Drift 2 Help Session

Hello, all.

We meet tomorrow (Wednesday, April 1) in B18 for the second Help Session
for Drift 2.

One quick tip for adjusting the size of the thumbnail images in your
blog posts: if you click once on the thumbnail, the image will be
surrounded by a line with small boxes in the corners. Click on the
lower box in the right corner and drag the box upward, shrinking the
thumbnail to whatever size you wish.

See you tomorrow.

Drift 2 posting; Help Session

Hello, all.

Today at 5PM is the deadline for you to have your initial Drift 2 blog
created and posted, along with your Production Strategy and Drift 2
Starting Point.

We meet tomorrow in B18 for the first round of Help Sessions for Drift 2.

Drift 2 Overview

Hello, all.

We meet tomorrow (Wednesday, March 25), in B91 for an overview of Drift
2. If you would like to get a head start, review the Drift 2 page:

http://www.glennbach.com/film_116/116_drift_2.html

See everyone tomorrow.

Drift Assessment and Ten Questions

Make sure your answers to the following questions exist as self-contained statements.

1. Describe two situations that aggravated, bothered, shocked or otherwise stressed you during Drift 1. (Please note that the situation CANNOT be technology-related.)

2. Describe, with details, two situations during Drift 1 in which you felt unusually peaceful, at ease, or contemplative.

3. Describe three surprises or unexpected situations you encountered on your Drift and in the days that followed. The surprise could stem from your expectations that conflicted with "on the ground" realities, cultural or social issues of which you were previously unaware, feelings and reactions that you did not expect to have, appearances and soundings of things you did not expect, good or bad outcomes of "on the spot" decisions you had to make, or the discovery of "deeper" realities in the materials you brought home. (Again, skip anything technology-related!)

4. Describe your favorite experience, situation, place, or recollection from your Drift. Be specific about what happened, how you felt, how you reacted, and why you think this particular experience affected you so much.

After writing and reflecting upon your assessment answers, come up with ten questions that best address the aspects of your Drift process you are most interested in pursuing further in Drift 2.

These questions must be related directly to your experiences walking the specific landscapes of your Drift 1, and should be specifically worded enough to generate possible strategies and solutions for executing Drift 2. Note that you will not be ANSWERING these questions right away. They will serve as inspiration for areas to explore on Drift 2.

Here are some examples:

1. Are there any back roads that lead to something interesting?
2. Is there a house that has a very unique and interesting architecture?
3. Are there any places where sound takes on a strange quality?
4. Where can I find the strangest sight within my Drift area?
5. What differences are there on Lake Michigan between night and day?
6. Are there any places where one can make a complete 180 degree turn and only see nature?
7. Are there any buildings that will give me access to a high and panoramic view?
8. Is there some kind of elaborate garden in the area?
9. Are there any kind of monuments in the area?
10. Are there any bodies of water (other than Lake Michigan) in the area?

You may want to copy and paste the Drift Assessment questions into a Word or TextEdit/Notepad document, and then copy/paste into the comment field when you are done. Publish as a comment (click on the "comments" or "Post a Comment" link below).

Drift 1 Final Crit

Hello, all.

Welcome back! I hope Spring Break treated you all well.

We meet tomorrow (Monday, March 23rd) in the Lab Rooms for the Final
Crit for Drift 1. Attendance is mandatory.

Please make sure that everything is up and running on your Drift 1
Blogs, and that your sounds are linked via PantherFile. Remember, we
should be able to view your Drift 1 Blogs from ANY computer, not just
the one you are using.

We will be viewing your blogs from the Course Directory, so please make
sure the link next to your name correctly direct us to your blog:

http://www.glennbach.com/film_116/116_directory.html

Here are the Lab Rooms:

* Lab 1, B-91, Emir Cakaroz
* Lab 2, B-18, Sean Kafer
* Lab 3, B-75, Joe Sacco
* Lab 4, B-68, Heidi Spencer

See you all tomorrow.

Final Drift 1 Help Session

Hello, all.

Tomorrow (Wednesday, March 11) we meet for the last Drift 1 Help Session
in B18. From what I heard, only a few of you had much posted on your
Drift 1 blogs for yesterday's In-Progress Crit, which tells us that you
are still editing your sounds. At least, we hope you are in the editing
stage and not the walking stage!

Tomorrow will be the last opportunity you will have to get access to the
PC desktops in B18 for SonicStage transfers. It will also be the last
time all FILM 116 instructors will be available for one-on-one help for
Drift 1.

Drift 1 is due Monday, March 23rd.

Hopefully we will see many of you tomorrow.

Drift 1 In-Progress Critique

Hello, all.

We meet tomorrow (Monday, March 9) in the Lab Rooms for an In-Progress
Critique for Drift 1. Here are the Lab locations:

* Lab 1, B-91, Emir Cakaroz
* Lab 2, B-18, Sean Kafer
* Lab 3, B-75, Joe Sacco
* Lab 4, B-68, Heidi Spencer

Make sure you have your Drift 1 blogs as complete as possible, and that
all of the information on your blog is visible to the general public.
Also, many of you are still embedding your maps/images directly into
Blogger. Any imagery on your blogs must be linked via PantherFile.
Check steps 15-17 on the Blogger Tutorial to make sure you are posting
your images using the correct procedures:

http://www.glennbach.com/film_116/116_blogger.html

Some of you are having problems with SonicStage, mostly dealing with
locating your WAV files. Remember, any file that has the .OMA (or .HMA)
file extension is worthless and should not be copied. When you transfer
recordings from the Hi-MD using SonicStage, it automatically converts
the files to WAV format. The trick is finding those WAV files on your
computer after the transfer is over.

Check the SonicStage Tutorial, especially steps 2-6, to set the exact
folder where these WAV files will be placed by SonicStage.

http://www.glennbach.com/film_116/116_sonicstage.html

If they don't show up there for whatever reason, remember that you can
do a Search on your computer for the name (using the characters that
appear in the My Library part of SonicStage). Remember these WAV files
will probably be called "2009-03-09 23:17:79" or something similar, with
the "2009-03-09" representing the date you did the transfer.

You can also do a search for recently added or updated files, and your
computer should list all the files that were created on a particular day.

Okay. See everyone tomorrow.

Drift 1 Help Session/Open Lab continued

Hello, all.

We meet again tomorrow (Wednesday, March 4) for another open lab/help
session for Drift 1. Attendance has been sparse for the past two
sessions, and so I hope that you are all enjoying a trouble-free Drift 1
editing experience (rather than waiting to go on your walk).

All instructors will be there tomorrow, so please take advantage of our
time and let us help you troubleshoot technical issues or give you
feedback on your recordings or blog structure.