UA Video Production

I have blogged recently about mobile journalism at UA, and this being an integral part of my video production class.  Although my students do a large number of mobile journalism projects, they have recently expanded on their creativity to highlight issues that are unique to UA, such as fire drill procedures and "girl code" issues as well.  Another group took their creativity to the next level and created a creepy, short movie in the spirit of Halloween.

I do want to again plug the awesomeness which is WeVideo--all of these movies were shot with iPhones, and edited using WeVideo's online editing software.  I am so impressed with not only the quality of these videos but also the vast editing capabilities that WeVideo offers on a web interface that is accessible across all platforms, PC, Mac, or Chromebook (and mobile devices as well!).  If you're a teacher and looking for fantastic sharable editing software that's web-based, check out WeVideo.  You will not be disappointed!  I cannot speak highly enough to it, and how awesome (and fast!) their customer service response is!  Anyways, definitely check it out and give it a whirl in your classroom (or for your own personal video editing use!)

Enjoy these recent videos produced by my fantastic video production students!  Well done ladies!

Mobile Journalism

In my Video Production class, students have been diligently working on various mobile journalism pieces that are use in our bi/tri-weekly UA Today Broadcasts.  They are currently working on new pieces now, but have finalized and begun to show their first pieces on the Broadcasts that are being aired currently.

Before each group made their digital MoJo pieces using WeVideo, they used this template to create a storyboard for their piece--because you HAVE to do an outline/draft before you do the final product, even with videos!

Each group came up with their own stories they wanted to showcase: the new lunch food program in the cafeteria, a fun US trivia challenge with the students, a showcase of a recent concert event (Loufest), and study skills.

Overall, I am very impressed with these ladies' first MoJo pieces!  I cannot wait to see what their subsequent ones look like--I'm sure they'll keep getting better and better!

Also, students did only use their cell phones AND WeVideo to create these pieces--I'm super impressed with that and how these turned out!

Mobile Journalism

One of our recent projects in tech has been to partner with Mr. Grossman from the high school tech department and do a mobile journalism unit.

First, before we did anything, we went over what it mobile journalism is, interview techniques, filming techniques, and much more.  Obviously this was our first go-around with mobile journalism so we weren't going to be perfect, but we sure wanted to try and be as close to perfect as we could.  We spent a lot of time on the MRH High School YouTube channel watching mobile journalism pieces the high school students have done and the techniques and methods they used to do these.

My tech students then partnered up and began brainstorming about possible stories they would want to report on.  They thought about upcoming expeditions, class projects, sports, and other MRHMS events.

Each group decided upon one topic to report on: Club Day, MRHMS Boys' Basketball, Whole Foods Health Expedition, and MRH Pianos.

Students then set out with their partner to storyboard their story.  They used the template below to map out what they were going to do, questions they were going to ask, shots they were going to get, and everyone's role.

Students had about a week and a half in tech class to get their piece set up, storyboarded, filmed, stock footage captured, and edited together using iMovie (either on their Mac or iPad).  Overall, I was really happy with the outcome of these movies!  Check out a few of the final products below.  For our first go with mobile journalism, I think these turned out awesome.  I'm anxious to see how future mojo projects turn out as well!