StopMotion: Deadline

Yet another example of stop motion animation. This was a senior project at Savannah College of Art and Design for Bang-yao Liu. Below is also embedded a "making of" video. Enjoy.

Product Evaluation Videos

I've been toying around with getting my video students to do product evaluation videos. It involves lots of editing and mixing of canned with planned footage. Good practice of their basic skills.

I'd considered it as a project a couple of years ago and then it fell by the wayside as time constraints took my mind and my students to other areas.

Watching this video from Slate comparing two of the "late-nite" miracle machines is a good example of the kind video the kids could do. They could compare two products. They could test a single product to see if it performs "as advertised". It could be straight up or a parody of the genre. I think it would be fun. (Of course my idea of fun and my students are often at odds.)

[Image captured from video: As Seen on TV: Slap Chop vs Vidalia Chop Wizard]

Sound Effects

I often tell my video production students about a documentary I saw that had a short segment describing how they got the sound effects for Star Wars. Essentially some guys went out and recorded various sounds in the world and then used them as the basis for the effects in the film. The one I always remember is a man with headphones and a recorder hitting the guy wire for a structure. That sound eventually became the laser blast sound you hear in the movie. I encourage them to be creative in their projects and not just use the same canned sounds that everyone else uses.

My enthusiasm falls on deaf ears. If I'm not going to grade them on it, assign it or twist their little adolescent arms and walk them on their tiptoes over to the sound equipment, it's not going to happen. The other video teacher and I have been talking a lot lately about how our students are doing great with the visual aspect of their projects but tend to ignore the sound. So, I've been thinking about ways I can get them to start listening. Paying attention to the sound levels. Maybe build an assignment around creating sound effects as the first step towards building an audio awareness of their work.

So, I was pleased to see this Guide to Sound Effects. It will be a part of my new improved lessons on sound next year.

[Update: Found this site about the man who did those star wars effects, Ben Burtt]

[via Make]

[Image: "Headphones, glasses, smile": Flickr: Uploaded on June 10, 2007 by allaboutgeorge: http://www.flickr.com/photos/allaboutgeorge/540043362/: Creative Commons]

Tape Measure Basics

Did you ever have one of those "dotty" relatives who talked to themselves while they worked?

We'd giggle about how Uncle Sam would be talking to his tools and describing to the tool what he was going to do before doing it. Now that I've taught for a few years I realize that this was a great teaching technique. I use it all the time now and will often think out loud so my students can hear my thought process. It makes me sound a little dotty and I'm sure my kids giggle behind my back too. I started doing this when I was a Social Studies teacher and would talk to the text book's author and ask him questions as though he were there in the room. I'd admonish my students to develop a two-way relationship with their textbook. "There is a person behind those words, learn to talk to him. Ask her questions!"(I'd like to take credit for coming up with this idea but I heard it in a workshop.)

I use this often with my kids as I talk myself through the steps it takes me to accomplish something. I find when I don't do this, what I've done looks like magic. Like it just happens. I had a friend once in frustration say to me after I solved a technical problem she was having, "How did you do that? Do you want to keep me stupid?" I realized that I had done all my thinking in my head and it just looked like magic. I'm trying to do think outloud more with the adults around me but for some reason I feel more self-conscious with my peers. Maybe I don't want them to think I'm dotty?

I wish my dad had talked to himself more while I was around. I think maybe I would have learned more as I followed him around the construction sites where he worked. I think we would all do better with a few more dotty adults hanging around. But, if you are short on dotty relatives take a look at this site, Remodeling for Geeks. I read the posts regularly to pick up a few of those tidbits of wisdom I missed while growing up. He has a couple of posts that explain tape measures. I thought when I saw this, "I know how to measure." Well guess I had a few things to learn.......if Dad had only talked to his tape measure!

[Image captured from Remodling for Geeks: http://theheadlemur.typepad.com]/remodeling_for_geeks/]

DIY Photo Studio Product Lighting

Sweet little video from Make on how to set up your own product lighting for a photo shoot. Say you have a small object like a purse or a set of headphones or your action figurine of the Hulk. Here is a way to light it with no shadows on the cheap.



[Image captured from "Episode 2, DIY Photo Studio Product Lighting"; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zARqGgHjNc&eurl=http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/04/ diy_photo_studio_product.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890]

Excel Timeline

I was helping my wife with a work-related presentation she was creating this past weekend and she needed a timeline for one of her Powerpoint slides. I was eager to try one of the online timeline programs but none quite did what she wanted.

In searching for a way to make a simple timeline, I stumbled across this tutorial that uses an Excel spreadsheet. It's easy and easily modified to fit your needs. Social studies teachers (and students) should love this one.
I put together a quick overview of my life in less than ten minutes. Imagine what you could do with some real content.


[Image: Screenshot of a sample timeline I created in Excel]

Better photos through composition

Quick tutorial on improving photos through composition. The author give two easy techniques: one with your camera and the other with your photo editor.


Show it to your students and set them loose for a fast lesson on your first day back after suffering the indignities of a nasty stomach virus.









[Image: Captured from Information Addicts: Change Your View, Change Your Composition: http://www.informationaddicts.com/change-your-view-change-your-composition]

Poor Man's SteadyCam

SteadyCams are rigs that help keep a video camera steady even while the cameraman is moving. I found this site last year while I was looking for an alternative to the expensive units that were available. I never constructed one and it slipped my mind until the other day when I was writing about the camera technique that Andy Ihnatko' used on one of his YouTube videos.

A comment on his website mentioned the site I originally found, $14 SteadyCam, and I went back and looked it over again. If you are looking for a inexpensive alternative to a store bought unit that costs several hundred of dollar or more, this might be the way to go.

I stumbled across this YouTube video of some young men building a steadycam in their garage. It looks pretty close to the one from the $14 SteadyCam site, so I included it here. It also has some footage taken with and without the steadycam for comparison.




[Image: Captured at http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/]

HowTo: Define a Word

My sister, who was a teacher, used to have the most infuriating habit of answering my question about an unfamiliar word with, "Look it up in the dictionary!"

She was an evil, evil woman.

Of course, now as an adult, I automatically go to the dictionary to look up a word that I don't recognize or can't figure out from contextual clues. I also have spell check and the internet available much of the time and can quickly check out a new word. My problem is that in spite of my sister's guidance , I am a poor speller. Google comes in handy when even my spell checker can't figure out what I am trying to spell.

In Google's search bar I type in: define: partesan

Google politely asks me: "Did you mean: define: partisan"

Why yes, that was the word I was trying to spell. Just in case, I click on the word and a page full of definitions and links come up. Yup, I was trying to write about "a fervent and even militant proponent of something."

On those occasions where Google doesn't recognize my butchery of the language, I can try different spellings until finally I hit on the right combination or something close enough that Google can give me the right spelling.