Here is the Final Version. We hope you enjoy it!

Final Cut!

Getting closer

This video slowly gets quieter which will be an easy fix, but I feel that everything else looks and feels right.

let us know what you think. We will post a final cut in class tomorrow.

Taylor - Final Blog Post

This experience has had it's ups and downs mainly because it was a lot to take in being my first video class I've taken at CSUSM toward the Arts & Tech. major. But I found it to be a good experience because I learned so much that I did not know before this semester started. I learned how to edit, use basic film techniques, lighting, and most importantly....working in groups. Which was difficult because we had different roles and sometimes ones we weren't used to. In the end we all worked well together and I learned a lot from the others and thank them for making this experience one not to forget.

Working with the SDCOE and focussing on homeless youth has been a great opportunity to learn more about my community and what we can do to make it a better place; whether it's producing a video, researching the topic of unaccompanied youth, and putting together an edit that will be used for the awareness of that issue. The stories we heard and interviews we dealt with made me realize how important it is to have a helping hand when we most need it, and in this case it was SDCOE helping out the homeless youth around San Diego.

This class has motivated me to declare the major of Arts & Tech. and learn video production. It has increased my little knowledge of basic video techniques and group work. I will take everything I learned in this class and further teach myself and be taught anything and everything I need in order to become successful in this field. I would like to thank Professor Diekman, my group members, the class, and everyone involved in the video we made for the class.

Thanks again.
-Taylor Scalise

Final Blog Jason

I know this is really late to do a blog but I am going to do it anyways. hahaha...

This entire semester has been a roller coaster in a sense. We had our ups and downs but we were able to get work done. I felt that it was overwhelming but a really good experience. I was glad to be able to work with an organization that has a heart towards youth and homelessness. I wish that there was more time to work on this project for them, but the semester is coming to a close. However, I was able to teach Marleen and Annie basic editing on Final Cut Pro. At the same time, they were able to learn lower thirds and credits. I was able to meet up with Taylor and talked to him about the project. He was able to edit the video, and all that was needed was the Lower Thirds and the credits.

Working on this project made me more aware about the seriousness of homelessness. I never thought that unaccompanied youth could be a person right next door. I feel that this project will hopefully open the eyes of other people, teachers, and students to the seriousness of this situation. I just hope that our project will affect many lives and get people to take part on helping this youth that are at risk.

I this project helped me more understand editing, camera work, and graphics. Through this class, I am producing more videos for my other class projects for this semester. I am able to clearly layout a storyboard, and edit videos quickly. The planning process that this class got us involved in really makes things easier. I can already figure out what shots I want to get before I even start shooting the actual event or footage. Since I was in charge of the DVD authoring and graphics, I am able to create DVD menus through Photoshop, which I never thought that it was possible.

Overall, I feel that this class has taught me a lot. I know that the things I learned in this class will stay with me forever. Especially, the awareness of unaccompanied youth.

Jason Baluyot

Our rough cut. updated

Please let us know if you want any content changed. :-p

Marleen's Final Blog

At the start of this semester, I came into class not knowing what lied ahead, and to be honest, had no real interest because this is a class I got "stuck" with. To my surprise I really enjoyed the content of this class, and the hands on experience I got from playing with unfamiliar equipment. This had a personal effect on me because if I hadn't sucked it up or chose to drop, I never would have met such nice people and gain the knowledge that I did. This project as a whole, considering the topic of homelessness, has definitely opened up my eyes to other people's needs. Everyone is so quick to assume that a homeless person can only be an older man pushing a shopping cart, but in fact its people our age who suffer as well. I've become more subjective as far as who can be homeless, whether male or female, the reason why they're on the streets, and the simple fact of not judging goes a long way as well. The technical aspect of this project gave me a lot of challenges at first because I had no skills to even put forth any input to this project. I do art in different mediums, but realize now that video production is just as manageable as paint, charcoal, and graphite. I enjoy the idea of capturing an ongoing image that tells a story. Therefore I feel a bit more well rounded when it comes to understanding all forms of art. Overall, this class taught me a lot about teamwork and using my time to help others such as the SDCOE.

Annie Final post-Reflection

This semester has flown by! I can't believe we are already at the end of this class. When I first signed up for this class, I expected to learn basic rules of editing. I did not expect to much more out of it. The first day of class was quite an eye opener. It was shocking to see what was expected for this class, but I was determined it would all get done. How hard could it really be? Week by week I learned how to light a set, edit basic clips and work in a group to film a interviewee. Again, this all was pretty much expected.
What wasn't expected is the knowledge I would be accumulating along the way. Half way through the semester we were required to present factual knowledge about each of our organization and the people impacted throughout the world. Before we had to do this, we met with out first interviewee and our homeless youth we would be basing out video on. What took me by surprise is she didn't appear as your average homeless youth. She was well groomed with a bright smile and a good sense of her community. My idea changed about homeless youth. When we began the interview process, I was even more shocked about her living situation. The most important thing that came from it was the hard work she put in and the humbleness she carried with herself. She didn't believe it was hard because it was all she knew. She was a fighter and I respect her to the highest degree for her strength. Her commitment to finish school even with the predicament she was put in is also astounding. The other two interviewees were none the less remarkable themselves. They lent a helping hand to a complete stranger.
This class taught me the basic knowledge of visual arts, something I plan on doing for the rest of my life. But it also taught me being active in the community is important. Lastly, it taught me that there is no certain physical appearance to someone who is suffering through a hard time.
This class was extremely interesting and I can not wait to continue my education in this field.

Blog #7 - Matthew Unwin (Final Blog Post)

How it has effected you personally?

This project has been both a positive and negative experience for me personally. Without reflecting too much on the negative, I will say that we have some really great footage and the potential for a video that could really help the SDCOE homeless youth workers become more successful in promoting awareness. I really hope that we can still reach that goal in spite of our current circumstances. This project has taught me a lot about group work and how important it is to really give it your all, to try and be a strong link in the chain or at the very least to strive to not be a weak link.


How it has increased your understanding and awareness of the community?

Before I even started this project I had no idea what it meant to be homeless, other than the typical misconceived notions that everyone has, now that we are at the end of the project, I hope and believe I have a better understanding of what it means to be homeless and that many homeless people are youth who really need help. I also now know that help is out there for them and homeless youth are a greater need than most people realize in San Diego.


How it has increased your professional skills?

All semester I have been learning how to apply organizational skills in a group setting and also how important it is to have good equipment and reliable people to make something as complicated as this work. I believe I have learned what does and does not work in a setting like this. It's amazing how sensitive a situation like this is to small mistakes and setbacks.  This has made me realize that the key to professionalism for a project like this is dedication and teamwork.

Finally, I would like to state that although this experience was not what I had hoped for this semester, I still learned a lot more than I ever expected to and I know I am changed for the better because of it.

-Matthew Unwin

Annie 4-19-11

These last couple weeks have been crazy! The post production is well into effect. We are well into the editing. I was taught how to edit a couple weeks ago and since then I have been learning more and more short cuts.
Last Tuesday, the instructor showed Jason how to do lower thirds. I had noticed that there wasn't anything that I was responsible for in the post production so I began to put my time out there. I really want to help out with as much post production as possible. So I asked Jason to teach me how to do lower thirds. He showed me how to add text and an animation for when another person in the video is introduced. He also showed how to fade the animation in and out. It was really cool! I feel really good about all this.
The only frustrating aspect about lower thirds is most of the editing has to be complete in order to add lower thirds. Today's class time, I will be sitting by Taylor watching/helping him edit, figuring out how to make credits with Marleen and organizing the lower thirds that I believe I want to add into the video. These next couple weeks are going to be extremely busy but I am very excited for the challenge. I can't wait to see our hard work payed off.

Unwin #6

Rough cut, Rough cut, Rough cut.

This past week, I have being thinking a lot about the music style and some possible B-roll that could be taken to fill some transitions for the separate interviews.  I worked a lot on color correcting and getting our interview with Norma looking good.

I still have to get together with Jason and work on graphics as well as record the music for our final cut.

good times.

-unwin

Jason Blog #6

This past week, our group got a lot of work done. We were able to get some editing done and get the rough cut done for today's presentation. I am really proud of our group and I feel that we are working a lot better and communicating more with each other.

I was able to get a really rough cut of Pastor Jake's interview. Then an hour before class, I was able to teach Annie and Marleen the basics of Final Cut Pro. I had them do a simple exercise with the rough cut I did. At first, they were both confuse and lost, but after a few more practice cuts, they started grasping the concept.

Overall, I was glad that our group is starting to work as a team and supporting each other. I feel that the rest of the post-production is going to be smooth. Great job team on the rough cuts and the editing!

Annie 4-5-11

Today, I met Jason early before class to go over basic Final Cut Pro functions. I was really looking forward to this! Up until this point, I knew NOTHING about Final Cut Pro. When Jason and I sat down, I was very confused at first. However, he was a very good teacher! After a couple attempts showing me how I should do things, he made me do it on my own. At first, I was extremely timid! I didn't know where to begin or end. He proceeded to show me the short cuts on the key board like the "I", meaning the in point key and the "O" meaning the out point key. I messed up a little a first, still confused about what was being asked from me but as time went on I understood it! I find Final Cut Pro SO much fun! He had me add a B-roll clip after first and then he messed up a clip and had me fix it. I am very excited to get fully involved in the editing process. It is very interesting! I am having a really good time in my group and I am enjoying what everyone has to bring to this project.

Taylor - Blog #6

Our group had been working hard in order to stay on track with everything that is needed for a successful video. Even though we had a little miscommunication, I feel we are able to stay on track with the tasks required and everyone in the group is doing their part in order for that to be true. We are working on the rough cut that is coming together pretty good. We got some good feedback from the class when we showed the 2 min. that we had. We now need to think about the rest of post-production including lower thirds, credits, dvd menus, etc. We have been staying in contact with our partner as well and they are helping us create a video that they approve of. We might need to shoot a little more b roll to put into our video but we are done with all the interviews and we just need to figure out a good strategy to correlate the 3 to make the video smooth and stay with the topic and style that we have chosen. I'm looking forward to the end of the semester when this video is done and ready to show to everyone.

-Taylor Scalise

Blog #6 Marleen

I would like to start off this post in reference to things that have happened during the week of our spring break. I was handed over, by Matt, the task of being production manager for the remainder of this project. The timing was a little odd, but nothing I couldn't handle. Unfortunately the week everyone returned back to school from spring break I was leaving town for a week. Before leaving, I made sure to email our teacher about our groups shoot with Norma that Tuesday and made sure to talk to Matt. He was helpful in confirming the time and place with Norma and told me not to stress out on the fact that I was going to be gone. Obviously I missed the shoot, but got a chance to look over our blog and view the small clip and stills from that day. I will be in class tomorrow, and expect to be fully prepared and caught up for the last leg of this project. I'm excited to see where we stand and follow through with my job as production manager.

One Minute Clip - SDCOE Interview & Matt Blog update

This is a one minute clip from our interview with Norma Chanudomchok from the San Diego County Office of Education.  I had to bring my own lights because everything was still checked out from spring break on Monday.  This footage will need some color correction but it will be usable.  At this shoot, I setup the lighting, and a lavalier mic.  I also setup a side camera, my Zi8, and second mic to get room tone and as a back up audio source.  During the interview I asked Norma the questions and tried to let her know she was doing well.  Jason and Taylor showed up with their own cameras too, so I had them tell me when they started and stopped filming so we could add a clap which would make it easier to sync the footage later.  The interview itself was only about 10 mins, which is good, because that needs to be cut down to a little over one min, like the clip above.  


Over spring break I also filmed Sinai's Pastor and his wife.  That shoot was very difficult because I didn't have the correct lighting or mics, but I worked everything out.  I hooked up a SM 58 to my T3i but the cable gave me a lot of noise that I had to take out in Adobe Premiere.  


I am hopeful about our progress now as we transition into post production.


-unwin

Blog #5

Interview of Pastor Jake

Stills from shoot at SDCOE Building 3-29-11

Jason Blog #5

Today we had a schedule shoot in San Diego at the home the organization. I had class until 2:15pm today, and afterwards, I went to the checkout center to rent out lens and a tripod. By the time was able to get my equipment, it was about 2:30pm and Taylor came by and picked me up.

We met up with Matt and Annie at the shoot around 3:15-3:20pm and we went straight to work. Matt had all his equipment all set up and Annie was preparing the interviewee for the shoot. Taylor got his equipment set up and I got my camera ready as well. We had to adjust the lighting a little bit but we were able to get it done.

Overall, the shooting went really smooth and quick. I felt that we really were working well together and that we got more than what I expected to achieve in the short amount of time that we had to shoot. The interviewee was really great to work with and she didn't mind sharing what she does in the organization.

Annie 3/29/11

Today the group met at 3:00 p.m. at the San Diego Office of Education building in Clairemont. I got to the shoot and Matt had already set up the camera and lights. We decided to set up in a vacant room in the suite. I helped Matt as best as I could to set up the camera and lighting.
I was very excited to meet the person we were planning on interviewing. It is the student's lesion. I was made the marker that the lesion would be looking at. When I sat down, and before we began filming, I did my best to ask her questions to make her feel more comfortable with the interviewing process. I asked her where she grew up, how long she had been with the company, etc. She was very nervous and made us aware that it was her first time being interviewed. I informed her that I wouldn't be asking her the questions but to be sure to look at me while Matt delivered the interview questions.
The filming took about 15 minutes. Since we already have two other interviews to throw into the mix of our video we made sure to get to the point with out interview questions. The lesion also only have from 3:00 p.m.-4:30 p.m. which put a lot of pressure on the group. We made sure that we understood the questions we needed to ask her and stay on task.
This filming taught me that under the pressure, some groups make it or break it. Our group definitely made it. Matt was all ready with the equipment set up. I showed up to see if there was anything that I could do. Jason and Taylor showed up a little late but got straight to the point. I was really proud of my group and how we worked together to get the filming done.

Annie post for 3/27/11

I apologize for this blog, again, being late.
The last time my group and I got together was in class on 3/15/11. This class meeting was for the sole purpose of presenting research information about our projects. I was asked to handle Lifestyle and Struggles. Researching the topic made it quite interesting and made me realize that homelessness can be just about anyone. Homelessness also has different type of stages.
After the presentation, the group got together to discuss any time we were going to take out of our spring break to work on the video. We have a rough edit of our first interview. The teacher was very impressed as was the class. I was unsure about the video because it was shot outside. I did the lighting on the set, although it was my first time doing it, the teacher commented on how well the light was reflected off of the interviewee. It made me feel good, but for being the first time, I knew that I could learn from that experience and possibly do better. However, the group has decided as a whole that we should keep the footage and move on with other interviews for the video.
We planned on getting together on Thursday 3/24/11 to interview the homeless youth's pastor and his wife. I was unable to attend.
Tomorrow, we are planning on getting together in Clairemont to interview another person involved in the San Diego Education office. I will be there and plan to help out as much as possible.
Will check back in and blog about the experience tomorrow.

Our First Shoot.

Blog #4

March 1st, the group skyped with out first interviewee. At first, we made a decision to meet up with her, in person, at SDSU. I decided that since I had a morning class, I could go home and meet the rest of the group at SDSU at the time desired. So when I heard that the group was going to skype them but I had already gone home, I wanted to be sure to be putting in my share of work. I asked what there was I could do, and the group leader asked if I could go to Kearny Mesa and Linda Vista to take photos of the SDCOE buildings, at those two locations. Those photos are below.
March 8th is when the entire group met at SDSU near the bus station to interview Sinai (sorry for if her name is misspelled). She was so sweet but very shy! Which made me feel a little bad for the location that we had chosen. The location for the shoot was right on a busy pathway at the school. After everything was set up we began the interview questions. I was in charge of lighting and learned a lot from it! It was extremely windy, which made it pretty difficult to cold the reflector, but I am hoping that it turns out okay.

As for tomorrow's class meeting, we are required to research and conduct a presentation about it. I will blog tomorrow after that presentation.

Extra Blog- Unwin

Last week, March 1st, I was scheduling and emailing our main interview subject, Sinai.  Her schedule was open and we had planned on doing location scouting and meeting with her in person to talk about the project with her.  Everything was going as planned according to our production schedule.  Sinai had a meeting to go to that caused her schedule to close on our appointed meeting time, but she agreed to meet with us on Skype.  I hooked up a webcam to my television so we could all sit and talk to her comfortably.  I also hooked up an XLR mic so that we could pass the mic around and not be shouting at the television.  Since we couldn't meet her down at SDSU, I sent Annie to do location scouting for us.  She lives in San Diego and I figured it would be easier for her.

I had been at SDSU the weekend before we talked with Sinai, so I had a pretty good idea of where we could meet her and do some filming.  The campus is crowded and we wanted to shoot somewhere that people wouldn't be walking in the shot behind Sinai.  Marleen had written some questions that I expanded on for the interview and we emailed them to Sinai so she would be somewhat prepared.

This week, March 8th, we went down to SDSU.  found a good place that she could stand and there wouldn't be much traffic behind her.  It also gave us the most sun for a longer amount of time.  It wasn't perfect and it was a bit challenging, but that just made us work harder.  Before we drove down to meet with Sinai, I prepared my new T3i camera, a tripod, mono pod, and 2 mics.  One that was to be hooked up to my Kodak Zi8 as an audio device, this was for back up audio, in case we needed it.  The second mic was a condenser mic and a USB to XLR cable to be connected to Jason's laptop.  I contacted Jason earlier and told him what we would need for the shoot.  Unfortunately a teacher had reserved all the Shotgun mics Boom mics, and Boom poles for a class.  This left us with just my mics and a lavalier mic.  They were out of HMC150 cameras as well so we had to shoot with the Canon DSLR cameras.  Luckily the new T3i lets you adjust the mic input gain down, so we could get the lavalier at the correct level.  I packed up extra AA batteries, XLR cables and Jason brought the lavalier and reflector for school.  Lastly Taylor brought the T2i to be our main camera.

While we were shooting, Jason's macbook died so we lost that mic, but the wind was giving us problems with everything but the lavalier mic.  Overall we got more than enough footage to work with and it's a great place to start for us.

For the rest of the week I have been combing the footage and looking for the best stuff for us to use.  I have also been in contact with Sinai about other videos made using her story, and the people in her life we also need to interview.  Our schedules are very tight making it really hard to meet with the next few people we need to interview to finish up the main footage.  Hopefully next week we will find a time to meet with the school district liaison and Sinai's Pastor and his wife.  Emailing them back and forth and text messaging our group to make sure we can shoot during those times has been a bit of a headache and a lot to try to keep organized with my other classes, but I think it will all come together.

Spring Break will give us some more time to meet with people, since we won't have classes, which seems to be the thing keeping us from finding time together.  I am hoping we can find time to shoot that will work with the school photographer too.

-unwin

Extra Blog Jason

Basically, these past 2 weeks, we all met up at Matt's house to drive down to SDSU to talk with Sinai (the person we interviewed). However, she cancelled the meeting with us, but we were able to video chat and talk to her about what we are planning to do. After the video chat, we all came together and discussed about the following week schedule and the things we needed to get prepared. We reviewed some of the videos that the organization gave to us and just saw what we wanted to aim for in our own video for them.

This week, we were able to drive down to SDSU and interview Sinai. I rented the equipment out (camera, reflectors, and wireless mic) from the school and brought along to SDSU. I recorded the audio through my laptop, but had some technical difficulties. Basically, I just set up the audio with the help of Matt. I also helped Annie with the lighting part of the interview. After that, she was pretty much doing it all by herself.

Blog #4 Taylor

The issue my group is addressing is homelessness. This is a problem in all ages, but we are focusing on the youth perspective. We don't see kids living on the streets, yet we may come to find out that some fellow classmates might be homeless, whether they are living with other family or couch hopping. This problem needs to be dealt with and the organization our group is working with helps people become aware of the problem and possibly people they know being homeless. Teachers may not be aware that a student is struggling with schoolwork in result to being homeless. If they become aware then they can address the problem and help that student out. Our interviewee stated, "Teachers, love your kids!" and that shows that with the help of mentors, counselors, ect. It may change the life of someone who deals with the problem of homelessness.

We interviewed our subject for our video yesterday and her story was amazing. I can't imagine going through middle and high school not knowing where I will be staying or whom I would be staying with at different times. She managed to sacrifice staying in San Diego with her mother moving back to Mexico, in result to her becoming homeless. She struggled with this problem and still managed to do good in school and receive scholarships to colleges through certain programs. Without these programs/organizations, there's a chance she could still be homeless and not be attending SDSU living on campus and having a steady job.

Our group is working great together, we all help in our own ways and the work we do together always turns out good. We have lots of work still to do but so far we are pretty on track with our production schedule we made.

Extra Blog-Marleen

On March 1st, my team and I all met at Matt's house to drive up to SDSU and meet up with Sinai. Unfortunately, Sinai cancelled on us because she ended up having a meeting later on that day, so we decided to have a skype conversation instead. Throughout the conversation, we introduced ourselves and gave her an overview about what the project is about. She was very open and comfortable with everything so we set up a shoot date for Tuesday March 8.
On Tuesday, we all drove up to SDSU and filmed Sinai's interview. The weather was a bit windy and we were definitely running short on daylight. I personally didn't agree on the interview location, but I guess it worked. It's very hard trying to make a video when having to drive all the way to San Diego, especially when we've only managed to meet once a week. I feel that a little more time needs to be spent finding better locations at SDSU, we all need to communicate better, and perhaps meet up more than once a week to get this stuff done properly.
I managed to take photos with Annie's camera and take some footage on one of Matt's camera. During the interview, I was the one reading her off the questions and making sure, along with Annie, that she felt comfortable. It's hard talking about a sensitive issue like homelessness when Sinai just met all of that day in person. I feel the project is going ok, but could be better.

Progress Report #4 Jason

The social issue we are addressing in this production is homelessness. However, when it comes to the thought of homelessness, people often think about people pushing shopping carts around with plastic bags in them. It is kind of surprising to realize that homelessness has gone far beyond that perception. People need to realize that youth are becoming a bigger part in the homeless community. Today, there are over hundreds of youth who are traveling from one house to another seeking a couch to sleep on. In addition, there are some youth who are sleeping in their own cars every night.

I feel that the project itself is kind of opening my eyes to a harsh reality that these youth face. Being able to talk to a former homeless youth is amazing. I am surprise on how she made it through the trials and situations in her life.

Progress Report:
We were able to go to SDSU and meet up with a student who attended the program. Our group was able to get some shooting done and some b-rolling. We also got to get some shots of the school. We had some technical difficulties with audio, but we manage to get some good audio off of the interviewee. We are planning to do another interview with her again, and we are also looking forward to interviewing with the mentors.

Progress Report #4 Marleen

My group is addressing the issue of homelessness, but more specifically youth and education while being homeless.

Being a kid is hard enough, especially when it comes to dealing with homework, friends, relationships, and ultimately finding who you really are as a person. But try adding the difficulties of financial instability and a roof over your head, it almost makes it impossible to focus on anything else. Amongst the friends and relationships built through out a kids school career, it is important to have success in the classroom and gain important knowledge through hard work.

I feel that every kid should have access to an education regardless of their situation. All teachers should be aware of every individuals students needs, and learn to be patient with those kids needing a little extra help. People may be quick to assume that a lazy, non-participating student is just a kid with a learning disability, but may not recognize that homelessness is a real issue, inhibiting their full potential to learn.

This is a REAL problem in today's society, considering our current economic status is less then perfect. Solving the problem successfully, while being sensitive to their feelings and situation is difficult, yet attainable. I think homeless students, no matter what grade level, should be assigned to a special team of counselors who can carry them through their high school years. A tutor, life coach, and/or recreational coach who can provide the student with a variety of advice and normalcy. Almost what a Big Brother or Big Sister would do for their kids.

Homelessness is a real problem that affects more than just adults, and I think that our youth deserve a chance at a proper education.

Blog #4 -Unwin

Homelessness is a huge issue and we are dealing with a very small problem within that huge issue.  When a high school student becomes homeless, they have to face a terrible chain of events and potential problems not only without a home, but at there own school too.  Teachers may not recognize the real issue and become too tough on the student instead of helping them survive the only constant environment offered to them.  Raising the awareness of homelessness among teachers and staff will go a long way to offering these homeless students some real stability and security.

I believe that  word of mouth will go a long way to helping raise awareness, more so than any video or seminar could.  People need to speak up, hopefully this video will help do just that.

Team update:  We are filming our main interview today which will help us fit together the rest of the projects.  Our main interview will be one persons story.  This story will shape how we film our B-roll, where we want to shoot B-roll, and the tone of any music we use.  The secondary interviews will also be subject to the content of this main interview.  Our questions for anyone else that will be in the video will be based on our mains subjects story.

-matthew unwin

Two of our Storyboards

This one was chosen to be used by our partner, SDCOE.

Narrative Style:

Documentary Style:

Blog #2 Unwin

The last week I have been looking forward to meeting with our partner tomorrow. I really want to present the storyboards and get feedback from them. It will be nice to finally choose a format and start location scouting. When we made the storyboards I was able to write two rough treatments to work off of, which was fun and something unique I have experience doing in our group. Also taking the photos of the storyboards we made and formatting a quick video to showcase them was good experience for me.

I look forward to writing and being creative in future projects.

-Matthew unwin

Interview Test

Blog #2 Taylor

These past few weeks, our group has had much progress. We met with our partner last week on Wednesday morning and it went very well. We talked about lots ideas about what they want for their video and brought many concepts to their attention. They were very openminded and are willing to let us come up with a good idea for a this project. We asked them many questions and restrictions they had because that would make it easier for us as a group to come up with the best video we can for this organization.

Our partner is very excited about what ideas we bring to them to our next meeting. So hopefully we can have a great second meeting and bring them ideas that they will very much appreciate. But so far we have had much success in working well as a group and taking on different positions that we are either used to or new to.

Annie Post #2

This week is going to be interesting. We have come up with 3 solid ideas for the video. Tomorrow we are planning on meeting with the organization on campus to pitch the 3 ideas. I am curious to attend this meeting since I missed last weeks meeting. I want to hear for myself what the organization is looking for in the video.

Blog #2 Jason

The past week I was not able to attend the meeting with the organization. However, I was able to create a story board or concept to pitch at the organization. As of right now, I feel that thins are going a little rough with me. I am currently still recovering from a fever from last week, however, I am still looking forward to working with the group.

I was able to contact with the production manager and was able to meet up with Annie to create another storyboard. So we are currently rolling along with this production slowly but surely. This is a great group and we all communicate really well.

Annie Blog Post #1

I was absent last week due to a family emergency but was able to catch up with Jason on Thursday afternoon. Jason caught me up to date about the meeting the group had had in class and what was expected for next week. Jason also, however, missed the meeting with the Homeless Youth Organization. Since we both missed the meeting, we had to come up with a third idea about how we wanted the video to pan out. It was, at first, very challenging! We thought that we had recieved one of the hardest tasks. The group had already come up with a documentary and narrative form video. That left Jason and I to create a skit video, but we both hated the idea of using such a light type of acting on a heavy subject. It took some time, but we figured out an idea. It was exciting when it all came together. It isn't as good as the other ideas, but the amount of time we spent trying to figure it out made it worth while in the end. I am really looking forward to this semester and the outcome of our groups' video.

Progress Report #2 Marleen

Last Wednesday we were finally able to meet our community partner and discuss, in depth, our ideas and direction for the video. All members of our homeless youth organization are very easy to work with. They are greatful for this project, and have come to us with open minds. I can now say with confidence that I am ready to get started.

A unique contribution that I have brought to the overall project is my eagerness to learn. I have no prior knowledge of camera work, lighting, and editing, so to me every aspect of this project is a new adventure. I can develop these skills with hands on work once shooting does actually begin.

once we develop our video more, I would like to keep on providng my drawing abilities to any other storyboards we may come up with. It is the best contribution I can make, given our early stages in developing a concept. I am greatful that my team is so nice, and encourages any small idea that I have.

Progress Report #1 Jason

It has been a hectic week going on for me with school and work, but I am looking forward to working with the Homeless Youth organization. As of now, I am trying to arrange my schedule and trying to get everything in order. I received the help notification from Marleen for the Production Schedule, however, I was not able to find the time to get around to it. Thank you Matt for taking the responsibility for creating the schedule.

I have worked with homeless individuals and organizations before, but I am looking forward to capturing the seriousness and emotions of these youth. I work with video and editing before, so I hopefully be able to contribute a lot to this project.

Again we haven't met with our organization yet, but tomorrow will be very interesting on what we are going to be aiming for in this video production. I'm so ready for this!!!

P.S. Matt and Marleen,
I was able to rearrange my schedule to find more time with the logistics part of this production. So if you guys need something, you got my contact info.

Progress Report #1 - Unwin

This is going to be an interesting semester.  I am looking forward to what I am going to learn in the process of making this video.  Not only am I looking forward to the experience in creating the video, but I am also looking forward to the changes that will occur in my world view.  I do not have any experience with the homeless nor any organizations suited to help them.  We are meeting with our community partner tomorrow morning, which is going to be a great first time experience for all of us in the group.

I will be handling the job of Production Manager till we get this project good and rolling.  Halfway through I hope to allow Marleen the experience of being the production manager.  I hope I can set a good example for and don't end up handing her a mess I created.

In our meeting tomorrow we will set the tone for the rest of this project and I hope to get everyone communicating.  I hope to get a good understanding of what is expected from SDCOE and give them a good understanding of what to expect from us.

-unwin

Progress Report #1

Last Tuesday our production gorups were established, and I just want to say that I am very pleased with the outcome. Unfortunately, starting off as somewhat of a production manger quickly made me realize it was going to be A LOT of hard work. So I started off by setting up a meeting with our partner, contacted all group members with the information, and made an attempt at the production schedule. The schedule started off smoothly, but I quickly recruited the help of Matt and sent messages to everyone else. Matt was able to finish and turn in a rough schedule. I feel he is better suited for production manager.
This is my first hands on expereince with any type of video making. Thus far I have learned helpful tips from members of my team, and of course our class discusssions. Videotaping our interviews last week was very useful, and I hope to do more soon. Our first meeting with our partner is not until tomorrow, but we hope to have a lot of questions answered so we can give them exactly what they want.

About

This blog will help keep track of our progress in the creation of a video for the San Diego County Office of Education's Foster Youth and Homeless Education Services.

We are a group of Cal State San Marcos Students working together with the San Diego County Office of Education to help promote their message.