GE2153 EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY: REFLECTION 11 – VIDEO PRESENTATION

Finally! After weeks and months of meetings and hard works, it had finally come to this!

Today we present our final work, our video to the lecturers and the whole class. This is our video:

Well, we got a positive review from both En Helmi and Dr Rosseni. It was a big fat “phew” moment for me. Dr Rosseni also said that we could change our career if we want to which kinda struck me because, man, I sucks at being a host. Hahaha.

Well, anyway, in a conclusion, everything went well despite some problems occurring just days before the presentation, like the audios and the unsuccessful conversion. After all that we made it as a team and we are really glad to have been given a positive review by the two lecturers and even our friends.

We also wanna thanks all the lecturers for guiding us throughout this project, for teaching us new things and of course, for this whole new experience of making and producing video. Although quite tiring, I admit it’s a very fun course and if I’ve been given the chance to do it all over again, er, I think I would. Ehehehe.. *bad poker face*

Oh and last but not least, I want to apologize if I hurt anyone’s feelings throughout this course, throughout the production of this video, and of course, to the lecturers for coming late to your classes. I’m very very sorry. ><

Hopefully I, and we all, learn something from this class and hopefully we can apply it again in the future.

See you again next next next time!

GE2153 EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY: REFLECTION 10 – SHOOTING SESSION AT PUTRAJAYA

On the 27th of May, our group went to Putrajaya once again to shoot video for our project.

We started at UKM’s very own Dectar to shoot the opening scene for the video. With Aiman “Big Sis” as our cameraman(woman?) me & Qila proceed to play our role as a host to this very own show, “An Outing To Remember”. We had some problem at first due to the very extremely hot weather that day (no, not because  act like diva and we want people to fan us and wipe our sweaty face and touch-up our makeups XD) and it kinda affect our lighting so we have to find a shadier spot. After we’ve done with that scene, we proceed with our trip to Putrajaya.

After we had arrived in Putrajaya, our first destination was the Masjid Besi. Qila and I keep practicing and memorizing our script. Even we have tried our best, we still have to shoot quite a few times to get a good shot. We encountered a few problems such as the sound not clear, and the azan coming from the Masjid Besi over-powering our soft voices. Hahaha. And then after a few shots we finally got it right but then the guard the come at us and said that no shooting can be done there before 5pm. Gasp! Thank God we’ve already finish our part there. The rest of it are going to be done trough voice-over.

Qila discussing the script with Solah, the director aka Big Boss.

Our behind-the-scene crews is dating! (gossip2)

The behind-the-scene crews (from left): Asri, Aiman, Peng and Solah.

We make a quick stop then at Alamanda since our video camera is running out of battery. There we had our lunch and while waiting for the battery to be charged, we go and and take a look around while window-shopping-ing a little la.

After we’ve already charged our video camera (and ourselves), we went straight to Taman Botani. It’s quite late in the evening at that time and we were hoping that we can rent a bicycle and went cycling while shooting video around there. Too bad we’re just minutes late before the bicycle rental service closes. Anyway, not to waste our effort going there, we make use of the beautiful scenery to shoot another scene of our video.

We also manage to take some group photos there:

And after that we rush AGAIN. This time to the Pullman Lake, because Solah, our director, claimed that we can take beautiful shot of the sun setting on the lake. Excited with that idea, we try our best to get there as fast as we could before the sunset. We manage to arrive there before time but guess what? Bummer. The sun did not set on the lake but instead at the part where there are a lot of buildings and we end up didn’t manage to shoot the shot we desired. Well, anyhow, the scenery there is still great so we didn’t waste the chance to take pictures/shoot a little bit there.

I love how the sunlight reflects on these buildings!

Asri took this photo of me.

We also took the official pictures for each group member for the video.

Me and Qila: Hosts. I also help with the script and Qila also help with the video-editing and storyboard.

Aiman “Big Sis”: Cameraman 1 and cinematographer. Big sis also help in cutting the videos.

Asri: Cameraman 2 and also in charge of the audio.

Solah: our director, editor and storyboard-er.

Peng: She help with the picture and video-editing. She’s also our driver that day (psst.. not a really good one XD)

After we’ve finished our photography session  and whatnot, we went to our last and final destination for that day, Taman Warisan. Besides shooting, we also had our dinner there. And I remember one of the stalls there sell this very delicious and refreshing cocnut shake. If you ever went there, you should really try some!

A must-try if you went there! Delicious and refreshing coconut shake.

Our food!!

Oh, what a tiring day it was! I remember how tired I felt at the end of the day but at the same time I also friggin’ enjoy it! This might just be that one-time thing, you know, hanging out with friends, going to places we’ve never been before while unembarrassingly taking out our camera and video cam and shooting stuff. Hahaha! Well, we end our video-shooting session at our very own faculty, the Education Faculty, and shoot the last part of our video there.

I’m tired as hell that day but I learn one very important lesson- shooting a video IS NOT as easy as it seems. Although we look at others video and go “That doesn’t look to hard,” well trust me, it IS hard. And that was just the shooting part, not including the editing part yet. Well, anyway, that’s all for my reflection this time. I’ll make another part of this post for the pictures of sceneries I took, so later!

GE2153 EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY: REFLECTION 9 – VIDEO EDITING CLASS

This is me going to class on Sunday:

Just kidding…

Anyway, so today we’re supposed to learn about vidoe-editing-related stuff.

The class started with us trying our hand on the Adobe Premiere. We use the module and the videos En Helmi had already prepared for us. Some of my friend find it really easy (okay, maybe not REALLY but compared to me..) to use it but I still having a hard time trying to edit video using this software. Thank God En Helmi explain it to us step by step (and there’s A LOT of steps) to guide and help us understand better. Plus, using the module he provided kinda make the whole process quite easier. So we also learn how to insert song into a video, how to layer pictures, and my favourite is the one where we can put names at the lower part of the video for interviews and stuff. I kinda get lost here and there but I had fun learning and using this software and I’m sure it will help us a lot in making our video in the future.

Aaaaand then we move on to Adobe Soundbooth, and trust me, the whole time during the class learning about this software I was like:

“Say wutt?”

Trust me, it’s NOBODY’s fault but myself, having a brain that’s unable or lack the ability in processing very complex and complicated technological procedure (okay, I’m rambling..)

It’s not that I didn’t learn or catch anything but let just say I assume it’d be safe for me (for now) to leave this part to the pro (ie. Kila) who er, enjoy doing these kinda things.

Anyhow, after that we proceed to our project. We faced some troubles trying to convert the video but En Helmi helped us and he guide us a lot in making and finishing our project. But that day we didn’t manage to finish everything and since we’re not satisfied with the quality of the video we took in Putrajaya earlier, we decided that we’re going to go there again to shoot the video.

Well, I think that’s all for this week. And btw, I applied some of the thing I’ve learned to day, making some sort of montage for my Choir Club’s Dinner Night. I used movie maker to make this one because I don’t have Adobe Premiere in my laptop. Well, if there anything I can improve (which is, A LOT) just tell me in the comment section or go to Youtube and comment on the video. 😉 Until next time!

GE2153 EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY: REFLECTION 8 – PHOTOSHOP WORKSHOP

Hi, hell-ou, ‘sup, how u doin?

So… we got class on Saturday eh?

“Class on Saturday… Class on Saturday…”

Lol don’t mind my over-reaction-ness. I’m just trying to find an excuse to use that gif. Pretty cool, eh?

Anyway, for this class we’re suppose to be going to learn about photoshop. To be honest I’m not familiar with photoshop. If I want to edit photos, I’ll usually go to this site called Picnik.com but sadly, the site have been closed last April. So anyway, maybe that’s the silver lining of it; now that the site is closed, I might as well learn how to use photoshop.

So first, En Faisal taught us the basic stuff in photoshop – cropping images. He taught us on how to crop image using this selection tool and it was quite easy since it works by sensitivity where it will detect the colour and automatically choose the part we wanna crop. We also learned how to copy and paste image into other background like what I did with my header, where I picked this photo:

And then I cropped the sh*t out of it and paste it onto some calming image of a blue sky. And then I put some text on it and wa-lah!

A HEADER!

That was also our task for this class – make a header. I also applied this lesson in some other cases like this one:

I like this picture, but sadly, I’m not in it (see, I’m the one taking the picture)

So I took one of my picture, cut2, paste2, adjust2 and ta-da!

Well, of course you don’t have to look twice to notice that there’s something “tak kena” with this picture, since I’m not a professional photoshoper or anything. I only wish I could do something with the lighting, you know, to make my picture blend more with the surrounding. (if you know how, kindly share it in the comment section 😉

And then En Faisal also taught us on how to make the background of a photo to look blurry so that the subject can stand out more in the picture. It’s very interesting and I remember a lot of people use this kind of picture to post and share pseudo-inspirational hipster quotes on Facebook. Hahahaha. I kid, I kid. Anyway, he explained it a little too fast and at that time I encountered some problem with my photoshop so I get lost and end up not knowing how to do that. Well, I’m still exploring and trying the tools on my own, with some help from the internet and the module provided.

Anyway, I also use photoshop in completing my assignment for one of the course I’ve taken this semester, in which I was required to translate some advertisements.

Before

After

Before

After

Actually I just use simple techniques and steps to do this. First I copy a part of the background that have the closest colour resemblance and cover the original text with it. And then I use the text tool to write the targeted text. Hahaha. It’s so simple I doubt if you could even call it a “technique”. ><‘

Well anyway, after lunch, we proceed with some basic video-editing lesson. I was kinda shocked because I thought video-editing will be taught the day after, which is tomorrow. But we proceed anyway and En Helmi taught us some of the basic things in video transferring and editing. First we learn about how to transfer video into the computer which can be done in several ways, based on the type of device you use to record your video. And then we were introduced some basic things about video editing like how to arrange, to put effects and transition into your video, and to put subtitles in it.

Tobe honest, this is my FIRST TIME EVER trying to edit a video. En Helmi sure help and explained a lot about how to edit your video to make it more interesting, such as by putting transition in it. But he also mentioned NOT to put too many transitions in your video or else it will cause your audience to be all “pening kepala” watching your video. Hahaha.

During this lesson we mainly use Adobe Premier, which I find very hard and complicated to be used for total beginners like me, but there are also other video-editing software besides Adobe Premier such as Windows movie-maker and so much more.

Windows Movie Maker

Adobe Premier

But the tougher one is yet to come. We were then given a brief introduction to Adobe Soundbooth, a software you use to edit sounds (like photoshop edit pictures and premier edit videos). Well, what can I say, it was a late Saturday afternoon and this software is very2 hard and complicated to understand. So there I was, listening blankly to En Helmi’s explanation about it. He too, seems to be having a hard time trying to explain it to a bunch of first-timers like us. Hahaha. (Sorry, En Helmi -.-)

“Waaaa… Very canggih la. Got fire2 one some more…” (very makcik2 style of talking)

Well, last but not least, I enjoy the class. A lot more than I expected actually (ps: I’m a very pessimistic person). Hahaha. And I’m really grateful to be given the chance to learn all this, FREELY, with FREE FOOD provided lagi. If I were to attend workshop like this outside, maybe I’d have to pay quite a lot of money for it. So once again, I’d like to say I’m really grateful to be given a chance to learn like this. ^^

GE2153 EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY: REFLECTION 7 – A TRIP TO PUTRAJAYA

Hello and good day everyone! I hope you guys are doing well.

Yeah, whatever.

Well, anyway, after a very refreshing one-week-break, we have a very busy weekend ahead of us. First, on Friday, we went on a field trip to Putrajaya.

Well, to be honest, at first I’m not really that excited. Not the “Putrajaya? Really?” kind of unexcitement, but more like “I’ve been there quite a few times” kinda. Well, anyway, I was wrong. Why? You have to keep reading 😉

Well, anyhow, after the Friday prayer I rush to the bus stop because we are suppose to gather there at around 2 o’clock but when I got there, only a few people have arrive. Anyway, my group manage to do some photography session in one of the hall at KTAMS just right before we proceed to go to Putrajaya. ^^

Spaql Group (from left): Asri, Aiman, Solah, Peng, Kila and me.

Then off we went to Putrajaya. And we (read:they) also manage to capture some pics in the bus on the way there.

One of my favourite pics. Peng’s face is just epic! Hahaha.

So our first stop is the Ministry of Finance building. But before I get to that I’ll explain why I was wrong about all the unexcitement and stuff.

Admit it, Putrajaya is one of the must-go destination when it comes to field trip, especially a school field trip. I’ve already went to Putrajaya myself quite a few times, following school’s field trip and with family. I also went to Alamanda quite a few times with my friends to hang out and watch movies. But I gotta admit, during this field trip I get to see some of the part of Putrajaya that I’ve never seen, or maybe I’ve not noticed before. So I was quite wrong to be unexcited, right? Hahaha.

Well anyway, our first stop is the Ministry of Finance building and man, the architecture of the building, and most of the buildings there are simply breathtaking. And I really love how different buildings have totally different style of architecture and design but they all kinda sport the same theme.

Well at our first destination, our special guest, Mr Faisal gives a brief talk to us about the DSLR camera. Well, maybe he’s an expert with it so the explanation is quite fast but I manage to catch (and most importantly, recall) some of the things he said like the usage of ISO and shutter speed and all. DSLR camera is still a complicated gadget for a techno-blind person like me but I’m happy to be given the chance to try it.

He also said something about how the structure of the building can help us in taking our picture according to the 3×3 grid theory or something like that la. Anyway, as usual, these are some of the photos I took there, mostly using my own digital camera.

The Ministry of Finance Building

I think the geometrical structure of the building is what Mr Faisal meant when he says it will help us to apply the grid rules. Here’s a sample but I think the car presence there kinda ruin it.

Another one with Aiman “Big Sis” as my subject.

And then we headed to Masjid Besi, where we had our lunch (delicious nasi goreng with keropok and kuih) and pray there.

After that we went up to the skyway, some sort of path or bridge, in front of the mosque and it have, like, the most beautiful landscape ever (SO SYMMETRICAL! (that’s my OCD talking)). There, Encik Helmi taught us once again about the whole video-shooting stuff, the technique such as panning, tilting, zooming and all that. Me and my group also manage to shoot some video for our project (but we didn’t use it due to the poor shooting quality). Anyway, we spend most of our time there walking around the mosque and practicing what have been taught. We were also required to take pictures to bring for our Photoshop workshop the next day. Well, here’s some of mine.

SO SYMMETRICAL!!

SYMMETRY IS GOOD FOR BONES GROWTH AND IMMUNE SYSTEMS, Y’ALL!

And this pool is SO awesome!

Those are the pictures that I took. Here are some of my favourites from the DSLR camera:

Really love this blurry background effect, which could only be done using DSLR.

After Maghrib prayer we headed to Pullman and capture some photos there but since it’s too dark there, most of the photos that I took came out er, dark and you can barely see a thing la. Hahaha. And then we went to the pasar malam there, supposedly the longest pasar malam in Malaysia or something. Anyway, the foods there are all awesome! Hahaha.

After that we went back to UKM. It’s very tiring, plus we have workshop to attend tomorrow, but it’s so much fun. I think it’s great for us to go out like this, besides from doing the practical part of our learning, we can also have fun at the same time!

Anyway, till next post!

GE2153 EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY: REFLECTION 6 – VIDEO PRODUCTION TECHNIQUE

Hye, hello, konichiwa, namaste, bon apetit, gute natch, whatever..

So this week, it’s all about technique. Technique, technique, technique.

"Technique, Squidward! Technique!"

Well, Mr Helmi taught us about technique in shooting video and snapping pictures. He told us about this thing called the rule of third, where we put the picture in grids and you put the focus in certain grids for a great effect in the picture. The focus doesn’t need to be in the centre of the picture. Well, I’ve always loved taking pictures, who knew, I have been applying the rule subconsciously myself. I always feel that the focus doesn’t always need to be in the centre. I don’t know how to say it in English but in Malay we call it “very skema“.

Lemme give you some sample of my works. Hehehe..

I took this one using my phone a long2 time ago. See, the focus here is Mr Panda there (RIP, my friend) but he's not in the centre of the picture.

They say every picture have a story. Can you guess what story this picture tells?

Well, anyway, Mr Helmi also told us about angles and stuff, how to make people actually look taller and “mightier”. Well, I love taking pictures of scenery, the sky mostly, and plus, I’m not really into people so I rarely took pictures of other people, but I always look at pictures of celebrities on the red carpet and I can see how angle can affect someone’s appearance in a picture (sometime the photographers are placed at a very high place and when they took the pictures of the celebrities, the celebrities will appear short and stumpy) and sometime when I ask someone to take my picture, I’ll ask them to take it from the low angle to make me look thinner and to make my legs appear longer. :p

Oh, and then in video designing, there’s this thing called the “boundary game”. Well, it sounds like a very risky, adventurous game (eg: If you cross the boundary, you’ll explode OR Never call your girlfriend fat. That’s crossing the boundary.) but it’s not. It’s actually a planning system where you decide whether you want this in your video, or the important-ness of something to be put in your videos. Shouldn’t they call it the “priority game” instead?

Well, it’s basically like this: you make a box, important stuff in the box, less important stuff outside the box. So it kinda help you prioritize so that your video won’t be so “crowded”.

And then, he taught us about implementing what we had learned in this class to our teaching in the future. I remember he said the videos can be used for a more authentic learning setting and then he said especially if the teacher made the video himself. But then he gave an example of a video of volcanic eruption for a science class or something (if I’m not mistaken la) and I was like “Wuuttt…. So we have to go to the volcano and shoot it ourselves now. I don’t think our salary is big enough for us to risk our life like that.” Hahahaha. I kid, I kid…

And then I love the idea of using blogs for reflection for students in school, just like what we’re doing now. But I doubt the students will use the blog to reflect on the learning as much as they’ll use it to meluahkan perasaan and stuff, whatever kids do these days.

And then my favourite part!! Doing your own mobile tag. At first I thought only certain people can have a mobile tag, like companies, or big person, but I never knew there’s a website for making your own mobile tag. Guess this mobile tag thingy is not as special as I thought it was, isn’t it? I made one for this blog and you can make yours too here.  This is my blog’s mobile tag.

Well I don’t have any iPad or iPhone or any i’s devices to check whether it’s working or not so if you can check it, can you please check it for me and tell me if it’s working (of it enters the correct page) in the comment section below…

Okay, that’s it folks. Till next time!

GE2153 EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY: REFLECTION 5 – WEBBLOG

Hello precious unicorns and fellow humans. We meet again.

And I’m NOT high. Tall, maybe. What? Oh, thank you, talking gnomes. You’re tall too. AND sweet. ^^

"Oh, stop it you. You're making me blush.."

So enough with the talking gnomes. What happen this week?

The first thing I remember is that I saw Mr Helmi bring some board and some coloured pen and coloured paper, so since last week we learned about storyboard, I thought for this class we’re going to do a storyboard for our video project, hence the board. Well, I’m not sure if the board is misleading (board=storyboard) or I’m the one who’s shallow (because not all board=storyboard, Luqman. Tsk tsk)

The lecture is not that long and this week we focus more on doing rather than just listening. Well lets just take a quick recap shall we?

It’s called a Paper Prototyping Technique, where you basically plan the rough sketches for your webpage.  That’s what I UNDERSTANDS. Do correct me if I’m wrong (in the comment section below). And then, there’s um, then um, there’s this… Umm…

Well let just say IT’S TIME TO GET ARTSY er, BITSY!!

I had fun in this class. Well, I dare say this is one of the fun-est Education Technology class ever. Hahaha. Well, less talking, let me just “sajikan” you with the pictures we took during the class.

Very focus ye, ladies and gentlemen!

And this is the result!! *epic drumroll*

Don't mind the hovering hand.. -.-

Despite the face I’m making (honestly, I don’t know why I’m making that face), I’m quite happy with the result. Well there’s no doubt that our board is the messiest but still, my friend told me that Dr Rosseni told her that our work is quite good.

Well, from the third picture, you can see our rough idea for our group’s website. There’s this header with all sort of pictures of food and then there’s the tabs: home, about, videos and photos gallery, and contact.

Now let see how’s the other groups are doing:

This is from PeiSi’s group. I steal this picture from her Facebook page. Muahahahaha!!

This is from Kak Lin’s group. It’s pretty but it’s unfair since they got two very talented drawer (like, a person who draw, not laci almari) in their group. Hahaha.

I can’t find any pictures from Samirah’s group but I can tell you their work is quite awesome too.

Well, anyway, that’s all for this week. Check out our group blog foodspaqlhunt3r.wordpress (don’t mind the tongue-twisting, weird name) for more pictures and videos and stuff. Hahaha. Till next time!!

GE2153 EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY: Reflection 4 – Storyboards er, and Stuff

(Edited: I just read on my friend’s blog. The class is actually about pre-production, not just storyboards)

Greetings gypsies and pixies and all the lovely woodlands creatures!

I’m going to make this one very short and fast since I don’t really get what is taught in last week’s lecture. So last week we learn (based on what I can recall) about storyboard. Miss Hazrati delivers the lecture for the first part of the lesson and like last two weeks, I don’t really understand what it’s about.. Heck I can’t even recall what she taught us last week. I’m having troubles understanding the subject that she taught us.

And also because most men have short-term memories (trust me, that’s why we always forget important dates eg: anniversary).

And then Mr Helmi gives the lecture for the second part of the lesson that day. I don’t really remember what is it about but I think it’s something about storyboard? Well we learn about how storyboard can help us in being more organized in video-making, even the simplest one.  These are some of the examples of  storyboards I could find on the net.

A simpler one, using stick figures and simpler drawings.

Err, lets leave this kind of storyboard to those who are more talented in drawing shall we? But I kinda love how it also shows the camera/shooting movement.

Then we consult Miss Hazrati about our video, since we’re making a travel log-kinda video (am I using the right term?), we don’t know how to do the storyboard and stuff. Then he told us to watch this show on Youtube called “Globe Trekker” for some guides and inspirations and I’d say it helps us out a lot. Thanks Miss Hazrati for the suggestion!

Well, I think that’s all for this week. Until next week!

GE2153 EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY: Reflection 3 – Mobile Blogging and Stuff

Er, hello precious earthlings and kittens. Greetings from the dark side, or whatever.

Anyway, this week, the third week, we were exposed to the world of mobile blogging (picture me opening a door and a blinding light enters the room) which consists of blogging…. via mobile.

"Oh, really? I never knew mobile blogging is about blogging via mobile!!!"

Okay, so Dr Rosseni brought her friend, En Hilmi, to teach us about mobile blogging, which I don’t really understand? Well, I’m even having trouble managing and using this normal WordPress blog, so I can safely say one does not simply assume a techno-blind person like me can learn how to mobile blog in one lesson? Why is all my sentences are in question form?

Anyway, then En Hilmi asked us if any of us owns any iPad and I was like, wuuttt… We university students have barely enough money to eat at a fast food restaurant once a month. So please don’t ask us that sad, sad question. (T.T) Btw, off-topic for a sec, this remind me of all those spoilt Western kids who complaint that they have the worst parent ever for not buying them an iPad for Christmas, and rambling on their Twitter and Facebook on how they have the worst life EV-VER. Yeah, right. You DO have the worst life ev-ver. Worse than those African kids who were denied the right of educations and being forced to join the army and become sex slaves. These kind of people make me lose faith in humanity.

"The kids in Africa are starving? Great. Buy me an iPad and I'll update my Facebook status via them to show how much I care!"

I’m worried for the next generations.. That’s totally off the topic, btw. And it have NOTHING to do with this week’s classes. Just some personal opinion (aka rage).

Well, back to this reflection. After En Helmi taught us a bit about mobile blogging and show us his very helpful and informative blog, we get to form a group to carry out the video project. We were required to discuss on what we are going to do for the video, you know, some rough ideas, and then we have to form an organization chart. I’m glad I get to work with the people I’m comfortable with and we all agreed on the video idea, and successfully formed our organization chart. I hope this project will turned out great.

And then we get to play with some iPad! Yay! We get to touch and fondle with those lovely modern human creation, claimed to be the third best invention after potato chips and deodorants. Well, it’s kinda lame but this is my first time using – even touching (Get it? Because it’s a TOUCH screen? Hahaha. Get it? Get it?) – an iPad. Well it’s kinda cool but I try not to use it too much because I’m afraid I’m going to break it or something – you know the more developed a gadget gets, the more fragile and easily-broken they become? I miss the sweet old days when you can just throw your mobile phone at a dog and the dog will die. Ahhh…

Anyway, last but not least, this is a picture of me (and my group) excitedly playing with the iPad!

I'm the one in the gray shirt. Can you tell how excited I am? Look at my excited face!

And thanks to the kind person lending us them fabulous iPad. See you next week! ^^