Stock Footage for Free
StockFootageForFree.com is a website dedicated to providing completely free stock footage from around the world that can be downloaded instantly and incorporated into any type of video editing project–personal or commercial.
How to Format Your Announcement Show
Everyone has different requirements for school announcements that are set up by the Principal, school needs and class schedule but many teachers want some ideas about the content, the order and elements that could help the show be professional and entertaining for the student body. I have a few tips with variations that could help you get a show off the ground for the first time or give you some new ideas if you are an old pro.
Planning a Mini-Documentary
After making contact with the subject of your documentary and receiving permission, ask for pictures or see if they have any film. B-roll will make the documentary interesting opposed to the character just talking the entire time. The visual aspect will connect what the subject is saying and make their story relevant to the viewer.
Why is News Important?
News is more than just facts and information; it is information that affects us. News affects how we live our lives, how we perform our jobs, how we function as students, and how we make decisions. We decide whether or not to carry an umbrella or cancel a picnic based on weather reports. We look to the media for sports scores, stock market reports and details about entertainment events.
Mic Types for Your Production
Have you wondered about HiZ versus LowZ, dynamic versus condenser, cardioid versus omnidirectional or shotguns and lavaliers versus handheld and boundary mics? Throughout this article, we will take a look at impedance, the two major ways microphones work, microphone pickup patterns and microphone styles. So sit back, relax and proceed through this quick look into the sometimes confusing world of microphone choice.
Sound Effects Activity
Here is a sound-only activity that students can assemble and learn about storytelling through sound along with the basics of sound design, editing, and mixing. The idea is to tell a 1-minute story using only sound effects. For the best results, don't let them use any human voice, i.e. no recognizable words. The project is all about sound effects and how they can be used to convey a coherent story.
Designing a Middle School TV Studio
Adobe’s Visual Communicator provides a teleprompter, video creation capabilities, and an entire library of customizable graphics, effects, titles, music, and templates.Most notably, the green screen and teleprompter features make this a very powerful, and effective program. Its ease of use makes it the perfect system for elementary and middle school broadcasts and mimics the way professional studios write and present news.
High School Broadcast Journalism Project
The High School Broadcast Journalism Project (HSBJ), a journalism education program of RTNDF, promotes broadcast journalism by helping high schools establish and maintain outstanding broadcast journalism programs. With HSBJ’s support, schools, teachers and students receive the information, training and resources needed to create and run successful radio, television and online multimedia programs.
Interview Styles
Interviews on TV are quite common, and not just during the news. Interviews are so popular, entire shows are built around the idea of one person asking another questions. There are different types of interviews and different ways of setting them up. The Oprah Winfrey show is different than 60 Minutes which is different than the Nightly News. We're going to look at several different interview styles, what they work best for, and how to prepare for and use them in your own work.
A Beginner’s Guide to ScreenFlow
Some of the more high-end, professional grade editing suites can do all this and more, but unless you’re a dedicated film school and you’ve got around $1000 to blow on a software license, chances are you’re looking for something which gets the job done well without maxing out your school’s budget. ScreenFlow 4 is, hands down, one of the most intuitive yet advanced video capture and production tools you can buy for under $100.
The Package: Creating the Perfect Newscast
The foundation of any TV newscast is its packages. That's because, if they are done well, packages have all the elements that bring a story alive: good pictures, interesting sound bytes, and a well-written script. If any of these elements is weak, the story may be downgraded (to a VOSOT or even a VO) or kept short. In other words, the quality of the video and the sound bytes often determines the length of a package.
Piracy Proofing Your School
In this article, we will look at ways to piracy proof your school or organization in order to reduce liability, and eliminate lawsuits and out-of-court settlements, while improving media literacy and digital citizenship. Piracy is the unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted, trademarked, or patented material. This includes copying, selling, or using media that has not been properly licensed or purchased.
Canon FS200 Review
I just purchased our first flash memory camcorder, the Canon FS200. I've briefly tried it out this weekend and here are some of my initial reactions. First let me tell you that we have been using Canon ZR series miniDV camcorders for many years. I usually try to keep about 10 of them operational and in stock for checkout and use daily. On average they've lasted only a couple years under pretty heavy use.
East Syracuse Minoa CHS Profile
East Syracuse Minoa Central High School has an excellent Video Production Program. “The fastest way to start is to partner with an area school that has an established program. Equipment-wise you can get plenty of used equipment. This should get you started. Then start a feeder program. We have been working on creating a studio in the elementary school.”
The Lighting Triangle
Now that you have your lights it's handy to know how to use them. Turning them on and pointing them at your subject is a good start, but if you really want to get the most out of them you can use what's known as "the lighting triangle." This helps your subject appear more detailed and shots more dynamic.
Selecting Boompoles and Shotgun Mics
Many articles have been written about the value of a boompole and good shotgun mic when it comes to achieving quality Production Sound. (Well, folks, here’s one more!) Why use a boom? Because of all of the techniques available to us, the simple boompole with shotgun mic allows us to get the most professional audio with the least amount of fuss.
Interview Camera Setups
You have many choices as to how to shoot an interview, determined in part by the story, the style of the movie, availability of equipment, size of the crew and the amount of physical space in which to shoot. Remember, the better the coverage, the more options you'll have in the editing room. Below are the most common ways of shooting sit-down interviews.
Can Our Play or Musical Be Recorded?
There are play and musical production licensing companies which amateurs (schools) must deal with to get performance rights for all material not in public domain. Shakespeare is definitely in public domain. Five of the largest of those licensing companies are listed below with a copy of the actual contract clause which applies to video recording. Nearly every major play and musical you’ve ever heard of is handled by one of these five companies.
9 Basic Camera Moves
Professional videographers usually follow this one rule of thumb: when it comes to camera movement, it must be motivated. Because it looks cool, is usually not a valid reason for using tricky camera moves. Instead, you can use camera moves to change the viewer's perspective making what you shoot look bigger, smaller, or even scarier. You should use camera movement to tell your story better and to enhance the viewer's experience.
Making Video History
“I left the United States on a ship as a teenage boy – drafted in World War II, we passed under the Golden Gate Bridge, and as far as that bridge knows, I never came back.” I had heard his stories many times, but this time as the words slowly rolled off his lips in his South Georgia drawl, I realized he was a story-teller and didn’t even know it. But better than fiction, he spoke of real-life incidents that were not only true but also shaped his future, which became my present – and yours as well.