Media Production

Producing, editing and publishing audio, video and other digital media projects gives students great opportunities to learn and express their knowledge in new ways. This month's Surf Report provides resources to help you and your students practice these important 21st Century skills.

Planning and Production l Instruction l Sharing

Planning and Production

Kids Vid gives teachers and younger students tools for producing videos in the classroom, including tips for planning and production and an interactive storyboarding tool. Unfortunately this site has a lot of advertising.

The Knight Digital Media Center provides tutorials on media production, including podcasting and video techniques as well as tools such as Garage Band, Audacity, iMovie, Premiere and more.

Drawing Together is fun animated lesson on storyboarding for elementary students.

This concise guide to Storyboards for animation projects was written for middle school students in a digital animation program from Ohio State University.

Storymaking Files from DigiTales include a storyboard template, image/shot list planning template and music/sound list planning template.

How We Make a Movie from Pixar studios provides a brief overview of the professional animation process.

Watch the Guidelines for Shooting Effective Video slide show from Kamehameha Schools for easy-to-follow tips with visual examples.

Many software publishers provide tutorials on their products:
iMovie Video Tutorials

iMovie Find Out How

How to Use Windows Movie Maker

Adobe Premiere Tutorials

Final Cut Pro Resources

iPhoto Tutorials

Photostory

Garage Band Tutorials

Audacity Tutorials

Audacity Podcasting Instructions

iTunes Podcasting Resources, Instructions and Tutorials

Instruction

The YouthLearn Web site offers educators teaching tips, guides, and examples of media production activities. Lesson plans such as You Ought to Be in Pictures: An Introduction to Making Videos provide guidelines for possible projects.  YouthLearn's purpose is to provide resources for using media and technology tools to create exciting learning environments.

The Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) provides great ideas in their YouthLink Video Curriculum covering everything from basic filmmanking concepts to telling community stories to pre- and post-production skills. The Web Design Curriculum includes includes tools, design and programming units, and a Distribution Toolkit explores the distribution process from defining an audience to budgeting and timelines to press and publicity. You can also view video created by students in BAVC programs.

Educational consultant Bernajean Porter created DigiTales: The Art of Telling Digital Stories. DigiTales provides examples of digital stories, e-learning tutorials, image and sound sources, copyright guidelines, and a variety of other resources. Storytelling tools for both Windows and Macintosh computers are included, along with an extensive section on evaluating student  projects.

The University of Houston's Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling site provides an introduction to digital storytelling along with educational goals and objectives, samples of digital stories, and other resources. Check the Essentials area for The 7 elements of Storytelling.

The Teachers' Guide Series from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts features guides for teaching animation, film editing, screen writing, sound and music and more.

Adobe Digital School Collections provides lesson plans that focus on students creating media products using Adobe software such as Photoshop Elements and Adobe Premiere Elements.

Apple Learning Interchange: iLife in the Classroom hosts examples of student projects such as commercials for chemical elements for middle school science, podcasts, alphabet photo books and more.

Digital Video Production from Kent School District gives simple and practical advice for teacher on production, classroom management, technology integration and more.

The Educational Video Center (EVC) is a non-profit youth media organization dedicated to teaching documentary video as a means to develop the artistic, critical literacy, and career skills of young people, while nurturing their idealism and commitment to social change. EVC sells a curriculum guide, and provides a few resources for teachers such as student activities and evaluation guides.

Pocket Video Tips from an educator in Great Britain describes 42 interesting ways to use a pocket video camera (like the Flip video camera) in the classroom. Flippin' Nora is a list of instructional uses at different grade levels.

Sharing and Competitions

Our own Wisconsin Youth Media Festival gives Wisconsin students in grades 3-12 a chance to create, design, and experiment with digital media in a meaningful way, with advice and critique from professionals in the field. Students may enter their audio or video productions in the following categories: best original work, documentary, PSA, original personal narrative or original music video.

The Wisconsin Educational Media Association (WEMTA) Media Fair gives students the opportunity to submit their original books, educational games, computer programs, videos and other media creations for judging by Wisconsin library media specialists.

The National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) showcases work by filmmakers 22 and under from across the U.S. and the world. Youth may submit films in any of six categories.

The Shortie Awards showcase the best of youth filmmaking from around the world. Youth 7-18 years of age and K-12 teachers may submit original videos to the competition.

Students can watch or submit video at the ListenUp! Web site designed for young filmmakers and educators. 

This Web site showcases Digital Stories by Students and Teachers, encouraging schools to submit their fictional, educational, and personal digital stories so others can learn for their work. Also included are links to storytelling sites, video, audio, and photo tools.

NPR's StoryCorps houses hundreds of audio stories produced by people all over the country. Listen to their stories or produce your own.

See examples of video created by students in Chicago at Street-Level Youth Media.

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