Scasl Web

“Lights, Camera, Action!”

Making Videos in the Classroom Can Happen

Catherine NelsonLibrary Media SpecialistRock Hill, South Carolina

Video ClipRed Ribbon Week

not included in web material

Early AttemptsLibrary Shape Exploration with

Kindergarten Students

Video Clip = 1:36

Video ClipKindergarten Shape

Explorationnot included in web material

Morning News Program Intro

Cathy Nelson

Clip = 2:29

Video ClipExplorer News Network Intronot included in web material

Veteran’s Day Salute

2nd Grade Collaborative Project

Clip = 3:44

Video Clip“Veteran’s Day Salute”


Drama / Science Integration

Meghann Plumb, TeacherTheater Arts

Clip = 4:20

Video Clip“Drama / Science Integration”not included in web material

Holiday Extravaganza 2004

Christmas Music ProgramPaul Nutter, Music Specialist

Problems begin…

Clip = 1:50

Video Clip“Holiday Extravaganza 2004”not included in web material

“Oliver”

Musical AdaptationArtist-in-Residency with

The Baillie Players

MANY glitches and skips in final movieMovie clip = 5:14

Video Clip“Oliver”


Video Clip“The Lazy 5 Ranch”


Video Clip“Imagine:

Children’s Book Week”not included in web material

Video Clip“It’s a Gift to be Free”


Christmas 2005 Program

Not included in the Web Presentation

Video Clip“Northside Reading

Prize Patrol”not included in web material

Video Clip“Music Artist Spotlight”


My story• First camera—

Sony Mavica

• Mpeg clips

• Embedded really rough video clips in PPTs

• Drama Teacherused it

Drama Teacher

• First teacher to take and use digital camera’s video component for authentic purpose

• Disappointed in quality & size

• Kids LOVED it! So did parents on Drama Nights!

My story• Principal decided we needed digital

cameras (still and video)• Asked me to go shopping!• I asked for time to investigate for best

quality, ease of use• NEXT day she sent a technology assistant

to purchase whatever Staples had in stock.

My response• SHOCK• No forethought to anything

we had talked about• No one knew how to do anything except

shoot video• I was the only one in the building who

could actually pull the video to VHS• NB candidates REFUSED to use the

cameras including me…

The year of the donkey!!• My response? Keep using that good old

RCA VHS camera—then no transferring video to another tape.

• IGNORE the video cameras

• Excuse? No real time to learn (scheduling nightmare)

• Lack of foundation for myself.

Time to Learn• Summer - A lot of time.

• Both cameras at home w/ me

• Tried on again off again to shoot and capture footage.

• Failure after failure

• Frustration – I had everything the booklets said I needed

It took a child….• Towards my explosive

frustration point

• Throwing cameras down, swearing, carrying on

• 16 year old mentioned that perhaps if I’d use a “firewire”

• Meanwhile, school resumes

District Tech Classes• Got a flyer at beginning of school

• Video editing was being offered as a five week mini class after a successful summer one

• Signed on after a d.o. friend suggested it.

• Instructor called—said do not ask questions in class—save them for later

Time to confess my inadequacy!!• Sheer humiliation• I was revered as the tech guru, and I was

having to call for help• Had the instructional tech person visit and

try• He had success capturing live (webcam style)

but it was grainy and not quality• Later realized he set the camera to read

from the memory card and not the dv tape

His admission• He struggled too

• Took him over and hour to finally capture ten minutes of the worst quality you’d ever seen

• Blamed it on the quality of my cameras

• Made me think I was right about them being a bad choice for our school and teachers

One positive from that meeting• He told me to sign up for the district class

• Angered me – so I did it out of anger

• I had already been to visit Tim who hooked my camera right up and downloaded perfect video…but I was still not having success

• They had me convinced I was not meant to use the cameras in the way they were intended—digitally

Class One• It took just under an hour of his first class to

FINALLY get to content I didn’t already know• How large video files are• Measures to take to have a good capture -

How do you spell f-i-r-e-w-i-r-e?• How to use the Windows XP free version of

Windows Movie Maker– Already had a general working knowledge

– Previously used I-movie on a MAC

How did I already know??• Nature of the LMS

• Jump right in and try—play—realize inadequacies—develop specific questions to ask

• Can be good or bad sometimes!!

• Also—Summer of 2001 GEAR-UP Program at USC Aiken

Back to class one…• Tim finally said the “F” word

– Firewire

• Of course I unloaded with a barrage of questions---and he cut me off, telling me he would talk to me independently at break

• Reprimanded me for scaring the others in the class

• Answered my questions, and I PROMPTLY….

…QUIT the class!Why?1. All I needed to know was how to capture my

digital videos.2. He wasn’t going to allow me to ask questions3. I didn’t want to give up five weeks once a week

of evenings4. I knew I could do the rest with no help

necessary from the class5. It was obvious that everyone else was at TRUE

beginner level

What did I do?• I realized my computer didn’t have a

firewire port or firewire and that I needed them• Went shopping! Office Depot here I come!• Asked for a firewire card for my computer

(had specs all written down) and a firewire. • Did not want to ask district either—afraid the tech

dept would say no or worse would say they would do it, and then TAKE FOREVER to come set me up. Can you spell r-e-d t-a-p-e?

FEAR FACTOR!!Opening up the computer• NEVER had done it before

• No experience in this area

• FEAR—called my inexperienced husband

• Together we walked through opening the computer. I was literally shaking.

Here

Once inside..• Opened my firewire card package, only to

realize I paid for a firewire I did not need because the card came with a firewire too. – (another trip to Office Depot!)

• Could see the slot where the firewire card would fit

• Took a deep breath—stuck it in, and closed it up.

• I rebooted my workstation• Rewound my mini dv tape on

the camera• Hooked up the firewire to

the back of the ws, plugged it into my camera, and…

• Held my breathe …

Now it was time

• It was so shocking!! Suddenly my computer wizard wanted to know if I wanted to capture the film

Excitement!, Joy!, …and humility

• I was so PLEASED that I had finally successfully captured video

• Shared with my family at supper

• My 16 y.o. said “told ya…”• …and I had to confess

he was right.

After the fact• Tim, I now realize in reflection, had used a

firewire at his school too.

• I went just to see if the cameras were really of poor quality—figured he’d know

• He did assure me they were fine when he was able to capture video

• I just totally missed the firewire, and thought he’s used a USB cord like what had come with both cameras.

The cameras• In the package:

– Camera– Strap– A/V cords– USB cord– Booklet in both Englsih and Spanish– Software for editing

What the booklet

DID NOT SAY!• No mention whatsoever of needing a

firewire!!!• To reflect over my whole summer and school

kick off frustrations and realize all I needed was a firewire…anger, frustration , wasted time!!

• In the back of my mind I did know, but had myself totally convinced that since the booklets said to use the provided USB cord, then it really wasn’t needed. WAS I EVER WRONG!

New beginnings• Play with new video

– Start small• Red Ribbon week

• K class exploration

• Veteran’s Day Skit

• Finesse your skills on the small projects– Adding titles– Using transitions– Adding voice or music

Learning WMM• Start small

• Picture shows

• Adding music

• Finding music

• Doing video

• Bells and whistles

Graduate to bigger projects

• School Musical

• School Play

• A different school play

• A principal’s presentation

• More examples…

Beginning to experience different kinds of problems

• Longer projects were having skips– Computer could not capture because of size/speed?

– Was it because I was a multitasking queen?

– Began working at home on personal computer

– Bought a laptop firewire and worked at home

– Problems still persisted

Time to admit inadequacies again..• And ask for help!

– ITV technician • Better quality editing program

– District guru • close screensavers

• get a dedicated workstation

• No Multitasking

• Better quality editor and to remember that WMM is free and not without imperfections

And still no resolution• Problems arise

• Music teacher unhappy with edited product because he sold copies and parents are complaining

• Wants me to dub all VHS’s to replace the dvds

• Pride is pricked

Resolution—I think• I had the third Christmas musical to

edit.

• Broke down at church and asked the professional video editor what would cause my skips

• He suggested I buy an external hard drive of at least 200 gb and a spin rate of 7200

The solution

• Capture video to the larger faster hard drive

• Edit and save all work there

• No skips…so far

Tim Cooper’s Material

District Instructor ofWMM

for recertification credits

Video Production with Microsoft Movie Maker

Tim CooperRawlinson Road Middle SchoolRock Hill School District Three

Rock Hill, SCwww.rock-hill.k12.sc.us/teachers/rrms/tcooper/edtech/moviemaker

About Tim• 7th grade Social Studies Teacher at Rawlinson

Road Middle School• 7th Year teaching• Graduate of University of South Carolina• Model Technology Teacher Leader for RHSD3• Teach IGPro/ClassXP and Movie Maker classes

for Rock Hill School District• Videos weddings, etc. on the side

Used with permission from Tim Cooper.

Tell me about Movie Maker• Movie Maker is a video-editing software

program from Microsoft.

• It comes free with Windows XP Home and Professional.

• It is basically a video version of PowerPoint, and has many of the same features and workflow items.


What can I do with Movie Maker?

• There are many classroom, as well as personal, applications for Movie Maker, including:– Photo montages for Parents’ Night,

Open House

– Videos of classroom activities

– Student projectsUsed with permission from Tim Cooper.

How do you get started?• Movie Maker can run on most any computer

that has Windows XP installed.• Recommended system requirements include:

– Processor: Personal or multimedia computer with a 1.5 gigahertz (GHz) or higher processor

– Memory: 256 megabytes (MB) or higher of RAM – Hard Disk: 2.0 GB of available hard-disk space or

higher– You will also need a way to get your videos into your

computer. This requires different capture hardware depending on the source of your video.


Upgrading to Movie Maker 2• Windows XP installs with Movie Maker version 1.

• There were significant updates to the program, and Microsoft offers a free upgrade to version 2.

• Before beginning work with the program, you should upgrade the software.

• Microsoft now includes Movie Maker 2 as part of Service Pack 2, a huge download (over 100 MB).

• Download Service Pack 2 through Windows Update, or order the CD from Microsoft.


Introduction to Movie Maker 2• For best results, I suggest you set your

screen resolution to 1024 x 768. This will allow you to see all the options in Movie Maker and not have to scroll through different windows.– On the desktop, right click, then select

Properties.– Choose the Settings tab, then move the Screen

Resolution slider to More.


Introduction to Movie Maker 2Capture Area

Bring video, still pictures, or audio from the camera, disk, or other source


Introduction to Movie Maker 2Edit Movie Area

Transitions, video effects, titles, and credits


Introduction to Movie Maker 2Finish Movie

Export to Computer, CD, web, or back to the camera


Getting your video on your computer

• There are two ways to get video from your camera into your computer: USB or Firewire.

• All PC’s have USB ports, and many laptops have Firewire ports as well.

• Firewire (IEEE 1394) is a faster transfer rate which can transfer higher-quality video.

• USB is more than sufficient for school-based videos. • Make sure your camcorder can stream through

USB if that will be your connection method (Sony cameras will USB stream).


Using United Streaming• Better known as StreamlineSC

• How to identify editable video

• Putting together my own instructional videos

• Having kids put together their own instructional videos.

Notice the

editing symbol!

The EndContact Cathy

[email protected]:

http://www.rock-hill.k12.sc.us/schools/elem/nses/media/pro/presentations.htm

Path:Rock Hill School DistrictSchools

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