Final Project

The group having broken off into mini groups Marc and I will be sticking it out together to make a video on the Gold Crown bowling ally.

This project needs to incorporate two or more multimedia styles, so we will be shooting footage with a video camera, as well as getting stills and to get better sound in the interview we will be using a voice recorder.

We hope that in the interview we will get to be taken behind the pins, to see the machinery that sets the pins and the ball retriever.

The work will be split evenly between Marc and I. Marc will be taking all the photos and video footage and I will be doing the interview and sound recording. We will both be taking part in the editing, and final product.

Martial Arts Video Project

The dojo might be the basement of the Eagles Club, but every Wednesday night, residents of Bethlehem, NH are being transformed from beginners to black belts.

White Mountain Martial Arts is an independent Shotokan Karate Program that puts “martial arts in its proper perspective in today’s world.”  

Sensei Leon Currier, fourth degree black belt, teaches students of all color belts.    

“We’ve been open since November of ’97,” Currier explained. “I’ve taught some before, but mainly here.”

Shotokan is the most widespread and influential style of karate. It was developed from various martial art styles by Gichin Funakoshi.

The first official dojo Funakoshi built was named Shotokan, which is how the style received its name.  This dojo was destroyed in an allied bombing.

Funakoshi is credited for the popularity of karate clubs throughout the West because of the public demonstrations he would give. 

Today there is no leading organization guiding the way Shotokan is taught, but almost all styles include Funakoshi’s influence.

Currier teaches eleven forms of Shotokan depending on the level of ability his students have. To see the different forms and their explanations, click here.

Some of Currier’s students have been studying with him for as long as 8 years. 

“Sensei Tristan Emerson, second dan, eight-ish years,” student Tristan Emerson proclaimed. “Second dan” means that Emerson is a second degree black belt.

Currier describes the style of WMMA as “heavily dependant on the three K’s of karate.” This means there is a mixure of drills, forms of self defense, and sparring.

“We call our style ‘Tae-Sho Shotokan Karate,” explained Currier. The group has incorporated some Taekwondo into their style.

Classes are $10 per month and meet every Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Last two projects

The last video project is going to be on the martial arts club I go to.

The video that I have at the moment focuses on grappling and basic self-defense, and sparing.

I will be shooting some of the footage, with the possibility that someone else might need to get more.
Sam will be doing the story to go along with the video.
Mark and Sean will be doing the video editing.


Final Project

All ideas are still very tentative. Between trying to find something that interest the group and make the project include people we don't know.

We might try to find a microbrewery and do an interview/how to.

For this project we can split off and do the project as individuals.

Video project

Things are getting sticky in the Northeast Kingdom—or at least in a bathtub.

Sierra Willenburg, a senior graphic design major at Lyndon State College, recently finished filming her original thirty minute short film entitled “The Cyborg Rises Up from the Oatmeal” for Advanced Non-linear Video Editing.

Advanced Non-linear Video Editing is a required course for New Media majors with a video concentration. Willenburg had to take the required class as an independent study because it was not offered for the Spring semester.

In order to take an independent study from the college, students must fill out an independent study contract. The contract asks for students to state the purpose of the study, objectives, and reasons for taking the course independently.

Students also must have their instructor, their advisor, the dean and the department chair sign off on the study. Though the form may sound tedious, Willenburg was not annoyed by the process.

“I think I got it all done in a day or two,” she said in an email.

She also believes taking the course independently has not changed what she could have learned.

“I think [taking it as a class] would have been about the same,” Willenburg explained.

Willenburg co-wrote the script with friend and junior English major Peter Nute. They wrote the script while at a journalism conference in New York City.

Willenburg played the role of director and cinematographer and recruited friends and family to help with her with the project. Willenburg’s younger sister, Jaime Willenburg, is the focus of the film in her role as the cyborg. Cyborgs are fantasy creature who have both artificial and biological parts.

Detective White, played by digital media major Bryan White, and Detective Sherman, played by Nute, go to an apartment building to investigate a murder.

It is in this same apartment building that the Cyborg has been living in a bath tub filled with Oatmeal.

“Every time I move my feet there are these little, little, semi-cooked grains and they are kind of going up my pant legs,” Jaime explained how sitting in a bathtub full of oatmeal felt. “It’s not slightly pleasant.”

Though it was not a pleasant feeling, Jaime agreed her suffering was worth her art. Cast and crew worked, played, and acted for about five hours two days in a row to complete the filming process.

“I think this is going to be a great movie,” Barber said excited when filming was over. “I can’t wait to see it!”

Video project idea

With the groups collective brain only thinking of spring break, the ideas for  our video project didn't really add up to much.

Right now everything is still up in the air. Ideas included making a behind the scenes video of LSC students making a video, and going on campus and seeing what the school was like while students were on spring break...

As far as I know the group wanted to do the behind the scenes thing for our project but I haven't really gotten any details about when and where this thing is going to happen, so I might have to fall back on the empty campus idea.

The job distribution might go something like this (dependent mostly on if I hear back from anybody):
Sam- reporter/interviewer
Me- camera person
Marc- video editor
Sean- Write up

If I don't hear back from anybody I will have to do the empty campus thing and I might be both interviewer and camera person.