Impending Wave

This morning I had the very distinct feeling that, even though nothing was pressing at the moment--in fact, I was literally between projects and so had "nothing" to do--there was a giant wave building behind me. ...almost as if I would be over my head and drowning when it broke.


Impending Wave of Doom

The good news is that the wave never crashed.

Which is nice because it's going to be a three day weekend, and I'm glad I don't have to think about what I didn't get to today. Instead, a few hours later I turned around on set and saw this:


Toga

Good stuff.

Have a great Fourth, and I'll see you all on Monday.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Exploding Lights

We got onto set and were ready to get going, so I flipped on the lights.

There was a slight "pop" and the light was dead.

So I went to work replacing the bulb.


Changing the Bulb

[NB: If you didn't watch the short clip there, the rest of this post won't make much sense...]

It turns out that it wasn't the bulb. I think it may have been the light's fuse, but I haven't had a chance to try changing that yet. Instead, I just got out another light and we kept going.


Setting Up Another Light taken by Justin (his foot is in frame)

Now, why is it that bulbs can explode if you handle them with your greasy fingers? I wasn't totally sure, and I'm still not. But after reading over this post, I think I have an answer that makes sense (please, someone correct me if I'm wrong here):

The grease heats up at a different rate than the rest of the bulb, thereby creating a difference in how much the glass expands compared to that which is around it. This causes tension which can break the bulb since the glass is brittle. And, because the bulbs are manufactured with a vacuum, the sudden intake of air makes the popping noise.

Look at that: Science at work on the set of a math DVD. I love how learning more lets us see how things are intertwined and connected.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Producing Props and a Winner

There are times when we're about to shoot a scene and we suddenly realize: It would be awesome if we had _insert something useful here_.

It's usually some prop or visual aid. Sometimes it's a very important bit of data that we need to include.

Like: Units.

We ran into that today:


Amber Cutting Out Magnets

The fun part is that we have been working together for so long now that Amber is acutely aware of some of the technical issues of filming, which is why she suggested we re-shoot the clip. I decided it was perfect example of how we work and left it <smile>.


And, by the by, we have a winner of the Sonlight sweepstakes! Find out who won...


 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Multiplying Decimals

As we move along into ever more complex lessons, it gets more and more difficult to just sit down and teach a concept. And so we discuss, at great length, how we should teach these ideas.

Today it was multiplying decimals.

Amber, Justin, and I all come at math from vastly different perspectives. This helps us as we hash out our ideas. I'll say something like, "I've always hated the 'just count up the place values and move it over that many' mentality. We need to explain why you do that."

To which Justin will reply, "But that's just the way it is. We need to teach them the rule first so they will remember it."

Amber will jump in with, "Decimals are really tenths, so we should start there..."

And around and around the three of us go. But this is really helpful because that means we're addressing at least three different views of math in our lessons and hopefully clear up any confusion that one particular view of math would create.

Unfortunately, we can confuse ourselves from time to time. That's why I've started writing up notes and solving problems on a scratchpad. I've never really had to do that for our videos before:


Multiplying Decimals Notes

It's one thing to present an idea and, if the concept doesn't stick, change your approach and try a different method. But we don't have that luxury on these DVDs. Instead, we must consider all the possible objections and confusing bits and address them in a single scene.

And so far, with the three of us working together, that has worked out beautifully. It's a good thing.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Shooting Ratios

No, we haven't done the segment on Ratios for this DVD yet. That's still to come. But here is a real world example of ratios in action: Shooting Ratios--the ratio between how much film you use per minute of final product.

The last number I heard for Hollywood was an average of 20:1. They shoot twenty minutes of film per one minute in a movie.

This of course varies greatly between films. For instance, in the battle of Helm's Deep in The Two Towers, they shot hundreds--if not thousands--of hours of footage for that one 30 minute scene. In other films they will get a scene in one take and move on.

In think, over the years, we've averaged around a 5:1 shooting ratio.

For this latest MathTacular project we just finished our second hour of tape. I'm just guessing at the moment, but I think we're closer to a 12:1 ratio at this point.

Why?

I'm not totally sure, but my guess is that it boils down to:

1. We're still getting back into our groove
2. We have to teach and explain more
3. The concepts are harder and so require more hashing out on our end
4. And morale has been low or we're just tired

It's been a long first week. Hopefully we can recharge over the weekend and tackle this again on Monday with a renewed gusto.

May you have a very restful and joyful weekend.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

LCM War!

So, you're sitting there, thinking to yourself, 'Self, I need to teach people all over the world about Least Common Multiples. I know that means the smallest multiple that two different numbers share... but how do I explain that?'

And while you're thinking this, you suddenly wonder, 'Hmm... how do you actively solve for a Least Common Multiple without the guessing/know your times tables method?'

Further research leads you here which clearly tells you to:

Factor each of the numbers into primes. Then for each different prime number in all of the factorizations, do the following...

1. Count the number of times each prime number appears in each of the factorizations.
2. For each prime number, take the largest of these counts.
3. Write down that prime number as many times as you counted for it in step 2.
4. The least common multiple is the product of all the prime numbers written down.

...

'Self,' you say to yourself, 'this is insane.'

And so you start your day of filming.


Least Common Multiples

All in all, we did very well today. Some good stuff.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father

Free Curriculum and Little Things

On Tuesday, June 30th, we will announce the winner of a year's worth of curriculum!

In the mean time, check out a short video where Bo explains how we will choose the winner:


Sonlight's Free Curriculum Winner Selection Process

If you missed out on the first opportunity, we will have another drawing for first time catalog requesters to win a complete Newcomer Package of their choice. Find out more about the sweepstakes here and tell your friends!

In other news: I felt crazy overwhelmed today. Tons of little things running around, waving their many arms and crying out, "ME! ME! Help me, Luke! Help meeeeee!"


It's the Little Things

Sometimes, I'll admit, I'd rather squish the little things than deal with them.

I'm just sayin'.

How was your day?

 ~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Expectant Father