Fabricio Olsson; Student #1101224; breeze@ucsc.edu; 831.459-1919

DANM 297-02; David Cuthburt

Environmental Digital Video Project

Mount Madonna School and Renaissance H.S.

Calendar and Basic Lesson Plan:

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

MMS: Show intro movie. Basic terms and equipment. Students use camera to film each other (mini-bio).

Comment: Weston's 8th grade class has been divided into 6 groups of 2 or 3 students. All group projects focus on Pajaro Watershed as main subject matter, while covering different topics related to the Watershed: Oceans, Living Responsibly, Climate, Connections, Geology, Human Land History.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

MMS: Importing images to MSMM (moviemaker); Storyboard mode; add titles and credits. Discuss target audience and mood/emotion intended for video project.

Comment: Most students are novice computer users. They are unfamiliar with opening from/saving to the network. They don’t have designated computers, so saving files to h.d. would pose problems when they work at different station.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

MMS: P.C. File management; server and network file conventions. Hands-on making intro and credits to movie.

Renaissance: Meeting with Shoshana, Jenn, Tyler and Courtney: discuss ideas and logistics of projects for after-school program.

Comments: MMS students got some extra practice dealing with network files and folders. Now that the system appears to be smoothing out, the network is bogging down from video activity. Changes are necessary. First meeting at Renaissance shows promise, yet it is evident that things will have to go with the flow there (uncertainty of how many, if any, students will participate at each class meeting).

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Renaissance: Pitch of after-school program to Shoshana's core science class (plus some other students). Show trailer to "An Inconvenient Truth" and discuss process basic process to create a video.

Comments: There is at least a hand full of students interested in taking the class. In meeting with Shoshana we decided to take the first phase of the project as an opportunity for students to learn the tools and to build a database of material to be used later in the semester.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

(Sample Detailed Lesson Plan)

MMS: Winter break

Renaissance: Digital camera (video and still) introduction: Equipment basics, taking pictures, uploading and file management in Mac environment. DV camera intro and practice filming (Adrian - private lesson)

Comments: Adrian had never used a digital camera (photo nor video). A thorough discussion of camera features and techniques took place. There was ample time for hands on practice with both formats (as well as capturing onto computer).

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

MMS: Music - RIP vs. Burn; wma, mp3, wav file formats; Project updates and peer critique. New file management in hard drive instead of network to reduce clog.

Renaissance: Repeat same intro to equipment lesson with new students; (David & Jose)

Comments: MMS students expressed interest in learning about sound, music and editing. A couple of the groups are advancing quickly their technical skills and we are able to focus on content management and graphic/artistic elements. Renaissance had two new students (and Adrian did not show), so I repeated the lesson plan from last week. I feel it is important for students to have a basic understanding of the capturing process before they begin to edit. Also, the basis for their research is specific to the geographic area in which the school finds itself and there is not much material currently available for use in the presentations. They will have to gather images first hand before editing can take place. A thorough database must be built.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

MMS: Capture Video, detach audio (record narration using camera); Using movie maker to create narration (using external microphone); preview of 2 videos for critique (climate and connection)

Renaissance: Lesson01 - Complete creation of movie in IMovie: import images, titles/credits, sound/music, narration, uploading to web.

Comments: Most MMS students are using images (both taken on site or found online) in their presentations. Some have been capturing footage on video that may end up in their final movies. We covered the process of capturing the DV material (also as an alternative for recording sound for their narration). Two new students at Renaissance make this lecture a little more challenging – we press on to working on the computers and editing a slide show. Only one is familiar with software and they are all beginner-level mac users.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

MMS: Watsonville Airport - Pajaro Flight with Weston, Yuen and Michaela.

Comments: Students have never flown in small plane before. Weston and I get a crash course on assisting some of the flying while trying to manage cameras and sound recorders. It was exciting.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

MMS: Render, Upload and critique videos that are ready; continue working and troubleshooting.

Renaissance: "Adventures of Raindrop Jr." - Upload, slice and remove all live action footage. Reassemble the animation into a narrative (a. original soundtrack, b. re-record narration and sound effects, c. completely new narrative) - Jennica and Areli

Comments: Rendering times are fairly quick as MMS students are mostly using images, titles and sound (very little video footage being used). Renaissance girls are chugging along and learning quickly elaborate editing tricks. Their lack of confidence makes the early stages of the process time consuming. Each class, there is a point when momentum is gained and the guard is temporarily let down. This is the point when I can introduce some of the more artistic elements of the project.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

MMS: Finish and upload all group videos

Renaissance: Continue Raindrop Jr. editing - 2 new students

Comments: All MMS groups are finished, although some had trouble uploading the files to youtube. Renaissance students (two new students) continue working on same project as last week, developing narratives and finding/recording sound effects to match animation.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

MMS: Final viewing and critique of videos; read user comments from youtube; show to 12th grade class.

Renaissance: Create 30sec-1min promo video (commercial) of top 4 reasons to attend Renaissance H.S. - 1. storyboard, 2. film, 3. edit, 4. share (upload to youtube) - Jennica and Areli

Comments: All movies are uploaded and we have a full class viewing of the website. We had a semi-formal critique of the work presented. We reviewed the process from start to finish, discussing the next steps in the life of their project. (distributing to other students/classes/schools). Renaissance students (Jennica and Areli) take on a mini-production from start to finish. Each finishes their half of the promo video and I put the pieces together to post on youtube.