Need to create multiple websites for personal projects or for clients?
iWeb 09 lets you create multiple sites, so you no longer need to worry about replacing a site you have already created. Here's a quick video that shows you how it works.
Need to create multiple websites for personal projects or for clients?
iWeb 09 lets you create multiple sites, so you no longer need to worry about replacing a site you have already created. Here's a quick video that shows you how it works.
When shooting your project it's important to know what areas you are allowed to record in and which are off limits. For example, government area's are usually always out of the question (unless you have connections or the money for proper permits), places like train stations, airports, or private areas like the mall or even some public parks are off limits. Make sure before you shoot your production you have the permissions you need.
For the most part, if you want to shoot in local areas in your city, talking will get you a long way, especially if it is a school project. For example, talking to your local coffee shop or restaurant owner about filming inside their place is not very difficult and for the most part we have seen that they are usually excited to be a part of something like that.
One important tip is to carry location and model releases for the places and people you are shooting. Below are links to some example release forms you can use for your projects.
An abstract movie, sometimes referred to as a mixed media project, has multiple media elements. For example, it can have multiple forms of text, music, graphics, special effects, color and video filters. These movies go beyond your traditional documentary or narrative both visually and story wise.
Click Here to see an example of a abstract movie.
Video essays are another form of abstract movies. Video essays are different then your standard documentary because they don't need to have an actual interview and are different than narratives because the storyline is communicated generally through a scripted voice, images, music and/or text.
Click Here to see an example of a abstract movie.
After students/participants have finished their projects it's important to have a place where they can showcase their work. Putting together a film festival is a great way to showcase their work to a large audience.
The picture above is the the iCan Film Festival put on early by student in San Fernando in the parking lot of a local coffee shop. Since the movies are short in length and take several students to produce one movie, all students have an opportunity to showcase at least one project they have worked on through out the year.
TIP: Work with your local business to collaborate and have your students host a festival of their own!
During the production stage of your projects make sure you have a list of the materials you will need to create or collect for your project.
For example, props for your characters, costumes, props for the set for your documentary. Or maybe pictures either found online, that you need scan, or you need to collect from someone else. Make sure you have DRI's for these responsibilities so the director can focus on the vision of the project and the DRI for this part of the project can focus on collecting/creating assets.
TIP: Have one list for the items you need to create and another for the items you need to collect. As the DRI goes creating/collecting have them check off the items to show progress.
Have you ever wanted to learn more about using available light and flash by looking over the shoulder of a professional photographer? Now’s your chance.Watch and learn as professional photographer, Ibarionex Perello identifies the lighting challenges of each shooting situation and explains how he resolves them using ambient light, flash and reflectors to improve the quality of his digital photographs. Learn how you can use these simple techniques of seeing and controlling light to transform your digital photographs.
When working on your project it's always good to save all your notes and mindmaps. These are great documents to go back to and see what your steps were on completing your project.
During the assessment of your projects you can also refer to your planning to see if there was something you could have done on the planning side to prevent or enhance in the final production.
TIP: Teachers, saving students mindmaps and notes is also a great way to show your students at the end of the year how much they have written and planned throughout the semester. They WILL be amazed.
TIP: If students created notes and mindmaps on their computers, have them upload to your online server, such as your MobileMe account.
Here are some tips on conducting interviews for your documentary:
1. What is the main message/story of your documentary? It's important to know what the focus of your documentary is before you develop questions for the interview, especially if you are interviewing multiple people. For example if I'm doing a PSA on water and interviewing someone from the community I need to make a list of the things I know I want answered by the person I am interviewing. What are the key points I want them to hit? Doing this will help you develop questions easier and will save you interviewing time.
Now that you know what the focus of your documentary is you can develop questions around the main idea for the interviewee. For example, in the PSA example from above I know I wanted to focus on 3 questions.
1.) What is the issue? (the water crisis in the central valley)
2.) How does it affect us? (Can he give us some facts?)
3.) What can I do? (What is the call to action)
As you can see above those are the three questions I want to ask but in parenthesis I have what I want from that question.
TIP: If the interviewee doesn't answer my question clearly, ask a follow up question.
3. Make them comfortable Before the interview, if possible, talk to the person you are interviewing over the phone or meet them in person. You want to make sure they are comfortable with you.
TIP: People like to be directed, without being aggressive, because it takes stress off of them. Be clear with your interviewee, what do you want from them?
Also, during the interview while the crew is setting up the shot, sit with your interviewee. Start with an informal conversation to make them comfortable and then lead into how the interview.
TIP: Never leave your interviewee sitting alone while everyone is setting up for the interview. This usually makes them more nervous.
To see some extra tips on recording your interview visit this link on our wiki.
When you are editing your project it's recommended that you do a rough cut first. A rough cut is when you piece your project in the order necessary to tell the story without worrying that your cuts and audio is perfect. The goal is to put your story in the proper sequence, don't worry about detailed editing in the rough cut.
Final Cut:The final cut of your project is the next step after your rough cut. This is where you start to worry about detail edits such as precision editing, effects, titles, transitions and your audio mixed down to make sure your audio levels are good. After this you are ready to export! Congats!
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