Unicycle Video

Unicycle Youtube Video

Unicycle Video Outline

For my final video, I decided to record people attempting to ride a unicycle. I wanted to make a video with very limited audio that focused more on people either succeeding or failing at riding a unicycle. The video will be more experimental and will incorporate both the footage of people’s attempts, as well as stills of them. I’m doing thing video solo, so I will be capturing footage as well as editing that footage together into the final product.

Drone Write-up

Spring Day at Lyndon 2014 was an impressive, and thriving arrangement of live music, food, and games including a rock climbing wall, and a slack line. The Spring Dip is an event that everyone at the Spring Day seemed to look forward too, a climax of the afternoons activities. The Spring dippers, all dressed in crazy outfits, varying from polka-dots shorts to balloon bee wings, sported by President Joe Bertolino. 

The Spring dippers lined up for the dip at 3pm, and my fellow videographer, Jake Reardon flew the GoPro wielding DJI Phantom Helicopter into the air in preparation for the Spring Dip. The countdown was made, and the dippers ripped down the hill and full heartedly leaped into the water. A media consultant at Lyndon State wore a GoPro as he made the plunge into the pond, getting a first person point of view for those who didn’t make the plunge themselves, to get an idea of the experience. The spring dippers came out of the cold water at different paces, but none of them seemed to concerned with drying off, the adrenaline was pumping too much for them to consider that. The President Joe turned to the GoPro on Tak’s chest and let out a yell of pure exhilaration. 

After filming the dip the Phantom DJI helicopter was returning to land when it lost power and dipper into the pond about fifteen feet away from the shore, it sunk quickly as we watched in dismay. The drone lay at the bottom as people who had seen it go down jumped in with all their clothes on to swim and try to save the device. These brave venturers had more guts than I did as I watched from the shore, I was impressed and graced by the clear concern for the loss of our equipment. A bounty for $100 was put on the device to help locate and return it, and many adventures tried to swim and locate it  to pull it out of the pond. Eventually a thoughtful soul, Patrick McLaughlin a Lyndon State College 08’ alumni, went into the pond with full scuba gear and used his rescue experience with the fire department to help him locate the drone. A video was taken of Patrick returning the drone to Dan Williams, the original purchaser of the device, with Patrick in full scuba gear. Dan seemed to be very happy to have the drone returned, and in turn made the aerial footage in this video possible!

Video: Digital SLR: Joe Schlee

           GoPro Helicopter: Jacob Reardon

           GoPro Chest Cam: Tak Shimamura

Audio: Joe Schlee, Jacob Reardon, Tak Shimamura

Editing: Joe Schlee, Jacob Reardon

Writing: Joe Schlee

Spring Dip Video

To Drone Video
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1126861

Link to iReport Video Project 1
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1121709

Video Project 1

The transition from home to the college life style is not always an easy adjustment to make. At home, the cupboards are fully stocked, and the settings are familiar to you. When you first move into a dorm room, it is usually much smaller than your room at home, and the dorm is commonly shared with a fellow student, whom you may or may not get along with. The dorm rooms share a lounge area where the members of a suite can convene. The dorm does not feature a stovetop, so one must rely on microwaves for hot food. If the dining hall isn’t open, you can always stop by the Hornets Nest for a late night snack. It’s not exactly like home cooking, but after microwave mac and cheese, its an improvement. A fridge is shared in the lounge area, but without a kitchen, it does not get much use. The bathrooms are a wild card in the dorms as some have been renovated, and some have not. The cleanliness of the bathrooms ranges from scary to tolerable on a regular week day. 

After a few semesters of college most students make the choice to either continue living on campus, or to move to an apartment in the area. Having an apartment has its advantages, and disadvantages. First off, living off campus, more time is needed to get to your classes. Most apartments include a full kitchen, which is nice for a change to be able to cook a hot meal that is not in the microwave. The bathroom, remains as clean as your roommates keep it, which is a nice change from sharing a bathroom with fourteen guys, to only two to three. The bedrooms in a standard Lyndon apartment are decently sized and usually do not come with any furnishing, which is a downside to living off campus. Instead of a lounge area, it is nice to having a living room in an apartment as opposed to a common lounge area, as you don't have to worry about leaving your belongings out there. Whichever you choose, to live on or off campus, your college experience will vary depending on what you make of it. The Lyndon area has lots of activities to offer for when your not in class, and when you do need to study, the school has great resources on campus to do so in a productive manner. 

Sound: Jake Reardon and Joe Schlee

Video: Jake Reardon and Joe Schlee

Editing: Jake Reardon

Audio: Natural and Interview/Narration by Jake and Joe

Video in Newspapers

I went to the Huffington Post's website to view some of their videos online that correspond with the stories in their newspaper. Their videos run about the same length as an average television news report at about 1.5 minutes. The site itself is set up nicely and allows for one to easily find different covered stories on the right hand column of the page. I feel that the stories covered in the Huffington Post are more interesting then the stories covered on iReport. The stories are set up and organized in terms of what the story is covering which allows one to more easily find a specific story topic. The navigation of the site is very good and helps to find any given story.

iReport Critique

Like about the site: I like how the site allows for users to record their own footage of breaking news stories on the site and send it to CNN for the chance to have it put onto the website for public viewing. It gives regular internet users the ability to become widely known throughout the community of people who view CNN on a regular bases. I also feel that the ability to connect with social media (no matter how much I hate social media), is a good thing as to allow for those who don't necessarily view CNN on a regular bases to see the video's that you make and get onto the site.

While I didn't at all expect it to be, the process in which one must take to upload their story is very easy. It takes the inclusion of a chosen headline to the video or images, a description of the story itself, the actual file that holds the media, and the option to include a location of where the information was retrieved. The option to make the story labeled as "Discretion advised" is also available.

Dislike about the site: I don't like the location services of the site. I don't like the information that any given website is able to retrieve from a person or their computer just by being connected to the internet and being on the web page. To me, it seems like a breach of privacy to the internet user. I feel that the location service should be initiated if a user actually submits a video to the site. I also feel that while the assignments are a good idea, they could be a more easily worded as to what the person should be specifically looking to record or capture images of.

In one assignment I looked at, it was stated, "Share your photos and video of what is happening, if you are able to do so from a safe location." This assignment was titled, "Protesters occupy Taiwan Legislature" and instructed people to possibly put themselves into danger in order to retrieve their recordings for the assignment. I think that assignments that could potentially cause people harm should not be assignments that require people to go into the action itself, but more of an assignment that allows for people to submit their opinions of the story and get the chance to be put onto the site that way.

Is it a good idea?: I think the purpose of the site is a great idea. It's gives what people who are identified by the public as a normal citizen the opportunity to become known with just the use of the internet and a video recording device. It gives a chance to those who wouldn't normally get a chance. It just needs to be modified to allow for those who aren't very internet savvy to be able to more easily find the assignments and post their "stories".

Slideshow Story

Vermont brings tourist from all over the Northeastern Region just for its skiing during the winter months, and gorgeous green mountains for hiking, and all sorts of outdoor activities in the summer. The mountain scenery attracts all sorts of people, to a region that would otherwise go overlooked if it weren’t for its gorgeous natural offerings. 

Vermont is a secret beer hub for the northeast. If it weren't for chance, and personal recommendations I never would have discovered this to be true. I had never heard of the Alchemist Brewery in Waterbury, VT till my friend last year, told me a bit about it and the extreme quality of their brewing. Much like the local mountain Burke,  the average person residing in say Massachusetts or Connecticut would have never known of the mountain, if they had never heard of it by word of mouth from a personally satisfied customer. This same concept is why the small, and large breweries in Vermont have become so successful on a national and international level. 

The trend of popularity in sampling craft, or any high quality unique beer is booming across America, microbreweries are pumping out all the fresh beer its fans can enjoy. The Alchemist Brewery in Waterbury, VT only distributes their product to an extremely limited number of sellers.The low amount of distribution contributed to is elitism. I have met fans of the Alchemist Heady Topper spanning from as far as Bangor, ME to Hartford, CT, and those are not the only fans. The Heady Topper is rated the number one beer in the entire world by Beeradvocate.com, which is quiet an impressive feat for what was once a small Vermont brewery. 

Iv’e got Ryan Behling here with my, who is a fan of local vermont beers and a senior at lyndon state college in the sustainability studies. Youve tried the heady topper, does it live up to the raitngs? “

Personal testaments of satisfied  customers were a great assistance in expanding the horizons of Hill Farmstead Brewery. There is no experience in the world, like getting a fresh foamy beer right off the tap at a brewery. In Vermont, this has become an especially important experience for a number of distributors such as Hill Farmstead Brewery in Morrisville VT. Similar to the Alchemist Brewery, tourists come from all over New England just to  get a taste of Hill Farmstead. Unlike the Alchemist, who ships their cans to a few limited retail locations, Hill Farmstead Brewery is the location to purchase their product at. This extremely limited distribution of beer made it extremely successful, of course along with its stunning quality and taste. Hill Farmstead only fills growlers and sells their beer, freshly packaged at their location at their Morrisville store. The lines for the brewery are out the door when it opens, and it can take up to and hour and a half to get through the line of filling growlers. If you brew it, they will come. 

Beer fanatics love the fact that the only way you can acquire some of these brews  it is to take the adventure to Vermont. These beer tourists are bringing valuable tax dollars to Vermont with every trip they take and every Hill Farmstead growler they purchase. Shaun Hill of Hill Farmstead Brewery said in an interview recently with Vanity Fair that the world has “ moved into this phase of what’s been called “person-centered civil religion,” where people start to find meaning and value in different things in their lives. Maybe it’s football and the New England Patriots are “God,” or maybe it’s boutique beers. It’s an age where people are spending their dollars in such a way that it also has the potential to bring meaning back into their lives.”  Beer really does bring people with a passion for its quality together, and when the quality is in Vermont, that is where the people will go. Customers looking for a great product, and a beautiful outdoor adventure  know just where to drive, up to their favorite Vermont Breweries.

Credits

Photos: Joe Schlee

Audio : Joe Schlee/ Jake Reardon

Interview: Joe Schlee/ Ryan Behling

Editing : Jake Reardon

Audio Slideshow

Audio Slideshow

My audio slideshow is going to be a concert review done through photos and audio. I will be using songs freely licensed by the band for public use in this format, along with the narrations of myself and Jake. I will be organizing the slideshows photographic order, while Jake will work on the narrational element of the show. This slideshow is directed at anyone interested in live music in the Northeast Kingdom, there is no specific age range or gender target. Jacob and I will both be intertwining narration of which there is a sample below. "The crowd was receiving the raw energy from the band and throwing it right back at them through furious dancing and jumping. The ping-pong effect of the band and the crowd feeding back and forth created a show unlike any other seen yet on a weekday. After the Disco Biscuits’ recent run just a week ago at the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, with a capacity ten times the size of the Fairfield’s Stage One it was amazing to see Conspirators stage presence. Marc Brownstein played his heart out, and it was clear that it did not matter if the crowd was two hundred or two thousand, he was going to make sure he left the venue in awe of the performance. This intimate performance setting was the perfect storm as they unleashed all their energy while ripping through the rest of the first set’s “Dynasty>Orch Theme>Struts>Legalize It> Oname Wa”. " The text behind the photos will accompany them well and draw the viewer into the audio slideshow.

2 Slideshows/ 1 Photo Gallery

No audio slideshow
http://www.nature.org/photos-and-video/naturallight/natural-light-august-2012.xml
This slideshow requires a manual scroll-thru, but can be set to play on it's own. It is used more as a photo album then a storytelling tool. Gives a little information in each photo as to what the photo is showing.

Audio slideshow
http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/audioslideshow/2013/dec/09/richard-scarry-lowly-worm-audioslideshow
This slideshow is displayed as a video and plays thru on it's own. This one, as it has audio, is much better able to help tell a story. As photos go on by, the narrator tells a story about the photos allowing the listener to view and hear a story to complement to photos.

Photo Gallery
http://www.flickr.com/explore
The photo gallery I found is part of a site called Flickr. The benefit of the gallery as oppose to a slideshow is the ability to view multiple photos at once. This gives no particular order to the photos though, which makes it seem un-organized. Audio wouldn't work as well in the gallery as there is no order, thus the audio couldn't correspond with anything.

Podcast Project Audio

Podcast Outline

Upcoming Music in Vermont with Jake and Joe Hey whats up Northeast Kingdomers, this is Jake, and this is Joe. Were here to check you guys in for our monthly music in Vermont update. At first glance the entire Northeast Kingdom might seem like its in hibernation during these cold winter months, but if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find yourself having the time of your life in the comforting and energetic warmth of Vermont’s music venues. That’s right Joe, we have a lot to look forward to in the upcoming month’s musical calendar. Including bands like Mike Gordon’s Band, Conspirator, and the heavily followed Bob Weir and Ratdog tour. Who would have thought you could catch festival headliners like these in the casual back door music venues of Vermont. 02/18/14 Tue- Big Gigantic -Higher Ground (Ballroom)Burlington, VT For starters tomorrow night at Higher Ground in South Burlington VT the group Big Gigantic is performing a show. This duet consists of a drummer and a saxophonist who also duels as a DJ. The group blends the style of electronic dance music with overtones of jazz that make them legendary for their unique enveloping sound. Tuesday nights in Lyndon can be dull, so if you have a free time, make the trip to go see the show in Burlington. 02/20/14 Thu -Railroad Earth- Higher Ground (Ballroom)Burlington, VT Later this week, Thursday to be exact. The band Railroad Earth, which is a new grass sound, a progressive, jam band style of classic bluegrass music. Railroad Earth is known to have a strong following of fans who love the new-grass sound. This movement in music is similar to the sounds of String Cheese Incident or Yonder Mountain String band. If you have Thursday night free, definitely make the trip over to South Burlington, VT to check these guys string plucking out, you won’t be disappointed. 02/26/14 Wed -Zappa Plays Zappa- Higher Ground (Ballroom)Burlington, VT  Next week on wednesday, the son of Frank Zappa, Dweezil Zappa blasts his way into Vermont with a Guitar Class at Higher Ground in South Burlington for $75, followed by a concert for $30. Dweezil Zappa is not known to disappoint , with soaring guitar solos that are sure to melt your face. This night with Dweezil Zappa is not one to miss for any kind of aficionado of rock music. Thats just a little sample of all the great music Vermont has to offer. Next time you’ll find yourself twiddling your thumbs, in your dorm room, in your igloo, or even in that boring Biology Evening Lab, pack up and skate over to South Burlington, VT for some fire live music. Don’t forget to check in with me Jake, and me Joe> next month for another, music in Vermont update

German-Czech

Recording 1-10

Podcast Critiques

I found a site called tunein.com that helped me to search for specific types of podcasts.

Coca-Cola FM; is an alternative rock station that I searched for. It played 3 songs that I enjoyed before it went to what I would assume is a commercial. When it did, I realized that it was a Brazilian podcast, which I found very interesting. Even being that I couldn't understand the breaks between songs, I listened to it for a while. I especially like the fact that it will play without my interaction with it, having to go and choose a song to play. I feel that podcasts are something that I could get into, which is odd as I hate "new" technologies.

Switch: How to Change Things when Change is Hard; is an informational podcast. I thought it was very interesting, like listening to an audio book. I picked it to see how an informational podcast would differ from a music one. The only thing that I disliked about both podcasts was when I went to pause them. When I paused the music one, then un-paused it, it would continue playing as if I never paused it. It's like the pause button acted as a mute button. When I paused the informational one, it would act as button to start the podcast over. It seemed that I couldn't just halt the actions of either podcast, which I found irritating. Overall, podcasts are a good idea, they just need to be able to be stopped, and played again from that point.

Successful debate held at Springfield High School

Debate held for new mayor runs successfully

A debate at Springfield high school end in success after democrat Juanita Williams questions republican Jesse Abraham of his claims to widen and improve Main Street, buy land for a park in the southern section, and streamline council meetings.

A successful debate sponsored by the Sally Harm and her League of Woman Voters, between republican Jesse Abraham and democrat Juanita Williams on Feb. 5th at Springfield high school went fourth to help identify to the public who is best suited to run as mayor of their city.

During the debate, Williams claimed that Abraham was trying to please everyone with ideas that could not all possibly be accomplished due to the cities tax base. It was noted that the biggest supporters of Abraham's campaign were those directly benefited by his goals to.

Abraham claims that no donations were made by those living on Main Street, being directly effected by this action, and that any donors of his campaign would be identified after the election that he would be held on the 3rd of Nov.

For more information, visit www.awebsite.com

Writing Exercise

Albany, VT- Man arrested for shooting friend while hunting.


February 28th, Craftsbury man Conrad Masse, age 76, was arrested for aggravated assault by the Vermont State Police for the shooting of his hunting partner, Wolcott man Wayne Goff, age 58, while attempting to shoot a bear from the road on Urie Rd.

Four months prior to the arrest, the two men were using bear hounds with GPS to find their way to a spot in front of the bear's location in order to have a good shot. Masse dropped Goff off 541 feet from the spot he had parked his truck on Urie Rd. in order to have the best shot at hitting the bear.

When Masse spotted the bear come out of the woods between the two men, he shot three times hitting the bear only once. The other two bullets went to hit a tree off in the distance and Goff in the pelvic region.

Goff was sent to North Country Hospital and transferred to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center for his injuries, and Masse was to appear in the Orleans Superior Court. He was issued Fish and Game tickets  for shooting from the road, having a loaded rifle in his vehicle, and not properly displaying bear hound permits.

WMUR vs. CNN

WMUR site: stories are visible and are linked deeper into the site when viewer scrolls down the page. An automatic side scrolling reel of current news is the first thing the viewer sees. Drop down navigation at the top of the page allows for easy navigation of stories for the viewer. No ads to distract from stories. Uses "blurbs" well to catch the viewers interest of the stories. Current weather conditions and a storm watch are also at the top of the home page.

CNN site: latest news are seen before viewer must scroll. One main story with a video is visible before scroll. A live TV video plays at the right of the home page. Trending story links at top of page. "Read this, watch that" section after scrolling down the page with many different videos to different stories. Below that are multiple categorized sections for easy navigation of specific types of stories. No external site ads.

In-class Writing assignment

Barton resident crashes through Lyndonville's Central Restaurant, killing unsuspecting Concord man.

Driver's brakes fail, crashes through Central Restaurant, causes a man’s heart attack which leads to his death.

While driving southbound in her 1999 Chevrolet on Depot St. in Lyndonville, VT, suspect Annie Coulter, age 82, lost the use of her brakes and smashed through the front of Central Restaurant today at 12:31pm.

Coulter claims to have been swerving from hitting another pedestrian when her brakes failed and she crashed through the restaurant. John Barker, age 59, was enjoying a meal when he saw the vehicle come through the building. Barker quickly tried to help the injured driver from her vehicle. Barker had received minor injuries from flying glass, and soon after, collapsed complaining of chest pains, and died of a heart attack.

For more information, go to www.thisisalink.com

Critique of "Laughing Squid"

I like the fact that this blog seems to have many posts a day, but it appears that none of them have any comments to them. They do however have many Facebook likes, Tweets, and links to them from other blogs. The blogs media elements include both pictures and videos. It looks as if multiple people are posting different things to this blog. Overall, it's an interesting blog lots of shares, but no comments.

Unicycle in the snow

Check out this video!

Blogger is Stupid

Post Title

So this is a post i guess...