Why We Need Sound Effects
The mistake many beginning filmmakers make is that they assume the microphone used on the set to record the dialog will automatically pick up the other sounds heard on set. It’s not until they get to the editing stage that they realize how wrong they were. The microphones used on sets are primarily focused on the mouth of the person speaking. This reduces the amount of natural sound that occurs around the actor during the shot, such as footsteps and other movements.
Remote Production
Remote productions, other than news, usually utilize multiple cameras. As mentioned in other articles, single-camera remote productions are generally referred to as ENG or EFP productions. In this article, we will use remote productions to refer to both multi camera and single-camera productions.
The Art of the Title Sequence
The first few minutes of a film will often either leave the audience full of excitement and eager to see how the story of the movie will play out, wondering what hints they were shown in the opening credits to what they're about to watch. Sometimes these opening moments are grander than the film that follows them.
Code of Best Practices for Copyright
Now that we live in a digital universe, we can no longer draw the line between copyright holders vs. educators, since we are ALL creators of digital content; therefore, we are copyright holders. This also means that now more than ever, a mutual respect for one another’s property and the proper use of it to teach, engage and enhance is of utmost importance.
East Middle School Profile
Traverse City East Middle School is located in Northern Michigan, near the beautiful Grand Traverse Bay. The school hosts 940 sixth through eighth grade students. East Middle School offers music, art, theater, journalism, foreign language, and technology education electives, in addition to high quality core instruction. East Middle School is a great place to learn!
How to Copyright Your Works
More than likely you or your students may create a project in the near future for which you would wish to receive rightful compensation and the ability to prevent someone else from capitalizing on your idea. Here’s how to copyright your works so nobody can take credit for them.
Cyber Bullying and School Video
There are some critical actions that students and teachers can take when screening, producing and editing their video projects. This will help to not only combat cyber bullying, but will also have a positive impact on promoting good ethics in media.
Multi-Cam Sports Production
Multi-cam broadcasting starts with two cameras and goes up from there. If the weather is bad, or you don’t have a full crew, you can produce a great broadcast with only two cameras. Our standard setup is three cameras, using a Tricaster Pro. This setup requires a crew of eight students: a director, audio person, three camera operators, two announcers and a grip/cable-puller for the field camera.
Live Video Web Streaming: What Are Your Options?
Finding an internet video streaming service can be a little daunting. There are a few questions you should ask yourself before you make your decision on which service to use.
Maintaining Continuity From Take to Take
Shooting a movie over a period of days, weeks or even months can be a very difficult task - especially when it comes to maintaining continuity. During every take, the action must be the same. Make sure your actors know what movements they are making during the lines they are speaking. They must maintain these movements for every shot.
Casting Shadows
Did you ever think about where you wanted to place the shadows or how you could add shadows to your images to make them look less flat and more realistic? TV is a two-dimensional medium. In this article, we will focus our attention on the shadow - how you can manipulate its look and density - and we'll look at some ways in which you can cast it to create a more three-dimensional feel to your images.
Talent Releases
A talent release is a document which gives permission for the video producers to photograph the talent and/or to use audio of that person’s voice. There are many talent release forms available by conducting a search on the internet for “talent release.”
Social Butterflies: The Use and Misuse of Social Networks
In the 21st century, social butterflies abound in electronic neighborhoods such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, allowing participants to connect with former classmates, distant family members and kindred spirits. This month’s exercises take a look at how social networking is impacting our lives for better or worse. For younger students who haven’t yet mastered the basics of script structure, these lesson ideas lend themselves to extemporaneous storytelling and role-playing skits. Older students are encouraged to draft scenes into correctly formatted screenplays as well as film them for peer review.
Broadcast News Production 101
In news and documentary work, the safest and most professional approach to handling controversial subject matter is to suppress your own views and biases and present both sides of the issue as fairly as possible. Give this quiz to your students to ensure they know everything they need to about the broadcast industry.
Image is Everything
Politicians, teachers, students and all individuals have a brand worth building and protecting. As owners of our brand, we portray ourselves to improve that public image rather than destroy it. There are three important reasons we should learn and teach branding and image concepts.
How Does YouTube Get Away with Posting Copyrighted Material?
I hear that question from students and teachers quite often. It’s actually a pretty simple answer. They don’t – at least not really. Here’s the way it works, if Mike uploads something that contains copyrighted material, it is placed on YouTube’s site. It is entirely possible that the copyright holders may never know Mike posted anything. YouTube is a pretty big site.
WARNING: Your Video Contains Copyrighted Material
I was prompted to write this article because school administrators kept mentioning to me they had been cited for having school related videos on YouTube that contained copyrighted music. In some cases, they were asked to remove the video or pay fines despite the fact that YouTube had allowed the video to remain published in certain countries. This came after the uploaded video was flagged as containing a copyright notice.
LipDub 101 - Getting Your Whole School Involved in Video
On September 25, 2010, almost 1000 students at the University of Victoria in BC came together to film a lipdub. They were inspired by the AMAZING lipdub put together by the other UVIC in Spain. See how the video turned out here.
Copyright Permissions and LipDubs
The probability of even a private citizen being sued for copyright infringement increases all the time. The recent fury over unauthorized copying of music files is the latest instance of copyright holders using the Copyright Act to enforce their rights.
Social Butterflies: The Use and Misuse of Social Networks
When creating videos, podcasts and other media projects in which you have incorporated the copyrighted works of others, be sure not to let deadlines drive you to make decisions that will be costly. Once the work is published or released – it’s out there, and taking it back may be difficult or impossible.