Goodbye

I am sad the postings have now come to the end. I really enjoy cooking and participating in this activity more than two hours a week, and will continue to do so. I have realised how much cooking means to me and can now identify ergonomics, affordances, labour, work, practical considerations and need for occupation in relation to my activity cooking.

Thank you for reading my blog,

See you next time J

Comments:

Unfortunately I still cannot upload my comments. The comments cannot be posted on to their blog due to a software problem. So have written the comments on one of my postings and have told informed them of this.

Leigh Millward

Emma McKeown

Kylie Crowley

Jessica Cooper

References Contributed to Cooking

Oldfield (2008) states that “It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into the doing” (p. 5). This quote relates to what I was talking about in the ‘need for cooking’ post, as well as my other posts. I simply am a strong believer in cooking for fun as I find I put a lot more time and effort in to it. I seem to love everything about cooking if there are no particular time pressures. Oldfield simply explains cooking in a way which I can relate. She simply said that it doesn’t matter how much cooking you do, which I can relate to as I do not do a lot of cooking myself when I am at home due to Dad being the king of the kitchen and wouldn’t give cooking up as he loves it. This shows that I am not the only one who loves cooking in our family.

According to Johnston (2003), “baking for and with others can be highly satisfying and will build life long memories for the recipients of your offerings; and that sharing food with family, friends, colleagues and neighbours helps build stronger communities and can contribute a little to the mental health of our society.” (p. 6) I enjoy cooking meals for everyone. I love listening to what they say about the meal and usually it is very positive. This makes me excited and gives me confidence to cook bigger and better meals. Johnston sums up what I feel. I simply enjoy giving away food and sharing food with others.

References

These are the references I have used throughout my blog postings:

Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition (2nd ed.). Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Caulton, R., & Dickson, R. (2007). What's going on? Finding an explanation for what we do. In J. Creek, & A. Lawson-Porter, Contemporary issues in occupational therapy. (pp. 87-114). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Green, T. F. (1968). Work, leisure and the American schools. New York: Random House.

Hagedorn, R. (2000). Tools for practice in occupational therapy: A structures approach to core skills and processes. London: Churchill Livingstone.

Johnston, A. (2003). A second helping. Auckland: Penguin Group.

Oldfield, N. (2008). Gran's kitchen. Auckland: Beatnik

Sunderland, J. (2011). Participation in occupation: BT230001 [Lecture notes]. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago Polytechnic, Department of Occupational Therapy.

Flat Cooking

Flat Issues

Throughout my blog I have enjoyed cooking for my flat mates. However, a few issues have arisen about cooking together as a flat. One flat mate acknowledged that she no longer wanted to cook with us, due to not having enough money. She found that the food that we would buy altogether would only last until Friday and then she would have to buy extra food on top of this, making it around 60 dollars a week on food for her. We have three boys in the flat and find that they eat a lot more food than the girls. Another issue is that some of our flat mates wouldn’t start to prepare or cook on their night of the week until 8:00pm therefore dinner wouldn’t be ready until 9:00-10:00pm depending on what they were cooking.  Much discussion took place about this issue. So, two guys are now cooking together, one guy just decides what he wants to cook each night, and the other girl and I cook together sometimes or cook individually depending on our plans for the night. I found this was a great mutual decision as we are all busy studying and participating in sport, so we are always home at different times and hungry at different times.  It is also a great way to save money and choose what you want to spend your money on. Let this cooking individual thing start!

Cooking Individually

We have been cooking separately for a couple of nights now. I find cooking by myself great as I can prepare and cook when I want to. Deciding what to cook for dinner is easy as I am making dishes that I enjoy. I feel when I make a new dish by trying a new recipe and if it turns out to be a disaster I am the only one who tastes it. Even though we are cooking individually it doesn’t mean that we do this all the time. Through communication and through some organisation I sometimes cook with another flat mate or a couple of flat mates, depending on the day.

I found this actually brought the flat back together as a family because when we were cooking together we would have a lot of discussions or disagreements about, money, dishes, ingredients, what to cook and many more topics. Now that we are cooking individually or as a couple of us, we communicate with each other a lot more. We now have a great rule when doing dishes, this would be, ‘if you use it, you clean it’. The dishes issue has now been resolved. Now, we are a much friendlier, funnier and happier flat due to finding solutions to our problems.

Nothing has changed from my previous posts, I still enjoy making sure what I cook is delicious and present the final dish superbly. Cooking still means the same to me as do, affordances, ergonomics, work, labour and the need.

Cooking- Labour Weekend

Labour weekend is a great time for our family and extended family to gather to reunite. I was excited for this occasion as everyone was coming to ‘Glendonald’ which is our family farm. My mum had told me that everyone would be arriving Saturday afternoon and staying until Monday.  I thought it would be a great gesture to make my favourite chocolate chip muffins, for the guests to have on arrival. This is a recipe from the Edmonds collection that my mother has. When I was twelve years old my sister taught me how to make these muffins.

Edmonds- Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins

• 60g butter
• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup (200g) Chocolate Chips

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Line a medium muffin tray (12 sections) with paper cases. Melt butter in a small saucepan or heat-proof bowl in the microwave. Set aside to cool slightly.
2. Sift flour into a mixing bowl. Stir in sugar. Make a well in the centre of dry ingredients.
3. Using a whisk, lightly beat milk, eggs and butter in a jug. Add to dry ingredients, along with mashed banana. Using a wooden spoon, gently mix ingredients until just combined. Stir in choc bits. Don't beat the mixture or the muffins will be tough.
4. Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin cases. Bake for 20 minutes or until firm on top when lightly touched (get an adult to help with this). Leave in the tray for 3 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a rack to cool.

It was great to be home, with all the ingredients in the cupboard and all the equipment was kept in its special place and was clean. The kitchen is also a lot bigger than the kitchen in my flat, so I enjoyed spreading out and I definitely used this space to my advantage. I really appreciated having a dish washer at my disposal also.

For dinner Dad wanted to cook his favourite Stir Fry recipe. It is his personal recipe, so I’m not allowed to post it on my blog, unfortunately. I helped him prepare the meal as he was catering for at least eight adults and two children.  He was in charge and dedicated tasks for my mother and I to do, to simply make the cooking process run more smoothly. Mum was making our favourite lemon meringue pie for dessert. Dinner was bringing the family together, therefore affordances were noticeable.

Ambience – The Essence of Cooking

I have used ambience throughout my blog posts. However I thought I would make sure you understood what it meant and how it related to cooking.

Ambience is described as a feeling or mood associated with a particular place, person or thing (Sunderland, 2010). This quote helps me interlink what I think and feel about cooking.

I feel relaxed and calm when I am cooking from a recipe that is familiar to me or watching somebody else make the dish. However I am not so confident when I try a new recipe that I am not familiar with. I feel relaxed cooking at home as I feel there are no expectations to fill therefore I enjoy cooking a lot more. I become unsure when cooking an unfamiliar meal because I wonder if I have forgotten an ingredient or it may turn out wrong, especially if it is for a special occasion. When I cook a meal by myself and use a new recipe I feel a sense of achievement if it appeals to my taste and if   anything goes wrong I am the only one eating it and I can decide what other ingredients I could add to improve the taste. I do not need to justify to anyone what I might have done wrong in the cooking process.  Cooking for family and guests by sharing food can be a gesture through welcoming, farewells, to gain a conservation or even to show someone sympathy. 

I often use recipes that are passed down from my grandparents. When I make them it makes me think of them and I sometimes become quite overwhelmed but happy they have shared their recipes with me and I have been able to cook them, usually for my family members.

We cook to eat and we simply eat to help us survive. According to Green, (1968) labour “seeks not to add to life, but merely to sustain it.” It simply means that cooking is a never ending task.

When I cooked food this week I was by myself, since we agreed to cook separately as a flat. This week I cooked Devilled Sausages. I was cooking in my flat and it was very noisy because music was playing and several friends were visiting. I found that this did not really matter however, because this was a dish I was familiar with and I did not need to follow a recipe or use too much concentration.

Ambience can be related to cooking in many ways as I have eluded to.

Green, T. (1968). Work, Leisure, and the American Schools. New York:, Random House.

Sunderland, J. (2011). Participation in occupation: BT230001 [Lecture notes]. Dunedin, New Zealand: Otago Polytechnic, Department of Occupational Therapy.

My Comments

Unfortunately I am unable to post any comments on my following classmates blogs. So I have told them that I have posted their comments on my blog instead. I have also linked their blog to this comment, therefore if you click on their name you will enter their blog. The following comments are below:

Jessica Cooper: I understand that you treasure cooking for survival when you cook in Dunedin and when you arrive home you enjoy cooking creatively. I find that we both value going home and using fresh vegetables and meat from our farm. I also found that we both enjoy going home and having all the suitable ingredients that we need to cook and also having the suitable equipment.

Kylie Crowley: This is a very interesting post Kylie. When you said that cooking is “a fairly new and vital skill which you are developing your knowledge in”. This made me realise that I am constantly learning a new skill of cooking everyday either through, using different recipes or even people teaching you. I feel the more I cook the more knowledge I gain around different dishes and using different ingredients.

Leigh Millward: I really enjoyed your posting about the need for occupation, relating to cooking. I felt that the quote you used by Visser, related well to cooking as food is ‘everyday’ and without it a human will not last for too long. This is why I chose to participate in cooking as it is a ‘meaningful activity’ for me to be involved in as I simply eat everyday and enjoy cooking creatively for guests and family.

Emma McKeown: I really enjoyed reading about your first time making fettuccine without your mother’s input. I also find it very hard to make a new dish without guidance. You said that you weren’t happy with the way it turned out, I definitely understand what you mean by this because I always make a lot of dishes that always turn out differently, however many times I make it, or simply it never turns out they way it looks in the picture, unfortunately. ‘Free style’ cooking gives you great variety and is a great way to try new meals.        

Practical Considerations

Practical Considerations are simply ideas that we need to consider when cooking.

Consumers: flat mates, friends and my family when I am at home.

Cost: We cook as a flat and shop once a week. We all put $30 in for food which includes dinner and basic lunch food. The more money we have the more food we will buy.

Equipment: Living in a student flat, our equipment is very limited. I simply use what we have and cope somehow. I really enjoy going home and having a variety of equipment that I can use suitable for cooking. 

Ingredients: I find that we only have a variety of basic cooking ingredients in our flat. Sometimes I find a recipe I really want to make, but cannot make it because we simply don’t have the ingredients. I have to adapt what ingredients we have. 

Space: Making sure there is enough space in the kitchen to prepare and cook my dish is important. The kitchen in our flat is a lot smaller compared to the kitchen at home. When cooking for everyone I find it a small but suitable kitchen to cook in and can be a bit crowded if we are all in it together.

Time: Preparation and cooking time is considerable so I simply make sure I cook a meal on the night of the week that I am not busy with other commitments, making sure I have enough time to cook a meal for my flat mates.  

The Need for Occupation

During this week’s tutorial we discussed the need for occupation in my chosen activity, cooking.

I essentially need to cook to survive and to provide my flat mates with regular nutritious meals. Another need it fills is the need to cook for friends as a gift – to invite them for a meal to celebrate a birthday or an act of sympathy, or for friendship. Both of these needs are what is known as ‘labour’ – the never ending cycle of life. Green (1968), refers to the endless cycle of “gathering and consuming”. (p. 17)

It is easier for me to bake cookies to take to friends rather than a meal. It is cheaper for me to bake as well as it is satisfying for me to produce something I enjoy eating to give away. Oldfield (2008) states that “It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into the doing”. (p. 5)

According to Johnston (2003), “baking for and with others can be highly satisfying and will build life long memories for the recipients of your offerings; and that sharing food with family, friends, colleagues and neighbours helps build stronger communities and can contribute a little to the mental health of our society.” (p. 6)

In this week’s tutorial we discussed the need for occupation and this is what we came up with through discussion, below.

Labour:

·         Survival- making a living

·         Feel a connection

·         Memories

·         Improving

·         Meditative

Work/ Craft:

·         Improving aesthetics.

Plays:

·         Need for beauty

·         Escape

·         Making a statement

·         Need for fun

Green, T. F. (1968). Work, leisure and the American schools. New York: Random House.

Oldfield, N. (2008). Gran's kitchen. Auckland: Beatnik

Johnston, A. (2003). A second helping. Auckland: Penguin Group.

Work

I have learnt that work is not only to earn a living but incorporates much more for an individual. Everyone can work differently and view work differently. Work involves learning, working together, values, spirituality, self-expression, creating, workmanship.

Arendt (1958) describes work as the activity which corresponds to the unnaturalness of human existence, whereas labour involves biological processes.

The most important aspect of the definition of work is its world making capacity.  It is the way that we produce houses, cars, tools as well as the clothes that we wear.  Or the ideas that we live with. Making it what we want it to be, rather than what has to be for survival.

Work provides an “artifical” world of things, distinctly different from all natural surroundings. The human condition of work is worldliness. 

I tend to be structured in my work thus allowing me to achieve more in my day. I realise that not everyone works in this way. It is important for the individual to ‘work’ in an enjoyable, productive way affording happiness, success and satisfaction.

When cooking I like to be structured in my approach by being organised and I work to achieve a satisfactory, successful outcome.

Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition (2nd ed.). Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Food/ Labour

This week’s lecture was very interesting and useful as it related a lot to my activity, cooking.

Arendt (1958) describes Labour is the activity which corresponds to the biological process of the human body, whose spontaneous growth, metabolism, and eventual decay are bound to the vital necessities produced and fed into the life process by labour. The human condition of labour is life itself.

Labour is important to everything we do. Labour is never finished it never reaches a point of completion, it never comes to an end. For example, in cooking it is necessary- having eaten, we must eat again. Labour can be said to be activity that is done in order to be undone.

Therefore labour involves those things that we do which generally have no trace, because we have done it over and over again in order to exist. Everyday somebody in my flat cooks a meal and then does the dishes, therefore there is no trace. This continues day after day because of necessity and gives us a sense of achievement but it can also be seen as futile as it has to be done again and again, day after day. From this necessity and futility are fundamental features of labour.

Green (1968), describes the relationship between labour and food as “the gathering of nourishment, however, is not only necessary; it is also endless. Once done it must be done again. Answering as it does to the requirements of life itself, it can end with only the end of life. The purpose of this activity is to provide for the seeds of consumption: food is taken from the earth, after all in order to be consumed. ”

This quote is relevant to me as we have a vegetable garden, grow fruit trees and I am involved in the production of meat and milk on our farm by caring for the animals. These provide food for us to survive and the gathering of nourishment is not only necessary but also endless.

Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition (2nd ed.). Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Green, T. F. (1968). Work, leisure and the American schools. New York: Random House.

Affordance

This post discusses affordance, what does it mean and how does it relate to the activity I have chosen.

Hagedorn (2000) describes affordance as “anything the environment can offer the individual which is pertinent to role challenge and can facilitate role competence” (p.51)

This quote by Hagedorn helped me understand what affordance really means when relating to cooking. Essentially, we take part in an activity that gives us the opportunity to express our capacity to care, and this enhances that capacity. Through activity we consider the ways that community and culture are engendered by what is done. Consequently I thought about the last meal I cooked and related it to the areas of affordance. To me it is all about what results from an activity. 

I cooked a Stir Fry for my flatmates. I needed to acknowledge that my flat mates had sport practices and wouldn’t be home until approximately 7:30pm. Therefore when planning the meal I made sure that I would have enough food and start preparing it an hour before hand. I made sure I got the chicken out in the morning so it would have enough time to thaw. While cooking the meal, Alecia my flat mate helped.

I can relate affordance to cooking through the aspects of aesthetics, spirituality and health.

Aesthetics

Aesthetics is the potential implicit in the activity for the person to express and enhance a sense of beauty.

During the day I planned what we were going to have for dinner. I made sure we had the correct ingredients and if they were not all available I had to find a solution. While cooking the chicken stir fry I could smell the herbs, spices and sauce that I had added to the chicken. I thought carefully about presenting the meal, I considered the colours and textures included in the dish. When serving the meal I carefully garnished the dish to make it more inviting. My flat mates were amazed at the effect the colour and smell had on the overall presentation and were very eager to taste this delicious dish. 

Spirituality

The main aspect of spirituality that relates to me is the sense of belonging and the sense of meaning.

When cooking the stir fry I needed to take into account what my values are and what my emotional status is like before, during and after the meal. I need to acknowledge why I cook, and how I feel. I find cooking makes me at peace, and it creates a sense of meaning to my home and my flat mates. Using recipes from my grandmother, mother and other family members make me feel connected to them. I often cook for special occasions to show my happiness or even sadness depending on the occasion. Therefore cooking provides me with a sense of meaning. 

Health

The third aspect related to affordance is health. Health can be related to physical or social health.
The most important thing for me to consider when deciding on what I am going to prepare for a meal is the health aspect.  My meal needs to be nutritious and healthy therefore I require fresh vegetables and meat that is not passed the use by date.  Before preparing or cooking a meal I made sure the surface was clear and clean and made sure I was using clean tools. I always make this a priority to prevent an illness or an accident.

Communication

The idea of community is implicit in everything that we do. It gives the opportunity for care, concern, responsibility and respect afforded by the work.

·         Sharing of recipes- This week I used my father’s stir fry recipe. I tend to use a variety of different recipes from friends and family.

·         Negotiation of tasks- Usually we cook as a flat, therefore we delegate tasks for each person, depending on what we are cooking.

·         Discussion at the table- while eating or after the meal we talk to one another.

·         Meals together allow us time to socialise as a flat.

·         Dinner Parties- communication is needed around what is needed and who is coming.

·         Sharing food.

·         Communication around different foods when we invite friends from different cultures.

·         Socialising by laughing, talking, sharing interests and stories.

I think that communication is the most important aspect for me when cooking because it is a great way for me to socialise with my friends and family over a meal that I have prepared and cooked.

Action Properties - Connections

·         Teaching and Learning- being taught by others and learning from them. For example, Dad taught me how to cook this stir fry and I learnt to follow his recipe with success.

·         Borrowing- being able to borrow ingredients from neighbours or simply borrowing recipes.

·         Giving away- giving away meals and baking is important to show respect, sympathy and for celebrations. 

·         Gathering food- gathering vegetables from the garden, meat from the farm animals or eggs from the chooks when I am at home.

Moral Properties

It is very satisfying cooking something, according to Arendt (1958) “the blessing of labour is that effort and gratification follow each other as closely as producing and consuming the means of subsistence, so that happiness is a concomitant of the process in itself, just as pleasure is a concomitant of the functioning of a healthy body.  (p.108)

Not so satisfying is when I am cooking and talking at the same time and forgetting a key ingredient, therefore the dish does not taste as it should. While flatting it is not always possible to have the correct ingredients needed for the recipe so I have to adapt and this is not always as successful. 

Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition (2nd ed.). Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Hagedorn, R. (2000). Tools for practice in occupational therapy: A structures approach to core skills and processes. London: Churchill Livingstone.

Ergonomics

During this week’s tutorial we talked about the idea of ergonomics and how they relate to the activity.

Ergonomics is about how the activity is shaped by the individual and environment resources.

An understanding of ergonomics underpins the ability to “constantly make slight invisible adjustments to an activity to adapt the needs of those taking part and ensure that it continues to work for its intended purpose” Caulton and Dickson (2007). This quote is very important as this relates to cooking in different environments.

When considering cooking, ergonomics is very important. In past experience it has been a struggle to cook in an unfamiliar environment, such as a different kitchen. This is because I could not find any ingredients or even equipment as I wasn’t sure where they were kept. When I began flatting at the beginning of the year I found cooking in an unfamiliar environment was difficult because I didn’t have all the equipment or ingredients needed to cook.

Caulton and Dickson (2007) discuss, activities need to be constantly adjusted to meet the needs of those involved with the particular activity as this will ensure that activities intended purpose is met. Previously being on placement we carried out kitchen assessments. It was noticeable when a client was in unfamiliar surroundings compared to their home environment. I found this was difficult to assess the client properly as they were unfamiliar to the task that we asked them to complete and also unfamiliar to where everything was kept.

Ergonomics can relate to person, occupation and environment.

Aspects to do with person include:

• Time available to cook throughout the week.
• Time available to prepare and cook the meal.
• Recipes collected from various sources.
• Financial, having enough money for the ingredients I need to cook the meal. I need to think if the meal that I am making can be made with different or cheaper ingredients.
• Personal space while preparing and making a meal.
• How much time do I need to cook this meal.

Aspects to do with activity/occupation include:

• Preparing the meal, for example cutting up the vegetables.
• Depending on what is in the cupboard to what I am going to cook.
• Costs involved.
• Adapting a recipe to suit.

Aspects to do with environment include:

• Size of the kitchen.
• Space in the kitchen.
• Getting used to the flat oven therefore knowing the heat and time available to cook.
• Necessary equipment available.
• Cleanliness of the flat kitchen.

These aspects are related back to my activity, cooking.  

Caulton, R & Dickson, R. (2007). What's going on? Finding an explanation for what we do. In J. Creek & A. Lawson-Porter (Eds.) Contemporary issues in occupational therapy. Chichester: John-Wiley & Sons Ltd

Cooking

In this week’s tutorial we talked about ongoing activities that are meaningful to us, what activities we do each day and which area these activities fit into.

Childhood Memories

Throughout childhood I didn’t realise how much thought and preparation went into meals. I simply took it for granted. I thought the dishes would magically get done after each meal, the food would magically be in the cupboard and the dinner was magically on the table for me to eat. However, growing up, that fantasy faded and I began to realise that fantasy world was my mother and father.

The Beginning

I really enjoy cooking and baking. When I bake I always seem to enjoy the mixture more than the end product. I first learnt how to bake from my mother.  I would eat the whole chocolate cake my mother had just made, a couple of hours later, with no crumbs in sight. I had to do something fast so it didn’t look like I had eaten all of the cake. I found the recipe that she used and was glad I could understand the short hand writing in the recipe book of a teaspoon/tablespoon. So I began to bake a chocolate cake. Let’s just say it didn’t turn out the same as mums, it was very obvious with the presentation, and didn’t really taste the same. I think I could have forgotten an important ingredient.  Anyhow, Mum arrived home and I wasn’t sure if she noticed. So, that was a wee story about how I first started to bake. I really enjoyed baking, so from that day onwards I have always been interested in baking.

Cooking on the other hand makes me gain weight. The reason for this is, my father always makes a delicious meal therefore I am forced to eat it all up and not leave any trace of food on the plate. I never really cooked while living at home, as I would rather eat my father’s divine meals rather than mine. However both my parents have taught me many recipes.

What does Cooking mean to me?

• Cooking is fun and enjoyable.
• It is an activity that can be done alone or with others.
• It can be creative as recipes can be adapted to suit.
• Presentation is important.
• Relaxation.
• Sense of satisfaction when a recipe is successful.
• Can be given as a gift.
• Gain confidence by experimenting with new recipes.
• Entertaining friends and family.

What is the activity like?

Living on a farm has taught me many things. We can be quite self-sufficient as meat and a great vegetable garden are readily available but if a key ingredient is required for my recipes and I have no shops nearby I have to learn to adapt that recipe. This is something I have enjoyed in my cooking because quite often dishes are created and often never taste the same, which is exciting. 

Cooking provides me with ‘me’ time. This is time for me to enjoy cooking, relax and gives me time to think. Alternatively, cooking can become stressful when there is a dead line of when the meal has to be cooked by.

What does it mean to me in Occupational Therapy practise?

• Being able to use the equipment appropriately.
• A big part of cooking is teaching and learning, for example, everyone cooks differently. My parents simply teach me how to cook and I learn new recipes from them or my friends.
• Timing, if there is a time that the meal has to be completed by.
• Multi-tasking, making sure the vegetables are cooked at the same time the meat is.
• Safety Aspect.
• Everyone’s cultural and beliefs are different.
• Using the skill of cooking to teach groups.

Therefore in Occupational Therapy practice it is important to have multi tasking skills, being safe and being aware of surroundings and equipment.

Occupational Therapy and cooking link together in a way that the therapist can ascertain the level of independence of the individual. Most people engage in cooking as it is generally part of everyone’s daily meaningful activity.  

Welcome to Participation in Occupation Two

Participation in Occupation Two is simply reflecting on an experience that I have engaged in throughout the week.

My activity that I have chosen to do is, ‘Cooking’ because this is a necessary daily activity. I am going to analyse this activity in depth, using a variety of resources which include my own experiences.

Happy Reading J

Tutorial Four: Video Production Session

Unfortunately I was unable to upload this video, due to technical problems. Please follow the link bellow to watch the video.

 http://leighmillward.blogspot.com/
Under Tutorial 4

Tutorial four required us to make our own silent short film. We had limited time to create and edit this film. The theme was "Overcoming Adversity”. In this video the adversity related to a student not getting to class on time and all the possible incidents that may occur along the way.
Before filming, we did a rough story board by sketching each scene and writing what happens through out the scene.

When filming we used a tripod. We used this because our hands were very shaky while filming and we wanted the camera on a stand like the tripod to decrease as little movement as possible.
We used an extreme close up of Fenja through the middle of the movie to show her frustration on not finding the correct class in time, because she has fallen asleep therefore made her late for class.  
After filming we downloaded the film on to the computer via a USB port. In this video production session we used a software called ‘movie maker’. So we loaded our video on to the programme. Firstly we deleted parts of the video we didn’t like. Then we simply made an opening scene and a finale to the film. After the finale credits rolled through. I really enjoyed editing this video as it was lots of fun playing around with different ways a movie can be edited.

Lastly we added music to the video. We tried to get music that best suited our theme- ‘Overcoming Diversity’.

We thought this theme was appropriate as Fenja generally falls asleep in class.  
For example, I learnt how to work together as a group, to produce our film. We all had different ideas and our final combined effort was much better. We learnt about different camera shots and how to edit and add music to our movie through movie maker which is software to help edit videos.

Tutorial Five: Video Production Session

You tube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos.

You tube clips can be a great way to show the world what you can do and what others can do. It is a good aural/visual way to learn.

I am interested in the following videos which is simple a sport called ‘Rugby’.

Since I play rugby, I find these YouTube clips very beneficial. Also with the top rugby players starring in some of these video clips which makes me more determined to achieve the skills that they are doing.

Clip 1- Rugby Positions

Clip 2: How to Scrum in Rugby

Clip 3: How to Tackle in Rugby

Clip 4: All Black's Haka

AB Vs England 2004.

Clip 5: Wallabies Vs All Blacks, Sydney 2000

At Sydney's Stadium Australia, in front of a world record 110,000 people, the Australian and New Zealand Rugby teams played what many have called "the greatest game of Rugby ever played".

After just eight minutes the All Blacks were leading by 24 to 0. The Wallabies came back and were leading 35 to 34 when, in the few minutes All Black winger scored the wining try.