Oops, I did it again—I shot and edited Episode 2 this week! I need to work on the titles for next week. They’re not essential, but they should at least be readable. Other than that, I’m quite happy with how Episode 2 turned out.
I waste a lot of time recording… I really need to get better at that. That said, I managed to hide quite a few of my edits in this video, so I’m improving. Still, there were way too many useless takes.
But I digress. Please enjoy:
Let’s do a quick & dirty one:
That’s it for today. See you tomorrow!
I gave my students the task to create a playlist with songs that help them get through this strange time. Part one of the task was to compile the playlist, and they also had to write a few sentences about each song and why they chose it.
I decided to do the task as well, and here’s the result. You can click on the here to open it on Spotify.
I tried (or at least pretended) to be eclectic in my music taste and decided not to use some all-time favorites. Instead, I went mostly for quiet and somber songs with beautiful crescendos. Most of the tracks are light on electric instruments, focusing on piano, strings, and similar elements. That wasn’t a strict rule—I simply chose songs that work well in the background as much as for active listening.
Here we go:
A good playlist starts strong—you need to communicate that you mean business and introduce the theme of your playlist.
Track 1: “In the House – In a Heartbeat (28 Days Later OST)” by John Murphy
Yes, I’m opening with the soundtrack to a zombie apocalypse. This track has a driving quality, an almost relentless crescendo that ends very quietly with just a guitar.
Because, as we all know, you start strong and then you calm things down…
Track 2: “Diamond” by Bandit Heart
…crickets… and then we ease into this melancholic song. “Time is a bandit…” It certainly feels like COVID-19 has stolen a lot of time from us.
Okay, let’s keep the mood but with a bit more oomph.
Track 3: “Fake Empire” by The National
I love this song, especially for Berninger’s baritone voice—you don’t hear that often in this style of music. The song has a somber tone, yet it’s weirdly engaging and almost uplifting, leading us perfectly to…
Track 4: “Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car” by Iron & Wine
Time to get a bit folky. These are strange times, but let’s try to stay upbeat, live in the moment, and let the rhythm and strings soothe us.
Which brings us to Tracks 5 & 6—the midpoint of this 10-song playlist. It’s time to bring the heat… and turn things up.
Track 5: “Defying Gravity (from Wicked)” by Stephen Schwartz
There are many musical power ballads, but there’s only one Defying Gravity. Performed by Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel (yes, Elsa from Frozen), this song truly lifts you off the ground—and we could all use a bit of that right now. (Side note: I could do a whole playlist of musicals, and depending on how long this goes on, I just might.)
And we stay strong with…
Track 6: “Your Song (Live)” by Elton John
Even with social distancing, there’s room for one of the greatest love songs of all time. This live version, performed in Australia with an orchestra, adds an extra layer of magic. It was either this or Tiny Dancer.
Now it’s time to calm things down again before the big finale…
Track 7: “Pt. II C (The Köln Concert)” by Keith Jarrett
We stick with the piano, but now it’s solo piano jazz, performed by Keith Jarrett. If you don’t know it, The Köln Concert is one of the most beloved jazz albums of all time, and “Pt. II C” was technically the encore. The music is stunningly beautiful, and I highly recommend the whole album. Fun fact: Jarrett wanted to cancel the performance because he had a cold.
Track 8: “Giorgio by Moroder” by Daft Punk
Time to bring in the groove with Daft Punk and Giorgio Moroder, the “Father of Disco.” This track has one of the greatest “needle drops” ever and is one of my favorite Daft Punk songs. I also recommend their Tron: Legacy soundtrack.
As we near the end, it’s time to return to the theme…
Track 9: “The Nature of Daylight” by Max Richter
A piece of music that explores the meaning of time—something we’re all reflecting on right now. What does time even mean in the age of corona? Max Richter is a German-British composer who blends classical and contemporary styles. Another great piece to explore is Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons.
And finally…
Track 10: “My Body is a Cage” by Peter Gabriel
From his album Scratch My Back, Peter Gabriel covers this Arcade Fire song with a stunning orchestral arrangement. It’s hauntingly beautiful… and don’t we all feel a bit caged at the moment?
And with that, there’s nothing left to say. Stay healthy.
Back from a little blog break. I had a relatively quiet weekend 1. I uploaded an old video essay of mine—damn you, YouTube content filter—and then I uploaded an edited version again. 2
I’m already working on another video essay, and I think I’ve got a decent plan for this week’s episode of “Mr. Vogt Explains.” The plan is to write it on Wednesday, record some new band inserts, and then, like last week, shoot and edit the episode on Thursday. At least, that’s the plan.
I spent most of the day correcting assignments. As long as my students hand in their work like they’re supposed to, the workflow is pretty smooth. I use my iPad for corrections, so I can write with “a pen” without needing to print or scan anything. When it works, it feels like magic… unless… well, let’s not go there.
Time to grab some dinner, then it’s back to more correcting before heading to bed early to get rid of this jet lag—damn you, daylight savings time.
Feedback on the video has been good! I only shared it with a couple of students, and I’m not claiming I’ve hit the YouTube jackpot, but one could say the video went a bit viral. 🙂
That being said, work on Episode Two has officially begun. I’m aiming for that 10-minute mark. I’ll probably record some more band reactions, and I’ve got a few ideas for “Anonymous Reporting.”
One thing I might have to introduce, though: “RANT!” Guess what—the video got copyright flagged for the short Corona Song clip. I’m probably not going to dispute the claim since there’s no money in it, but doing a segment on copyright could be an interesting idea.
On another note, I’m toying with the idea of making the next video really educational. If something besides Corona comes up over the weekend, I’m seriously going to consider it.
Another idea: I could base a video on one of the topics my students are working on, like the Revolution of 1848 or WWII, and make it both educational and fun. WWII with jokes—what could possibly go wrong?
I’m taking a blog break this weekend. I have to get started on some grading—apparently, if you let your students do work, you eventually have to correct it. Who knew?
Besides that, I need to get my new D&D campaign up and running. I’ve outlined the first few sessions and know where I want the campaign to go, but I’ll need to adapt to the new circumstances. It’s going to be a bit of “trial and error,” but by now, I’m used to that.
If it works out, I might even try to join an online D&D game myself.
WWII with jokes—what could go wrong?
So, yeah, I published the video. It’s not perfect, and it’s definitely not where I want the show to end up, but as a first effort, I’m quite happy. I need some time to find my footing and figure out what I want the show to be. The first episode was definitely more style over content. For the next one, I’ll focus more on content, improvise more, and try to “find the show” in the editing process.
The band was a great idea, though—it makes it easier to cut and hide takes. “Anonymous Reporting” stays as well.
But here I am, rambling about a show you haven’t even seen yet. Please enjoy!
Yeah, the thing with the computer didn’t go so well. I had to start from scratch, and apparently, at 2 in the morning, I made a mistake with the partitioning. Now I need to move some stuff around. On the bright side, I finally got iCloud to work properly.
I did a videoconference with two of my classes today, and it went quite well. The quality wasn’t great, though. Not sure if it’s my setup, theirs, or just the technology being stretched to its limit.
That being said, I worked on the video today and am uploading it to YouTube right now. It’s probably not the final version yet—I’m just figuring out how it’s going to look. But it’s going to take ages to upload. It’s almost 7 minutes long and turned out quite okay. I had to redo the whole intro, and recording myself was a bit weird. I’m definitely stiff, but I think it’ll get better if I keep at it.
The material itself is fine—nothing groundbreaking or super insightful—but as a “proof of concept,” it will do. I’m not expecting a call from a TV station anytime soon, but with some practice, it might not be too bad.
Stay tuned!
Damn it. My computer is having issues. It crashed and became unusable just as I was about to finish the first draft of the script for the first episode.
Now I need to reset everything, which might take a while. I just hope that all the things I prepared yesterday (and hadn’t backed up yet) aren’t lost. That would really suck.
Wish me luck.
UPDATE:
It’s not looking good. Tried a reinstall—FUBAR. Looks like I’ll end up with a clean Mac. I might use a late backup for all the non-cloud data, but unfortunately, the new stuff was only on the hard drive. Looks like the first episode’s premiere will be a bit later than planned.
Just a short one today. Students are working, and so am I. Some of them are doing a great job and are very motivated… others, not so much.
My webcam arrived today, so my setup is now complete. I recorded the band segments today (yes, my show has a band!) and familiarised myself with Adobe Premiere. Tomorrow marks the first day of shooting the actual episode. I’ve already lined up some jokes, and the plan is to put together a 10-minute show by the end of the week. Who knows—depending on how long this lasts, I might even start doing video essays on a regular basis.
Stay tuned and stay healthy!
So, it’s Sunday evening. The first week is over, and what a week it has been. I just finished updating tasks for my students—they should be busy for the next couple of days. I’m really curious to see how they handle the assignments I shared. Ideally, some of these could be useful once regular school resumes.
The goal for next week is to plan a face-to-face lesson with at least one class. I’ll probably start with my own class, set a date, and see how well the video conference feature works. Speaking of video, my proper webcam should arrive tomorrow, so I might start test recordings for my “show” as soon as it’s here. I’ve got a few ideas for the first episode—I’m aiming for a 10-minute version of Last Week Tonight. It’ll be more of a “proof of concept” than anything else. I’m not sure if I have the broadcast energy to pull off what I have in mind. It’ll probably be very embarrassing, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make for the greater good. 🙂
Another thing I looked into this weekend is Dungeons & Dragons. We have a pretty solid group, and we’ve decided to keep playing through the crisis by switching to online. I’ve been exploring roll20, and it seems pretty good—manageable without too much hassle. I still prefer sitting around a table, but this is definitely better than not playing at all.
I’m also in the middle of learning Premiere, so stay tuned for next week’s adventure in homeschooling!
To close the day, here’s a German video that explains quite well why you should stay put.
