Making a 2 minute video
Back to DIAL 2011-13 Group page
The DIAL project were asked to produce a two minute video overview of the project to date. We would like to openly disscuss the issues that this presented to the team and our perceptions and experiences of 'presenting to camera' also encourage debate and feedback from our stakeholders. Please leave your comments below. Thank you
Below are my perspectives of creating the 2 minute video, our first created together as the DIAL team.
I'm clearly more comfortable behind camera than in front of one (the waxwork I'm standing next to is more animated than I am), which is ironic as I'm 'supposed' to or am maybe perceived as being comfortable with all this open stuff. My experience of recording students and staff over the last few years is the majority of those I've recorded have all been really natural and confident in front of camera, why is this, are they naturals ? Would be good to look at the relevance, dynamics and relationships between the camera operator, subject, perceived audience and the person being filmed and discuss approaches that work and those that don't.
I thought about a few options of how we could approach the production of the video :
1. Homemade (not making too big a deal/meal of it (it's not for tv) use everyday devices 'phone camera' to record within a short timescale.
2. Professional production - use radio lapel microphones and high quality equipment camera etc. Plan in advance, storyboard and locations etc.
3. A third option (I thought about too late) was to hire students to produce the video, this would also start a debate about creating a sustainable in-house production team/s
I went for the low key homemade approach because of the following factors:
I wanted us to try a DIY do it our self approach
Didn't have a lot of time to spend on this.
This being our first video together I thought it best to start from a non specialist/everyday position familiar to most (those who have phone video cameras that is). This way we can hopefully try and improve and support others (learn and improve together) in this process and it was also a less daunting experience for participants.
This Work, Making a 2 minute video, by cfollows is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
Comments
Thanks Laura, It would be good to run your video presentation workshop for staff led by students? (on the DIAL list)
The below illustration I created for DIAL about open online practices can also be be applied in this case, one can be a novice and and expert when it comes to doing anything digital.
Hey Chris
I'm with you on this, I definitely find it a bit of a challenge being filmed! Again, most of the students who participating in the digital presentation skills workshops that we ran for DIAL project seemed really natural in front of the camera, even on the first take. Not sure why this is. Structure and content definitely improved after training. The students also felt a lot more comfortable in front of the camera the more they did it, so confidence improved too.
I think working with students to produce videos is an excellent idea. We've commissioned students to make video content before with our SEE Creative Cash programme, and could do that again. I think producing your own video to help promote yourself or your work is a really important enterprise & employability skill.