I am experimenting with recording some audio and video.
Ideally, I would like to use it to help my students create a more dynamic record of their trip in China (as well as to start developing some teaching support materials that use audio and video). For the time being my occasional efforts are more about learning the technology and its potential than producing some finished work. I have been trying to balance the two for this type of project as well as for more regular teaching (I reported on my podcast ideas, experiments and drew some conclusions).
I am slowly getting the hang of puting together the video and editing it (in short snippets of time) and have identified a way to host it. This is my first somewhat respectable attempt.

Sights and Sounds: Urumqi from Darryn Mitussis on Vimeo.

The video was shot with my little Panasonic DMC-LX3 (which is a pocket still camera with some basic video capabilities). The sound comes from both the camera and my Olympus LS-10 digital recorder. I edited it in Final Cut Express. The titles were created with Live Type (part of Final Cut Express) and still need some work. I didn’t use an external microphone or process the sound and I haven’t applied colour correction to the video.

Urumqi sits on the old silk route running between the East of China to Rome, Alexandria and Constantinople. As such its an important site for students of international business with an historical bent and a visit is useful to help reimagine more than 2000 years of international trade and commerce. I came here with my colleague to explore the possibility of bringing students here for exactly that reason.
The city is one of the most cosmopolitan I have visited. Its populated with ethnic groups with origins from Slav to Manchu and the range of sites and sounds reflect that richness.

The city has two very good museums, that give a sense of the long and rich history here and the rich cultural context.
The photographs above are an attempt to capture some of that richness.