I took a video production class last semester (Spring 11') at Cal State Los Angeles, as part of my master of arts degree in Instructional design. We were required to do two different types of projects...(1) A photo montage and (2) A live video production. Both of these concepts were all new to me but I was up for the challenge.
1. Photo Montage (2 min): This project required that you have or take a lot of photos of a particular subject matter, write a script or storyboard for it and produce the video. I didn't have too many photos of my own so I asked my sister if I could use the photos she took on her safari trips to Kenya. John Wood (the LAC director) also took a trip to Kenya so I asked to use some of his photos as well. The music was taken from John's Iphone when he recorded the villagers of Kenya. He was so helpful through this production that I thought...hmmm why not ask if he could narrate my storyline...he agreed (Lucky Me)! I thought the concept was pretty easy but it turned out to be a lot of work...mostly because I did not plan properly for it. Take it from me...planning is essential for a successful video project! The movement and "panning" of the camera illusion is something that can be done in either IMovie or Windows Movie Maker as an option once your photos are laid out on the timeline.
Here is my final photo montage...hope you like :)
2. Video Project (4 min): For this part of the project I choose to use the same storyline and expand it to live video. I created the storyboard around the two people that helped me most in my last project: my sister, Celwyn Green and John Wood (LAC director). It was essential to use them both because they had the most knowledge about Kenya. I decided to have them share their experiences in Kenya and create a documentary type of short film.. I used a camcorder to record them both and some of the scenes were on location (Arcadia Arboretuem). It was fun project overall!! The real work was on the editing portion of the video in post-production. A note of advice... when do you know when your done editing your video? I still don't have the answer to that...at some point you just have to walk away and make peace with your work :)
Here is my final video project!