The Video Process
Video has been the most successful and rewarding media we have explored. The majority of our website’s visitors have been people watching videos. We use video across the curriculum. While we have made over 50 videos we have only just scratched the surface of what we would like to do.
Where do you do it?
Good quality videos can be captured with an inexpensive digital camera. The file can be stored on your website, however this is an awkward and time consuming option when compared to using a free video hosting site. With the latter you put a link on your website that connects to the video stored on the hosting site.
TeacherTube
The internet is the easiest vehicle for sharing and gives the widest audience. TeacherTube http://www.teachertube.com/login.php is one of the best for student work. It is carefully monitored for safe content and is easy to use. You sign up and begin uploading videos, following the clear instructions.
How to begin?
Keep your projects short, use a simple digital camera and do the minimum of editing.
Storyboards
A story board is the road map of where you plan to go with your story. Making a Storyboard.
Reading Power is a strategy developed by Adrienne Gear to promote reading comprehension. Reading Power was designed primarily to promote reading comprehension, but it is also a pragmatic framework to understand all media. After learning about Reading Power students are able to understand the needs of their audience and then create videos that audiences engage with.
Reading Power: Teaching Students to Think While They Read By Adrienne Gear
What to shoot?
The sky is the limit! However some styles do work better than others on the Internet. Your films need to be iconic in nature with a strong story line; this is because of the small screen and the short length (running time) of the video. The video resolution doesn’t need to be high to be visually powerful on a small screen. Video length needs to be only a few minutes due to technical limitations. On the positive side this means that productions are easy to piece together and edit. Be warned; it can easily take a motivated five-student team a week to plan, film and edit a two minute video.
Digital Storytelling
Some good resources on digital storytelling.
Center for Digital Storytelling
Digital Stories
DigiTales
Tech Head Stories
Teach Story
Tech Learning
Here are some examples of video genres we have produced.
Comedy The World’s Greatest Teacher
Drama Massacre in the Bookroom
Environmental When Good Bears Go Bad
Drug Awareness When Sorry Isn’t Enough
Anti Racism Green People Are The Best
Documentary Residential School Experience
PE Chinese Skipping
DIY How to Make Tin Can Stilts
Video Editing
Without editing, videos usually look awful. The good news is that with a bit of work you can easily add titles, arrange the sequences, cut out mistakes, use transitions, and finish your production with credits.
Windows Video Maker or the Mac iMovie are free and simple to use. There are many more options if you purchase an editing suite such as Adobe Premier Elements which we use at Cayoosh Kidz.
Links
Video Editing Software Reviews
Videomaker
YouTube Video Toolbox
Kidz Vid
Video Size
In the world of internet video, small is beautiful. As you produce videos you find yourself constantly looking for ways to reduce their size. You should try to keep your video less than four minutes in length. The main reason for this is to improve the speed which the video can be delivered across the internet. Your video will also need to be exported and saved in a file form that is compatible with the standards of the video hosting service you are using. If you want to make a DVD you will save in a different format. About.com has some good tips about keeping your video size under control for the Web.
Video Cameras
The easiest and cheapest way to get video onto the web is by using a digital camera such as the Canon Powershot S5 IS . Digital cameras are simple to use and have all the features that you need as a beginning videographer. Most importantly the file sizes are small and easy to transfer directly to the internet or a video editing program. As an added benefit they can record two hours of digital sound and provide high quality photographs for a variety of uses.
Links
Camcorderinfo.com
The DV Show
Video Maker
Video Sound Quality
Sound represents 60% of your video production. Without good sound your video is severely limited. You should always try to get the audio right the first time and not waste time in post production patches. B&H Photo offers some good tips for improving sound quality. But to smooth over those inevitable mistakes, there is a free audio editing program called ‘Audacity’ which you can download. It allows you to make significant improvements to your sound track.
Lighting
Video is painting with light. The quality and amount of light that you have available is critical to producing good work. There is a ton of information on the internet about using light effectively to make great videos Tech Learning is a good place to start.
Here are some movie-making links that we have used and can recommend.
YouTube Video
Fluff Bucket.com
Internet Video Magazine
Creative COW.net
Media College.com
Ulead
Ani-mato (animation)
ischool University of Texas
Peach Pit (iMovie)
File Formats
Dealing with file formats is part of the process in creating multimedia content. However all the abbreviations can quickly jumble together into an incomprehensible digital alphabet soup. Following is a brief summary of the important concepts that you will eventually be forced to confront on your journey of technological creativity.
Compatibility
Not all files open in all applications or operating platforms (PC or Macintosh). Make sure you save your files in a form that can easily be opened if you plan to share files with others.
Compression
One reason there are so many file formats is to deal with the issue of compression. It takes about 660 megabytes of data to fill a CD with music (roughly five billion bits). Storing, processing or downloading this much data, whether audio, photographic or video, is problematic.
One solution is to use a codec (short for compressor / decompressor). This process allows a large file to be compressed for ease of transmission and then opened and decompressed. If the codec causes loss of quality to the file when it is decompressed the format is called lossy. If the file is reconstituted in its original form it’s called lossless. This seems obvious, but the principal becomes very important when selecting the best format to save your file.
There are many different file formats and they tend to be specific to a type of media. For example, you would use MP3 format for music, JPEG for photographs, and MPEG2 to store movies.
Not only do you need to decide which codec you are going to use, but also how much compression you require. The smaller the file the faster it transfers, but the poorer the quality. Bitrate is the file resolution measured in kilobytes per second (kbps). For example, a WAV audio file might be 30 Mb, but the same file as an MP3 at 64 kbps would be 1.5 Mb in size. This is great for file transfer speed, but not for the quality of sound.
Streaming Video
Compressed files may still take too long to transfer even with a fast internet connection. There are a number of ways to stream media or chop it up in sequenced chunks that can begin to play before the whole file is transferred. There is usually a short pause while the first few chunks are transferred, but once a pool of video information is ready, or buffered, the video begins. Adobe Flash Player, Apple Quicktime Player, and Windows Media Player are often used to stream media.
File formats appear and disappear from favor with a disconcerting rapidity. Zamzar is a good place to go if you get stuck and need to transform a file into one that you are able to work with.
Copyright
When you publish to the web you are subject to a number of legal issues that might not be of concern with an in-class project. Any material that has been created by someone else is copyrighted. Artists and musicians have the right to seek compensation for the use of their work. The last thing that you want to receive is a letter from their attorney seeking a financial settlement. See the following websites for sobering views on copyright violation.
Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers
Safety and Legal
As described more fully under Images, the wellbeing of students is our primary concern. Cayoosh Kidz never allows any identifying personal information to be associated with children’s pictures. First names and photographs don’t appear together and last names are never used. Students create a web nickname to protect their identity. Students do not have direct access to the sites where information is stored. They present all of their work to a teacher who then posts the files. This prevents any possibility of direct contact between the students and someone who has seen their work on the internet. The Canadian government provides an excellent resource to ensure safety while using the Internet.
Government of Canada - Internet Security for Kids