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ELIZABETH CHOE: So we have been talking a lot about, sort of,
the theory of things, but I know you guys
want to get into the practice.
At the end of class, we have a lot
of plastic elements in the back that Ceri
will help you guys check out.
Some cameras, mics, headphones, tripods.
If you guys want to just use your iPhones
for tonight's assignment, that's totally fine as well.
Chris brought up a lot of really good points of just framing,
practicalities of filming.
I do want you to consider, though, that web video breaks
a lot of these rules as well.
So you'll notice that Sideshow doesn't do the rule of thirds
framing at all.
Hankering just--
AUDIENCE: All rules are made to be broken.
ELIZABETH CHOE: Yes, yes.
But he does that very intentionally.
A lot of it is because-- the way his videos go,
he'll look to the side and a little image will pop up.
So I think part of what he does that is to leave room
for some of those visuals.
And Vsauce does it because he's just super up-close.
It's a little weird to do a rule of thirds
when you're so up-close because you don't have a background
to get rid of so much.
So don't feel like you have to adhere to a rule
just because we said, you have to do this,
you have to do this.
Thoughtfulness is one of the values,
so as long as you justify it in your reflection
or in your assignments somehow, it's totally fine.
So for today's assignment, in addition to the two readings
that are online-- and don't worry, they're pretty short
and they're fun-- we're going to have you guys make
a video on, basically, a circus sideshow pitch about a video
that you're eventually going to make for your final project.
And it's OK if this ends up changing,
it's just an exercise to get you guys started, to get
you familiar with the camera.
Don't worry about doing crazy camera moves or anything.
If all you want to do tonight is to set up your tripod
and mic up, and deliver your pitch, that's totally fine.
We just want you guys to get familiar
with all the equipment.
But, basically, it is going to be selling an idea or topic
about science, technology, engineering, or math that
should convince someone to want to watch your eventual video.
And again, it's OK if you change the idea.
I do want you guys to brainstorm three ideas in addition
to the pitch video that you make.
You don't have to post them online or write them down.
Just have them in your head for class tomorrow
because we're going to have some very special guests speakers
first thing tomorrow, who will help you with these pitches.
So to give you an idea of the type of thing
that we're looking for.
Again, don't necessarily copy this video exactly.
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]
-What is the most astounding fact
that you can share with us about the universe?
-The most astounding fact--
-The most astounding fact.
- --is the knowledge that the atoms that comprise life
on earth.
The atoms that make up the human body
are traceable to the crucibles that
cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core,
under extreme temperatures and pressures.
These stars, the high mass ones among them,
went unstable in their later years.
They collapsed and then exploded,
scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy.
Guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen,
and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself.
These ingredients become part of gas clouds that condense.
Collapse.
Form the next generation of solar systems,
stars with orbiting planets.
And those planets now have the ingredients for life itself.
So when I look up at the night sky-- and I
know that yes, we are part of this universe.
We are in this universe, but perhaps
more important than both of those facts,
is that the universe is in us.
When I reflect on that fact, I look up--
many people feel small, because they're small
and the universe is big-- but I feel big.
Because my atoms came from those stars.
[END PLAYBACK]
ELIZABETH CHOE: So obviously you don't
have to do a super dramatic thing like Neil deGrasse
Tyson did.
Again, don't feel like you have to go home and contemplate
on life's mysteries, and how evolution is just
this beautiful thing that happens on earth,
and it's an amazing thing or whatever.
But the reason why I wanted to show you
that video is because the actual plastic elements of making that
were pretty straightforward.
Pretty simple, just two cameras on a tripod.
Nothing too crazy.
But he still, hopefully, manages to engage you somewhat.
I mean, I personally wanted to keep watching,
keep learning about it.
That's partially because of his persona, which
some people find off-putting.
So again, it's a matter of taste.
What he does here is just, sort of,
rattle off this theme of-- I think the thesis
of this whole conversation that they have is
that you take this misconception that we all
think that we're part of the universe,
but really the universe, and all the things that make it up,
are inside of us.
He has this sort of fact, or nugget,
that he builds upon to create this bigger narrative.
All right, so for Science Out Loud, George and I
just did an episode on snot.
And the way we started it way was--
one of my former professors here, Katharina Ribbeck.
Her lab studies mucus, and I was reading about her
in Popular Science, because she just
got this big feature in it.
And one of the facts they talked about
was that your body produces over a gallon of mucus a day,
which I thought was, like-- how does that happen?
That's disgusting.
We think of snot as the stuff that oozes out of us when we're
sick, and the stuff that we blow out into tissues
and throw away.
But actually it's so important that our body makes
over a gallon of it a day.
And that it does more than just come out of our nose
when we're sick or when we're crying.
That it's doing things, like providing moisture
for our bodies, which doesn't sound like a big deal, right?
Until you think about your body without mucus.
That your eyes would dry out, and you wouldn't
be able to swallow because your esophagus would get ripped up
every time you tried to eat something.
And then you think of mucus of being more than just this sort
of bodily waste that comes out of you,
but really this amazing thing that takes care of you
in a way that's so important that you
make over gallon of it a day.
And that sort of became the pitch
the circus sideshow, step right up type of thing that
informed the rest of our video.
And so that's the kind of thing I
want you guys to be thinking about tonight,
and want you guys to record.
Now we very well could have had you guys just write a pitch,
but I think it would be more fun to make a video.
I mean, I think it's good for you guys
to get used to using the cameras and the plastic elements.
So again don't worry about-- are my camera
movements good enough?
You don't even have to move the camera if you don't want to.
Feel free to play around with it if you want.
But really focus on clarity for this assignment.
So set up the camera in such a way,
and set up the lighting in such a way
that you're very clearly visible.
We are going to give you these little lavalier mics,
so make sure that your audio's very clear.
Those are going to be the priorities for this assignment.
And then make your pitch very engaging,
and think of three backup ideas just in case.
Does that sound good?
I had one more example, too.
We can show it.
[VIDEO PLAYBACK]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
-Hello, this is Hank Green, and welcome to SciShow.
You might have noticed I talk a lot about how great plants are.
And why shouldn't I?
They're autotrophs.
They can harness the raw, untamed power of the sun
and use it to make food for themselves.
Pretty impressive.
So why can't animals do it?
Well oddly enough, some of them do.
And in just the past few years, researchers
have been discovering animals that
seem to be able to harvest sunlight for energy.
Take for instance, the eastern emerald elysia, a sea slug that
looks like a big floating leaf.
It lives along the East Coast of the United States,
where it just hangs out eating a specific kind of yellow-green
al--
[END PLAYBACK]
ELIZABETH CHOE: So I just wanted to show
you that as an example of a style and delivery.
It's very different from the Neil deGrasse Tyson,
but again, same concept.
So don't feel like you have to be Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Don't feel like you have to be Hank Green and talk like this,
and jump back and forth between, like, closeup and wide screen.
But hopefully that gives you an idea
of what you guys need to make tonight.
If you guys have any questions, I'll stick around after class.
You can always email me too.
So for tonight, stem pitch video.
Ceri's going to come and talk now
about what that process exactly looks like.
But basically, always look at the online version
of the syllabus, because I might tweak some things day to day,
but the stuff for day one is totally up-to-date right now.
You'll post yours stem pitch to Tumblr with the hashtag
"dayonepitch" and a hashtag of your Kerberos ID,
so that's-- all the SUTD students,
you guys have an MIT ID, right?
OK, so it's just your username.
And then you'll post a daily blog,
and that's going to happen every day.
Just reflections of what happened in class.
If you want to take pictures during class,
if you want to record video tomorrow, feel free to.
Tomorrow will be a great day to record video, just saying.
And then there are two readings that I'd
like you guys to annotate on Annotation Studio, which Ceri's
going to show you right now, as well.
And then just bring three other pitch ideas to class tomorrow.
Did everyone get the email about class timing shifted up
tomorrow?
So if you guys want to show up at 12:10,
that would be good, because our guest
lecturers are coming at 12:15.
And we'll end class at 3:15 tomorrow.
CERI RILEY: This is Annotation Studio.
It's on annotationstudio.org and it's
where you're going to be doing your reading assignments.
So what you need to do is just go to the website.
Click sign up for sign in.
And it's a really easy registration form.
First name, last name, email, I use my MIT email.
Affiliation, just put MIT.
And a password.
And the most important thing, so you
can get the assignments in the first place,
is to type in the class.
So you just need to do 20219, press Enter,
and it'll be blue, to like, confirm that you're in it.
Read and accept the terms of service, check that box,
and register.
And so I'll show you what it looks like.
So this is what you'll see when you sign in.
You won't have any created documents,
but you'll have assigned documents.
The two that we want you to read and annotate
are the first two-- "You Can't Make It on YouTube Anymore,"
and "This Will Revolutionize Education."
You'll click on it, and it'll bring you
to the document itself.
So for example, this is the first one.
And you'll be able to read along and highlight it, and add
in your thoughts as you go along.
So for example, you're reading it.
You're reading about Hank Green, and how he
was invited to New TeeVee Live.
I was starting my own online media conference,
and maybe you're thinking, well what is that?
So you can say, does anyone--
[TYPING]
And then add some tags.
I don't know what tags really do, but then everyone can see
that annotation and who did it.
And I'm not sure, because we haven't played around
with this software too much, but you probably
will be able to comment on each other's annotations.
So if for some reason someone poses a question like this,
and someone knows the answer, it's Vid Con.
Then they can respond.
You can add pictures, you can add links.
And it's just really handy because then you
can see people's idea flows as they go through the document.
ELIZABETH CHOE: Just so you guys know,
we're grading the annotation just on a three point scale.
If you put effort into it, you put marginal,
if you did it at all.
Don't feel like that you have to spend hours and hours on this.
These readings are pretty fun, I mean, one was posted on Medium.
It's not a super dry academic platform.
And the other one's a YouTube video.
So just respond honestly.
Don't feel like we're expecting huge analyses of these,
but we do want to see you guys creating it and taking
[INAUDIBLE].
CERI RILEY: OK, the other thing I was going to show you guys.
How many of you have used Tumblr before as a platform?
OK, so a couple.
So that's going to be our main blog, I guess, for this class.
I've sent you guys all an email invitation to join the website
and be able to use it.
This is what the main website looks
like, you should have already looked at it earlier today.
The main things are that there are
links on this top bar to the stellar, which we probably
won't use, Annotation Studio, and an ask box.
And so I'll be on the Tumblr monitoring it all the time.
So you can ask questions there.
There's lists of all our Kerberoses,
so we'll organize our posts with your MIT ID.
Then it's also organized so you can
look at specific assignments, like day one, daily blogs,
and things like that, which are all sorted and dependent on you
guys tagging your posts correctly.
And then there's also reference material.
This bottom tab on the left side bar
is probably most useful for you guys.
I can't scroll down right now because there aren't
enough posts, but it has things like a list
of all the assignments that Elizabeth will post.
Answered questions, and a how to use Tumblr and upload
videos on YouTube, which I'll go through, hopefully, really
quickly, so you guys don't have to stay too long.
For those of you who haven't used Tumblr, when you login,
when you accept the invitation to join the blog,
it'll look like this.
This is your dashboard.
I have multiple accounts, and so if you have multiple accounts,
you have to go up here, and choose MIT 219.
And this is going to be exactly what your dashboard is
going to look like.
And so, from here, you can make different types of posts.
We're probably going to use two most often, text and a video.
And so for a text post, you just click Text post.
You can give it a title.
Put something in the body.
And we request that you tag things with specific names
depending on the assignments.
So Elizabeth gave examples of what
we want you to do for your daily blogs, which is "day one",
or whatever data is and your MIT Kerberos.
And so for example, if this was my daily blog for today,
I would type in "day one", enter, and then
my Kerberos, which is ceriley.
And it'll be different for your video
that you end up uploading to the site.
And you can include images in this.
You can include other things, like links if need be,
if you find that necessary to your blog.
And click Post.
And then you should be able to see it right here
on your dashboard, and also on the website
if you go click there.
OK so if you're making a video post-- how many of you
have-- have any of you uploaded a video to YouTube before?
OK, this is more familiar.
ELIZABETH CHOE: Is there a way to just upload
directly your files to Tumblr, right?
CERI RILEY: There is, but there's
a five minute limit per day.
PROFESSOR: OK.
So for tonight's assignment, if you just
want to upload your raw video file to Tumblr,
that's totally fine.
But eventually, for some of the drafts,
you may need to upload it to YouTube.
CERI RILEY: So I'm just going to go through this really briefly.
YouTube.com.
If you have a Gmail account, you have a YouTube account
automatically.
They're linked because Google owns everything.
Just click Upload in the upper right hand corner.
Select files to upload.
I have an example video that I shot this morning.
OK, so here you have basic information.
You can choose a title.
A description.
And this is-- you can tag it with anything you want.
This is the key part, I think, to YouTube,
is where-- how you want to upload it.
So public means anyone can search it through the search
bar, through Google searches.
It'll be available to the public.
Private means you have to enter certain email addresses,
and those are the people who can access
it using their Gmail accounts.
I like doing unlisted personally because then,
if you have the link to the video, you can access it.
But if you don't have the link to the video, you can't see it.
It keeps, like, my draft videos like this one, no one
will want to watch it.
Eight seconds of me talking to a phone camera.
Private enough from, like, the rest of the world.
But you can still post the link places, like the Tumblr,
and have it be accessible.
And so I like unlisted, but you can do whatever
you want with your videos.
So you saw that the video uploaded, and then it
takes a little time to process.
And that's just YouTube doing things
so that it can be played.
That's my video.
Now it's available, the processing is really quick
because it was eight seconds.
And to upload on Tumblr, just copy the URL or the embed code.
Make a video post.
Paste it in here.
There's no thumbnail yet because I haven't chosen one.
YouTube sets one automatically after a couple minutes.
I can tag it with day one, and my username, and set a caption.
And post it.
And it will appear on my dashboard, and on the website.
So this is just like the general process.
Under the References tab on the Tumblr,
there's more detailed if you forget any of these steps.
Or are having any trouble, or feel free
to email me at any time and I could help troubleshoot
any steps of this process.
If you prefer Vimeo, you can also
upload it there and just paste in the URL.
If you already have Vimeo account,
or something like that.
So I know we held you guys to the last possible minute,
so we'll let you go ahead and go.
ELIZABETH CHOE: If you need any equipment tonight,
Ceri and I will stick around and check out stuff to you that you
can keep for the month.
If you want to just use your iPhone tonight,
that's also fine.
Just make sure you're lit well enough,
and that we can hear you well enough for tomorrow.
And if you have any questions, we'll stick around after class.
So see you tomorrow at 12:10.