Digital video and film making
Digital Video Production

Can you hear Sundance calling? In this 6-lesson course, you'll explore the many facets of planning and shooting digital videos.

You'll learn how to control white balance, aperture, and shutter speed, to get high quality images. You'll explore the different types of shots and camera motion techniques used by the pros and learn how to do location scouting, plan props, wardrobe, and sets, and work with talent.

Course lectures challenge you to think about different storytelling conventions in narrative and documentary movie-making and address the fundamentals of sound recording. You'll script and storyboard short movie sequences and develop an understanding of the various roles in the video post-production process.

Course projects include a video camera workout, a camera perspective study, a shot analysis, studies in shot types and camera motion, an instructional video, a silent movie, a soundtrack recording, and a final project where you recreate a short scene from a famous movie.

Important: Students will need access to a digital video camera with a Firewire connection. The course includes directions for Final Cut Express but students can use a non-linear editing program of their choice (Avid, Final Cut Pro, Premiere, iMovie, and so on). Students who do not use Final Cut Express will need to adjust for minor differences in interface and features.

Course Instructor:
Andrew Shalat is an author, designer/illustrator, educator, and Mac expert ... get bio

Developer: Lara Kohl is a New York based multi-disciplinary artist and educator and more ...

Develop an understanding of the digital video production process: pre-production, shooting, editing, and post-production.

Manipulate white balance, aperture, shutter speed, and focus in a video camera to optimize the picture quality in video images.

Utilize different shot types including the wide shot, establishing shot, long shot, medium shot, close up, point-of-view, and over-the-shoulder.

Utilize different camera movement techniques including static, hand-held, tracking, dolly, pan, tilt, and zoom shots.

Carry out basic pre-production tasks, including location planning and scouting, props, wardrobe, and sets, working with talent, and basic lighting setups.

Explore various concept and direction styles ranging from scripted narrative and live documentary movie-making traditions.

Script and storyboard a short narrative sequence.

Record different types of synchronous and non-synchronous sound for video, including dialogue, sound effects, natural sounds, music, and voiceover.

Utilize basic editing techniques for video post-production and prepared movies for distribution via disk or the Web.

Outline:

LESSON 1 Using Your Video Camera What are all those buttons for? They're not just for decoration. Understanding how your video camera works can help you get better results from your digital video projects. In this first lesson, you'll learn how to adjust the white balance, aperture, shutter speed, and focus in your video camera in order to improve the quality of your digital images. You'll learn the how to select file formats, digitizing your footage, perform basic edits, and output short movie sequences. Your first project will put your camera and your creativity through its paces.

LESSON 2 Shooting Techniques To help you develop facility with your camera, you'll explore different shot techniques used by the great directors: the wide shot, establishing shot, long shot, medium shot, close up, point-of-view, and over-the-shoulder. Camera movement (or its absence) is also a critical factor in video making, so you'll examine the influence of static, hand-held, tracking, dolly, pan, tilt, and zoom shots. In the project, you'll demonstrate mastery of these techniques through a shot analysis and studies in shot types and camera movement.

LESSON 3 Pre-Production Pre-production is an essential step in any small budget movie or documentary piece. In fact, the smaller the production, the more creative planning is required. Lesson Three guides you through some of the essentials for success on a shoestring: location planning and scouting, props, wardrobe, and sets, working with talent, and basic lighting setups. A case study based on an instructional music video explores every aspect of the planning process. In the project, you'll demonstrate all you've learned so far by planning and shooting a short instructional video.

LESSON 4 Modes of Storytelling There are many different stories, and many ways of telling a story. Lesson Four explores some of the main styles and genres that influence digital video makers. You'll learn techniques for creating a piece with a scripted narrative, working from a script and using a storyboard to plan out a series of shots. To create live documentaries, you'll learn tips for setting up interviews and examine some important genres including cinema verite, nature/wildlife, hidden camera, video diaries, instructional videos, and music videos. In the exercise, you'll script and shoot a silent movie as an exercise in visual storytelling.

LESSON 5 Recording Sound Since the days of the "talkies," recorded sound has been essential in movie making. And in fact, poor sound is one of the most obvious indicators of an amateur video. In Lesson Five, you'll explore the various kinds of sound you can use in your video projects. You'll learn about different kinds of synchronous and non-synchronous sound as well as on and off-set sounds that are used by video makers to support storytelling. You'll learn how to capture these sounds as well as work with factors such as room tone, background noise, and wind noise. In the exercise, you'll add an imaginative soundtrack to a silent scene.

LESSON 6 The Big Picture These days, you can shoot a video on your own. You can write it, shoot it, and star in it. And on a small budget production, you may find yourself doing a whole lot more. Lesson Six concludes the course with an exploration of the many roles in movie production and post-production. A final project will challenge you to apply everything you've learned in recreating a short scene from a famous movie.