Reflection: 3/25/11

Reflection
What knowledge is being reviewed? What new knowledge has been introduced?
Today was involved less than half the class presenting their Music Video presentations regarding a selected representative music video used to explore film-related techniques used to make them. The knowledge reviewed and in some places, introduced, was the camera techniques, editing techniques, colors and lighting of general films and how they are used to create a music video's effects, storyline and message throughout. Much of this knowledge had been taught by Ms.Wong prior and researched by many of us for our own music videos as well as a requirement for the making of our own music videos. Things like medium shots, incident lighting, color meanings, or panning and tilting were crucial in the exploration in music videos and the effects they created were subsequently reviewed. Some new knowledge introduced were, for instance specific meanings of certain colors such as blue or green. For example, when used as lighting in a dark scenario, it makes the scene look immediately ominous, as used in Michael Jackson's thriller. Much of this knowledge helps consolidate our understanding while simultaneously assisting us in the creation of our own music videos, as this knowledge could be used to further enhance our own videos.
Evaluation
How did I interact with my class/group today?
For each presentation, I took jot down some basic feedback and comments about their general presentation and information inclusion. I found that many people lacked sufficient depth in their exploration into their music video. Most people only saw the basics and talked about how they worked in their own music videos, ignoring the requirement to talk about how those aspects affect music videos in general. Also, there was a noticeable lack of multiple aspects in a given group, such as camera techniques. Some were incorrectly identified, and only did one or two when there was, in reality, many more that should and could have been observed and explained. I also noticed that many people's presentation's were short, and the only reason they appeared to be long was because they unnecessarily showed their music video which took up the bulk of their time while it could have been substituted by images or short cuts. All this means that many people were not working hard enough or aren't very observant.
How can I improve my knowledge?
Since most people's knowledge area were, in my view, somewhat inadequate, I should ensure that I know much more. Even though I have already extensively traversed my music video multiple times and examined the internet for sub-specific terminology and meanings, I should consolidate my knowledge further to ensure I retain the maximum amount of information while further improve my knowledge. This can be done my looking over my notes, presentation and further researching into the subject of music videos.