Multimodal Assignment

When we got this assignment I was somewhat excited about it. It's been a long time since I got to play around with new software and be creative with computer technology. But with that said, I've been pulling my hair out trying to get everything to work right. Getting everything formatted right is the hardest part.

My son has a Kodak digital camera that is pretty good at taking video captures. The trouble with Kodak is that they download everything in the format that they choose, and Windows really doesn't want to play nice. So, I've spent most of my day trying to reconfigure file formats so Windows will accept the media that I have recorded. I finally figured it out, but there is a learning curve.

Another problem I've had is getting around copyright laws to show pictures and video that I have downloaded. Granted, I understand copyright laws very well and would never consider stealing someone's intellectual property, but in a couple of instances I have paid for the privilege to use the material only to find out that it is encoded with a security tag that Windows Movie Maker will not accept. How fair is that? I PAID FOR IT!

What I found out is that, "Where there's will, there's a way." It takes some creativity and time to get photos and video to work, but there is always a way--although it can sometimes be cumbersome and archaic. As a result, I find myself using SnagIt and taking video shots of my computer screen with my son's camera. It's not the greatest method in the world but it gets the job done.

Students may be better equipped than I am for handling these types of problems. I can usually muddle my way through almost anything, but I wonder how many students who are behind the technology curve will stick it out to get the job done. It can be an overwhelming task for some students who have a vision of what they want to produce, like me, and actually getting to their final goal. I know it's been a bigger task for me than I ever dreamed.