Project Overview: Informative Short

You have just found out that your best friend from the States is moving to Singapore in the new year and has sent you the following Facebook message:

Your challenge for this upcoming project is to take one aspect of Singaporean culture, be it food, transportation, sayings, holidays, neighborhoods, traditions, and make a 1-2 minute short about it's origins and how it pertains to Singaporean culture. Your goal is to make the video as interesting and informative as possible; you want to make a video for any teenager that is moving to Singapore, therefore you should have the most relevant information for a teenager.

Below is the project overview document, grading rubric and Google Calendar:


If you need some inspiration for film, check out this playlist:

PROJECT DUE DATE: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17TH

Turkish Delight

Special Effects Short: Publishing and Posting

Once you have finished your Special Effects Short in iMovie, please do the following:

• Publish to YouTube as PUBLIC or UNLISTED

You will have to wait about 5-10 minutes for your video to process before you can post it on your SAS Blog. When your video is ready, please do the following:

• Make a new post titled: Special Effects Short
• Tag: video, gr6
• Embed your Special Effects Short at the beginning of your post
• Answer the following reflection questions:
1. What special effect skill did you feel you best utilized in your special effect short? Which was special effect what the most difficult to incorporate?
2. How did you brainstorm your story for your special effect short? Did you speak to some of your classmates or was it something you brainstormed on your own? How did storyboarding help your planning?
3. Describe what filming your special effect short was like; did more work happen during filming or in post-production?
4. What other special effects would you have liked to have learned for this project? Why?

If you need a more visual explanation, watch the video below for more help. Enjoy your long weekend kiddos!

Day in the Life Shorts

For the most recent project in Digital Storytelling, the 7th graders were given the challenge of bringing an inanimate object to life through the power of storytelling. From lamps to Legos, the filmmakers put their hearts into making their audiences fall in love with their object and I can safely say they succeeded. Enjoy their work!

Project Overview: 5x5 Special Effects Story

For this video project, you will be working on a 25-second short composed of five 5-second clips using various special effects in each one. You must tell a story of some kind within the 25 seconds, which more difficult than you think! Here is the criteria below:

Criteria:

• Length: 25-seconds  long
• Each of the 5 clips must be 5 second long - NO MORE, NO LESS!!
• Video must tell a story within the 25-seconds of some kind
• Music and sound effects are encouraged
• Make sure to always use Creative Commons only
• CC-Friendly Websites for Music and SFX
• Film using your MacAir laptop camera, iPad or any camera you may have.

Special Effects:

• Green Screen
• Including backgrounds and add-ins
• Fast-forward
• Slow-Motion
• Cloning
• Reverse-Motion
• List of CC-Friendly Stock Footage Sites

Publishing and Posting:

1. Publish on YouTube as PUBLIC or UNLISTED
2. Paste video link into SFX 5x5 Short Spreadsheet
3. Embed into your blog
4. Answer Reflection Questions
5. Tag with video, gr6

Reflection Questions:

1. What special effect skill did you feel you best utilized in your 5x5? Which was special effect what the most difficult to incorporate?
2. How did you brainstorm your story for your 5x5? Did you speak to some of your classmates or was it something you brainstormed on your own? How did storyboarding help your planning?
3. Describe what filming your 5x5 was like; did more work happen during filming or in post-production?
4. What other special effects would you have liked to have learned for this project? Why?

Grading Rubric:

CC-Friendly Stock Footage Websites

Currently my Digital Expressions class is learning what they can do with special effects in iMovie for future use in projects across contents. My students have run into the issue of not knowing where to find royalty-free stock footage, so I put together this list to help them out. Feel free to use it for your own videos or to share with your classes.

Stop-Motion Shorts from Digital Expressions

In our Digital Expressions class, the 6th graders have been working tirelessly on creating stop-motion shorts after learning about the different kinds of animation they could work with. I am so proud at the work they have created after several days of minuscule maneuvering of objects and thousands of photos taken. Check out their work below and leave a comment if you enjoy their work-for many 6th graders, this was their first video project ever!

Silent Films from Digital Filmmaking

In our Digital Filmmaking class, students have spent the past 3 weeks learning about silent films and interpreting the genre in their own films. They had the choice to do either a traditional or modern silent film, and practice their acting in the process. Below is a playlist of their films, please leave a comment if you enjoyed their film--the filmmakers love getting feedback!

Finding Creative Commons-Friendly Music

Trying to find the perfect song for a movie project is one of the most fun post-production tasks. Unfortunately, it can also be one of the most difficult because finding free, downloadable CC-friendly music online can be a bit overwhelming. To make things easier for you during your time in Video Production, here are some of my favorite CC-friendly song websites for you to check out during post-production.

Vimeo Music Store

Great resource for finding hundreds of songs for your film. The Vimeo Music Store has a nice feature where you can specify your search for music, which I always put on FREE. Make sure to hit the button that says Advanced Filters in order to get the search in the picture.

YouTube Audio Library

Not many people know that YouTube has an audio library with music and sound effects to download for free for your video projects. Like Vimeo, it has a great search bar where you can specify exactly what kind of music you are searching for. You can get here by either clicking the link above or going to the Creator Studio on your own YouTube account.

MusOpen

One of my favorite sites for finding music for my movie projects, MusOpen offers thousands of classical songs for free use in your projects. It also has sheet music for any music buffs out there.

Free Music Archive

Also know as FMA, Free Music Archive has a great selection of free CC-friendly songs for download. Hint: if you search by Most Interesting, it will sort your songs by most downloaded. 

I hope these websites can help you out during your music search for your movie project. Of course, there is a way to always get the perfect song for your film: Create it yourself! Garageband is easier than ever to use, and it's a blast finding your musical groove. If you want more websites, check out the Google Doc below. It lists websites with free, CC-friendly songs, loops and sound effects for all your audio needs. 

The Door Scene: Final Cut

You now will have one final opportunity to shoot your Door Scene using your group’s OWN storyboard that was originally picked. Below are the steps to completing your assignment:

1. Revise your original storyboard considering the changes and critiques you received from the team who shot using your storyboard originally. However, when you create your storyboard, think of a creative, entertaining or surprising new ending for the scenario.
1. The entire film must follow the original script until the character opens the door. From that point on, you are on your own! Also, write a detailed description of your new ending.
2. Reshoot Door Scene
1. Using your revamped storyboard, shoot the Door Scene again, using the same parameters as in previous steps.
1. Neither the character nor the audience never sees the source/face of the sound
2. The film can only have 1 actor
3. The film must be at least 30 seconds and cannot exceed 90 seconds
4. The entire film must take within 5-10 feet of the door
3. Import your video footage into iMovie and begin editing.
1. Start first with assembling the sequence of shots in order of your storyboards into a rough cut of your film without transitions, effects, music or titles.
2. Make sure your scene illustrates the required rising tension and relief in the shot.
4. After your film is sequenced the way you want, begin adding transitions, music, titles and effects to enhance the film’s overall impact, making the story clearer, more interesting and more dramatic.
5. Upload to YouTube
1. Movie Title: The Door Scene - Final Cut
2. Make sure to include your groupmates’ names in Descriptions section
3. MAKE SURE IT’S PUBLIC
6. Post video on Blogger and tag correctly
1. Make sure to tag with video and gr7

GRADING RUBRIC

Project Overview: Silent Film

FILM PREMIERE: THURSDAY,  FEBRUARY 5TH

REQUIREMENTS:

• Group roles (2 person group minimum):
• Director
• Actor(s)-You may use people from other groups in your film
• Editor
• Screenwriter
• Length: 2 minute MINIMUM
• NO DIALOGUE
• Musical soundtrack
• Can be made on Garageband/Logic Pro or CC-friendly music found online
• Screenplay must be written and submitted before filming

SILENT FILM CHOICES

TRADITIONAL SILENT FILM

Filmed in black and white Can only use shots and angles from silent film era Full shot & Close-up Eye level angle Dialogue title slides must be utilized Acting should be: Exaggerated Dramatic facial expressions Special effects must be from silent film era i.e. NO GREEN SCREEN, slow-motion Film soundtrack must be conventional silent film music Find silent film music tracks here MODERN SILENT FILM Can be filmed in either black and white or color Use of any camera shot/angle is allowed to enhance story NO dialogue title slides Actor/acting must completely tell story Acting should be natural yet convincing Costumes and props are encouraged Any special effects are welcome, but must be 100% essential to story development Film soundtrack can be any kind CC-friendly music Instrumental scores Songs with words RUBRIC

Video 6/Block H/Day 2: Friday's Assignment

I hope all of you are ready to be on your best behavior for our guest teacher, Mr. Condon, today in class. We will begin filming on Tuesday, September 9th. I have decided to ALLOW students to film at home if they like, but they still cannot take the school iPads home. You will have to find a way to film and create your stop-motion video on your own. 

Below is your assignment for today:

1. Finish your storyboard for your stop-motion short. If you would rather write out your shots, you can fill out the Stop-Motion: Story Planning document in your Video 6 Drop folder.

2. Once you are finished, you can watch the Stop-Motion YouTube playlist Mrs. Gach has put together for you. Click below to access:

I will miss you all very much today in class! Have a wonderful weekend, and come ready to film on Tuesday!

PSA Analysis Questions

PSA Analysis Questions

1. What is the problem/subject being addressed in the PSA?
2. Who is the author or group promoting the PSA?
3. What is the main message presented in the PSA?
4. What techniques are utilized by the PSA creator in promoting the message? (There can be more than 1)
5. How effective is this PSA in delivering its message? Explain why or why not?
6. Does this PSA affect your personally? Why or why not?

Remember to title your blog post and tag correctly: gr7, video

Rick Mereki - Move

Rick Mereki spent 44 days, traveling 38,000 miles, across 11 countries, just to film this one-minute video. The concept is simple, but what he made is stunning and creative. Don't blink at 0:28!

Climbing Shanghai Towers

Pretty amazing what you can capture with a GoPro camera! This video seriously freaks me out, I hate heights!

Apple's 1.24.14

Thirty years ago the Macintosh computer promised to put technology in the hands of the people. To celebrate the Mac's birthday, Apple made a film shot entirely on the iPhone featuring video from all around the world. It is truly incredible to see how much film has evolved and the creative power we all have as part of this earth. Cheers to the next thirty, Apple.