Capstone review

During the Capstone presentations on friday, I interviewed Justin Williams about his project.  He did all of the foley work on a scene from the Hurt Locker.  It was pretty incredible.  He deleted all of the audio and then started from scratch and it sounded really good.  Here are the answers to the interview questions that I talked to him about.

What has this week been like for you?
It has been super busy and I haven't spent as much time in a lab my entire school career combined than I have this week.  I was editing this morning and got the final tweaks done about 3 hours before the presentations began.


If you could change anything in how you did your capstone, what would it be?
I would have taken the goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the semester and actually apply them to the project.  I found myself being a procrastinator especially towards the end of the project.  If I had followed my timeline I would have been done about a week early and would of had some buffer time to tweak things.


How close is the final outcome to what you originally thought it would be?
It was pretty close yet pretty far off at the same time.  I was really proud with how everything turned out, but I originally wanted to do the entire scene which was 13 minutes.  When I started to realize how much work was going into the project I had to scale things back quite a bit.


If you had one more month to work on the project what would you do?
I would continue to do complete the rest of the scene.  I was happy with how this turned out I just wish I could have gotten more done


What advice do you have for me about working on my capstone?
Make sure that you follow a timeline and set goals.  Also don't ignore the goals that you set.  You will find yourself in a bind real quick if you don't do this and most likely won't get as much done as you anticipated.

Progress report

1. I have made some significant progress in my capstone so far this semester.  I have captured a ton of footage that is going to me used in my film.  Most of the footage I have is of climbers out on the rock doing certain routes and of the community at different campsites and climbing areas.

2.  I have been meeting with my mentor at least every other week.  Sometimes once a week.  We have mostly talked about the progress that I have made on the footage and what footage I need to focus on getting next.  We have also talked about the story and how I can start developing it with interviews and some interview techniques to capture the essence that I am looking for in this film.

3. My timeline hasn't really changed all that much.  I am pretty much still on track.  Some things have gotten pushed back but thats only due to the fact that I have a lot more interviews than I anticipated at the beginning.  I will have to shoot some interviews in the spring semester and also maybe go back out and shoot some more footage of climbing, but I have allowed for that buffer already so as of now I can still say that I am on track.

4. I still need a lot more footage before I start the N499 course.  I have planned for that course to mostly consist of the post production work of my film so I need to be almost finished shooting footage by then.  I don't plan on taking that class until next fall so I have plenty of time to plan and make sure that everything is captured and cataloged before heading into post production.

5.  I haven't had any significant changes to the project since we have started.  The way the story is going be told is going to be slightly different than originally thought, but still the same idea will be conveyed.

Secondary mentor

I think the secondary mentor for capstone should be required.  Having another person to bounce ideas off of and critique your work.  I think there role is can be a variety of things.  The two main things are, being someone with expertise in an area that your mentor is not as well versed.  The other is to be a fresh set of eyes to your project as you continually progress in accomplishing it.  They can critique things that they see for the first time that they weren't aware was going to happen unlike your mentor who knows everything that is going to be taking place in your project.  I don't think a secondary mentor should be someone that has the same expertise as your primary mentor.  This almost defeats the purpose of the secondary mentor all together.  The secondary mentor is there to help make your project more diverse than what you originally intended it to be.

I think both Ricardo and Professor Defazio would be good secondary mentors.  They both have skills that I can incorporate into my project and help make it more diverse.  I also think finding someone in the industry would be very helpful.  They could help develop your project in a real world setting.  The only thing I have against a industry mentor is that they will skew your idea into what the industry standard is and risk your shot of doing something new and possibly creating the new industry standard.

Mentor Profile

1.  For my capstone I will be creating a documentary video on the community of rock climbing.  I will capture the essence that brings so many people from a diverse world to one activity to fill there free time.

2. For my mentor I am going to need someone that focuses on video production since that is the big chunk of my capstone.  I am also going to need someone that knows audio and has experience mixing music with interviews.  I will also need someone who could help me weave a story together using certain types of footage.  I might also want someone that knows photography to be able to capture the purest image using a dslr since that is the camera i will be using to shoot this video.

3.  For my mentor options I would like to talk with Thomas Lewis, Ricardo Laranja, and Joseph Defazio.

4.  I would like to work with Thomas because he focuses a lot on video and has a vast knowledge of documentary film making.  I would like to work with Ricardo because of his knowledge in audio production so I can have a good mix for my film.  Professor Defazio would be good to help me through the project management process helping to make sure I am meeting deadlines and everything progresses smoothly.

5. A) Thomas Lewis

1. Video Production 
2. Creating a unique idea and discovering new ways to accomplish it
3. Currently my mentor
4. Thomas does not want students working on horror films
5. Thinks it is a good idea for other needed areas of expertise and to bounce ideas off of.

B) Ricardo Laranja

1. Audio production
2. Coming up with a project that will take the scope of at least a semester to accomplish and challenges your abilities and knowledge about what you know about your idea
3. He is pretty full but has some spots left.  Currently in transition from New Media to the music department.
4. He says that most things are acceptable as long as they fit the scope of at least a semester
5. He thinks this is good for expertise in other fields that we may need for our project.

C) Joseph Defazio

1. Flash / Music / project management 
2. Creating a unique idea that can apply to real world businesses and clients today and for the future
3. Pretty full but does have a few spots available
4. He tries to put you in a position to come up with a new idea and how that applies to the world today but will help you expand on an idea that you have set in your mind
5. Thinks it is a great idea to have an industry mentor to help you through problems that you may foresee and will guide you in the ways that your idea is currently practiced.

Project Catagory

My project is going to definitely placed in the video category.  To be a little more specific, I am going to making a documentary film.  I have looked at others in the class and thought that it would be a good idea to work with Santiago Casar since we are going at this together.  Also if Jocque Carey decides to do his film on children's theatre then he would be a good fit for this group as well.

Class Discussion

During our class discussion last class, I started to gain a new perspective on what capstone really is about. There were a lot of little different things that I really liked, that I will incorporate into the progression of my project, but overall, my view shifted in the idea of what capstone really is. As we discussed in class, a lot of our ideas are very similar to just a normal class project. I think that capstone is something that could be considered something of ongoing research. It should be a project that encompasses new ideas for field in which your project is being produced. Capstone is something that we will put on display for future employers. In that sense alone, we want the project to incorporate everything that we are capable of. Not only that, we should be able to present it in a way that an employer that doesn't normally use an individual skill set would look at a project and question why he or she isn't doing that with there company. The main goal for almost every company across the globe is growth, so at some point in time they will need to use some sort of media. If my capstone is going to be a video, I a want to attract the attention of people that do programming and vise versa.

What is Capstone??

Capstone is a project that really puts into perspective the full extent of your abilities in a certain field. It allows you to develop and idea and then take action on that idea throughout a semester. It then not only becomes a finished product that you receive course credit for, but it is also the most prized piece in your portfolio. It allows a future employer to see what your passions are and what you are capable of doing. This is a project to not only do something that you already have the knowledge to do, but also learn new things along the way and figure out new ways to accomplish your end goal.