Crowded Wisdom

As we launch in this next unit of work on making movies, here are a couple of things you need to be aware of…

• The Class Wiki - I’ve set up a wiki for every class member to document the video making process. The address is http://commtech.wikispaces.com/. Please use this site to gather together the various resources, collect ideas, write your scripts, etc. If you need help with using it, please ask!
• The due date for the finished videohas not been set yet, but it has to be completed before the Christmas break on Dec 22.
• If you plan to shoot footage off-site (ie, away from the school) you’ll need to have a plan regarding cameras. Unfortunately I cannot loan cameras out overnight to use away from the school. If you have (or can borrow) your own camera, that’s wonderful. If you’re really stuck, please come see me and we’ll try to work something out.
• If you need help with anything, just ask!

And remember, when it comes to making movies, it’s all about teamwork.

You might have noticed (or maybe not) that Learnerblogs has been upgraded. It now includes a few extra buttons when you write a post, and give you the tools to embed Flash and Director files, as well embed video feeds from YouTube, Google Videos and iFilm. This is great news!

The previous version of the Learnerblogs interface did not include these tools, nor did Learnerblogs even support the code to make it happen manually. Now it does, so make the most of it!

Here’s a quick sample…

[googlevideo]-7233445036972827652[/googlevideo]

Telling a story using pictures - or video - requires an understanding of the basic rules of visual language. Different shots, angles and approaches can be used to help tell the story, engage your audience and communicate your message.

Spend some time today looking through this introduction to video storytelling. Take some time to look through the sample movies and read the information that accompanies them. We will come together as a group later and discuss what we find.

http://www.atomiclearning.com/storytellingindex.shtml

Work through the different sections - Intro, Grammar, Shots, Rules and Examples.

Leave any thoughts you might have about these ideas in the comments section below.

We will be spending a couple of lessons learning the basics of Flash.  It is a pretty amazing program and the more you learn about it, the more you realise there is to learn…  it’s a bit of a bottomless pit with what it can actually do.

You might like to speed up the process by checking out some of these tutorials.

•  http://www.flashkit.com/tutorials/
• http://www.learnflash.com/flashtutorials2.htm
• http://www.entheosweb.com/Flash/default.asp 
• http://www.learnthat.com/computers/learn-1774-free_flash_mx_2004_training_tutorial.htm 
• http://www.atomiclearning.com/flash_mx_2004pc 

And if find any more, or you do any interesting animations, please add them to your blog so the rest of us can have a look.

Michelle asked if I could post up some links to the software mentioned in class today, so here goes…

• Google Sketchup (free)
• Stop Motion Animator (free)
• Macromedia Flash (30 day trial)
• Blender (free)

I added Blender… It’s a very sophisticated 3D animation software that’s way beyond what we will be doing in class, but I thought I’d mention it anyway just in case you want to check it out.

That’s about all I can remember. Leave a comment below if I’ve forgotten something you want more info on.

Oh, and the Family Guy episodes?  I’m thinkin’ Limewire.

Hi everyone.

I forgot to mention to your yesterday that I wouldn’t be here this morning… I have to attend a workshop for one of the other business classes I teach, so I won’t be in all day.

I’ve left a note for your substitute teacher, asking you to check this blog post (oh, and here you are! The system works!) Read on, I have a few suggestions for you to work on this lesson.

Basically I’d like you to continue to explore Photoshop and develop a feel for how to approach different image editing tasks. By now you’ve doctored up a few photos, and in that process learnt to work with layers, selected and cut images, resized using the transform tool, and you’ve worked with some of the other basic editing tools like eraser, magic wand and the move tool. Yesterday you looked at creating text, applying layer effects, rasterizing type into a graphic, applying filters and so on.

For today, take a look at this tutorial on making a tennis ball. You can try to make a ball like this yourself - it might seems a bit mundane, but it contains lots of useful Photoshop techniques! Don’t forget you can pause and rewind the video if you need to. Give it a go!

If you have any spare time, I recommend you take a look at the actual website for more free tutorials… http://www.good-tutorials.com/author/WatchAndLearnPhotoshop.com

It has a bunch of very interesting video lessons which show you step-by-step some of the “hidden secrets” of good Photoshop work. Worth watching, you’ll pick up lots of ideas, even if
some of them look a bit complicated just now.

Good luck. Have fun. Be good.

As you are hopefully discovering, Photoshop can make you doubt what you see… by adding, deleting, changing an image, it can fool us into seeing things as they really aren’t!

Check out this one… http://www.snopes.com/rumors/crash.htm
Also, these might be worth checking out.

• http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/lavey.asp
• http://www.snopes.com/photos/iceberg.asp
• http://www.snopes.com/photos/lili.asp

Too obvious? What about fashion magazines? Surely THEY wouldn’t lie to us? Better have a look at this site and make up your own mind…

Write a comment below responding to these websites. What do you think about the use of digital image editing tools like Photoshop to modify images? How much is too much?

Copy your response into your own blog as well if you like.