Category Archives: troubleshooting

Week 09: Troubleshooting

Things have been going pretty well, troubleshooting-wise.

In regards to filming for our final Korsakow project, Ren has been filming on his (very fancy and beautiful) DSLR with a 50mm lens. Imogen has lent us her ‘camera-caddy’ for the filming, which is helping us get stable shots.

I have been doing my editing in GarageBand (for audio), iMovie, and then compressing in MPEG stream clip.

We have decided that in order to maintain good file keeping, the entire project will be stored on Imogen’s hard drive, and we’ve decided on a consistent file-naming protocol to ensure an easy Korsakow build.

I did have to learn how to navigate Google drive a little more now that our final project documentation is being hosted there. But this just really required some clicks around and getting to know it.

I also had to re-familiarise myself with Gantt charts in order to complete the bonus 5% for the final project. However, Imogen told us about some software she had used in the past called SmartSheet, so she built our Gantt chart in there.

The only other troubleshooting I’ve been facing is learning how to best ask the interview question which we’re approaching our interviewees with. It’s getting better as we fine tune it with every time we shoot.

(Image via flickr)

Week 05: Troubleshooting

This week I finally got involved with the Korsakow software and we had our first play around with it in class. I had a very steep learning curve this week, as I am one of those media students who knows next to nothing about file extensions, compressions, etc. Ironically, I actually enjoyed learning as much as I could about this, mostly from the help of Ren and Imogen, who I sit on a table with and who have both studied media at TAFE.

I was introduced to MPEG streamclip, and have been learning how to use this to compress my files (which are HUGE thanks to filming on a DSLR). I also found myself returning to Adrian’s Korsakow tips and tricks post on the IM1 blog for help. He also has a post here about what Korsakow is and what it can do.

A big realisation I had was that Korsakow is purely authoring software, and does not allow for any post-production.  It is for building, and joining things together and making relations between the individual assets.

Another tip we got in the lab was that it is most easy to try and use a descriptive name for the video and thumbnail files as this is what is displayed in the project window, and makes for easy building/SNUifying. Adrian has a good post on Korsakow workflow here.

I’ve been building up my Korsakow vocabulary and have decided to make a glossary of sorts which I will add to over the coming weeks. So far it stands as:

  • Fragments – the individual clips
  • Previews – the ‘click here’ options on the interface
  • Timeline – shows the length of the fragment with a playhead below the clip
  • Viewing window – the clip you view when you select it by clicking
  • Stage – the entire space you are viewing the K-film on
  • SNU – smallest narrative units (the fragments)
  • Keywords – Ins describe the SNU, outs describe what it’s looking for (using Boolean logic)
  • Interface – the design of where the previews, viewing window, etc. sit on the screen
  • Lives – you can set how many times you see a clip before it dies.
  • Assets – your media files
  • POCs (points of contact) – in-POCs and out-POCs, defined here.
  • Background sound – a clip which can play for the entire duration of the k-film

We must remember: Korsakow doesn’t save automatically. SAVE SAVE SAVE. 

We have to manage our files extremely well. You have to keep your media assets in the same place for the life of your project. You must nominate an exports file and only ever do exports to web.

I also found out that when you load a K-film in a browser, you are presented with the option to ‘continue’ or ‘restart’. So, if you are viewing for a second time, you can go back to where you left it. However, the whole idea of a non-linear piece is to have no ‘start’ and ‘end’, isn’t it?

Keywords are a really important part of Korsakow, because they will ultimately be what keeps an audience with your work. You want them to find relations, but not too obviously. They operate as if you are building a jigsaw puzzle. So before you decide them, think about what patterns you are trying to create and what relationships you want to make.

Week 06: Troubleshooting

This week I had to learn about making thumbnails for my sketch film. Seth has a post of a few ways to do this here, but after trying a few methods I decided to just screenshot as this is easier for me to do.

I also had to learn about FTP clients and uploading our sketch film. This was a very new topic for me and I was very nervous to do it. However, following these instructions I actually found it surprisingly easy.

The rest of my ‘troubleshooting’ this week has mostly been around the film essays we wrote for last week. We had to address the content, interface, and pattern of a past student K-film project. I chose to write about ‘Eulogy to Suburbia‘ and you can find my post here.

I had to make my statements clear, make my content easy and efficient to read, and stick to the word limit (which is always a struggle of mine).

I started by thinking about what pattern is and what I wanted to talk about in the film essay. Pattern is all about the relationships which are created through recurring themes/categories/sub-cagetories/keywords/repetition.

I had to stay mindful of the difference between content (the parts and their existence within a structure) and form (which is a little closer to pattern, and all about how it’s structured).

When analysing the content, I had to think about subject matter/what it’s about. What did I notice? Are there ‘groups’ of clips that keep appearing together?

For the interface, I had to look at what was being presented to me and think about how and why it has been designed that way. Are there multiple interfaces? Does the interface change shape and structure? This post on the IM1 blog really helped me to think about the thought processes that go into designing an interface, and what to look for.

Week 04: Troubleshooting

This week I learned about EULAs for the first time, which are End-User License Agreements. This is a contract between the licensor and the purchaser of a software, and it establishes the purchaser’s right to use it. It can define the ways it can be used. These contracts are mostly digital, in the form of clicking a button which either ‘accepts’ or ‘rejects’ the installation of software onto a computer.

After talking a lot about copyright and intellectual property in the symposium, I decided to teach myself a little more about creative commons and attributions in order to substantiate what little I already know.

Creative Commons (CC) explains itself as “a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools”. CC licenses are not an alternative to copyright, but instead work alongside them. What I didn’t know is that “copyright in most jurisdictions attaches automatically without need for any formality once a creative work is fixed in tangible form (i.e. the minute you put pen to paper, take a photo, or hit the “save” button on your computer).”

What I would like to understand further is how copyright and CC licenses extend internationally and across jurisdictions. I also need to learn what the icons for CC licenses represent. This will be a good resource for me in the future. I think CC is wonderful asset to the internet, and a lot of creativity and content would not be possible without them.

UPDATE 26/8/14: I’ve finally learned more about CC licenses, which you can read about here.

(Image via flickr)

Week 03: Troubleshooting

In class, Seth had us talk about mobile videography (as the majority of the class filmed their first constraints using their mobile phones). He pointed us in the direction of a mobile editing software called Splice. I filmed my sketches on my DSLR, but if I do any of the future constraints on my mobile, I will think about downloading this. Someone in class also mentioned that iMovie can be downloaded as an iOS app for free, so I have downloaded that.
Seth also introduced us to Diigo – and the wider concept of social bookmarking.
I have now installed Korsakow onto my MacBook Pro and found this really simple to do – no troubles whatsoever.
We were told it would be a good idea to test our first clips in Korsakow to make sure they are working (because we can only use h264 – which I learned about last week), so I will try and do this during the week.
(Picture via flickr)

Week 02: Troubleshooting

This week I set up my mediafactory blog and began learning how to navigate WordPress (having only used it a handful of times before). I also set up a vimeo account in order to start filming my constraints. I faced a number of challenges learning about codecs for the first time (as Korsakow requires clips to be h264 in order to run). I also had to learn a bit more about compressions, as my files were very large owing to the fact I filmed them on my DSLR camera. I did this by performing some google searches and speaking to a friend of mine who studies filmmaking.

I began thinking about the relationship between iPhoto, iMovie, Vimeo, and Media Factory, as my clips went through the processes of being shot, uploaded, sometimes edited, published online, then embedded into a blog post. Additionally, I joined the Korsakow Facebook group and began reading more widely about the software and what it can be used for.

I also sought out my first interactive documentary to watch and review. I found that many were easy to find through simple google searches, and through some links I found on previous IM1 blogs. I am now building up a list of these films to watch and review.