App tutorial

1. iMovie
2. YouTube
3. Tripod, tracking, stabilization
4. Filtering, effects, saturation
5. Framing, image composition

Documentaries

All three of these documentaries were very different in the way they came across to the viewer, or what impression they gave. The video about the basketball player caught my attention right away. Between the sounds of a clock ticking, heartbeats, and fast breathing, I found myself feeling just as nervous as Royce White did. To me, this documentary was a mix between a news story and a fictional story. Sometimes you could tell there was a camera crew there, like during the interviews, ext., but sometimes you could not. In the video about the record collector, I wasn’t as invested in the story. The documentary came across as purely an interview, and besides record playing in the background, no sound effects or information really captured my interest. The last video, about Korean netiquette, came across to me as a news special. The crew was very visible in this documentary—the interviewer/producer was in plain sight, asking questions and taking tours of the elementary school. It seemed a lot like a “60 Minutes” show. The basketball documentary had the most sound effects, and was separated by written information on the screen—we were notified about what time of the day it was, what was going on, so it was pretty easy to follow. This contributed to the “story” effect because it wasn’t just an interview; it was cameras capturing the entire day in the life of a NBA basketball contender. The captions in the record collecting video had a different meaning—instead of giving the time of day, they told how much money the collection was worth, how no one is buying it, ext. The only captions in the Internet documentary were captions in English—which also gave it a news broadcast feel.

The AcoUstiKats

The AcoUstiKats

            If you ask any girl who went through Rush week at the beginning of August, I’m sure most of them would remember it vividly, the first night especially. After visiting all thirteen sorority houses, girls (especially myself) were tired, and a little disoriented. For me, UK was still a huge, new world, and the hot sun had exhausted me. Before we were allowed to return to our dorms and crash for the night, we were led through what seemed like a giant maze of buildings, to the large clock tower that is basically the trademark of the University of Kentucky: Memorial Hall. We approached the back of this picturesque building, where the ground concaved into a crater, and stones outlined the seats. This was an outdoor theater. Hundreds and hundreds of girls sat down in the grass, and a group of ten to fifteen men stood up against the brick wall of the building, on a small platform. All at once, they started singing, but there was no music playing from a speaker. There were only the sounds of these men, singing in unison to produce a sound that made my jaw drop.

            The AcoUstiKats are an a cappella ensemble, formed by some of the men on UK’s campus. These men create music, using only their vocal chords, as they sing a vast array of modern and classic songs. The members of the AcoUstiKats range from music majors, to fraternity men, who practice twice a week in the Fine Arts Building, and occasionally perform in front of the UK student body.

            I had never been in the Fine Arts Building on the University of Kentucky’s campus; I did not even know where it was. I am a nursing student, so generally my classes are on the opposite side of campus, or in Whitehall, where it seems like every student enrolled at the University of Kentucky has at least one class a semester. Walking into the Fine Arts building, I was pretty nervous, for I had no idea where I was going, or even what I was looking for. I was instructed over email to go to ‘Room 6’, which I assumed to be in the basement. I headed down a flight of stairs and waited. Sitting on the floor, waiting outside Room 6, I  

watched as students walked up and down the hallways. There was a little lobby, where a few students gathered and were laughing. Sounds of the piano, singing, and laughter floated out from behind closed doors. The atmosphere was light. I saw a student approach Room 6, and I asked him if he was in the “AcoUstiKats”. He was dressed for the weather, a heavy black coat and scarf. He had a warm smile on his face as he replied, “Yes, are you Katie?” He shook my hand, and I realized he was expecting me as an observer. His smile calmed my nerves slightly. I followed him into the room, which turned out to be a small classroom, and he yelled out “Guys! This is Katie, and she will be observing our practice today.” There were about six to ten other guys scattered about the room, conversing amongst themselves. A bunch of them yelled out “Hey Katie,” and some of them asked me what class I was observing for. I went to the back of the room and sat in the very last desk. Looking around the room, it reminded me of the classrooms in my high school. Unlike the large lecture halls I became accustomed to in college, this room was small, with big windows in the back, and two large white boards in the front. On one white board, there was black tape, organized into musical staff lines, and a couple drawn-in music notes. On the other white board, two set lists were written in red marker. There were four songs in each set, a mixture of music I recognized as relatively recent, and some songs I did not recognize at all. One song stuck out to me: a mash up of  “Call Me Maybe” and “Payphone.” It hit me then that this was the song the AcoUstiKats sang when they came to my sorority house the day before, to serenade us, a traditional act done by fraternities during the weeks after Rush. I recognized one of the men by the piano as the president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE).

            There were random bits of singing, the classic warm ups I remember hearing from choir in my middle school years. Some guys had extremely low voices, and some relatively high. Some were pacing, some were sitting on the desks. Eventually, everyone sort of gravitated to the piano, which was situated in the far right corner of the room. It was a pretty basic piano, wooden, and painted black. I noticed that one man sat on the piano bench and started giving instructions. He was leading the group through warm ups, and I associated him as the leader of the AcoUstiKats. He didn’t look very much older than the rest of the group; he might have been a senior or graduate student. He was moving his hands a lot, making motions that the rest of the group responded too, either changing their pitch, or the sound they were making. I associated the guy behind the piano as the director. The atmosphere was still casual: there was no standing in a formation, which you may think of when you hear “choir”. Some stood close to the piano, behind it or right in front of it. Some still sat on desks, and when it was not their turn to sing, they were talking to their neighbor.

            Finally, when the group finished their warm ups, they each grabbed a binder, which I assumed was full of sheet music, and started to sing a song. I don’t know the name of it, but I realized the piano had stopped completely. The song was somber, and the different vocal ranges of each guy created a mix of music that could stand alone, and background music was not needed. One of the major things that made the vocals of the AcoUstiKats stand out so much was their musical dynamics. The loud and soft parts really made the song emotional. At one point, the director stopped the group, and told them to “whisper sing this part”. The group did as they were told and then at a new verse, they sang in much louder voices. This definitely floored me, and the song was made much more interesting to listen to. Most of the men were looking down into their binder as they sang, reading the music, but some seemed to have their parts memorized. The president of SAE was texting as he sang.

            As the AcoUstiKats went through their set lists that were written on the white board, I noticed that they did not sing all of the songs straight through. Actually, they mostly practiced singing the background music—not actual lyrics. I quickly learned from observing this a cappella ensemble, that background music is just as, if not more, important as singing the words, because singers can not rely on sound from a speaker to guide them through a song. From the instructions I heard the director give throughout practice, there seemed to be tenors and baritones. The whole group seemed to be divided up into different parts, and each group sang a different sound, at a different pitch. When you put this all together you get music. Then one or two men got the privilege of singing the words.

            Another thing I noticed was how into the music these men got. Instead of just standing ridged and singing, they were lively. There was foot stomping, hand clapping. It was impossible to get bored while watching them perform, because everyone looked so happy—they let the music envelope them. This is the main thing that dominated my experience watching the AcoUstiKats. From start to finish, the practice was filled with a light and casual atmosphere, that even though there was immense talent in the room, it was clear that every member was there to have fun. At the end of the hour, the practice concluded and as everyone was gathering their stuff, three different guys came up to me and thanked me for observing. The AcoUstiKats performed in a concert last week.

Writing Workshop

I presented my paper to my peer reviewer, saying that I was aware that it needed some work. I was a little confused about whether or not we could include our opinions in this essay, because it was supposed to be objective. I told her that I went to an AcoUstiKats practice, and I had really just outlined the scene so far. I also told her that I felt like I might struggle with the length requirement. Then I handed her my computer.

As I read my neighbors essay, I kept in mind that she was also struggling with the length requirement. In a different color, I typed out where she should include more details: When she introduced some of her characters, the speakers at CSF, I suggested that she describe them more. She described their effects on the student audience, but I wanted her to elaborate on why she felt that gave off those effects. I told her to include what they looked like, what their personalities were like, how old they were, ext.

Since her essay was on CSF, I thought maybe one way to lengthen her essay would be to compare this Christian group with one she may be familiar with or heard about before, like in high school. This might give someone an idea about how different CSF is from traditional bible studies, and this could also reinforce her scene depiction.

Unlike most times I have had to do peer review, I actually though this was very helpful. My paper wasn't just read and not only grammar mistakes were pointed out. After class, I knew I had to add opinions and my experiences to the paper, which I wasnt sure if I should do or not before. I was told to add an experience from the beginning of the year and compare with with my observation from last week, which will strengthen my paper, and increase the length.

I think next time, encourage people to only look at one other paper, and devote the whole time to that paper. This makes your feedback much more well-though out, and it could really help someone out. 

Peer Review

To me, peer review is a way to help ourselves determine if we are going in the right direction for our project. Someone reviewing your paper, and you looking at multiple other papers, may make you see that you are or are not fulfilling the purpose of the essay or project. I personally think its helpful for me to compare my work to others because it tells me if I am missing any key elements to my paper. As a writer, I not only want to know if the structure of my essay is good, but also if I am missing the mark. I could’ve misunderstood the topic, or not quite understand it, but if I get some feedback on my work, I can tailor it to fit the guidelines we were given.

As a reviewer, I would need to review the other person’s best work, because that way my reviews would be accurate. If they give me an unfinished paper, or one they were planning on completely changing before the due date of the final draft, my comments wouldn’t be very helpful.

I prefer groups of 2 or 3, only because that makes the peer review process a little more focused. I think someone would be likely to give better comments if they were focusing only on my paper, and not 4 others.

In terms of how long a peer review should take, it depends on how long the essay is and how many your have to look at. If your looking at someone’s best work, it shouldn’t take as long to pick out some details they could improve. But if someone turns in a sloppy rough draft it could take a long time to iron everything out so their essay is following the requirements.

Speech review

I think in terms of my voice and speaking, I did okay. At the beginning I said “um” a little bit, but I also thought the whole thing was casual enough and I didn’t loose my place at all, or just stop mid sentence. This is probably because I was talking about myself, and since I knew the topics I needed to cover, I just went with the flow. My biggest flaw was probably the fact that I somehow refused to make eye contact, or even look at the audience. I noticed I looked back at the projection screen a lot, and when I looked at the audience, I quickly looked down, which accentuated my nervous look. And my hands were fidgeting with my notecards, which drew attention to them. Even though I told myself not to before hand, I still managed to cross my legs and rock back and forth and that didn’t look very professional. I wish I had talked about my career earlier in the speech, because I used the ending of that as my conclusion, when I really had a better ending at the end of my entertainment part. I kind of trailed off at the end too. I really thing the presentation of my speech was the worst part of it, and the content was good, but even though I was comfortable when I practiced, getting up in front of people usually causes me to break eye contact with the audience, and that really subtracts from what I am saying.

Ethos:

·      Normally I stand ridged and cross my legs, I need to walk around a little bit, move, to make it seem like I am more comfortable

·      Make eye contact with EVERYONE

·      Practice enough so if I loose my place I can just move on smoothly and not panic

Pathos:

·      I’m not looking to make these sad stories, but I want people to see how my life has changed in the past 6-7 months

·      Specific stories

·      Try to make them unique

Logos:

·      Outline:

1.     Introduction

a.     Thesis: Being the youngest in my family, I have always been able to look up to someone else. I haven’t felt real responsibility for myself until I moved away from home, and had to start over. I feel as if I have a new life, but parts of it are more underdeveloped than others.

2.     Body:

a.     Career:

                                                                                                     i.     Student life in a different state

                                                                                                    ii.     Story of rush week—most difficult week I’ve been through

                                                                                                  iii.     Being in a sorority/pledge class

                                                                                                  iv.     Not 100% sure what I want to do after college

b.     Family:

                                                                                                     i.     Youngest child

                                                                                                    ii.     Shy

                                                                                                  iii.     Looking up to my sister (nursing)

                                                                                                  iv.     Always had people to look up to (I watched their careers, looked at what they did, never really had to think about doing something different)

                                                                                                    v.     Only one to move out of state to go to college

                                                                                                  vi.     Proving myself to my family

                                                                                                 vii.     My maid of honor speech to my sister

                                                                                               viii.     Image: Picture I have of me as a little girl with my sister and all of her friends (to show how I kind of tagged along my whole life as the youngest, and now I don’t have that comfort zone, I am my own person)

c.      Entertainment:

                                                                                                     i.     All of my friends went to different schools—I knew no one coming to UK

                                                                                                    ii.     The social aspect of this life is just as important to me as the academics—you cant go anywhere alone

                                                                                                  iii.     Having a “family” of friends (sisters in my sorority)

3.     Conclusion:

a.     Summary/ tie it all together

b.     Why I stayed here