Weblog of Wesley Fryer

Presentation at the Apple
Booth: 9 Feb 2005, 12 pm

There is a
CD that is part of the documentary film making
tip
- can get a DVD that accompanies this
kit

Gary is a technology specialist
and Apple advocate
- he will guide us
through the documentary
filmmaking

today will talk
specifically about how to create documentaries with your
students
- yes you can use other
applications that allow video editing
- if
we are going to have our students do this: iMovie is the most stable video
editing tool Gary has ever used
- anything
will crash occasionally, iMovie is rock
solid…

We will be using iMovie05 in
this presentation, it does some things a little differently and a little
nicer

Why you want to use
documentaries with your students
- student
project example: teenage
prostitution

benefits for
students
- engages and
motivates
- makes content
meaningful
- develops 21st century
skills
- promotes
creativity
- helps all students be
successful
- provides an authetnic learning
experience
- empowers students to realize
they can make a difference

This
example was original video footage shot by someone in Nepal, but the students
got the raw video

students had to
create a script, storyboard
- sequencing,
summarizing, grammar: it is all
here

What you want to
do
- see where technology will help you do
what you are already doing better
- if you
can use the documentary process to teach summarizing, sequencing, editing– you
have engaged them in a unique way you may have nver done this
before

when you put the technology in
the hands of the kids: they get there early, they stay late, you don’t have to
ask

compared to lecture: how do
students benefit?
- putting together

students don’t have the option of
choosing to not use technology
- they
cannot go through till retirement without using
technology

once kids have done these
kind of projects, they are going to want to keep doing
them
- they will come up with their own
ideas
- example:
claymation
- helps all students be
successful: some kids don’t have their interest caught at school, even low
achieving students
- not sitting at a desk,
taking notes: there should be more to school than
that

process of cutting down
interview material to essential content is such a great way to learn
communication skills

Mary Palmer,
English Teacher from Century High School in Bismarck, ND was one of the teachers
who pioneered the digital filmaking
curriculum…

today for this example:
we are not going to have you go shoot the video and import it into the
computer
- have to previously decide on a
topic, create a storyboard, etc.

From
iLife04 to iLife05 not a lot of differences at the beginning / first
blush

Need to have a digital/DV
camera, if it is more than 3 years old it is probably not
digital
- about 3 years ago it took $1000
to buy a DV camera, today it is $250 – $400 for a
camera

using Plantronics digital
sound processing headphones with small
mic
- use system prefs, sound, set output
and input to “plantronics headset”
- has a
built-in mute button and volume level adjust on the
cord

editing the movie is the longest
process
- if you shoot an hour of footage,
plan on spending at least 24 hours of time
editing
- they don’t have to edit during
class, it is appropriate to have them do that outside
class

Our handout is an example of
the storyboard: a better one might have a drawing of what you want to have
happen,

Use a storyboard BEFORE you
shoot your video
- think about different
footage elements you want to set up the event: example, child’s birthday
party
- tell a story with your video,
rather than just shooting what is
happening

Step 1: Create a
title

during the presentation,

with transitions: beginning
videographers often stumble
- you want to
use transitions SPARINGLY

when
you insert photo from iPhoto library in iMovie05, you click on photo and click
APPLY to insert it (this is a little different from
iLife04)

2 big tips for making video
look professional

1- ALWAYS use a
tripod (yes, that means you always have to take one with
you)
2- pretend like your camera doesn’t
have a mic, because it actually it doesn’t (use a lapel
mic

buy yourself an external
mic!
- that will dramatically increase the
quality of your production

Ken Burns
was a documentary filmaker who worked for PBS on civil war on
basebal
- he popularized this
effect

when using the ken burns
effect, REMEMBER to move the switch from start to end when setting
qualities

to add a voiceover, you
need to switch from the clip view to the timeline
view

transitions look different in
iMovie5, they look like clips (because that is what they actually
are

fade ins and fade outs in iMovie
5 is different than before

word of
caution: if songs are commercially purchased, use fair use
guidelines
- go to freeplaymusic.com (no
lyrics, but very appropriate ere

This
is indicating fram
- there are 29.7
fps
- there are 2 standards: NTSC is 27.7
(this is what you need to make things look
natural)
– use this to edit BY
FRAME

SHARE means EXPORT in iMovie4
and 5

very good idea to export videos
back to tape
- none of these iBooks we are
using today is on iDVD
- live motion menus,
really fantastic product

I have used
a lot of video editing tools: iMovie is the only one I would want to use with
students to get a process rather than just teaching the
technology