals, which is great, because now I notice them around me, while before I knew very little on the subject. The video itself looks generally acceptable. With the limited time and resources I had, I can’t imagine making a better product. And, I never expected to learn so much about editing in a month!

In fact, I didn’t expect to learn so much about anything in a month. The class has even changed my outlook on life. For example, now I can’t watch movies without considering how much time was put into them, especially after the professional filming part. I never would’ve thought that making lighting look “natural” required so much “artificial” equipment. I shudder when I think at the incredible amount of time editors, producers, and directors put into piecing everything together, noticing the little details and making adjustments, and just generally creating the movie. I respect even the worst films now. I watch a greater variety of videos on YouTube, and learn from them.

However, I did learn that being an actor and having to say things over and over isn’t too bad. I enjoyed trying different deliveries. I do hope that professional actors get the lines right sooner (in fact, I’m pretty sure they do). It’s a skill I would love to have. And by the end of filming, I did feel more comfortable with delivery. I memorized the lines better and practiced on my own, tried to keep my voice down and not go high pitched, have smoother transitions between sentences and phrases (without pauses and weird emphases), vary the intonation in the most casual way possible, and, most importantly, keep imagining that I’m not doing a show, but rather telling a story.

    This course was really an eye opening and stretching one for me! As per mentioned during the showcase: The course was really a course of firsts! And hopefully I can carry on whatever I've learnt here to other portions.

    I'm glad to say that I've survived it and am actually pretty proud of my work! I won't say its perfect (or really good) and there's so many others in class who have more awesome work, but I think it was really worth it. XDD Through this I've learnt the nitty gritty dirty portions to short video makings. And can really appreciate and understand how intricate videos are.

    Really like to thank Elizabeth, Jamie and Ceri for their awesome work in shaping our scripts/ storyboards/ video editing and cuts. But more than that, for encouraging us to express our creative-sides and pushing up to achieve more. Like I had mentioned in the showcase: I really feel that all our projects are a combined effort of all the teaching staff as well as inputs from various students! Thank you everyone!

    One thing I would like to mention was that at the start I was torn between 2 problems to answer through the video:

1) What makes math problems too hard to solve?

2) How does one survive the cold?

I ended up doing qn 2 only after much debate because of feedback from the 6th graders, Elizabeth as well as finding a succinct and concise YouTube video on "P vs NP". I feel now that maybe doing the whole video on "cold" is not something within my area of specialty and possibly a further improvement would be to do one within that. 

    Another area of improvement would be delivery and hosting. I felt that certain other videos had better hosting compared to mine. One reason was that I was unsure in front of the camera, and I feel the answer to this is just more practice and keeping the script only to main points. The second reason was that at the start of the storyboard I was having a more "Ted-Ed" (voice speaking with animation) mindset to creating the whole video.

    Although I must say that I am unlikely to start another video on my own time, I do hope that these lessons can be brought forward when I do need to use them.

    Other than learning about video making/ hosting/ script writing, another lesson I have learnt through class is framing opinions/ feedback. I noticed how individuals in class, Elizabeth and Jamie especially, would give a precursor before stating their opinion. They said stuff like "This might be just me", or "Coming from... ", or "You don't really have to do this, but if I were you...". (This enabled the listener to better understand the context in which the opinion is aimed towards.) I felt that this really helped in the creative process. Also, framing the feedback didn't cause any unhappy moments, as is often seen when ideas get "shot" down in more direct manners.

    I'd like to end off by saying that I'm really glad to have gone for MIT 20.219 and for the friendships made. I would really like to extend the invitation to all students and teaching staff to keep in contact and visit us in Singapore if you can! Please do visit! 

    (P.S. - @Paul: All the best with the video! Hope to see it on Science Out Loud soon)

    (P.S. 2 - @everyone: I hope everyone is doing okay with the snow barrage and all!)

    With Best Regards,

Wow, this course was an amazing experience! I must thank all the teaching staff and participants for pouring all your experience into the projects given such a short period of time. Personally, I've gained a ton from the class (and from the pizza we had, pun intended). From scriptwriting, to video editing; it is incredible how much I've learnt about the planning, iteration and passion that is required for these k12 videos.

As I've previously mentioned, my mother is the Head of the Science department of a all-girls middle to high school (secondary school) in Singapore (Tanjong Katong Girls School). I've shared my experiences and my project with her and she was very impressed with the MIT K12 youtube channel. She is looking incorporate the videos in the students' learning experience.

In Singapore, since the 80's we've had a strong emphasis on STEM education as there was a manufacturing, engineering, and R&D industry boom at that time. Till today, many Singapore parents insist that their children take a triple-science (biology, chemistry and physics) high school education. Although that may seem like a different situation as compared to USA, my mother tells me that she always had an issue with inspiring students on the science subjects given the large coverage of syllabus material. From a larger perspective, the MIT K12 videos can give bursts of real-world application ideas on those scientific concepts that could encourage subject interest and still be short enough to be integrated in school lessons.

From a project perspective, I am quite happy with what I was able to achieve in the project. The first pitch I gave was about the usage of hashing in computer security. After the consultation with the middle-schoolers, it was quite clear that I might be heading in the wrong direction with my ideas. I chose the topic of hashing because I saw that this concept was the most fundamental building block of our modern cryptography protocols. However that was from the point-of-view that assumes that you'll be interested in the subject of computer security. I then explored a few different topics such as the Google searches and Computer Viruses. I think the Google search topic was mostly accessible as I had previously asked the middle-schoolers if they knew about Google and almost all of them had some idea that you use Google to search for websites. It was a decent starting point I knew that I could start from as a topic to write a script.

The writing of the script was clearly a collaborative effort. Putting it in a Google doc and allowing comments/edits helped me to see the fundamental flaws with the script and its contents. I took most of the advice and comments given to me, especially the comments related to language expressions. Although english is my native language, Singaporeans tend to use their own set of colloquial expressions known collectively as Singlish. I did have to make a hard decision to keep or drop the "finding gloves" portion of the script. I eventually decided to rewrite/shorten that portion and keep it since it was more accessible as a concept with physical props (gloves) instead of a conceptual jump that's straight to the search engines (which was more of an abstract idea). I think a way I could have improved the script would be to read it aloud to a few people who did not hear of the pitch beforehand and ask them how much they can explain back to me of what they gained from the script. In that way, I could emphasize or de-emphasize certain portions to improve clarity.

I tried to come up with as many hooks as I could in the video to maintain viewer interest. At the back of my mind, I was thinking of the first lesson where we would annotate at what time did I shut off a certain video (Bill Nye, Veritasium etc). I was always a bit anxious if I talked for too long without the element of interaction, that it could result in a ridiculously boring video. I guess this could have been improved further if I was able to get access to some interesting locations to put into the video such as access to film in a Google office, or access to a server farm, or access to Akamai (Akamai has a strong relationship with MIT since it's co-founder comes from MIT) etc. But due to time constraints, this was not really possible. Nonetheless, I was quite satisfied with the shots in front of the big Google sign despite shivering in the snow at that point.

In terms of "spark", I tried my best to maintain a smile in my delivery. A while back, I was a telemarketer on a part-time job (I am sorry if I may have disturb people a while back!). One of the most interesting concepts I learned is that people can see you on the phone through your voice. So maintaining a smiling facial expression would change the quality of the delivery. I also followed George's advice on making a ridiculous version of the narration before actual shooting, it definitely helped me to lose some of the butterflies in my stomach being in front of the camera. At the same time, I also tried to be myself or rather a slightly more enthusiastic version of myself (not too enthusiastic to become unnatural). It was quite a difficult balance, but I learned that it becomes more easy to become a host after a few shoots.

Lastly, in order to push my audience to grow, I kept the long chunk of the script which describes the inner workings of binary search. However, it was a combination of the words with the after-effect animations of the "classroom" and "students" that aided in the description of the process that would not have been possible with just my words. Perhaps I could have improved the video further by adding actual b-roll of running to and from classrooms to show how this process could be troublesome if done incorrectly.

Once again, thank you so much for having the students from Singapore around and it was such an enlightening experience. I am excited to try to make more videos on my own and do not hesitate to contact me when any of you visit Singapore. I can reached on Facebook or LinkedIn at 

https://www.facebook.com/the.Joshua.cheong

or

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuacheong

I wish you all the best for Spring 2015!

Best regards,

I'd really like to thank all the teaching staff for all the work put into this video making process. Before MIT 20.219, I hadn't imagined the collaborative and creative effort required to piece together an ~3 minute video. Really kudos to all the people who made K12 videos before us. 

I strongly believe that the iterative process was what made our videos better and hopefully a success? Without it our ideas wouldn't be fresh/ flashed out in a proper way.

Really hope that the relationships/ experiences shared during this 3 weeks will continue in the long run! Hope you guys will contact myself/ Joshua/ Kenneth when coming to Singapore! We'd be more than happy to bring your around! XDD

CyberMouth

 Creative Commons: CC BY-NC-SA, MIT

http://k12videos.mit.edu/terms-conditions

Hosted by: Andrea Desrosiers

Written by: Andrea Desrosiers

Additional scripting: Elizabeth Choe, George Zaidan, Jaime Goldstein, Ceri Riley, George Zaidan, students of IAP15 20.219

Executive producer: Elizabeth Choe

Director: Andrea Desrosiers

Editors: Andrea Desrosiers, Yuliya Klochan, Nathan Hernandez, Ceri Riley, Elizabeth Choe

Production assistants: Nathan Hernandez, Fred Yarm

 Image Attributions:

Tooth in mirror:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124018523@N04/

Jaw breakers:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsidepictures/

Wrought iron:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/theenmoy/

Steel beam:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/elsie/

Tooth xray:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jaredzimmerman

Osteoclast/osteoblast cartoon:

Hideki Kitaura, Keisuke Kimura, Masahiko Ishida, et al., “Effect of Cytokines on Osteoclast Formation and Bone Resorption during Mechanical Force Loading of the Periodontal Membrane,” The Scientific World Journal, vol. 2014, Article ID 617032, 7 pages, 2014. doi:10.1155/2014/617032

Osteoclast pits:

B0007594 Osteoclast pit

Credit: Kevin MacKenzie, University of Aberdeen. Wellcome Images

[email protected]

Trio of images of osteoblasts with artificial bone scaffold:

http://www.nist.gov/mml/bbd/biomaterials/carl_simon.cfm

Osteoblast steel micrograph by Zeiss:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/zeissmicro/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cambridgeuniversity-engineering/

Skeletons:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wellcomeimages/

Dental implant:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/enno/

Knee implant:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/libertasacademica/

Hip implant:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dansdata/

Cyborg back:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/emil_95/

Polyelectrolyte Multilayers video by Nisarg Shah in the Hammond Lab at the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT, MIT OpenCourseware module: http://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-tll-004-stem-concept-videos-fall-2013/videos/structure-function-properties/polyelectrolyte-multilayers/

Background sources:http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2014/bone-repair-treat-injuries-0818

Creative Commons: CC BY-NC-SA, MIT

http://k12videos.mit.edu/terms-and-co… Hosted by: Nathan Hernandez Written by: Nathan Hernandez Additional scripting: Elizabeth Choe, George Zaidan, Andrea Desrosiers Executive producer: Nathan Hernandez Director: Nathan Hernandez Editor: Nathan Hernandez Production assistant: Andrea Desrosiers Music: Kevin Macleod, “Gonna Start” (http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?feels%5B%5D=Calming&feels%5B%5D=Humorous)

Wood Decay: http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_nrs97.pdf

Food Waste:  http://www.ce.cmu.edu/~gdrg/readings/2006/12/19/Jones_UsingContemporaryArchaeologyAndAppliedAnthropologyToUnderstandFoodLossInAmericanFoodSystem.pdf

http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/1282296/eib121.pdf

Soft Rot: http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/1282296/eib121.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterial_soft_rot

Basic Food Spoilage: 

http://faculty.weber.edu/coberg/class/3853/3853%20MOs%20and%20Food%20Spoilage%20notes.htm

http://www.foodsafetysite.com/educators/competencies/general/spoilage/spg1.html

https://books.google.com/books?id=-B1s6GhOlzkC&pg=PA383&lpg=PA383&dq=plant+spoilage&source=bl&ots=LadzY7IOjV&sig=bWdSStfElt4z46H4LwWay95a7I0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=81utVM2FHoSAgwS1yoDwBQ&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=plant%20spoilage&f=false

Creative Commons: CC BY-NC-SA, MIT

http://k12videos.mit.edu/terms-and-conditions

Hosted by: Joshua Cheong

Written by: Joshua Cheong

Additional scripting: Elizabeth Choe, Jaime Goldstein, Ceri Riley, George Zaidan, students of 20.219

Executive producer: Joshua Cheong

Director: David Yam

Editor: David Yam, Nathan, Elizabeth Choe, Ceri Riley

Production assistant: David Yam

Kevin MacLeod, "Mining by Moonlight" (http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1200089)

Google's Explanation of Search (https://www.google.com.sg/insidesearch/howsearchworks/thestory/)

How can I survive the Cold?

Creative Commons: CC BY-NC-SA, MIT

Hosted by: David Yam

Written by: David Yam

Additional scripting: Elizabeth Choe, George Zaidan, Ceri R, Jaime Goldstein

  Executive producer: David Yam

Director: Joshua Cheong

Editor: Paul Folino, Ceri R, Elizabeth Choe

Production assistant: Joshua Cheong

  Scientific studies:

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0058244

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2821041/

http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/adapt_2.htm

  Pictures:

Photo of Wim Hof: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Hof

Brain image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PSM_V46_D167_Outer_surface_of_the_human_brain.jpg

Inuit individual: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inuit

Temperature: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Temperature_down.svg  &  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Temperature_up.svg

Mitochondria: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrion, ("Mitochondria, mammalian lung - TEM" by Louisa Howard)

Meditation Lotus pose: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asana  &  http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tummo

Woman in blanket: http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Helene_Menzeli_wrapped_in_a_blanket_during_a_snowstorm_-_photo_taken_by_Napoleon_Sarony.jpg&redirect=no

Fire: http://pixabay.com/p-295155/?no_redirect

Woman & Man: http://pixabay.com/p-312286/?no_redirect

Wooden stove pizza baker: http://pixabay.com/en/wood-stove-pizza-baker-pizza-stove-155822/

Videos:

The Last Book Burning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNx3vDSuzkY

Music:

Suspenseful and Victorious Underscore – Taken from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVItZLYqQ_I

(Composer - Jake LaVallee, Owner of http://uncopyrightedmusic.net)

Tundra Caravan – Taken from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aeu5nUDJEFI

Is Time Travel Possible?

Creative Commons: CC BY-NC-SA, MIT http://k12videos.mit.edu/terms-and-co… Hosted by: Kenneth Cheah Written by: Kenneth Cheah Additional scripting: Elizabeth Choe, Jaime Goldstein, Ceri Riley, George Zaidan, students of 20.219 Executive producer: Elizabeth Choe Director: Kenneth Cheah Editor: Kenneth Cheah Production assistant: Yuliya and PJ

Cartoon families from TattooedTrilobite (https://tattooedtrilobite.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/stik.jpg) Sources:

Fractals!

Creative Commons: CC BY-NC-SA, MIT

http://k12videos.mit.edu/terms-and-co… 

Hosted by: Yuliya Klochan

Written by: Yuliya Klochan

Additional scripting: Elizabeth Choe, Jaime Goldstein, Ceri Riley, George Zaidan, students of 20.219

Music: Kevin MacLeod, “Mining by Moonlight” (http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1200089)

Video Clips: Funny Animals, “Cute Hedgehog” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-KwAeLZFOU&list=LLkG2TIP0CKmpvghLNBFJPRQ&index=1)

Sriram Subramanian, “Introduction to Fractals - sriramoman” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1IrTGj5v04)

Images: 

Nautilus shell, Hurricane Katrina, Titan river, fractal tree, Bentley snowflake, circulatory system, lightning in Arlington, Nokia 3310, MIT logo,  DNA animation, day 5 pressure forecast, Autumn Rhythm (no.30), Menger Sponge, and Romanesco broccoli from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logarithmic_spiral, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Weather_Service_bulletin_for_New_Orleans_region#mediaviewer/File:Katrina-noaaGOES12.jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River#mediaviewer/File:PIA16197_Titan_river.jpg , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_vessel#mediaviewer/File:Circulatory_System_en.svg , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_strike#mediaviewer/File:Lightning_in_Arlington.jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowflake#mediaviewer/File:Bentley_Snowflake11.jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_3310#mediaviewer/File:Nokia_3310_blue.jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology#mediaviewer/File:MIT_logo.svg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA#mediaviewer/File:ADN_animation.gif,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_forecasting#mediaviewer/File:Day5pressureforecast.png,   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autumn_Rhythm_(Number_30)#mediaviewer/File:Autumn_Rhythm.jpg, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Menger-Schwamm-farbig.png  )

Sources:

Hunting the Hidden Dimension documentary from NOVA (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/hunting-hidden-dimension.html)

What is a Fractal from The Fractal Foundation

(http://fractalfoundation.org/fractivities/WhatIsaFractal-1pager.pdf)

Koch Snowflake Fractal from Khan Academy (https://www.khanacademy.org/math/geometry/basic-geometry/koch_snowflake/v/koch-snowflake-fractal)

14 Amazing Fractals Found in Nature from Mother Nature Network (http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/blogs/14-amazing-fractals-found-in-nature)

Fractals in Nature from Motiv Designs (http://motiv-designs.com/gallery/fractals-nature)

Logarithmic Spiral from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logarithmic_spiral)

A New Dimension for Genome Studies from MIT News (http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2009/3d-genome)

Fractal from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal)

Here's an example of a final project post. 

First off, many thanks to Elizabeth, Jaime, and Ceri for the great instruction and help.  The goal of the course was to learn about new media techniques, and you really delivered on that.  I continue to believe that this video format will play an increasingly large role in both ed and business.  I'm very happy I took the course and when I look back I've learned a tremendous amount.

I'm also incredibly impressed with the talent of the students - David, Yuliya, Nathan, Kenneth, Joshua, PJ - you are all pretty awesome. I loved the visual styles you all came up with. The scripts were compelling and your delivery was genuine. Thank you for the many helpful comments - you were a critical part of the learning experience (pun intended ;-)

Looking over the comments on my video, it seems you all liked it more than I did. To combat its boringness I'll be making many of the suggestions, but also cutting a lot more out! Also, I had added in stuff in the script that you all had earlier said was extraneous - now I agree, out it goes.  I'm hoping to get this down to below 2 minutes.  When we viewed the videos on the first day, I tended to get bored at about the 45 second mark. Don't know if I can cut the video down to that, but shorter with this kind of material is better if there isn't much art to it.

And final comment - as I've said I don't have an artistic bone in my body (remodeled or not). But I still enjoyed putting together the video. One thing I've learned in my old age - don't let lack of talent stop you from doing something new, something you enjoy! 

12:30 am. Stata Center. A student in a blue jacket creeps through the doors, humming a song that started in the winter air. Blue, yellow, red backgrounds are all around her. Will this shot work? Will the lighting cast ugly shadows? All are important considerations. But the student must hurry, because Stata Center is creepy so late at night (and very, very empty).

2 am. Final shots are done, and I, the student, am happy with anything but more reshoots. I wonder what the janitorial staff thinks of me, talking so loudly in an empty echo-y building. I'm no longer afraid of the silence, the vast emptiness of the building, and the loudness of my footsteps. The shooting that started with voiceless practice has grown in volume, until I stopped caring who may hear me (helpful thought: Elizabeth said my script is good). 

Back home, I watch all the new videos (always a delight seeing the work of the day on the "big screen"). I approve of the lighting. So much that I get an urge to restart the video, do the same motions, but properly this time, with better lighting, locations, more experience. Alas, I have two days (TWO DAYS!) to finish everything. And I don't want to creep out the facilities completely, crawling quietly late at night through the building with a tripod every day. 

I enjoy the late night walks though. Sometimes I bring a friend to appear less crazy with the camera (and also to play foosball later in the CSAIL lounge). Now that I have completed my morning class, 4 am is the optimal bedtime. I can do so much in the extra productive hours before that, including Stata filming sessions!

Feedback was good in class. I was quite sick of watching the video and had no idea whether it made sense. But it was nice to know that I don't have to redo it all (although I want to now!). I'll work on more fixes later. And, I appreciate the music commentary. Searching for music is the best part of re-editing, as many songs sound funny along with the video, which is good.

Lastly, I loved the way my partner's projects turned out! I enjoyed watching everyone's videos, but Paul's and Kenneth's were most familiar. It was wonderful to see the multiple takes all morphing into one great story. I was looking forward to seeing their finished product, and they did not disappoint. 

It is funny how I watch movies now and see the editing portion of it rather than just enjoying the movie, hahah. Anyway, today was very constructive in tweaking the last portions of our videos to make them as good as they can be. I thought that everyone's videos looked really good and I think all of our comments about possible fixes reflect what we have learned in the past week. All of the comments seemed to show me what I already that were the weak parts of the video, but there was also additional insight that I hadn't thought of that was very useful... like putting in b-roll for a scene to improve the angles of the shots.

I am going to take a break tonight after editing this past weekend and will make the final changes to my video all day tomorrow. Also, if anyone needs to re-shoot anything I will be around, just send me an email. I may have to ditch music at the beginning completely or have very poignant beginning music if it turns out that I am not finding anything to fit. Overall, it was cool seeing everyone's progress and how they envisioned shooting their videos. It will be interesting to see how much the final products differ from the shots we saw today.

I'd be remiss in not showing the coincidence here... Jaws is on TV and I am seeing the ORCA "save" Chief Brody's life as I type!