Video

Group Video Project

            Now that our group video project is finished and I am able to reflect on the process it is safe to say that I had great time learning about video and completing the project.  However, I must admit that at the start of the project I was somewhat guarded wary of how the process might play out.  Going into this project I had very limited experience with making videos and almost no experience with the video editing process.  I was not afraid of the project, because I am always open to trying new things, but I was a little bit anxious of how it might play out and come together.  I think the thing that helped the most during this process was laying down a clear vision and plan of what we wanted our video to consist of and accomplish before we started the filming process.  As the old saying goes “plan your work, then work your plan” holds very true today.  Once we were able to plan out what we were aiming for in our video the pieces started to fall into place.  This eased my nerves somewhat about the video making process but I was still nervous about the filming and editing portion of the process. 

            Once we had our plan of what we wanted to shoot for our video the next step was to actually go out and record our scenes.  For this step I think we went a little over board as a group.  We had a clear plan of what we wanted to accomplish, but I think we were trying to do a little too much.  By that I mean that we had a lot of ideas for different scenes and shot a good amount of footage.  This is a good thing in that it gave us plenty of material and footage to pull from for our video.  But it was a bad thing in that in order to fit within the time constraints of our project length we had to cut some footage out.  We probably could have made a 15 minute video with all the ideas we had floating around at the time.  I think this was due to the fact that our group as a whole only had limited filmmaking experience going into this project.  However, I do not see this as a bad thing because in this case we were able to let our creativity out and have plenty of footage to pick and choose from for our final video.

            The final part that I had probably the most concern about was the video editing process.  Going into this project I had little to no editing experience.  However, I always had the desire to try my hand at the editing process if for nothing else just to see what it was like.  This project gave me the perfect reason to test my skills and see what it actually takes to put a short video together.  Being a member of the Net Generation a great way for me to learn, and in fact prefer learning in this fashion for certain things, is to dive right in and do it.  We chose the iMovie program to edit our video.  We chose this for a variety of reasons but the biggest factor was that I, as well as others in my group, are making the transition to Mac in our personal lives and this enabled us to put our new technology to the test.  I was shocked when we started the editing process using iMovie at how easy it was to pick up and start doing.  This was the part of the project I had the most reservations about going in and it turned out that once we started doing it I realized it actually wasn’t that bad.  I started to enjoy the editing process.  It was fun to start moving things around, adding transitions and sounds effects, and seeing how the final project would turn out.  I don’t think that we are experts in the world of film editing, but I must say that as a group I believe we did an excellent job completing this film.  It is safe to say that every one of us in the group is extremely happy with the way our movie turned out.  I think we may even being looking for excuses to make videos as a group down the road together.  I can almost see it as turning into a sort of hobby for myself and the other members of my group.

Video in The Classroom

            I believe video can be very valuable in the classroom.  Not only does it support working with others, if it is assigned as a group project, but it also teaches students how to be to the point if they are given a specific length that the movie should be.  This is a lesson we learned while doing our project.  We had to come up with ways to be more to the point to fit within the time constraints.  I believe this is an important lesson that a project like this can teach students.  When the get out into the job market and start their careers most employers will not want to waste time with irrelevant banter.  I believe they are looking for employees that are concise and to the point.  A project such as this video project goes a long way in teaching students this lesson, which will serve them greatly later in life. 

            Some challenges that groups may encounter in this type of project are agreeing on an idea for the video, the content of the video, and how the final project should look.  Although these seem like challenges on the surface, I believe that they are serving a higher purpose.  They are making the groups come together as a team.  This is building strong interpersonal skills and enabling students to get a glimpse of what life might be like when they enter the working world dealing with co-workers.  These are invaluable skills that a project of this type can get through to students even if they do not realize during the course of the project.  If students reflect on a project such as this they will see that they had to come together and work with one another in order to complete the task at hand.  You cannot get that type of lesson or training by simply filling out worksheets.  That is why I believe it is important that students encounter this type of project in the course of their curriculum.  I believe that one area that you could incorporate this type of project in the curriculum is in place of the standard presentation in front of the class.  Instead of having students work in groups and present material to the class they could work in groups to make a video to be shared with the class.  Not only will this allow students to work together on a project and share their knowledge with the rest of the class but it will help to build the interpersonal skills that are so valuable to students after their academic career.