Magzalez’s eyes on media

This is a video that Mauri Mohler and I did the other day for Newszine. It is about the University of Florida Student Government’s bike repair shop.

I really liked the way it came out. We got a lot of good detail shots, nice sound and good information. The biggest problem is a lack of b-roll in certain parts.

I did most of the shooting with help from Mauri, and she did most of editing with a little help from me.

I also put together a Soundslides about the riots in Tibet and India. I am still working on my voice overs. I know I have a good voice but:

• I don’t read out loud very well
• I have a hard time sounding interested
• I usually don’t have the time or patience to get it right

My Capoeira video has been uploaded onto the Newszine Web site. It is a smaller, but higher-quality, version. My classmates’ videos are also being posted as I write this. In the next couple of days I will link those videos and give mostly my praises to them but also explain what could have been done better.

Catch you on the flip side.

Sorry for the long lay off. You know, Spring break, blah, blah.

Here is a link to a quick video a classmate of mine, Maurielle Mohler, and I shot and edited a few weeks ago. It is a short talk with a couple of candidates from different parties concerning the University of Florida’s student government elections and voting process.

I shot most of the video, and Mauri did all the editing. It was the first time she’d ever edited a video.

It was shot and edited in less than two hours. Yes, it’s that easy!

Hopefully my classmates’ videos for our video project will be posted on Newszine soon. They are a good look into what is possible when shooting video with only a month or two of light training and studying.

Original content alert!

I finished my video about Capoeira in Gainesville, Fla., or at least Capoeira at the Brazilian Cultural Arts Exchange, today. The video came out to be about five minutes long. I think the nature of the content and the compelling sound, visuals and interviews back up the length of the video.

As far as the actual video quality, obviously what I am showing you is on YouTube, so it’s already looking funny, but I also had to butcher the video in the compression stages to get it under 100MB just to get it on YouTube. I’ll have a higher-quality version available on the Web soon.

So without further ado:

I plan on continuing to work on this story. This video is for a class assignment, but I plan on extending it to an almost-documentary as there are many, many more facets to the story that I have discovered along the way, like the Hoggetowne Middle School, also located in Gainesvegas.

So this video serves as a sort of five-minute teaser.

Thanks to everyone who helped me out: Chokito, Samurai, Prof. Borracha, Caitlin, Gaspar, the BCAE, etc.

Let me know what you thought, and remember: There is more to come.

Video:

For my applied interactive newspapers class I have begun shooting video of Gainesville’s Brazilian Cultural Arts Exchange. The video will be a short look into capoeira and its emergence in Gainesville. Prof. Borracha, the BCAE’s highest capoeira instructor, has been a great help.

This topic is great because it allows me to double up on my school work. I am taking a Portuguese class right now that brings up the topic of capoeira.

I will also be presenting a prospectus for my individual learning project in the same class. It will most likely be a longer, documentary-style video to be completed by April. The topic is still up in the air. I will have to find a book that will help me further my skills in video production and visual story telling. Any suggestions?

Work:

I am doing some research on CMSes and Subversion.

Newszine:

We’ve begun redesigning the Newszine Web site. There is going to be a big visual emphasis that wasn’t necessarily there before. Some other new things:

• A featured story for each section with a big picture that will pull a headline and excerpt from the CMS; The stories will then rotate on the users’ command.
• Shared spaces for video, slideshows and maybe photogalleries
• Wider, more spacious design
• Emphasis on original content
• A map to plot where each world and U.S. story is from
• A most viewed/shared stories type thing

Speaking of Newszine, I made an Soundslides the other day on Fidel Castro’s resignation as president of Cuba. Unfortunately I didn’t realize when I was making it how darn fast I was talking. Alas, practice makes perfect.

Adeus for now.