About once a month I get the question from web site visitors who’ve seen my class movies, “How do I get started making movies in the classroom?”
This is a difficult question to answer because I really want to say, “Just Do It!” but I know people want more. Here’s my advice.
Start With a Story
I would start by coming up with a story. Your students can do this, you can do it by yourself, or your can work on it together. In my own classroom I write one class project with student input and then students write their own movies as well. Your story should come before the technical considerations so as to avoid making a movie for the sake of making a movie. My most successful class movies have related directly to our curriculum which adds an additional consideration that outside movies don’t have.
Plan Your Movie
How are you going to tell your story visually? What do you need by way of equipment, props, costumes?
Shoot the Movie
Making a good movie is really boring and a lot of work. I always warn my students that making a movie is one of the most boring things you can do in the world and that there will about two minutes of great excitement when they get their chance to be on camera but that the rest of the day is about sitting around. You have to set up the camera, film a shot, and then move the camera to film the next stop…you repeat this many times during the day.
Edit the Movie
The technical ways of doing this are explained in numerous free online tutorials. I’ve linked to them from the “Make Movies” page of Video in the Classroom. See “Software Tutorials” on left.
The artistic/skillful side of editing can be learned by carefully watching movies. I’d start with commercials because they’re short. Look for how scenes are put together. What they choose to show and why? How fast they cut from one shot to another?
Keep Doing It
Your first movies won’t be that good. We each wish we were Orson Welles but we’re not. You’ve got to try again to have a chance of getting good.
Good Luck
If you have further questions, please feel to post them here.
Hi,
This is really helpful for planning my first video project! I have one question, what kind of video camera are you using? I have been agonizing over this b/c the inexpensive models do not seem to have audio jacks and I want to have the option of an external mike. Any thoughts on that? Thanks!
I believe that some of the low-end Canons do have microphone inputs. See, for example, the Canon ZR930.
Thanks! I have one more question:) Did you find converting the video from tape to be too much for the students (ie did you convert it to a format you could play on the computer for editing?). I was looking at this exact video camera, but the tape format made me a little nervous.
I think that students can do anything if you show them how. That said, I didn’t have my students transfer video from tape. We did, however, use digital still cameras and scans to make movies.
Kia ora Mathew!
Some very good beginners’ advice here.
Interesting isn’t it how the same plan/profile could be used, with minimal adjustment, to give a beginner advice on how to write a blog post? So many projects like ‘making a movie’ have their processes clouded in the intricacy of the associated technologies. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Nice one.
Catchya later
from Middle-earth
Hi,
This is really exciting. As a library media specialist who teaches everyone from kindergarten through fifth grade, I see this as a great idea for some of the projects we do in the library. Students usually go to PowerPoint right away because that is what they know. I know it would take a lot of careful planning, but it would be beneficial for the students as well as a lot of fun.