Details DO Matter ...Creating the Movie

This is my second movie/video creation - Details are ever so important...but most of us are aware of this- however, I'll retrace my steps -starting with the music:

Since the very first scraps of "Let's Do Something Strange" came into being, they were always accompanied by images..and I thought,"Hmmmm" the song is finished now,all I need to do is edit it down and fade at the guitar solo. However, I began to experiment with sounds in Garage Band..and added Crickets, Birds,and Evening Jungle- they blended with the track in certain spots..wonderful. The next detail was to see where the Google Images would take me-) and learn the I Movie software simultaneously. That took almost an entire day- but I'm getting speedier )

I edited "Something Strange" and added the "nature " sounds and faded it in Garage Band - about 2min 44 seconds(approx) - imported it into I Movie. I had to learn how to get around the commands like; where were the transitions hiding? Would the video effects work with still shots.. experimenting seemed unavoidable. Searching for suitable images gave a bit of inspiration to the project. Enter search topics for "beautiful nature" ,moon,evening sky with birds, sunsets, mystical forests, holding hands,lovers under moonlight, Space age, exotic places for living,etc. I stopped to realize that all the things I was searching for had a deep root in me -they had all been positive imaginings..or real somewhere in my life. Hours of collecting and selecting - then placing them on the time line...It took half a day to figure out
how to play what I had "so far" without highlighting a section,and highlighting would cause the movie time line to stop...after any section which was highlighted..
details -details....

Adding the video effects and transitions(once I located them) was certainly the most fun of all -several mistakes in timing -and they had to be fixed...gently sliding the sound track to once again fit the action...several miss steps turned out to be "Keepers" -OH I love when that happens.

Post on You Tube was my "tour de force" I DID IT! - then,onwards to the Blog Spot Blog page..there,I faltered ...I have two Videos embedded!!-(to be continued )

Let's O Something Strange ( A Self Portrait for a Short Segment of Time)

Tools to Start the New Construction

Greetings.. tales of my tech trip into i Movie
I have several days to work on the movie assignment -and since I've already created a movie project using Microsoft Movie Maker, it would stretch my abilities by looking into i Movie
on the Mac Book.

In class, we were reminded that it was more efficient to start the sound track first, and
In case there are any un-savvy tech folks out there, the best program for me was to use Garage Band for the main track and extra sounds, and then export that over to i Movie - I used sounds of wildlife and explored a few other man made ones... and they all were sounds that were favorites of mine, that attracted my ears, heart and mind from early age...in other words,
everything had a root in me.

These programs, are really just tools. It's a whole new system of "building". It just occurred to me this morning as my insecurity with this process is something that I must control ..yet I ask questions and keep moving. Again, they are the NEW tools in a new Tool Box, and just as most anyone would know what a set of pliers will do, we now have to know (there's no choice any more)-) what garage band will do for us-what i photo will do as a tool, and so on. We are the
new "constructionists".

Now I Get IT!! -)

In my lifetime-or should I say- now in my life time, I am witnessing the revolutionary effect of computers on music learning. With the aid of a computer, musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) protocol, and MIDI instruments, and home recording software, we can now offer an educational environment in which people of all ages can compose music with little difficulty. ( well, you've got to read the manual and have time to experiment)

The next revolution in educational technology (and one which is developing rapidly in the math and science education arenas), is the linking of students electronically in "virtual learning communities." These communities allow students to communicate, either synchronously or asynchronously, with other students, other teachers and other experts who are located in different places. In music education, music composition is suited best for this type of electronic collaboration.

I am about to embark --literally, jump on a ship with Capt.John Gilbert, a professor at NYU Steinhardt -as we explore the world of technical collaboration with other music education grad students... more soon...