Category Archives: Assignments

Hobo Speech Tutorial

The first thing to do is to record the speech itself. If you have a microphone, the easiest way is to record directly into Audacity. You could also use another program to record the speech, or record it on your phone and move it onto your computer. Either way , if the speech is saved separately, you can click “File” then “Open” and find the file you want to use.

file select

Next you’ll need to import the background noise you want to use. I found some city noises on Freesound. Click “File”, then highlight “Import” and click “Audio” and find the sound file you want to use.

import

If the sound is too short, you can highlight it, then copy and paste it to the end of itself, effectively doubling its length. If the sound is too long, you can highlight the excess portion and press the “Delete” key. You will most likely need to use a combination of the two.

Once the background noise is at an appropriate length, listen to the project and make sure everything sounds okay. If the speech is too quiet or the background noise too loud, you can use the volume controls on the left side of the screen to adjust accordingly. After you’re satisfied with the way it sounds, go ahead and export it as an MP3 file. To do this, click “File” then “Export”.

export

Now all that’s left is to upload the MP3 file to SoundCloud and write your blog post. Don’t forget to include all the right stuff in your post.

The Complete Package: Firefly

For this assignment, we were to make a trailer for a TV show that’s run its course. I chose the tragically short lived sci fi/western Firefly. Apparently you can watch the entire series on YouTube, plus it’s on Netflix. For anyone who hasn’t watched it yet, you’ve got some binge watching to do.

What’s the deal with this trailer then? Well, it’s a product of the evil wizard Nameijustmadeup. You see, Nameijustmadeup mind controlled all of the executives at Fox into cancelling the show early. However, Firefly is so awesome even someone as vile as Nameijustmadeup couldn’t help but be moved by. Thus, he made this trailer, hoping that at least more people would watch the current episodes.

First, I found the music I wanted to use. Then I took clips from the first episode and edited them into the order I wanted.

movie maker firefly screenshot

It was actually a fairly involved process. I spent a lot of time cutting out the right clips and playing with the volume settings. It definitely took a lot longer than I though it would.

That Bleeping Censor: Pulp Fiction

For this assignment, we were tasked with taking a movie clip and ruining it via censorship. So I thought to myself, “what good movies have lots of swearing?” Well, anything Quentin Tarantino would work, so I went with Pulp Fiction.

Why exactly would someone want to censor Pulp Fiction? After all, who would do such a thing to such a brilliant cinematic classic? It must be the work of some advanced alien race. They are trying to demoralize us before they take us over. It’s the only possible explanation.

The assignment page included a helpful video that details the process of censoring a video. In lieu of a tradition bleep, I decided to go with an old-timey car horn. The only tricky part was pinpointing the exact segments of the video that contain the swear words. That took a little bit of trial and error. If you feel the need to watch the video with every nasty syllable in tact, here’s the original: