IPB5

Time is not linear, it is a dimension.

Phintan had just enrolled in his courses at the University of Minnesota for the fall semester of 2011. Since he was a freshman without any incoming credits, he had to register near the end of the registration period. He was not able to take a course that would count towards his major, so he decided that he would just mess around and take astronomy. Phintan had always seen time as linear. The clock had always ticked the same speed for his whole life. He had only thought about history in terms of human civilizations which he could easily comprehend on the linear scale which he had always known. He began to look into the history of the universe and realizing that he could not comprehend it. The entire history he had known was just a blink of the eye in the history of the universe. Phintan was also looking into the movements of interstellar objects. He realized that time was relative. It was directly related to distance and all of the other known forces in the Universe. He realized that time represented another dimension. He still had a hard time comprehending it so he decided to watch Lebron james miss a bunch of free throws.

IPB4

Saying too much

On a cold winter day Phintan Lethert woke up early. It was the last Wednesday of school before winter break. Phintan was extremely tired. He had been up late the night before studying for his exams. Phintan was completely burnt out on school right now. His focus had shifted from getting good grades in school to watching NBA basketball. He was excited to see the Miami Heat play on Christmas day. Phintan had decided that he studied enough for his classes and he decided to coast into the break. Phintan spent the next few days getting his Miami Heat gear. He bought a Chris Bosh jersey even though it has been well established that Chris Bosh has no basketball talent. Phintan could hardly wait for the game. Phintan woke up around noon on Christmas. He was watching basketball all day leading up to the big game. On this day the Miami Heat would play against the L.A. Lakers. This game was set to be, by far, the most over hyped match up of two thoroughly below average teams in sports history. The Miami heat crushed the talentless Lakers and Phintan was thrilled. He thought about that game for the rest of the break. He relived every play numerous times in his head. He had become a bandwagon Heat fan and completely given up on his local team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, realizing that they would never get any talented players and always finish last in the NBA. Phintan came back to school when break ended and starting talking about how the Heat were the best team in the NBA his friends all told him " Wow your team beat the lakers. They might be average but saying they are the best team in the NBA is just saying too much".

IPB3

Ardent Authority dank
It was a dark dreary day in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was really no different than any other day at South high since there are no windows in that dark dank building. Phintan Lethert showed up to class late due to the extended filming of his dunk contest for his independent project that was due three days later. Phintan knew that he should have started earlier and picked a better project. He knew he should have worked with Zack and Lalisa on their awesome dodgeball project. Phintan had a lot of work to do. He had to study for AP tests, do and do a rough draft of his dunk contest video when, all of the sudden, his teacher reminded him that he had superfluous blog entries to complete by the end of the class period. Phintan did not understand why his teacher Dr. Hodge so ardently supported blogging. Phintan went to the Mac lab to do his blog Because he knew that if he did not complete his blog on time that Dr. Hodge had the authority to fail him and make him repeat the 12th grade. When Phintan completed his blog he went to leave the Mac lab, but the door was locked. Phintan tried to call his friend Walker, but Walker's phone had just been confiscated following his crushing loss to Lalisa in Word Feud. Phintan's phone ran out of power and shut down and soon the lights in the Mac lab went out. One of the computers turned on. Phintan thought he could probably send his other teacher, Niel, an email to unlock the door. The computer was locked. Soon all of the computers turned on one by one. All of the sudden a video began to play on all of then simultaneously. It was Lebron James attempting to make a free throw.

IPB2

Onion Story

LOCAL MAN UPSET WITH LEBRON JAMES' AFTER MISSED FREE THROW
Local man Fintan Lethert is upset with Miami Heat player Lebron James after missing two consecutive free throws in the last 10 seconds of the Heat's 74- 50 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Fintan has been a heat fan since the arrival of Lebron James and Chris Bosh. Chris Bosh also missed his fair share of free throws, possibly due to his lack of basketball talent. Fintan said "I expected more of Lebron James. I knew Wade and Bosh couldn't make a free throw to save their lives" He later added "Lebron should have been able to make those free throws. After all it was like the 30th time he went to the charity stripe in that game. James would not comment on his performance. After the game Tim Duncan was seen practicing free throws even though his team was not fortunate enough to come from a large market and, as a result, did not get to shoot many free throws. Duncan also added "In basketball today every game comes down to free throws, you know, unless you are playing the Timberwolves. They are usually able to lose early enough in the game so free throws do not really matter." Tim Duncan lead all scorers with 16 points, going 6 for 6 at the free throw line. When asked about free throws Spurs guard Tony Parker said "Free throws are basically free points. Anyone who can't make a free throw consistently should not be playing in the NBA. Lethert later went out to his basketball hoop in his backyard. He attempted 30 free throws going 24 for 30, even though he had taken almost a year off from basketball. Lethert said" I mean, how can a guy who gets paid millions of dollars just to shoot a basketball miss that many free throws. He (Lebron James) should be more like Tim Duncan and practice once in a while. Maybe then he could win a title, like Tim Duncan." It is too late for the Heat this year. Maybe Lebron James will actually practice during his long offseason, but even so his next season will probably end in another spectacular showing of failure. Fintan has finally accepted that the Miami Heat are not going to win an NBA title anytime soon. He finally accepted his Irish roots and switched to rooting for the Celtics, a move that would not have been possible before they picked up Keven Garnet and Ray Allen, and got back to their winning ways.

IPB1

This was some adventure huh?
It was a warm summer day. Fintan rolled out of bed at the usual time, one o'clock in the afternoon. Immediately he said to himself "today is going to be a great day". He thought this because he was going to have a basketball game today. It was the first game of the summer intramural basketball season at the University of Minnesota. Fintan arrived before any of his teammates, five minutes before the game. He watched some clips of Lebron James' famous crab dribble to prepare himself for the game until his teammates arrived exactly five minutes later. The referees showed up five minutes after that and the game started right about when everyone thought it would. Fintan had usually been able to score about twenty points per game with around fourteen rebounds. Today was different. Fintan had the best game of his life. He scored sixty points and had thirty rebounds. His team won and he was the MVP. The team decided to at blarney's in Dinkytown. Fintan had a pretty convincing fake I.D. so it was not a problem for him to be served. The team had a great time and drank late into the night. After a while Fintan's teammates started leaving and eventually Fintan was the last one there. He left Blarney's right when it closed at 2am. He was walking home by the river when a man jumped out of the bushes and attacked him. The man took his laptop and his wallet, but Fintan was able to keep him from taking his phone. He started to dial 911 when he realized that he was drunk and under 21 years old. Calling the police was not an option, but he had to get his laptop back because it contained the only copy of his dunk video where he came in second beating Lebron James, John Wall, and Jimmer Fredette. The only guy to out dunk Fintan was Tim Duncan. It was the greatest dunk video ever made and ESPN offered one million dollars for it. Luckily his good friend, Tim Duncan, was still in town. Fintan decided to call Tim Duncan for help. Tim arrived by the river shortly. Fintan was able to trace the location of his laptop with his cell phone. Tim drove over to the man's house with Fintan and roughed the man up until he was able to recover Fintan's stuff. Tim gave Fintan a ride home and signed some Spurs 2011 NBA championship gear for him. The next day Fintan sold his video to ESPN for one million dollars and courtside season tickets to Spurs games.

Blog 10

We are almost done with our documentary. We are just putting the finishing touches on our editing. I think our project will be good.

As painful as it was, I actually read the poem. I don't have any problems with it except that it is poetry and poetry is boring. It sends the same message as every book that I was assigned to read freshmen year; even though we may not always be what society thinks we should be, we can still try to be successful, or something like that. The woman who the poem is about has different customs from society, but doesn't care.

Blog 10

We are almost done with our documentary. We are just putting the finishing touches on our editing. I think our project will be good.

As painful as it was, I actually read the poem. I don't have any problems with it except that it is poetry and poetry is boring. It sends the same message as every book that I was assigned to read freshmen year; even though we may not always be what society thinks we should be, we can still try to be successful, or something like that. The woman who the poem is about has different customs from society, but doesn't care.

Blog 9

My group is done filming. We did not get very good interviews initially but Walker went back to School of Rock to get interviews from some of the adults there to help us piece our story together. We loaded almost all of our footage onto MTN's computers and have already started editing.

The article assigned for this blog post, "Defending Freedom and Freedom of Speech" discusses the lack of freedom in Cuba as well as the nation's desire for freedom. The article begins by stating "Freedom of speech, if it is to be real it must be extended to everyone". This is the basis for the entire passage. The article claims that only one voice is really heard in the Cuban media, the voice of the dictator. All citizens who disagree with the opinions of the dictator are not heard. This weakens the nation because without opposing views, no progress can be made. The only way the people of Cuba can be truly free is if they are all allowed to express all of their ideas freely.

Blog

We are done filming. Walker is going to load the footage onto the MTN computers today. After that we have to edit and after that we will be done. Everything seems to be going well.
This story is young minority children growing up in a Chicago slum in the 1960's. The story is told by Martin Luther King Jr. He remembers the violence the most vividly. He also explains how they are taught to be violent. He explains how the peaceful teachings of community leaders was the most valuable gift these kids could receive.

Documentary Blog Post #7

The group is still working together pretty well. We finished our trailer on time and are now gathering more footage for the documentary. After we finish shooting we will continue editing.

It seems like the man in the poem "A Bed for the Night" is asking for money and support for the homeless on a winter night. He is alone on this mission. What he does alone will not change the world but if he inspires others to do the same maybe he can.

Documentary Blog Post #6

The project is going well right now. Everybody in the group seems to be fully aware of their responsibilities. We just finished interviewing and we have all the b roll footage we need. Walker has footage of some of his old concerts so we have good video and sound. We will try to go back to the School of Rock to get some extra footage and ask a few more questions. I am very satisfied with where we are right now.

In "Fellowship" by Franz Kafka there is a narrator telling the story. The narrator explains that there are five members in his group and that there is another who wants to join. They do not want to allow this for some reason that they really do not explain.

Documentary Blog Post #5

We are just beginning the interview process. Walker has set up some interviews for early next week. He will also be filming some B-roll footage. We are in the process of putting together some possible questions for he interviews. We are planning on editing next Friday during class. I like our plan so far. We have all been involved in discussions about our project almost on a daily basis.

In "English B" by Langston Hughes, Hughes describes how all things he observes and all things that affect him are parts of him. Even though he and his professor have many differences, they influence each other. Hughes tells us that he is the only "colored" person in his class. He says that even though he and his classmates have come from different backgrounds, the shared experiences of this class has brought them together.

Documentary Blog Post #4 real one

Right now my group has an outline of what we want to get done and who is taking responsibility for it. We are not using the same one as we filled out in class though there are many similarities. Walker is just about to contact the potential interviewees to set up interviews and shoot B-roll footage. Walker will also play the biggest part in formulating the questions and I will conduct the actual interviews. Ian will be in charge of filming the interviews. Walker will be in charge of gathering B-roll because he has the greatest access to the people we will be working with. We also want to distance Walker from the actual interviews to get responses to our questions and not to Walker. He will still be there to help everyone feel comfortable.

I learned that it is important to make sure the interviewee is comfortable to get good responses to our questions. We also need to make sure that they include information from the question when answering the question.

Documentary Blog #2

My group is Walker, Ian, and myself. We are strongly leaning toward doing a project focusing on the local music scene. We were thinking about focusing even more on a single music venue that Walker has a connection to. WE discuss potential directions to go with our documentary almost every day. We just need to officially pick a topic and develop our ideas further.

"How Real Does It Feel" Response. I learned about how documentaries are very rarely unbiased and how film making developed with the reaction of the audience. I was surprised to hear about the French train story. How are we going to keep the audience entertained? I think a good sound track will do the trick.

PSA Blog Post #7

My PSA project was a success. I learned a lot about how big of an issue sleep deprivation is. I learned about the effects, both in the short term and long term on the body. I learned about how to convey a message to the community through balancing factual information with entertainment. This project has also helped me understand the importance of recognizing a target audience and making the video appealing to them. I also learned about editing video and the importance of choosing and varying shots. I feel like I learned the most from the trial and error of making this project. The most challenging aspect of this unit has been finding time to get the group to work together. This unit could be improved by adding more training at the start of the course focusing on editing.

PSA blog post #6

I think my group's PSA is effective because it is fast paced and humorous. It also has serious information. I think the humor in this PSA will draw the audience in enough to get our information but not overwhelm the message about how serious sleep deprivation is. It is almost ready to be handed in and go on air. We will finish it on Sunday at MTN. We know what we need to change based on detailed notes I took during last Sunday's editing session and group discussions in class and in our Facebook group. Having a Facebook group has really helped us out a lot in improving our group's communication and I would strongly recommend that other groups in the future give it a shot as well. I am satisfied with what we have so far and satisfied with where this is going.

Blog Post #5

I am content with my group's P.S.A. so far although we are not yet done editing. We are booked for six hours of editing right now. We will hopefully get most of this done on Friday; whatever is left will need to be done on Sunday. We have been having some issues with finding time to work on this project as a complete group. Now we understand that we don't need everyone in the group to be working on the project all at once. We will still have everyone's input and everyone will still work on it at some point. We have also been communicating pretty well and we feel that we have a good idea of what the group wants as well as what each individual member wants. Our filming went well. We took a lot of footage and we were very efficient with our filming. We were able to shoot our scenes mostly in order and used our storyboard to plan our shots. We also shot most of our footage at multiple angles. Overall I am very happy with our P.S.A. project.

PSA Blog #4

My group is currently in the planning phase of our project. Our storyboard is done and should be easy to follow. This could potentially be shot in one night. We just need to figure out when and where we are filming as well as a few lines of dialog. We still need to check out equipment, film, and edit. We all agree on our idea and how it should be carried out. The obstacles we are facing include Finding out where to film and finding a time when we are all available to film. Based on the Sunday editing sessions we will definitely have some disagreements on the shots we choose to use. It wasn't that bad though and should be easier because we have a concrete plan.

PSA Blog #3

The biggest challenge my group has faced so far on this PSA project has been finding a way to convey our message showcasing the negative effects of sleep deprivation while keeping the audience entertained. We are going to use a character that punches people in the face for staying up too late to add some comedy to our message. We hope to do this without losing the seriousness of our message. Another smaller challenge has been with the story board. We do not have anyone in our group who is very talented in art. Fintan's drawings are the best we can do. We seem to be working well as a group so far. I think that has been crucial and will continue to be crucial in the success of our project.

PSA Blog #2

I thought my group's PSA went well.  We got some good feedback and now have some good new ideas to incorporate into our PSA. It should be easy to film when it's dark outside because of the time change. I thought my group did a nice job of laying out the plot and facts of sleep deprivation but we will need to learn more information about our topic in order to make a strong PSA.  Our topic is important because it negatively impacts a large group of people, especially high school students, who also happen to be our target audience.  We will appeal to our target audience through humor, but maintaining a strong connection to our message.