Too much to tape and too little knowledge of how to do it
were the biggest obstacles. We were lucky to have actors and actresses for our
video that willingly participated. But once we were organized and ready to
shoot, we realized that we did not have enough knowledge and experience with the
cameras to be certain we would tape all that was needed or to even be certain
that the audio was being recorded.
Actor reluctance was encountered. Some of our actors had to wait several
hours before it was time to perform and were consequently tired and cranky
before we got to them. When this occurred all of the adults participated in
getting the child to participate. We were, luckily, successful in all but one
instance.
Time also became a problem. Twelve videos
meant that there was that much more storyboarding, shooting, digitizing, and
editing to do. It was also difficult to have to do the video manipulation solely
on the computer at school. This was resolved by spending more time on the
project.
A problem with computer space also
manifested itself. We filled up the
entire D:\ drive and had to resort
to putting raw footage on the C:\, just to complete the "capture"
step. That left no room on the D:\ drive for the Premiere files or extra
audio. We cleared some space by deleting unused raw video when a clip was
complete.
Many of the things that we did during this project would not have to be
changed:
 |
we were pretty well organized |
| we followed a time line that, while full,
never became a last second rush |
| the shooting, while long, went quite well |
| the
team members got along with each other and the client |
| while minor problems
were encountered, solutions were always found. |
It would be nice to work more
with the special effects the next time that we try this, such as manipulating a
still image, and delving more deeply into the other editing tools that Premiere
has to offer.
An idea for another semester might be that students, collectively as a class,
have 2 clients. The video taping could be scheduled for 2 or 3
class periods with all students participating in the acting, shooting,
directing. etc. Storyboarding could have to be done outside of
class, just as it was this semester. Class members might be required
to take a different role for the second client than they had for the
first, for a fuller experience. All students together could help
with digitizing, editing, etc., with half of the class working on one
client and the other half on the second client.
