Our group first met virtually the Saturday prior to Week 3. This initial meeting helped us establish a topic and gain focus on the specific jobs that would be required to create a one minute Public Service Announcement (PSA). To facilitate the discussion that would need to take place, we first started in the EPIC discussion board. Next, we moved our collaboration to the Google+ social network. Times when we felt we needed to come together collectively as a group we implemented a Google+ Hangout with Extras. This allowed each group member to see each other via web cam and the collaborative web document could still be open in the primary screen. Using Google+ helped us save many hours of waiting for each group member to add their thoughts in a discussion like manner.

Our pre-production consisted of working collaboratively on the shot list, the scenes that would be used, and the ability to pick tasks that fit our abilities. Pre-production allowed Reda to write a great script based on our topic. During production Vicki and Nikki filmed various scenes using the information we learned in the previous week. Each shot was sure to include different angles. We decided that it would be best to make the audio track separate from the actual video. This was done because of the condensed time it would take to put everything together. Without worrying about the sound during shooting, it freed up a position to work solely with the narration. Todd used Audicity to create the narration. He had three separate students read the entire script. This gave us 3 versions to work with during post-production. During post-production I used Adobe Premiere CS 5 to bring everything together. Our group utilized Dropbox to share resources between us. I’ve used several video editing tools. This was the first time I was able to really sit down and take a look at more of the possibilities associated with Adobe Premiere.

I’m still not 100% satisfied with the end of our PSA. I wish it could have packed a bigger punch so to speak. I made several versions. The first version ended with the “Are you a thief?” in a long re-verb that faded out as the video went to black. Something about the spot in the music at the moment did not allow that version to make sense. Had I known how to have tracks fade into each other, it may have worked. A second version did not include the “Give Credit Where Credit is Due” footage. This footage was meant for a scene that we ultimately had to cut for time and it proved to not really bring the message home like the intro and three scenes that did make the post-production cut. If I had more time I would look at more examples and really focus on how they end. Our group went with exporting the video in a MP4 H.264 codec format. This format uploaded nicely to YouTube and ensured that mobile devices could view the video in addition to desktop devices. Todd researched various copyright attributions. Based on the sound segments we used, we determined that a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License fit this work best. I felt that our group worked together great. This was a very neat experience. The ability to work collaboratively on a project in which your partners are separated by several hundred miles in each direction is pretty special and unique.