self-assessment of iMovie

I must apologize for taking so long to blog recently. I honestly have not had anything interesting to write about, but the main reason is that I simply have not had the time. So, I will probably be blogging a whole lot more in the next day or two in an attempt to make up for it, now that I have the time to spend in front of my computer!
Anyway, although no one has seen my iMovie yet, I will attempt to assess it the best I can, and then following Tuesday's class feel free to comment on whether or not I am accurate in my thoughts. First, as I mentioned in a previous blog post, the topic of my movie was not what I'd originally planned. But once I thought about what I assumed to be the whole point behind this assignment (to learn how to use the applications, and to work my way successfully throughout the process of the filming and production), I realized that the content seemed less important than what I'd expected. Since I'd never used a video camera on my own before, other than perhaps a group project in 7th or 8th grade (I know, pathetic right?), I was a bit wary. I was nervous that I may have purcahsed the wrong type of mini dv or that somehow something would go wrong once I had a number of people ready and willing to participate in their first motion picture appearances. I must say that without the enthusiasm of my family members this project would not have been nearly as enjoyable.
There are so many things that I realize now I should have done differently, and I am sitting here with crossed fingers in hopes that my grade will not be affected poorly due to my inexperience and sheer ignorance. For a variety of reasons I did not think that I would end up needing a microphone. I am a bit anxious that the sound will not be clear when it comes time to view the film in class, although when I have listened to it I have not had much of a problem. I will admit that some of my anxieties are related to the fact that I'd thought my podcast was completed successfully, and then somehow none of my pictures had shown up. So now I am guilty of concocting various possibilities that could go wrong when it comes time to share it! I think now that while the idea was funny and worth running with in the beginning, there was probably too much action in my movie, given the fact that I could not follow it closely enough with the camera at times. In addition, the lighting at times could and should have been adjusted. We did actually take the time to play around with different lighting possibilities, but I don't know if we chose wisely! But again, that is something that happens to an amateur who has a very small time slot in which to film. Since I did not have a specific script in which the 'actors' had to adhere to, we discussed the adlibbing ahead of time and agreed upon a few different things. I filmed about 3-4 takes of each little scene, assuming that would be more than enough, but when it came time to edit I found that there were several things I would have liked to have had more (or different) footage on, but unfortunately there was not much I could do about that then.
If I were using an assignment such as this in a class of my own, I absolutely agree that requiring students to work together in groups would be the most beneficial for everyone involved. When it came time to staging and planning, filming and also editing - having at least one other person to work with would have been great for me. In addition, to echo others, it would make it easier from the perspective of the teacher to ensure that things run more smoothly when people are working together in groups. While the outcome of my movie is not nearly as succinct as I would have liked it to have been, I feel better that I completed it on my own for the first time and learned things independently. I realize that it is not something I would ever submit anywhere, but I have learned how to utilize a whole new application, iMovie, even if only in its simplest form. For that reason, I would call this a mild success.