Project:

INVITATION

How can we help students engage in creative thinking and apply creativity in nonlinear video production? How can we help students to develop organization skills to create a well-planned school video? How do we help them communicate the process of technological design? How do we motivate students to use a variety of digital media and formats to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences?

TASKS

Students explore the school environment that surrounds them and develop a process to capture the moments of their lives that constitute meaning and play roles in their development. They use video cameras, photography, interviews, art, and music to record their experiences.

TOOLS

Computers; the Internet; Inspiration.

Director Academic (optional); Final Cut Pro (optional); Photoshop LE or Photoshop Elements (optional); QuickTime VR Authoring Studio or The VR Worx (optional).

INTERACTIONS

Students are divided into the following groups: Academics, Classes, Organizations/Clubs, Sports, Student Life, and Community. Within each of the groups, students elect a "Video Producer" who will provide leadership. From the previous groups or as a separate group, elect three more groups: Overall Production Group, Video Lead-in (opening video sequence), and Video Close (closing video sequence). The students work together within groups, between groups, and with the teacher, who serves as mediator. Each group schedules weekly meetings and updates the teacher on the group’s overall progress. Each student also works independently during the project to document their own school experiences to be incorporated in the video yearbook.

STANDARDS

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SITUATIONS

Students work in the classroom, lab, media center, home, and community. This project is an ongoing, yearly assignment with constant teacher/student interaction. Students work together and individually to prepare storyboards and layouts. Group members work in the community to set up video shoots and interviews while the Video Producer for each group finalizes all schedules, shoots, and interviews.

ASSESSMENT

The teacher assesses the unit by developing a rubric that takes into account group interaction, communication skills, the variety of tools used to capture events, and the quality of the finished product.

Students create a digital yearbook that reflects their experiences during their secondary education. These experiences may include many different categories as students' educational experiences will vary. Through discussion and documentation of all types of experiences, students will be able to evaluate their own lives and analyze the roles they play in an ever-changing society.

Students work individually to document their own lives and in groups to gather collections of the entire educational experience. During this unit, students have the opportunity to increase and develop their writing, communication, and social skills as they record their daily experiences. The final yearbook of experiences can result in an interactive output to CD or simply a linear output to tape.

Phase 1: Discussion and brainstorming

Students begin this project by reviewing other yearbooks, either print or video. As a class, students discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the sample yearbooks. Students then brainstorm ideas on how they can illustrate unique ideas in their yearbook. The brainstorming can be done in assigned groups or with the entire class, using Inspiration to aid students into immediate thought or quick responses. The RapidFire portion of Inspiration will give students this opportunity.

The brainstorming ideas that students suggest will probably encompass their own experiences. Ask them to think about the following kinds of questions to lead them in the right direction: What is your first thought when asked about your school experience? How might you categorize the social environments in your school?

Phase 2: Video categories

The video categories should be based on the previously assigned groups: Academics, Classes, Organizations/Clubs, Sports, Student Life, and Community. These categories will encompass the framework for the video. In addition, the three remaining groups, Overall Production, Video Lead-in, and Video Close, will collaborate with these individuals.

Phase 3: Researching categories

Students will begin researching the categories chosen for implementation into the video. Students may begin their research conducting interviews, discussing articles found that may discuss current trends, ideas, music and other categories. Research on the World Wide Web will be an integral part of social and communicative research.

Phase 4: Gathering footage

Using the yearly school calendar, create a timeline of school events, and make sure that each student is signed up to cover several of them. This ensures that you will have video footage of the important events.

In addition, students need to set up interviews, gather photographs, shoot video, and create checklists of materials and footage desired for the final output. This is also a good opportunity to work with the different departments within the school to integrate all areas of the school environment.

Phase 5: What gets cut?

Students create argumentative cases for why their particular footage should or should not be included in the final product. This phase may take the form of debates or class presentations.

Phase 6: Determining the final output

Students decide whether the final output will be pressed to a CD so that it can be interactive, or if it will be delivered on linear tape. This decision determines the format in which the presentation will be developed. A CD presentation involves using Director Academic as a development engine for interaction. For example, students can develop a CD that begins with a starting page; from this page, users can make choices as to where they want to visit by clicking buttons, links, animated links, or searching through a home directory. Much of the interaction here is similar to Web page navigation. As students begin to work with the final product, they might choose to listen to sounds clips from school, view QuickTime videos of special events, view images of classmates, or even take a QuickTime Virtual Reality tour of the school.

Instead of an interactive CD, students might choose to create a non-interactive, linear presentation that is recorded to tape. Most schools choose VHS as the final output product. In this scenario, students can create a full video and audio linear presentation using Final Cut Pro.

PREPARATION

Make sure that students are comfortable using Final Cut Pro, Inspiration, Director Academic, and Photoshop LE or Photoshop Elements.

Show examples of school yearbooks that students can analyze for content and layout.

Discuss with students the importance of video footage, how and what to shoot, and how cameras work with your editing computer.

Prepare students with a knowledge of file sizes in the areas of text, graphics, sound, audio, and video.

Check all cameras and equipment to ensure they are in working order.

During the project, assign specific deadlines for finished material. Leave enough time for students to edit and troubleshoot.

Decide what the storage for raw video footage will be and how much you are able to store.

Extra FireWire drives will allow students to store the video footage necessary for this project.

OPTIONS AND EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

In order to save time, students may want to do critiques of each other's work. As the final product will be created by all students involved, students may save time evaluating work as the products are being developed.

Host a school assembly and let the creators of the video share their project with the school. If all material is not under copyright protection, consider using the video yearbook as a school fund-raiser.

Invite family, community, and school board members to attend the unveiling.