A day in the life of...

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After weeks of filming footage of our inquiry project,  I collected my class iPad and connected it to my school laptop to unveil... a complete disaster. Various scenes had mysteriously disappeared, the audio quality left a lot to be desired and the video; we had several shots that contained the green screen and half of the action.

Fortunately, my learners are resilient; they quickly learned from our mistakes and created a short trailer depicting all that our original movie had promised, in under an hour. And fortunately for me, my last two MDTA PLG meetings were concerned with the creation of videos, so I will be better able to support them when editing.

In this weeks session we were challenged to film and create a short "Day in the Life of" video about learning in our schools.  I found it quite challenging to find the time to film my learners while in the midst of teaching, and only managed to take footage of a few of my lessons. However, it was great to learn from my mistakes and experiment with iMovie.

Check out my video here:


After the PLG sessions and my previous attempt at filming with my learners, I feel more confident about filming in the future.  Here are some of the things I will consider:

Top Tips for using iMovie with Learners

  • Give your learners a time limit in which to plan the movie, before checking in with you for feedback. This plan should not only include a storyboard, but ideas about the types of shots and a rough time limit for each scene. Younger children would need a lot of scaffolding in this area!
  • Set a time limit for filming and get children to replay their footage often to ensure that no mistakes have been made with either the video or audio.
  • Avoid Vertical Video Syndrome! Remember to turn your phone around to film in landscape, otherwise your footage will not fill your screen. 
  • When transferring files from a phone/ipad/camera, be aware of the amount of time it will take to upload your footage to iMovie or to your Google Drive.  Large files especially can take some time to load to your drive. 


Comments

  1. Dorothy21 May 2016 at 17:59

    Great learning experiences Danni. We will be giving lots more support throughout the year so that you are super confident by the end of the year. We are committed to supporting our teachers to be confident and effective at making film as it plays such a significant part in future focused learning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Danni Stone23 May 2016 at 20:10

      Thank you Dorothy! My learners have enjoyed the process of film making and I seem to be as well as I made a few films this weekend! I am really looking forward to learning more about about this throughout the year.

      Delete
  2. Unknown23 May 2016 at 16:21

    This is awesome Danni! I love how you used your students as the audio, very cool. One small piece of advice is you could possibly increase the video size on your blog :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Danni Stone23 May 2016 at 20:10

      Thanks Georgia! That is great advice, I hadn't realized how small it was until I saw this comment!

      Delete
  3. Anonymous25 May 2016 at 15:28

    What Georgia said, absolutely loved how you have used the learners as the audio - it brings such an authentic (and calm) feel to your movie. Great work, Danni!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Danni Stone25 May 2016 at 18:56

      Thank you Latai! This was our first time performing a waiata in front of the whole school, so it was great occasion for sharing.

      Delete

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