Have a video camera? Shoot! Capture! Edit! Share!
First things first! You need to a way to film your videos. The library has cameras that you can check out!
Second, you obviously need to shoot your video. While you do not need to have the directorial skills of Steven Spielberg, there are some basic video shooting skills that one needs to master. I've seen many good videos marred by bad lighting or shaky hand movements.
Third, once you've shot your video, here's where you need to capture the video into a computer. For many people, this tends to be really confusing. But this step simply really boils down to what format your video is shot in. How will you get the video from the recording device to a computer?
Fourth, once you've got that video into the computer, you need to edit the video file to trim and cut scenes, then add special effects, titles and screen transitions. You can even add in a soundtrack as well.There are a variety of programs you can use, but moviemaker and imovie are the two most popular.
Finally, once you've edited the video to your heart's content, you're almost done! You just need to share the video with others! This could mean downloading it to a file on your computer, exporting and burning to a DVD, or sharing through an embed code or weblink. Depending on the size of your completed file, it may not be possible to email. You may need to use a flash drive. Also, you need to consider what file format you save your file in. Not all formats will have easy playback on school computers.
Ask Mrs. Nocita for an account!
How to Stupeflix
FLIP cameras do not play nicely with our version of moviemaker. You will need to upload your video to a file folder on your computer then use ZAMZAR to convert the file to an avi format. Then you can import it into moviemaker.
Files that will work without problems, or rather should work without problems are;
Video - AVI or WMV
Music/Audio - WAV, WMA or WMV
Stills/Pictures - Bitmap
Files that often cause problems are;
Video - Mpeg, MOV, Mjpeg and divx-avi
Music/Audio - MP3
Stills/Pictures - Jpeg
Editing video is not a quick process. It can require a lot of time and planning, and it will probably require more than one sitting to complete. Be sure to leave yourself as much time as possible for the task, and don't wait until the last minute. (don't say we didn't warn you!)
Websites with examples, raw material and ideas:
| Creative Commons | Internet Video Archive | Cuts - Rifftrax |
| Recutting Room Floor | Total Recut | Political Remix |
| Trailers from Apple | Movie Database | |
| Fandango |