So, just in case you’re like me and the last week in April snuck up on you and passed right by, you might have missed our 2007 Discovery and 3M Young Scientist Challenge finalists on the Myth Busters special this weekend (and even the subsequent re-broadcasts on the Discovery Channel). But for those of you who are Discovery Education streaming subscribers, fear not! It’s already up on ‘streaming. Click on this link, log in, and watch the four ’07 Young Scientists guide the MB crew through busting myths about electric vs. gasoline engines, cattle produced methane, and iced Jamie melting greenhouse gasses.
And don’t forget our Hall Davidson led webinars to get yourself and your students introduced to this year’s challenge with video entries: 4/30 at 8pm and 5/6 at 6pm both Eastern time and both for DEN teachers (but applicable to the student entries). The PPT’s are available on Hall’s Media Matters blog and both student and teacher webinars should be available soon in the archives.
With apologies to Chaucer, dear me! Thanks to fellow IL Computing Educator and twitterist, Beth Pollock-Burke, I was able to attend the Chicago premiere of “Dear Me: A Blogger’s Tale.” Beth went to high school with both of the producers who are married, but oddly enough didn’t meet until they were out in L.A. This is a feature length movie about a nervous girl who can’t help but blurt out the truth. She cares for the plants in office buildings, but dreams of writing copy for an ad agency. No longer able to afford her therapist, she turns to the Diary of the Mouth blog service and starts journaling as Dear Me. So, what can we emulate here for our students’ less than three minute features? Plenty!
Let’s start with the story since there’s nothing worth filming without that. I’m a big fan of books and movies that start at the end and go back to build up to that point. That’s a great device to set the stage and create instant anticipation. Along the way in this story there is a wide range of characters, from the immature and nerdy, to the suave and on to the fatherly owner of the agency. And it’s a love story to boot (that’s how I got my wife to attend with me). Along the way they freeze the frame now and then to let the main character’s voice reflect on what she was thinking (or not thinking) at the time. And that’s kind of ironic/reminiscent since the ad agency’s owner was the father in “The Wonder Years.” Which brings us to the visual part of the storytelling…
This is where I tell you to go check out and take a good look at their very creative, interactive website and especially watch the trailer (keep an eye out for glimpses of the storyboard). Regular readers know I’m a big proponent of students making movie trailers to illustrate pieces of literature and their own creative writing, so you HAVE to watch this one. What’s in it for your students and you? Well…
Door scenes! Revolving and bathroom
OTS, over the shoulder shots to put you right into the conversations
Rule of Thirds and ”looking room”
POV/Anthropomorphization - the computer screen’s point of view
I hope “Dear Me: A Blogger’s Tale” comes soon to a screen near you.
Got a chance to meet some new friends today and reconnect with old ones at “Technology & Learning” magazine’s Midwest TechForum. What started out as a shared digital storytelling student showcase with good buddy Jon Orech grew into a full Makin’ Movies presentation in order to cover a friend’s session when he suddenly became ill. So, as promised, here is what would have been in the handout.
The American Film Institute’s ScreenNation. Watch, learn, upload, participate in a challenge. Also, AFI’s ScreenEd website.
Compare “How Do Parabolic Reflectors Work?” to “Bernouli’s Principle” on the Discovery and 3M’s Young (and “Old”) Scientist Challenge. It’s the difference between simply documenting an event and making a few simple edit decisions to bring the learning home.
The International Student Media Festival “No PDA’s”
Great Minds - Healthy Living Challenge. Compare how two different student crews make some dry statistics about adolescent health come to life in “New Threat” and “Dr. Weird”
My homepage with videos and tips.
And a list of exemplary student videos is never complete without a tip of the hat to my hero Marco Torres and the work of his many students.
Also a quick link to Apple’s new moviemaking curriculum. More (a lot more) on that soon.
OK, you know the standard senior moment excuse, “The second thing to go is the memory and I just can’t remember what the first is right now…” Well, I’m running out of reasons for overlooking some media contests, especially old friends like the International Student Media Festival. Completing their tour of Disney theme parks this fall, they will be in Orlando November 5-8th celebrating student work in a broad range of production types and purposes, from podcasts and live action videos to photographic essays. You don’t have to enter to attend, but it might be a little easier convincing the school board and your spouse that you need to go if a student or two gets an entry in by the May 15th deadline. You have to at least check out two videos on the web page. First, there’s a promo piece front and center with students, parents and teachers explaining the scope of the media learning experience. BUT it’s worth watching just for a very young girl’s suggestion for improving the festival; it’s right at the end. (David Warlick, did you plant that little girl in the crowd?) Also, a nice, new feature on the site this year lets you see some of last year’s entries. I highly recommend “No Public Displays of Affection” for starters.
And in keeping with my Discovery and 3M Young Scientist Challenge posts over the last couple of weeks, I am proud to say that ISMF is offering a custom tour - A Salute to Science Full Day Experience at the NASA Center for Education as part of the conference. Now don’t you feel that you should give both a try?
P.S. Hall Davidson’s revised PPT’s from the YSC webinars are now available for both the student category: Student Challenge PowerPoint and the teacher category: Teacher Challenge PowerPoint. The archived webinars should be available very soon.
I’m not sure how I missed this one. I’d like to blame it on my end of January traveling or my grandson’s birth, but I actually had a press release buried in my email weeks before that. “Our goal with the ‘Empowered Education Awards’ is to discover and celebrate the accomplishments of some of America’s brightest young creative minds.” The eSchool News Network, with support from the Pearson Foundation invites K-16 students to make a 3-5 minute video on the theme of “How Technology Helps Me Learn.” Winners from each of the four age groups win a trip to D.C. But hurry this deadline is 5p.m. Eastern next Wednesday, April 30th.
And don’t forget the rest of our Young Scientist Challenge webinars: today at 1p.m. Eastern and also on Wednesday at 4p.m. Eastern for students and at 7p.m. Eastern for DEN teachers (yes, there is a “senior” category). Pick up Hall’s entry information PPT that goes with the webinars. Also, there’s a Digital Storytelling webinar with David Jakes at 8p.m. Eastern on Wednesday.
E=M+S^2! Now just in case a few of you don’t recognize the Brennan Corollary to Einstein’s aging equation, that is Entry video = Media + Science x Storyboarding. Let’s take a look at another of the finalists’ videos in last year’s Discovery and 3M Young Scientist Challenge. Go to the YSC “Get Started” site and watch the 4th video down, “The Green House Effect.” Again, keep in mind that this was filmed as part of the final competition. The camera is on a tripod, fixed as a medium/full shot in order to take in the entire demonstration. There was no intention then to edit this at all. But as an example, we’re going to pretend it’s the foundation for an entry video in this year’s challenge. Let’s take the clip as a script and storyboard it with a few different shots to make it into a 2008 entry video. Without changing a word of her script, imagine the initial question as a tighter shot, just enough to pick up her body language. Next shot, just before she introduces herself, widen enough to see all the props on the table. Go to close-ups on the light and on the iron as she places the panes of glass. Now, back to a medium shot of her and the props. Then as she talks about the wave lengths, add a diagram - either at the poster paper or grab a close-up still frame from the video and use a draw program to pass the light’s rays through and bounce the iron’s waves back. Return to a medium shot for her conclusion and you have the exact same demonstration with a lot more visual interest to it - a little like you see on “Myth Busters.” And don’t forget last year’s YSC finalists will be matching wits with Jamie, Adam and the gang next Saturday on the Science Channel.
Want some help visualizing your science demonstration and adding some creative Hollywood shot angles to it? Watch Sean Astin in this short video on the American Film Institute’s ScreenNation website as he, along with some students and pros, explain how easy it is to organize and be creative with your shots.
And don’t forget the upcoming
free webinars with
Hall Davidson to help students and teachers get it all together before the June 15th deadline.
Register ahead of time to get log-in information and the toll free phone number in case your computer doesn’t support the audio channel.
- April 21st at 2pm Eastern for students
- April 22nd at 1pm Eastern for students
- April 23rd at 3pm Eastern for students
- April 23rd at 6pm Eastern for teachers
- April 30th at 8pm Eastern for teachers
There is also an EdTechConnect webinar on Digital Storytelling April 23rd with my good friend David Jakes.
Over on the Cool Cat Teacher Blog Vicki Davis is looking for the 10 best videos for promoting educational change. Drop in to add your favorite or see what’s in the running. And more than just a popularity contest, Vicki is looking to give tech ed evangelists “something that helps them ’sell’ what they are doing” to other teachers, school boards, PTSA, etc. Cool!
Let’s get you ready to make your video for the Discovery and 3M’s Young Scientist and Science Teacher Challenge by looking at one of last year’s finalist’s videos and another by one of the Wizards in Training (WIT). The finalist’s video I want you to watch is the second one down “How Do Parabolic Reflectors Work?” Keep in mind that this is part of the finalists’ competition and was shot under controlled circumstances with a static camera, no cuts or edits, so that each contestant is on equal footing for this round. But to get this far, you need to creatively sell the judges on your knowledge of the concept and your ability to convey it to others.
A better example of what an entry video should look like is the third one down, “Bernouli’s Principle.” With computer access and time to edit, this young WIT can start with a head shot introduction, go to the board - so to speak, speed up his writing, use a model plane as a prop, and then head over to the sink to reinforce the principle.
Think how the first young scientist could have edited his video to include a tighter shot for his introduction and then going to close-ups when explaining the shape of the reflector and the temperature at the focal point. With appropriate permissions he could also have added pictures or footage of solar farms that use parabolic reflectors to collect and focus the sun’s rays, maybe even overlaying some arrows and diagramming to show in, out and the focal point.
Don’t forget that Hall Davidson’s first webinar to help teachers prepare their video entries is on Thursday, April 17th at 8:00 eastern. There will be another webinar on April 21st at 2:00 eastern just for students. See the entire schedule and register here. And on April 26th watch four of last year’s Young Scientist Challenge finalists matching wits with the Myth Busters on the Science Channel.
The Great Minds Foundation has extended its deadline for healthy living PSA’s to May 1st. Since 175 have already been uploaded, I’m guessing it’s due to popular demand. To enter for your chance at $4,500 in prizes:
- You must be a registered user with the Great Minds Website to enter the contest. Sign Up Now to join the community.
- After Registering, you will receive an email verification allowing you to upload videos.
- Follow Direction for Uploading Videos with Troubleshooting Directions.
- Upload your video to the 2008 Video Submissions following all rules and regulations.
- Direction will be sent to your registered email regarding voting information when the process begins.
- Have fun and good luck!
And whether you enter or not, check out the entries. You might particularly enjoy “The New Threat” and “Dr. Weird’s Guide to Healthy Living” which put a “face” on the contest topic in two completely different ways. The methods in these two videos are easily imitated for your students’ creations.
I spent two days working with students and teachers in my hometown last week. A great way to cheer up cold, gray, rainy days for me. Come on spring!
I’m really not in the rhythm of the school year anymore, so it was a pleasant surprise when I was contacted by a school to come back and help the 8th grade class create their memory DVD. Just 7 weeks til graduation? Last year we broke into teams who gathered pictures of their pertinent event (a sport, the Springfield trip, etc.), tweaked and organized them in iPhoto, imported to iMovie, and added titles and transitions before exporting as a DV clip. I then just assembled the clips into one master iMovie and exported that to a DVD for everybody. With a class set of laptops this year, I figured we could add some interviews and I could have the students take over the entire final production. Just a few minutes into my initial presentation I found out they were also beginning the process of making movie trailers for stories they had just written. Did I have any advice on how to go about that? Talk about waving a red flag in front of a bull! Thankfully, the teacher of the following class was sympathetic to my zeal and the students’ enthusiasm and gave us an extra ten minutes to finish up our initial foray into memory movies and movie trailers. One obstacle though, half the laptops only had the newest version of iMovie. “A house divided…” There are some neat things that have been added in that iteration, but more that has been lost. Remember you can download the previous version from Apple and then have the best of both worlds with both programs.
On Saturday I headed to a school just a few miles north of where I grew up and spent the day doing “Lights, Camera, Education!” with about ten teachers from our Chicago chapter of the Illinois Computing Educators. This was an eager group and their questions always seemed to be just ahead of the slide or the clip I was showing. Unfortunately, the computers in the lab we were in had no FireWire/1394 ports and the teams couldn’t import their videos for editing. We had to show their rough final door scenes on my computer and talk through their storyboards about what the finished product would have been. I then took one team’s clips and, under their direction, did a quick rough cut with a couple of special visual and sound effects. Fortunately, this gave us a little extra time to explore more deeply into ScreenNation and examine the clips that can support makin’ movies with their classes.
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