Videos – supporting learning, collaboration and change Helpful hints on Videos
O. Before the Journey
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Videos... more than could! Nowadays, many people use a smartphone, perhaps a tablet as well. Or / and they have long ago switched their analogue camera for a digital device, which they could also use for making videos. Could... Perhaps they even made some videos. Well just for the fun for it. Nothing “remarkable”... Hearing “video” lots of people more often think in standards of Hollywood – high tech equipment, perfect lightning, crispy sound. Going directly to the next Oscar ® - Award. There are lots of examples of films with very low budget, that became famous and attracted lots of attention. And there is the story of videos on You Tube that got millions of views not only because they showed some sort of so-sweeeeet-kittys. Also, because of their message. Digital storytelling is a growing important tool, also in all fields of education, project management, internal & external communication.
Potential of Videos So in short: Videos have this potential among others:
● Giving quick overviews even to very complex issues ● Looking behind false fronts or adding important details ● Supporting (and also enabling) people to tell their stories, their point of view, their fears / hopes / ideas
● Foster the initiation, brain storming, first steps, conversion of projects (and of course give accounts on them)
● To learn together and from one another in a collaborative way And you have the ways and the potential to plan and make such videos! So let’s start!
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O. Before the Journey
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A good story Joe Lambert, co-founder of the “Center for digital storytelling” (Berkely, CA, USA) names seven elements for a good story (Source: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Instructional_Technology/Digital_Storytelling):
Point of View – Who is the narrator and why is he/she talking to us?
● Dramatic Question – Desire – Action - Realization ● Emotional Content – What are the emotions associated with your narrative? ● The Gift of your Voice – What does your narrator sound like? ● The Power of the Soundtrack – What music sets the mood for your story? ● Economy – Keep it short and succinct. ● Pacing – The rhythm of the story helps set the tone ● (interesting addition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHRuAi-Z3oY)
Four steps on the way to videos
So, the following four steps can be helpful in moving on the way:
1. Watch different short videos ● Like some of these ones http://www.creativenarrations.net/stories ● or here http://www.projectaspect.org/our_films?page=babacar ● or here http://www.townofrigolet.com/home/stories.htm Why did you like / dislike the story? Look at the “fever chart” of the film (fast, slow, boring, fascinating...) – when was it high / low? In which way, were aspects used like lightning, using sounds and music, positioning and/or moving the camera (see also here http://www.mediaknowall.com/camangles.html) ...?
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O. Before the Journey
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2. Get to know & choose your tools Remember the word “could” in the introduction. On the way from “could” to “let's do it”, its very useful to make experiments with your devices, take a look on the manual, think about the things you could need during making the video and for completing it (yes there are videos, you won't need to use editing tools, and there are some that will need them). Often, a tripod is very useful, especially if you do interviews.
3. Make a storyboard ● Outline your story / the questions you will use in short sentences. ● Make a scribble on your planned “fever chart” of the story. ● Search for stories and people that back up information given in your video. ● You could also prepare a more elaborate storyboard, based e. g. on research of potential places you will film, combining it with photos you took.
● Show your storyboard other people and ask for their comments, ideas, questions...
4. Remember basic rules (and dare to brake them, because that's the plan) such us ● People / objects in front of a window / the sun might be shady afterwards ● filming people / things from a great distance is a good idea for overview and might be tricky for showing details
● “stuff around” the people / objects you are filming can be distracting (and also offer interesting “comments”)
● Looooong sentences (monologues) might get boring after a while ● to many threads of different stories in one film vs. showing different views ● a shaky camera could make viewers nervous see also http://m.wikihow.com/Make-a-Short-Film and http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/oneminutemovies/howto/
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O. Before the Journey
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Selection of helpful tools: Microsoft Moviemaker Download http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/movie-maker#t1=overview Tutorial http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/winMovieMaker01/
Apple Imovie Download: http://www.apple.com/mac/imovie/ Tutorials: http://support.apple.com/videos/#imovie
...for youtube users (needs google+ account) http://www.youtube.com/editor
alternative software (free): http://www.freemake.com/free_video_converter/ Tutorials: http://www.freemake.com/how_to/
Lightworks: http://www.lwks.com/ Tutorials: http://www.lwks.com/index.php? option=com_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=192
openSource alternative http://www.virtualdub.org/ Tutorials: http://granjow.net/virtualdub-tutorial-editing.html https://frapsforum.com/threads/raffriffs-awesome-virtualdub-tutorial.739/ jing: http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html http://m.wikihow.com/Create-a-Video-Screencast-with-Jing
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O. Before the Journey
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Videos editing with Apps http://features.en.softonic.com/how-to-edit-videos-in-whatsapp https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kaushal.androidstudio&hl=de
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androvid&hl=de tutorial http://www.ilovefreesoftware.com/30/android-2/how-to-edit-videos-onandroid.html
Vine not only for apple also for android – make very short videos https://vine.co/ how to: https://support.twitter.com/articles/20170317# and this one has helpful hints not only on vine but also generally on the first steps http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/beanstalk/2013/02/4_storytelling_tips_for_makin.html
Other tools http://www.movenote.com/ (combination presentation with video comments - there are tutorials on the Homepage!) https://mixbit.com/ record, edit and publish videos and collaborate with others, remixing them http://www.magisto.com/ (making / editing videos) Audio: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Tutorials: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorials.html Storyboards: http://generator.acmi.net.au/storyboard (building storyboards with up to 24 frames based on own pictures or existing storyboards) http://www.printablepaper.net/category/storyboard (templates)
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O. Before the Journey
leadership-mooc.net
Alternative or additional you could also use tools like Cowbird http://cowbird.com/ telling stories with pictures & sound Mozilla popcorn maker https://popcorn.webmaker.org/ combine text, videos, audios, effects – remix existing projects
This compilation / text by Christian F. Freisleben is under a Creative Commons Licence cc_by_nc_sa
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