For schools - make your own movie
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Making mobile videos - workshop outline
ONE: Introduction
Consider why movies are different on a mobile phone. Discuss some of the possible differences and restrictions you might face in making a mobile movie, e.g., scale, sound and narrative structure. Watch examples of mobile media productions featured on http://www.bullyingnoway.com.au/ and discuss them.
TWO: Storyboarding
Storyboarding involves drawing a stick figure representation that takes place in each shot. Think about camera angle, shot type, duration of shot and how to translate it from written to visual narrative. (It is difficult to include spoken narrative in mobile phone movies so it's recommended that students think about a sound track only and concentrate on getting their meaning across using visuals and some text captions.)
THREE: Stop frame animation
Stop frame animation is an effective way to start making mobile movies. This involves making plasticine characters, plus a few objects for sets, or drawing backgrounds. With the aid of the freeware program 'Stop Motion Animator', the animations were then captured using webcams to film each storyboard clip.
FOUR: Editing
The mobile media productions were edited in 'Windows Movie Maker' (free with Windows XP) or by using the free editing program 'Virtual Dub' which runs on Windows machines.
FIVE: Sound tracking
Avoid using copywrited music as it limits the places for viewing the mobile movies. It is possible to Internet search 'creative commons' for copywrite free music. Alternatively, develop a soundtrack using the freeware program 'Audacity' or from sound effect sites. Make sure the chosen soundtrack is brought into 'Windows Movie Maker'.
SIX: Exporting
In 'Windows Movie Maker' under the 'finish movie' option do not use 'default options' to save the movie onto your computer. Instead, under 'finish movie' scroll down to 'other options' and select one which allows for PAL (AVI). The mobile needs to be saved as an AVI file.
SEVEN: Encoding
To play the movie on a mobile it must be converted into .3GP format. Use the very simple freeware program 'Super Encoder' to do this.
EIGHT: Transferring
Downloading a mobile movie onto a phone can be achieved using a USB cable, infrared, bluetooth or memory card. How do we share movies around?
Freeware resources
Links to the freeware mentioned above - and a link to ANAT's youth mobile project; pixel.play:
Stop Motion Animator: http://www.clayanimator.com/english/stop_motion_animator.html
Virtual Dub: http://www.virtualdub.org/
Super Encoder: www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html
Audacity: http://www.audacity.sourceforge.net
ANAT's pixel.play project: http://www.anat.org.au/pixel.play/pixel.people.htm
How could this idea be used in schools?
Alison:
Using the finished movies: These are the sorts of things that you could show to a class and through a discussion start to get people thinking creatively. There is no right or wrong way. There was no necessary information that had to be in there. It was really 'come up and see what you can create'. It all works.
Students: Yeah, it's good. And it does encourage discussion.
Alison:
Who could run the workshop at school?: I think it's something that could be run by any school teacher who finds it interesting and has people passionate or interested in technology. You could conduct the workshop with all age groups. I have a six year old and I think he would love to do this - we'd use a web cam [to record the action] and some plasticine.
Swapping the teacher role: Students have so much more knowledge with media, so what I really liked from an educational point of view was the opportunity for the students to show how technically savvy they are and to teach the teachers some new skills. It's a great way to have a different kind of structure in your classrooms, do something creative together and learn together.
Sharing the movies: USB sticks and Bluetooth provide ways for people to share information without going through the carrier so it is free to use and send to each other. The aim of this project has been to use this technology in ways that get people together in positive ways. Not all schools and not all students are going to have the phone technology yet but it's coming and a lot of people do have it.
Getting ready to share in the public domain is also interesting because it encourages discussion about music copyright - what we can upload, what we've got clearance to use and what people might do differently. Some of the groups started with commercial music and then chose to create their own original music.
Sasha:
The instability of mobile technology offers an interesting educational tool... it requires experimentation and problem solving skills from students, and can be included as a unit in media, arts or English courses.
Just keep in mind that mobile technology evolves rapidly so any information may quickly become outdated... so treat the information here only as a guide... partake in your own research and experiments... and have fun!
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