Project Report, Week Six

The projects are taking shape! City Farm had a productive week. Saturday we met at the Farm and shot a lot of video footage. Each member of the video team took turns shooting. This was fun for me. I graduated with a television production degree over 13 years ago. While I was in that program, I did several video production projects. After I graduated, I did studio camera work, and I dabbled in editing. But, my television career never moved into a video producer role. For the past 7 years my career focused on marketing and sales, so it's been refreshing to work in video production again.

I did have some concerns about how I would coordinate between both groups. I want experience working on the St. Joseph's graphics manual in addition to my contribution to the City Farm video group. Luckily, I ran into Michael earlier this week. I explained my situation. He gave me some useful suggestions, and he informed the project team leaders of my concerns. They agreed to break up the projects so I could participate in both groups. I really appreciated his help.

I'm glad we switched over to BaseCamp. It is so much easier to communicate and keep track of both projects’ progress. Just this morning I saw a post from Michael about a FCP computer that will be in our class tonight, yea! I was a little concerned about how we were going to coordinate editing. I have agreed to be the City Farm edit lead, so I have been trying to figure out how we would get access to an edit program. Not to mention, learn the software. I have some experience editing with Avid and Premiere, but I have not work with Final Cut. Our team definitely needs some training assistance, so hopefully having this computer in our classroom will give us the opportunity to learn from the edit experts in the class.

Finally, my last challenge is balancing school and being a full-time mommy. I took the winter quarter off to have our second child, a boy born on 1/21. I didn't want to delay my studies, but I thought it was necessary for me to take the winter off. It's a BIG adjustment having a second baby. Our first is 2.8 years, so in many ways, she is still a baby herself. Going back to school this spring has been interesting, to say the least. For example, right now I’m typing my blog post with my left hand only. My toddler girl wants to sit in my lap so she can watch Sesame Street with me. :) I'm not complaining. I'm so happy to have my babies (Lydia and Emerson) and to be in school. It's fulfilling for me to be back in school after years of professional work experience. I just have to figure out how to balance school work w/ mommying. It'll all work out in the end, and fingers crossed I'll have some good work to put in my portfolio.