Gathering material

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie7WTmH9n0I&list=PL401D8EBAAD253618&index=13

Image: http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4143/4754688708_529e53a5c1_z.jpg

Song: https://soundcloud.com/whoispraetorian

I found a video from the reeve foundation youtube page because it had the most information it and it was about a minute and a half long so it could be easily edited down to a usable clip by our team. A lot of the Reeve foundation “reeve minute” videos show a lot of good information and can be used as a solid foundation for most of our video. The image I found off of creativecommons is a photo of wheelchair that is next to a set of stairs. I thought it could be used in a segment of the video where we show the accessibility that buildings must have to allow people in wheelchairs to get around without a problem. It was pretty difficult to find good pictures using creativecommons and going through google. The picture I found is pretty solid and could be used in the background of a scene. Lastly the song I found using soundcloud I liked a lot. It is a simple guitar rift that is about two minutes long but it is nice upbeat kind of guitar rift. I feel that it can be used when showing some facts about wheelchair accessibly or some of the other pictures that my group members come up with. The song has no lyrics and can also be used as background music to any video playing as well.

Top 5 list

The music through the decades blog caught my attention and was set up really well. I enjoyed going through the blog entries and watching and listening to the videos that were posted along with them. Every blog entry was clearly written and gave a major example of the music that was relevant in that era. I thought the blog was really unique and well put together.

http://haleyjt.wordpress.com/

Next on my list is the Simple Kitchen blog. The layout is very simple but catches the eye of visitors. The way the blog is step up, like the way the recipes are written are very clear and easy to read. I was also very impressed by the video that was included in the blog. She added her own voice over the video of the ingredients which takes a trial and error to make it sync up perfectly.

http://angelicadangelo24.wordpress.com/

Andy’s Blog is next on my top 5 list. I chose this one because of how unique it is and also the amount of interesting posts on it. I could tell he spent a lot of time finding relevant videos for each of his posts and the pictures were really cool. I also enjoyed the amount of different posts he had, like ones new music releases and concerts. This blog definitely is different and stands out from others, and his posts are interesting and current. Great overall blog.

http://andyblogsaboutstuff.wordpress.com/

Juicer Life had a very different blog that I have never seen before but was very interesting and has a lot of possibilities. I know a lot of people that are trying to eat healthier and have tried juicing to lose some weight but do not know exactly how to do it. This blog includes some recipes as well as describing some beneficial vitamins that you should include. It was interesting to read and really included a lot about how to juice. I learned a lot reading through this blog.

http://juicerlife.wordpress.com/

Finally to top off my list, I give it to Dig In & Dine. First off this blog had the most information on it from any other blog. There are multiple recipes that are clearly written out I think that I could even make them. Not only was there recipes but also restaurant reviews that were very detailed. I can tell that a lot of research was done before posting each entry and they were very enjoyable to read. The video was done very well and just like all of her other posts had a lot of effort put into it. This was a fantastic blog!

http://megdadkins.wordpress.com/

Creating my Midterm Blog

The first idea that came to my mind when creating a midterm blog was sports. I like to think that I have a decent amount of knowledge in sports and I could create a blog about basketball, hockey, and football. I started my blog out by trying to separate my blog from every other sports blog on the internet. I added my point of view to sports games and tried writing my articles a way that is entertaining to read but also will allow the reader to learn something.

I tried to add a little humor to some of the articles and the video I created. I thought that some sports blogs are too serious and reading up on sports should not just be stating who won what game and by how many points. I also added pictures that I thought would capture the visitors attention so they would read the article.

The video was very enjoyable to me, I cut around three long videos into short highlights and added some pictures and effects in between each highlight. I had fun playing around with the ability to make the video go in slow motion and adding captions to the highlights.

When creating my header I was looking for something simple that a visitor would look at and not forget it. I think it came out pretty well, I wanted to add more images to it but every time I did it looked cluttered and I ended up taking them off.

Overall I really enjoyed making my midterm because I chose a topic I am interested in and also had a lot of fun getting to know the different programs to make my images and videos. I will keep updating my midterm blog to improve my writing on keep up with the latest sports news.

Editing Video

I just completed my video using Windows Movie Maker and I really enjoyed doing it. I chose to do a shootout hockey clip because it was short and I thought it was interesting enough for people to enjoy watching it. It was really simple to create an introduction and a credits scene. I added my own titles easily along with the picture I used. I was impressed on how easy it was to add the music I wanted as when, I just chose the file and I added it to the introduction and credits and get to choose where I wanted to song to start and end from each time with ease.

Adding the video was just as easy, I just downloaded it from YouTube using an extension I had on FireFox and added it right to the queue. It was easy watching sections of the video to see if they came out the way you wanted them to. There was no loading times, everything happened instantly. I ran into no problems while making my video, I enjoyed spending some time just messing with the different effects and captions I could add.

I could see myself using this application again for my personal use. I really like how easy it was to use and would like to make montage videos in the future. Even though it was not allowed on the project, I messed with music over the video I added and it looked and sounded really cool. I would like to make a video of hockey highlights that would go along with the beat of a song and add some effects in it to make a interesting video like the ones I always see on YouTube. I hope everyone enjoys my first video, I will definitely  be making more in the near future!

Podcast Introduction

http://infodesign.oirt.rutgers.edu/~jjs356/podcastaudiofixed

Above is the link to my podcast introduction. I enjoyed editing the audio and using audacity very much. I messed around with a couple of songs trying to find the best one to put my voice over and which ones would blend into each other. I spend about half my time just trying to pick two songs that I liked. Once I got both of my songs I had to pick which one would be first and at what part would I add in my voice. I listened through both songs and found a good part of the song where there was not much going on where I could just lower the audio and add my voice. I had a little bit of trouble getting the file of my voice to convert to a mp3 file at first. Windows made it a WMA at first and I found a website that converted to a mp3 file for me.

I think my podcast came out pretty good, there is still some audacity tips and tricks I could learn to make it better. Trying to make the songs blend it together was pretty time consuming for me, I was constantly going back and forth listen to certain sections and seeing what sounded the best together. I tried my best to get both of my songs to blend together the best I could and I think it worked out pretty well. I have the second song gradually coming in the background as a fade out the first song. As the first song ends, the second one has a slight pause which then takes over as the dominant song playing.

I could see myself using this program again for personal reasons. I really enjoyed messing around with the different tools and features to see how the song sounded. Audacity is definitely a program I will use in the future.

Using Pixlr

This was my first time using Pixlr and at first I was very confused. I was unfamiliar with the layout and I did not know which tools did what. Once I got used to the tools and effects, I moved onto the layers. It took me a while to figure out how to add new layers on my background image. I kept deleting my background image when trying to add a new layer. After I finally figured out how to properly use the layers, I used the lasso tool to crop out Carmelo Anthony the best I could and added him to the background. I then used the eye dropper to get the color of the background next to him and used the paint brush to fill in all of the space around the ball and his arms so it would fit in the picture better. I wanted to change the brightness of the background a little bit but when I did it made all of the brush strokes that I used to make Carmelo blend into the background actually stood out even more. I think my header came out pretty nice for my first time using the application and when I found out more tricks I will try to make it better.

I could see myself using Pixlr again, once I got used to it it became pretty simple to use. I probably will not be using it to combine to pictures together, but there are many other features that I could use to make a picture look better, like changing the brightness or contrast. Overall I think Pixlr is a great web application and is a very good substitute for PhotoShop for people with beginner or intermediate skill level with photo editing. Not to mention this application is free for everyone to use!

My first experience

I retrieved this image from http://www.baruch.cuny.edu

For me setting up the initial account was easy. It was a little frustrating trying to find the right theme that looked nice but also fit all of the tabs and had the sidebar that I needed. It was confusing at first getting used to the sidebar and how to add new posts and where to view them. After the slight learning curve it was quite easy to navigate through the menu on the side to edit would I like.

For the most part I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the menu at this point but would like to figure out more about the html code so I could change even more. I am still getting used to the theme I have set up and might be experimenting with others to see which one will work the best for me.Overall I like wordpress.com and could see myself using this site even after this class is over.

Retrieved from knowyourmeme.com

Devils big weekend wins

Devils celebrate after back to back wins against the Penguins

David Clarkson leads the devils in goals this season and adds another 2 playing the penguins this weekend.