Everything you didn't know about Packard Lab

Packard Lab certainly has an interesting history.  Going into the project, I really did not expect to find out as much as I did.  My online research did not lead me to a lot of findings.  However, I was lucky to interview Professor William Haller, who knew more about the building than I ever expected.  My video is already on the longer side, 8 minutes, but there was so much more information I could have included.  I had a hard time cutting things out because every story Haller told me was interesting!  Professor Richard Decker also had a lot to say about the building, as he had a lot of knowledge about the architecture and design of the building, things which I was unable to find in my research.  I have both professors to thank, but especially Professor Haller, who took almost two hours out of his day to share his stories with me and give me a tour of all of the interesting places in the building.  He took me to the spiral staircase and the original elevator, places which are locked to students, and even showed me the original building plans for Packard which he had acquired over the years.  All in all, this project was rewarding for me, both for experience and for knowledge.

History of Mohler Laboratory

In 1986 Lehigh bought the B'rith Shalom synagogue and turned it into the hub for its industrial and systems engineering programs. It was named after Lehigh almumnus and former Hershey executive Harold Mohler '48 for his continued service and leadership to the university.

The project was actually rather hectic for me because my laptop died the week it was due, which caused me to have to scramble and rush to get more interview and video footage. Regardless, I thought the finished product turned out pretty well.

I would've liked to put in more video shots and less picture shots, but I felt the pictures with the Ken burns effect actually worked well, and made it have video feel to it anyway. In the future I will also use a tripod for all of my video shots to avoid some of the shakiness seen, particularly in the beginning of professor Zimmers' interview.

Overall, this project was enjoyable. I learned a lot about video editing, and more importantly how to adapt when technology turns against you.

Lamberton Hall

For my building project I chose to do Lamberton Hall. I am a little bit torn about how I think my final product came out. I do think that Lamberton has a very interesting history and I think it is architecturally cool so a lot of my still shots came out well. However, a lot of the video footage I got was mind-numbingly boring. I couldn't bring myself to overlay video of people sitting at Hawks Nest eating or walking in and out of the door. When I went through all of my material, I thought that the pictures gave a much better picture of what goes on in Lamberton and how cool the building is. The quality maybe could have been a bit better but I think that would have required a better camera (and less shaky hands on my part!) Overall, I am happy with how my interview's went. I think I got a lot of good, interesting information from pretty diverse sources about the building's history and current uses.

Southside Business Development

Two years ago I had the pleasure of taking J198 Multimedia Reporting for which I did a comprehensive video/website project about the coffee and music scene in South Bethlehem. (This can be found at lvcoffee.net)

Recently I realized that two of the businesses that I did a video profile on have had three transitions in ownership in the last two to three years. I decided to explore the current businesses that are in these locations, speak to their owners and attempt to pinpoint the reasons relatively new businesses have difficulty thriving in Southside Bethlehem.

This first video explores what is now Wrap'd Tight, the former location of The Wildflower Cafe and then its successor Terra Cafe, both of which closed down. The Wildflower Cafe has left such a mark on the Bethlehem Community, being a staple of the coffee and music scene for years. Its iconic stage and murals, inside and out of the cafe, has left a legacy that was undoubtedly a tough act to follow for Terra Cafe. The owners of Wrap'd Tight hope they can progress beyond this shadow of a legendary cafe and create a household name for themselves that still cherishes the heart of the two cafes.

This second video takes a walk through franchise frozen yogurt shop, Euro Yogurt, now under control of its third owner in three years. It becomes clear that many successful businesses in South Bethlehem gained its success as a result of it's long standing and loyal fan base in the community. New businesses struggle in the wake of the fail of Bethlehem Steel and need time to catch on with community members.

Christmas-Saucon Hall History

I had a lot of issues with this video publishing. I'm not sure what went wrong but the quality of the entire video was downgraded drastically which takes a lot away from the video. But overall I think it came out really well.

The University Center (Julie Tatios)

 

   The UC was the building I chose to gather information, photographs, interviews etc.. Overall I'm not thrilled with how the final product turned out. The amount of time that goes into a video like this is a lot more than it seems after watching the three and half minutes. Gathering the photos, particularly good shots, is difficult in itself but to compile them with interview footage and then match up the still images with the audio overlay is quite a challenge. I think I started with over 50 photos that were decent shots and ended up deleting a bunch of them because I had no audio to put them with. I may have overused the burns effect too much but I found the transition from video/interview to still shots very disruptive unless it had some sort of movement to it.

Interview with Prof. Bruce Thomas on the History of the Chandler-Ullmann Building

For my video project, I chose to do the history of the Chandler-Ullmann building. It took two days to be satisfied with the amount of photos and sound footage I was gathering, and i incorporated a good amount of them in this video. I did a lot of online research on the history, as well as tweeted ASA Packer's Ghost as to what he/she knows, and got more resources to find information. From this, I compiled a set of questions to ask the people I wanted to interview.

When it came to recording the actual interview, I prepped Professor Bruce Thomas, Professor of Architecture, with the order of questions I wanted to ask. I had already planned for two people for my interview, but weather definitely messed with both of those scheduled meetings with professors and finding people who actually knew more substance behind the history became a scavenger hunt. However, the one interview I was able to get was more than perfect because I had prepared myself and Prof. Thomas very well before hand and he was very knowledgeable to the point that recording flowed very smoothly.

I think this time around I was very content with the outcome of my project, especially because I learned a bunch of history that I probably wouldn't have learned before. I think I'm getting the hang of making and editing videos a lot better.