Last Days.

Since its the end of the year, I thought I would give you a chance to reflect on everything that's happened in the class. Think about everything we've gone over, both the third and fourth nine weeks. What things did you like? What things did you not like? What gave you the most problems? If you could change one thing, what would you have done? Try to be honest and don't forget to explain your statements!

Winding Down

You are working on the last movie for the semester. Once you are done with the Interview movie you will have done all the major tasks for the nine weeks. You should be done with the Speedbuilder and Numbers course and working on the Special Marks course in Typing Master. The sooner you get all three projects turned in and finish all three courses the sooner you can have free time without me being a harpy on your back all the time.

Finishing the Interview

By now you should have your video almost completed. You should have taken three or four pictures of the object, recorded the object's answers using Audacity, and videoed yourself asking the questions. Once you have the answers recorded using Audacity then you modify the sound so it doesn't sound like you. Try to make it sound like what you imagine the object's voice would sound like (if they really could talk).
After you are done changing the sound files it would be time to put your video together. Cut the video of you asking the questions up so that each question is separate. Then you insert one of the pictures of your object in between each question. Drop the sound file for each answer under the object picture in the Audio layer. (You may have to stretch the picture along the timeline to make it fit.) After you do all that its just Title and Credits then save and turn it.
How are you doing on the project? Are you caught up or have you been wasting time?

Object Interviews

Our latest project is for you to conduct an interview with a non-living object. You take pictures of the object, video yourself asking questions, and then make up answers you think the object would make to your questions. Being creative in your answers and giving your "interviewee" a personality really makes or breaks this project.
Don't ask generic questions, ask things that are specific to the object. Think about what it would be like if that object was actually a real person. What would it be like to do whatever the object is used for? What kind of problems would that object/person have? Would this be a life you would like to have?
I have had several students make really great videos using this topic, but unfortunately some of the most boring ones have been on this topic also. It all depends on how creative you are. No creativity -- Boredom, Creativity -- Great Video.
How creative are you being?

Newscast video is due!

Your finished newscast is due today!
You should have it edited and the green-screen effect and picture-in-picture effect done. Your title and effects should be added. Don't forget to give credit to everyone who helped you do the movie. But don't write out their names, use their initials in case I put it as an example on the web.
This morning I found a trick that really speeds up the last step. Instead of Exporting the movie in Adobe Premiere Elements you should export it as a MPEG that is Multimedia Compatible. This really changes the process making it so much quicker! For example ZB, who finished her movie yesterday, exported it as a movie and it took 1 hour and 47 minutes. When I did the same thing this morning as an MPEG it took fifteen seconds. BIG DIFFERENCE!
I have never figured out why it always took so long with Premiere, I know the newer versions don't take that long. Its probably just one of those quirky bugs because its version 1.0.
How did your movie turn out?

Never Fails

One of the things I don't like about Adobe Premiere Elements is our version is 1.0. Version 1.0 means its the first version that is sold and they always have lots and lots of problems (bugs).
To give you an idea APE went to version 5.0 in just over two years because of all the major things they had to fix. These problems always show up right at the worst time. Never Fails.
Another problem we have with APE version 1.0 is it's too old. None of the cameras we've got in the last two years use those old formats. Since the old cameras have been abused too much and don't work right anymore, we've been using the new ones, but we can't use those formats in Premiere because they weren't around when version 1.0 came out. Of course Zamzir, (the website I normally use to change formats) starts having major problems when I try to convert your movies. Never Fails.
Hopefully, you have all finished filming and are waiting on me to solve this problem so that you can move on. Don't forget you need not only a background, but a picture to put over your shoulder when you do your newscast editing. Do you have everything you need so that once I fix the format problem you can finish your movie?

Cue Cards

We have created cue cards for you to use in your newscast video. What will happen is you will be sitting at the table in front of the green screen with the camera man and another person facing you about four feet away. The 2nd person will be holding your cue cards and will change them as you read. The reason I had you write the words large was because you need to see them and talk naturally as if you were speaking off the top of your head, not reading from the cue cards.
It takes practice to read them correctly so the first couple of times you do it will be for practice and the cameraman will not be recording.
Using cue cards should help make you much more comfortable about being on camera, because it will greatly reduce the chance that you will make a mistake and be embarassed. It won't completely keep you from making a mistake, you could get the giggles or see something out of the corner of your eye that makes you forget what you read, but it does help.
Are you ready to be on camera and try out your cue cards?

Lipsyncs should be finished

As of today your final version of the Lipsync video should be turned in to 265dropbox. Remember you must export to a movie, and then save the movie to 265dropbox, not the project. This really was a very simple movie to make and it didn't require a lot of editing to make. All you had to do was record the singing in one take, strip off the audio from the movie, add the original song music, and then do the title and credits at the ends. Most of the videos we do next nine weeks will take more work.
How are you doing with your video? What problems did you run into?

LipSync Video

Our new project is where you lipsync to one of your favorite songs. You will record yourself singing to the song, remove all the sound from the video, and add the song itself to the audio track. All the filming should be done by Tuesday! Otherwise, you will not have the time to finish editing and syncing the music for your film before the nine weeks is over. All practicing need to be finished already, I hope you've prepared.
When you record you want to get it done in one take so that it is easier to sync to the song. You can do cuts but it will just make the project more work for you.
Are you ready to film your video? What song did you choose to do?

Xtranormal

This week we made animated movies using the Xtranormal.com website. You create a movie from pre-matched characters and backgrounds and are able to write dialogue, have your characters do different physical postures and hand gestures, and change the camera angle.
This really is a neat way to make a short animated movie.
We had trouble with the site when it came to processing your scripts and saving the movie. I'm not sure exactly what causes this problem but it probably is because of one or two reasons. The first and most likely reason is because we were all logging in with the same user name at the same time. I have you do this so I can look at your movies all in one group. (I may need to change this.) The second potential cause is the fact we were all working through the Internet from the same place. Video rendering requires huge amounts of space and bandwidth and having all of you doing it at the same time through the Internet is kind of like having the whole school exit out of only 1 door at 3:10.
Most of you were doing a really great job yesterday after you got used to the site and I was disappointed we couldn't save many of the videos.
How did you like the site? What was your greatest frustration?

Audacity Sound Files

This week we did two things; learned how to Photoshop parts of one picture onto a second picture, and how to record a sound file in Audacity. Photoshop was a program you used in sixth grade for half of the class, but Audacity is a program you probably haven't used.
In Audacity, you are able to record sounds from a microphone. Then you can edit those sounds, cutting out parts and moving parts around. Just like editing video!
That part is nice, but the cool part about Audacity is the effects! You can highlight a section of the audio file and change tone, pitch, speed, all sorts of things. That's why that one guy on YouTube sounds so weird, he has modified his audio file.
How did you like hearing your recorded voice? What did you think about using Audacity?

Photostory 3

We have started our first video project. You are going to create a movie using Photostory3. This program takes individual photographs and allows you to sequence them together, add text, transtions, music, and then create a movie file combining them all together.
Your project should be ten to fifteen photos about PV. Soon the counselors will be going around to the grade schools to enroll the 5th graders for next year. It would be nice if they had a couple of videos that they could use to show off the school. So that's the idea for your project.
By now you should have chosen all of your pictures and have imported them into the order you want to use. Hopefully, you have started to work on your text comments and transitions. How are you doing on your Photostory project?

Photo Composition.

I know many of you didn't really understand why we went over the Golden Ratio and Rule of Thirds, although most of you caught on to the Bad Picture PowerPoint. All of these are to help you take better photographs. By taking a little more time to think about your photograph before you press the button, you can create a much better quality picture. One that more people will want to look at. Many of you waste time by taking pictures impulsively, resulting in bad or poor quality shots that you have to redo. Action shots have to be taken very quickly but some planning of your position you physically put the camera in will result in better pictures.
The more you work at doing it, the easier it will become, like typing on the keyboard, or playing the piano, or shooting a free throw. Practice makes perfect.
Which of the three lessons do you think you will use the most, the Bad Picture PowerPoint, The Golden Ratio, or the Rule of thirds? Why?

Starting a New Semester

Welcome to the Video class. This class involves a lot of fun, taking pictures and video around the school. One thing you have to remember is that this also involves responsibility and trust. If you don't take responsibility for your behavior and meet a certain level of conduct, then I won't be able to trust you to go out and take those pictures, and doing all your filming in the classroom is not as much fun.
You are going to notice as we go through the semester that I have changed some things around from previous semesters. The class is currently going through a redesigning process. Hopefully, this will make it easier for you to succeed in making better movies in less time.
I hope none of you are shy about being in front of a camera because not only will you be taking pictures but sometimes you will have to be acting in the videos.
What are you hoping to learn in this class? What problems do you think you might have as we go through the semester?