Week 8: Just an Update

And the countdown begins.. I have two weeks until my Capstone project is due! I have finished a lot but still have so much to do! Upon reviewing footage, I decided that I need to re-shoot some scenes. A couple of them are not as visually perfect as I would want them to be (too much light; not enough light) and some have too much noise going on while I am trying to speak. I'm going to try to re-shoot the ones in which I was speaking but who knows if I'll even end up keeping those scenes in the final project.

I also need to finalize my project board and complete my production notebook and my press kit to accompany my travel show. I still have a lot to do with the press kit but I feel that I will be able to finish that quickly once my episodes are completed and finalized. I think that it will be much easier to write about my episodes and theme as a whole when they are all finished. Overall, I am very happy with what I have so far and am glad that I chose a project that has successfully kept my attention over the past few months.

Capstone Cultural Attendance: Mountain Heritage Festival

My mother and I have always loved going to arts and crafts festivals so I took her with me when I attended the Mountain Heritage Arts & Crafts Festival in September. Why do we love them so much? I think it is a mixture of the fresh air, getting away from the house for the day and getting to look at some of the best crafts around. My grandmother has always been more creative than my mom and I are but we definitely have learned a few crafty things from her over the years. I found myself looking at some crafts and saying "I could make that!" and then I'd look at other crafts and think "I'll just have my grandmother explain this one to me."

One may not think that an arts and crafts festival would be educational but in many ways, it very much is! It definitely got my mind thinking about how someone made a craft and how I could duplicate the craft myself. That's something I may not want to tell the vendors at a craft show but they are very inspirational when it comes to Christmas ideas!

I would also call this visit to the festival a mind- exercising visit. It gave my mind a good workout along the lines of figuring things out; a skill that I will always need to use! I've always seen myself as a good problem solver but practice and refreshing those skills will never hurt!

Week 7: Re- Researching

Even though I have completed a lot of research for my project, it seems that the research never ends! I find myself continuously looking in books and on the internet for more ghost stories and haunted locations nearby. It's a good thing that I picked something I am interested in for my Capstone project, or I'd be bored looking for more research!

The first episode I completed research on was the episode on the Trans- Allegany Lunatic Asylum in Weston. I was unable to find any books on the supposed hauntings in the old hospital but found some great material online. A couple of paranormal shows on television have had ghost hunts in this location so I referred to those as well to validate and expand upon the research I have already completed.

Shepherdstown was the next chunk of research on my plate. This one seemed tough as well as to getting valid research that I could actually use. I found a couple of things online and knew about a few others but it seems that I had the most luck just talking to people. The same stories were repeated online but the public of Shepherdstown seemed to have more exciting stories that I found myself favoring over the others.

I definitely had the best luck researching Harpers Ferry. I found multiple books that were extremely helpful and have been on their ghost tours in the past. Although I went on the ghost tours about four years ago, I did not forget all of the stories and I was reminded of a few when reading through the various books I found.

All in all, I did get a good amount of research to back up and help build each episode. I thought it was very interesting that I found better information for each place through very different ways. I leaned more towards viewing television shows for Weston, talked to as many people as I could for Shepherdstown and became a book worm for Harpers Ferry. It just goes to show that history may be a little tricky to find, but it will always be out there.

Photo used with a Creative Commons license.

Capstone Cultural Attendance: Weston

As a part of my capstone class, our teacher has asked that we all attend outside cultural events. These events could include anything from poetry readings to festivals to watching a local band perform. These events are meant to be educational to our mind sets and broaden our minds by showing us what activities other people enjoy doing and could even be examples of other people's cultures.

The first cultural event I attended was related to my capstone but I took an extra step to include it as a cultural attendance trip as well. When I attended Weston, West Virginia for a ghost hunt on my birthday, I also took a historical/ ghost tour of the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. This tour was very helpful for my capstone but also gave me some great history on the building before it was an asylum. The group was told about some of the patients of the building as well as some of the staff that used to work there. It truly was a great tour and the tour guide knew a lot about the building.

I have always been the type of person that likes to learn by getting outside and doing things hands-on, so a tour was a fun way to learn some history! I consider this a cultural attendance trip because besides getting great information for my capstone, I was able to learn more history about the building and was told how life used to be in Weston.

Photo used with a Creative Commons license.

Week 6: The Project and...

Once my main project is finally finished for my capstone, I will have a few other little assignments to complete. I will be taking my finalized project and having a poster session with the other students in my Capstone class. The poster session will be similar to a science fair setup but it will be necessary for me to have my presentation skills ready! I am in the middle of working on a rough draft of the design of what my poster board will look like; once that is finalized I will be able to add the pictures and finalize the text I want on the poster board and print it out! That's easy, right?! Doing it this way will ensure that I have a sleek looking, professional board. I don’t need any stick on letters or crayons for this poster board!

I will also be putting together a physical portfolio in a notebook (which will be very handy for the future!) and also putting all that onto a website for a more advanced copy of my portfolio. The physical portfolio will be handy when I have a job interview to go to and I need to quickly find a few things to take with me. It will include the best work from my four and a half years in the Communications department here at Shepherd University. I plan on including my finalized capstone episodes, papers I have written, examples of multiple assignments I have completed and much more! I am hoping that I will be able to keep my website portfolio that I make and use it in the future. I will most likely have to buy a domain and keep it up and running that way but that’s fine with me! I think that an online portfolio will be handy in the professional world because the company will be able to see more examples of work I have completed and will be able to view them whenever they’d like.

This may sound like a lot of extra things to do but if I don’t do them now, before I graduate, I’ll end up having to do them later on in life when I can’t find anything from college!