Digital Video

YES!!!!
I have finally finished my movie.

Making this movie has taken much more time then I originally thought it would, I think I have spent over five hours on this project. Choosing a topic and finding the photos were the easiest parts of this movie for me. But when it came to music I hit a brick wall...figuratively. The last work day in class I was able to come up with the theme song for the video, but I later found that I would need other songs to fill in gaps and give the effect that I was looking to create. While trying to fit several songs into specific places and for certain photos I was getting frustrated and realized that I was making it way to completed. So, I started to try to find other songs that fit nicely together and then carved them to flow smoothly from one to the next before putting them with my photos. Before I was trying to put the songs disconnected right in with the photos and that got me bogged down in the details before I could even make it sound good. After having a soundtrack that was longer then my movie and then combined with my photos, I started to move my pictures around and change the length to work with the music. It was actually kind of fun when it started to work. There are a few spots that are my favorite, but I am sure that is true with all creators. I learned a lot from this project and I am proud of my end product.

This is the first time I have used the Window Movie Maker, and I am impressed with the versatility of the program and how user friendly it is. I am becoming more comfortable with the way it works, and after much trial and error I now can manipulate the photos, transitions, text, and music comfortably and with confidence. I think I could teach someone else how to use this program, like the student's in my classroom.

I think that making movies would be a great way to get students interested in their learning and in the world around them. To be able to present their knowledge in this way, is really a cool and educational idea. Every kid wants to be in a movie or be able to direct one, in this way teachers have another option for assessment and a end project for a lesson. This is one tool that can make school more relevant to the students lives and give them a real life application for their learning.
Some really fun ideas, would be for each student to narrate and made movies instead of reports of important figures in history. This application would give new life to the boring idea of writing a paper, the people in history would come to life and the students could find pictures and record their own narration. It would make the project much more interesting for both the students to make and for the teacher to grade. There could even be time-lines the student have to create and then scan them in so that it can be part of the movie... there are so many activities and meaningful learning opportunity that can be combined with making a movie.
Other idea is for the students to take movies of their own lives, inside and outside the classroom. In going this they would be able to learn how to use technology and creative skills as well as be able to document they school experiences and their lives. This idea of being able to know where you were and then seeing how far you have come, is something that makes personal documentation of your own journey really valuable.