Lights, Camera, Action

What an experience it was to create a video for Ed Tech last week. My partner and I decided to make one about "How to Register Your Car on Campus." We used the Office of Public Safety to aid our message to new students as well as some good practical ingenuity to make a pretty nice video.

Several things worked well on this project. 1. We had a real clear idea as to what we were trying to accomplish and how we planned to accomplish it. 2. We understood how to use the equipment (after a short time) and did not have many technical difficulties with it. 3. We were able to focus and not lose any valuable time being distracted or anything like.

Some things I would change though in the future. I would certainly make sure that we used our first day to get a lot of footage rather than plan out the video. Additionally, I would make sure we did not have to cut most of the middle just to stay within our time limits. I would decide before going out to film what our definite plan was for the video rather than changing how we would introduce ourselves or even close it out once or twice. However, in spite of all of that, we put together a pretty nice video and I am going to take some skills away from it. I am proud of what I accomplished with Windows Movie Maker and the audio software. I feel I am proficient with both and can make my own movies now. I am not the biggest fan of videos but would possibly assign them in the future to a class.


Sample Video Project Lesson Plan

Grade Level: Grade 10
Course: American History
Content Area: 20th Century Events


Project Objectives: 
SW be able to identify the basic context of a specific significant event in the 20th Century U.S. History
SW analyze the causes and effects of each of the following events: World War I, World War II, The March on Washington, the Stock Market Crash and the Vietnam War
SW collaborate in groups to produce digital videos on a specific topic listed by the instructor



Preparation for teacher:
1. Reserve video equipment such as cameras, chargers, tapes and media lab to edit video
2. Practice video editing software techniques
3. Create handout for students for the project to follow with specific instructions and guidelines on how to use software, equipment and overall be successful on the project

Timeline
Monday
  -discuss project and assign students to group-Groups will pick a topic and write up a preliminary proposal on how they plan to portray the topic
Tuesday
   -Groups write out storyboard for project and submit to instructor for approval
Wednesday
   -Lab time to go over how Movie Maker and the other software needed works
Thursday
   -Begin filming and answer any final questions about software
Friday
   -Continue filming, editing and all of the above

Monday-Week 2
  -Finalize filming, editing and post to Youtube
  -Explain in class how to post and create Youtube accounts

Tuesday-Week 2
   -Show videos in class and discuss them
   -have students evaluate project

Checklist for Students
1. Does your video answer all of the questions in the packet?
2. Does your video fall within the time limit established by the instructor?
3. Does your video use transitions, sound and other techniques discussed in class?
4. Did you have fun with your video?

Challenges for the Project
1. Students having problems with AV equipment
2. Students not fully understanding directions-I need to make my guidelines as clear as possible

I think the project will work out well but I know it will be a lot of work on my part to make sure it is successful. That's all Folks!!