The Fantastic Digital Video Toolkit

Avatar? District 9? Those Hollywood blockbusters don't even compare. The Fantastic Digital Video Toolkit showcases a variety of free online video tools, tips and resources that will unleash your students' inner director and might just land them that first Oscar.

I previously posted about the above workshop when I was teaching at the CTAE Field of Dreams, 2010 summer workshops at Perry High School. Well, if you didn't have a chance to attend this workshop on Tuesday, July 20, 2010 I will be presenting some of these tools at the 63rd GACTE Conference in the Waverly Galleria room. I will begin by briefly talking about what I call the 5 P's of Video Production and then showcasing some of the following digital video tools. I look forward to seeing y'all there.

~Alex

5 P's of Video Production

1. Pre-production - brainstorming
2. Pre-planning - story boarding
3. Production - scripting and filming
4. Post Production - evaluating
5. Publishing

Digital Video Toolkit Programs

Windows Movie Maker
How To Use Movie Maker Tutorial From School Tube
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx

What is it: Windows Movie Maker is a video creating/editing software, included in Microsoft Windows Me, XP, and Vista. It contains features such as effects, transitions, titles/credits, audio track, timeline narration, and Auto Movie. Windows Movie Maker is also a basic audio track editing program. It can apply basic effects to audio tracks such as fade in or fade out. The audio tracks can then be exported in the form of a sound file instead of a video file.

Windows Live Movie Maker (Newer Version of Above)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Live_Movie_Maker

What is it: Windows Live Movie Maker (codename Sundance) is a video creating/editing software that is a part of Microsoft's Windows Live initiative. It is intended to replace Windows Movie Maker that is currently included in Windows Vista, similar to the way Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live Mail replaced Windows Photo Gallery and Windows Mail, respectively. Windows Live Movie Maker is a complete rewrite of the Windows Movie Maker application, focusing on the needs of Windows Live Photo Gallery users; as such, it requires Windows Live Photo Gallery (Wave 3) to be installed. The program includes a redesigned ribbon interface similar to Windows Paint in Windows 7. Windows Live Movie Maker is not compatible with versions of Microsoft Windows prior to Windows Vista.

Stupeflix Studio
http://studio.stupeflix.com

What is it: Your photos and videos have never looked so great. Mix images, videos and soundtracks. Add titles, transitions, oohs, and ahhs.

Shwup
http://www.shwup.com/

What is it: Your and everyone else photos can collaborative create a video together. Super simple and you and your students can create videos together online for free.

Photo Peach
http://photopeach.com/

What is it: The idea is to help you tell better stories online using photos. With PhotoPeach you can create a rich slideshow in seconds to engage your friends or family. We also support background music, captions, and comments so you can elaborate on your story further.
Example: Tweety

YouTube Video Editor
http://www.youtube.com/editor?popart=681928 - Take a quick tour to learn how to use it.

What is it: YouTube has a new video editor that lets you create videos using excerpts from the videos you've already uploaded. You can also add a music file from the AudioSwap library, but YouTube mentions that it might display ads if you use some of the audio files.

Google video creation tool
http://www.youtube.com/user/SearchStories

What is it: Make your own Search Story video in minutes
All you need to do is type in your Google searches, pick some music and — presto! — you've got your very own Search Story to share with your friends or showcase on our YouTube channel. This could be relevant for a class doing video editing ... there is not much control but it is fun and immediate.

VIDDIX
http://www.viddix.com/

What is it: VIDDIX is a videoplatform that allows you to connect all kinds of web content to your videos. This way you can really interact with your audience and deliver your messages more effectively.

Xtranormal
http://www.xtranormal.com/

What is it: If you can type, you can make movies. This is a simple text-to-movie creator. To create one click the Make Movies tab at the top of the page. On the page that appears, chose the style and number of characters you want to use. The movie maker appears. You can change the set, actors, and background music. Start typing the dialogue for your actors. You can drag many actions directly into the text blocks such as camera angles, sound effects, facial expressions, and character animations.

Free Multi-User Online Editor
http://www.kaltura.com

What is it: Kaltura is the place for group video making, using our sophisticated, yet simple multi-user online editor with many cool features and editing tools.

Discovery (Channel) online Video Editor and Mixer
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/sharkweek/video-mixer/video-mixer.html

What is it: AMAZINGLY simple ..... if you are doing a project with students on sharks then this is a MUST DO! This site is a great way to introduce video producing and storyboarding.

National Geographic Wildlife Filmmaker
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/filmmaker.html

What is it: National Geographic Wildlife Filmmaker. Just drag and drop animal clips, sounds and more ... to make your wildlife film .... and then share with others. This programs is a great way to introduce how sound and text affect your video clips.

Creating A How To Video
http://www.screentoaster.com/

Free Video Editing Program
http://www.zs4.net/tutorials

Vidinotes
http://www.vidinotes.com/

Made to expand the use of online videos. While online videos provide entertainment and understanding, learning from videos is not very practical. Vidinotes is the bridge from video to learning, allowing users to create their own notes of a video, including images taken directly from the video, then print or save their new document.

How To Cast
http://www.howcast.com/

To download how to videos for computer applications, web design, animations, accounting, business procedures and just about anything you have ever wanted to learn.

How Stuff Works
http://www.howstuffworks.com/

HowStuffWorks explains hundreds of subjects, networking, computers, accounting, and all sorts of other great topics. It uses clear language and tons of illustrations you can download and use in video. For example my students love to watch the How Stuff Works Lab Rats.

All About Video Formats
A Good Article On Video Formats
Conversion Central: 101 Tools to Convert Video, Music, Images, PDF and More

The New Real Player - an article from my blog that will explain the powerful tools your can use in the new Real Player. To download the New Real Player program for MAC or Windows.

100 Best YouTube Videos for Teachers

Podcasting In the Classroom

Tony Vlachakis GaDOE Empowers Teachers to Teach with Tech from Teacher Tips on Vimeo. GaDOE will come to Georgia schools to train for free. You can contact him at the DOE State office or through GeorgiaStandards.org. Yes, this is my husband. : )

Download Your Favorite Videos and More with Real Player SP

Have you tried Real Player SP for Mac OS X or Windows?

As a teacher and presenter I have frequently experienced the frustration of one of my critical videos not working during a presentation or classroom lesson because video is online through a service live YouTube. Have you had that happen to you? Usually the culprit of my online video dilemma is due to a blocked firewall or failed Internet access. With Real Player SP you will remain calm for your presentation and that online video can always work for your presentations. That is because Real Player SP not only allows you to download video & music files, but it also has a converter. That means you can easily download videos for your classroom or use without having to be connected to the web. You can even do it from YouTube or your favorite video service or music playing site. Plus, you will have the option of converting downloaded video for use on your MP3 player, iPod, iTouch or iPhone. Oh! And did I mention you can also trim and clip video while previewing it on Real Player SP. The possibilities are just endless.

Real Player SP Download Sites

RealPlayer SP for Mac

Installation for MAC instructions.

Real Player SP for Windows

This video from Real Player will show you how to use it. The program looks a little different on the MAC than on Windows but it is basically the same.



How to convert your You Tube videos in Real Player to MP3 or other formats.



Have fun and be sure to share your finds!

The Fantastic Digital Video Tool Kit Workshop

Avatar? District 9? Those Hollywood blockbusters don’t even compare. The Fantastic Digital Video Toolkit session will showcase a variety of free online video tools, tips and resources that will unleash your students’ inner director and might just land them that first Oscar.

I am teaching a new workshop this summer at Field of Dreams called, The Fantastic Digital Video Tool Kit, at Perry High School. All of the programs I will be showcasing are free. If you are a CTAE teacher currently teaching in a Georgia school and would like to register for this great workshop please login to the CTAE Resourse Network to register.

A condensed version of the workshop will be presented at the 2010 GACTE Conference this summer for the Business Education Division. I look forward to seeing you there.

Photo Sharing With Google's Picasa

Picasa is Google's fast and easy photo sharing program. Google states, "Picasa & Picasa Web Albums make it easy for you to organize and edit your digital photos, then create online albums to share with friends, family & the world." The online program also provides you with plenty of storage and allows you to not only put your pictures on a safe server but also to share your images via email or online web pages. Picasa is also a great way to back up your pictures or to store pictures if you are low on storage space on your computer or your web server.

Creating A Photo SlideShow On Picasa

Below I will show you how you can use Picasa's embed slideshow to add a slideshow to display multiple pictures to your web page or blog via Picasa. If you do not know what an embed tag is take a look at my short previous post it will help you understand what you are about to do a little better.

Steps to making a web slideshow on Picasa:

Note: If you are familiar with Picasa skip to step 3.

1. First you will need a Google Account or Picasa account. Both are free and if you click on the links you can sign up. They will both give you access to Picasa. If you have a Google Gmail account then you already have an account. Just go to Picasa's web page and login with your same username and password as your Gmail account.

2. Upload your pictures to an album. You can use Picasa's online uploading program or install Picasa on your computer to do this. If you install the program be sure to look for the button that says upload your pictures online. I also suggest you watch the videos below so you can get a better understanding of how Picassa works.

3. Once your pictures are uploaded go to your online album on the right side click on the

Link to this album

4. Then click on the Embed Slideshow. This tag will allow you to create your slideshow.

5. A new window will open that will ask

you how you would like your slideshow to appear once you post it. You will need to chose the size and what you would like to include in your slide show like captions and links.

6. Next copy the embed tag by going to Edit copy on your browser or use the short cut key Control C

7. Paste the embed tag into your blog or webpage HTML. On Blogger you will need to go to the Edit HTML section of your post to paste it. In Dreamweaver you will do the same thing add the code to your HTML area.

8. Upload your webpage or publish your blog post and you've got yourself a very fancy slideshow embed in your page.

Picasa Introduction Videos

Click on the arrows to move to the next video on my playlist.

What Are Embed Tags?

Embed tags allow you to add movies, music, flash files, pictures, widgets, your Twitter and Facebook feeds, and all sorts of gadgets to your web pages. Embed tags in HTML (the language used to write webpages) are written like this: < embed src="helloworld.swf" > You can read more about embed tags at W3 schools.

Whenever you see embed tags it usually indicates that the gadget can probably be added to your blog or web page by adding the code following the < embed > tag on your page. A good example is the embed tag you find in a YouTube video. As long as the creator of the video hasn't disabled the embed code you can grab the video's embed code and add the video to your blog post or web page. In my next post I will show you how to add a picture slideshow using an embed tag to a web page or blog.

Fun Classroom Learning With Video

Student Learning Is Easy When You Make A Video

Do you have students who have difficulty learning something? Memorizing is an option, but how about putting students in a video to help them reflect on the standard they are trying to master. This month my first grader had to do just that. He had to memorize a poem for his grade level's poetry recital. He chose Jaberwocky, by Lewis Carroll. You might have also seen him tweeting his lines to practice on Twitter. The poem's rhetoric is difficult for any age group since the words in the poem do not exist. Needless to say it was a challenge to remember and learn it. So I decided to create a video to give him the opportunity to hear himself pronounce the words. With his video, he was able to see where he needed to work on his inflection and where he needed additional practice. The result, thanks to all his hard work, was he was one of three finalists from his class. We were very proud of him. I don't know about you, but I also see how this type of learning through video creation can have application to help ESOL or ESE students.

Jabberwocky In The Tulgey Woods

This is my son reciting his video and yes he's in the Tulgey Woods from Alice in Wonderland. We created the effect using Photo Booth 2.03 on a Mac. This fun application allows you to take video and add backgrounds to your video. It is a ton of fun to use and you could literally put yourself in any country or any location. The background could even be a computer motherboard. If you look at this previous post, you will see me experimenting with it at the Discovery Education workshop. Thanks Hall Davidson for the great tutorial! I have included directions on how to do this effect on Photo Booth below.

Photo Booth Requirements:

1. You will need a web cam and a MAC. If you do not have a MAC see below for free alternatives for Windows.
2. Then you will need Photo Booth 2.03 or above. This program comes pre-installed with OS X.

Directions:

1. First be sure you have your picture ready. You will need the picture to be in .jpg, .gif, or .png format. There are some really cool pre-made backgrounds already preset in the program that you can use too.
2. Go to the video camera feature it looks like a movie rail.
3. Use the arrow keys to scroll to the drop your background here feature
4. Drop your background (your picture)
   
5. Click on the video camera to record your video
6. The program will ask you to step out of the frame and then back in
7. I recommend you have a clean background. Think green screen like they do in the movies. The cleaner the background the better the quality of your film.
8. Have fun!
9. If you make anything neat be sure to share. I would love to see your ideas. My students are working on Networking Web pages so you might just see a follow up post using their Networking video examples.
   

Windows Users:

If you are on a Windows machine there are quite a few programs you can try. Any of the programs below can offer the same kind of affect however some of them only take pictures and do not allow video. Also you will need a webcam and your web browser will need Adobe Flash installed. Some of these sites work best if you sign up for a free account and some do not work on a MAC.

• Snapstrip
• Cameroid
• Photoboof
• You Cam (Download a 30 day free trial)
• Sigost
• Seenly

Enjoy!