Education

Working with south coast universities, schools and colleges on the Isle of Wight

At Visioneca, we are focusing on avant garde and experimental film, and new media art that features motion images, and will provide an overview of this sector featuring leading artist-practitioners, recent film-school and new media design graduates. In time we are also hoping to run contextual workshops in local schools and colleges.

Currently, as far as we know, the Isle of Wight does not offer any access to this kind of leading-edge work, nor any contextual or historical learning opportunities in this field.

We aspire to run an annual festival together with year-round occasional workshops, masterclasses and seminars. We are focusing on young people who have an interest in motion picture related work and would like to encourage a fourfold learning curve:

1. exposure to new media art and experimental film - current and recent past

2. introduction to authoring, coding and developer tools, as well as digital editing tools

3. opportunities for hands-on media-making using accessible tools like mobiles, iPads and DSLR HD, HTML 5.0 and other open-source toolkits

4. opportunities in the form of competitions, seminars, pecha kucha sessions, and collaborative workshops, to develop moving image work

The Competition we are running for schools and colleges on the island this year is:

A 60 sec or less (inc titles and credits) film whose theme is 'the island' and will be judged by its creativity, and  innovative approach.

Categories:

under 14
14-16
16-18



Links to Universities, Colleges and Schools

The Arts University College Bournemouth
University for the Creative Arts
Southampton Solent University
University of Southampton
University of Portsmouth
Kingston University
Bournemouth Skillset Media Academy
Medina College 
Carisbrooke College
Ryde Academy
Cowes Enterprise College 
Isle of Wight College
Brockenhurst College
St Saviours Totland


Tips for making films on your mobile phone


The mobile phone is a great medium for film making and there are no rules. Take a chance, if you think it will work, give it a go - experiments and ʻaccidentsʼ often produce the most interesting results!

• Take advantage of the portability of the mobile camera and shoot from interesting angles and locations a regular camera would struggle with.

• Hold the camera as steady as possible if your aim is for a smooth action when panning. Loss
of quality will occur during rapid and fast panning.

• Mobile phones are very light and so much more difficult to keep stable. Stand with feet apart and elbows planted against your body if you want steadier shots.

• You may lose quality using the zoom function – better to move physically closer to your subject.

• Take note of ratio sizes when editing on a computer. Some mobiles record at 640 x 480 pixels. Most editing software wonʼt recognise this and will adjust/stretch your picture size.

• Keep in mind that all films will be screened at 25 frames per second (fps). Some mobiles shoot at a higher frame rate then this. Be sure to change the settings on your mobile device before shooting.

About Video Editing

Before the digital revolution, videos - like still photographs - were actually shot on film. Editing them involved cutting out individual frames and splicing the filmstrip back together, a tedious and expensive process that resulted in lots of little plastic squares on the cutting room floor. You also had to move through all previous footage to reach the scenes you wanted to edit, more or less requiring you to edit the film in the order in which you shot it.

Today, software makes editing digital footage is much faster, easier and much more affordable, and puts it within reach of anyone with a personal computer. Even better, digital video editing is “nonlinear,” which means you can access the scenes you want to edit directly. This helps speed up the process, especially for a short, Internet-ready video for which you just need to trim off the ends and add a title screen or two.

There are three key stages to video production; pre-production (storyboarding, scripting, creating a shot list), production (filming stage) and post production (editing, grading footage and adding VFX). Editing is a crucial component in producing the final video as it where the story/narrative is shaped. The editing process takes the numerous amounts of recorded footage and reduces it down (by cutting, slicing, overlaying and trimming) into a skilfully produced final product. On a basic level, video editing is the process of rearranging or modifying segments of video to form part of an entire sequence. The goals of video editing are the same as in film editing - the removal of unwanted footage, isolation of desired footage and arrangement of that footage in time to create a consistent and continuous final sequence (called the "final cut").

You’ll never shoot a perfect video from start-to-finish in one take. Editing lets you cull the best parts from several takes and combine them into one or, more simply, cut the bad parts out of a single take.

Skilful editing can make a vital contribution to a video's impact. The way you interrelate shots not only affects their visual flow but directly influences how your viewer reacts to what they are seeing, i.e. interpretation. Editing is an extremely important part of the production process - poor editing can leave the viewer confused, whereas proficient editing creates interest, tension or build up excitement and this is essential in holding the audience's interest and communicating your message.

So, how much do you need to edit your footage?
It depends on what type of video you’re making, or who your audience will be. A “guerilla” style video that forgoes high production values in favour of a spontaneous look and feel doesn’t need to be polished and perfect.

Editing software

Mobile devices that shoot video, like smartphones and tablets, have started to offer basic editing functionality, and mobile apps can add more features. However, the built-in microphones are designed for phone calls, not videos, and the audio quality suffers as a result. Some small cameras also allow you edit videos on-screen and offer higher audio and video quality than smartphones. They might be attractive low-cost options for beginners looking to make a few short videos.

These are generally free or low-cost options that may already be installed on your computer. They’re good ways to get your feet wet with video editing.


Adobe Premiere Elements

Adobe Premiere Express

Adobe® Premiere® Express software enables anyone to create custom videos in minutes - no experience necessary. All that’s needed is a browser and the free Adobe Flash® Player. Users can create remixes by reordering, splitting, and trimming video clips and then adding music, photos, transitions, and cool visual effects.

Beginner's guide to video editing using Adobe Premiere Elements

With an interface similar to iMovie’s, Premiere Elements is an affordable and beginner-friendly editing tool. It’s a step up from Windows Movie Maker that offers more advanced functions and allows for importing and exporting many more different video file types.

Editing is the assembly of numerous unrelated elements (footage, music, graphics, sound effects etc).

These principles of project organisation can be applied when using any video-editing program.

Take the footage currently stored on the tape/disc or mobile phone and copy it onto the computer, ready to be edited.

When starting this tutorial, don’t worry if every single element needed for the project isn’t to hand. The whole reason for organising a project in a structured manner is so that extra sound effects, footage, music tracks, etc, can be added later.

Choosing a drive or folder to save the project

Video consumes more storage space than any other type of media file. Therefore it may be preferable to store media on a separate hard drive.

Checking the import settings

It’s important to choose the right setting for a project as it can’t be altered later. From the Premiere Elements start screen, click ‘Setup’. In the resultant window, choose the relevant setting.

UK based camcorders are ‘PAL’ format. You may need to check the camcorder documentation to be sure of format (MiniDV/HDV etc). If the footage was shot in a widescreen mode, choose the relevant ‘16:9’ preset to ensure the video maintains correct proportions.

Create the project

Choose ‘New Project’ from the Premiere Elements start screen. In the resultant window, name the project. In the box below, browse to your storage folder of choice.
Should you need to change the settings again, do so by clicking the ‘Change Settings’ button. Now click ‘OK’ and the main Premiere Elements interface will load. On the right hand side of the interface, the ‘Get Media’ tab is usually selected. If not, select it.

Premiere Elements interface

The upper left section of the Premiere Elements interface is called the ‘Monitor Panel’, where playback of a project takes place.

To the right is the ‘Tasks Panel’. This section is used to browse the different media elements of a project, choose effects and titles etc.

The bottom portion of the interface is the ‘My Project Panel’, also described as the ‘Sceneline’ view. This is where a project is assembled.

Importing files manually

If any video needed for the project already exists on the computer, copy and paste it into the ‘Video’ folder within the MEDIA folder.

Now, within Premiere Elements, click ‘Files and Folders’ from the Tasks Panel and browse to MEDIA\Video and select the files to import them into the project.

Once imported, they will show in the ‘Organiser’ section of the interface as a series of visual ‘tiles’.

Importing files directly

Import footage directly from a phone, camcorder, DVD, Webcam or Card Reader can all be done directly from Premiere Elements.

Connect the device to the computer using the relevant cable (Firewire or USB for example) and select the appropriate option from the ‘Get Media’ tab.
Now browse to the media and click ‘Get Media’. For DV/HDV Camcorders, ensure the tape is rewound and click ‘Get Video’.

Importing CD music into your project

It’s not possible to import music tracks directly from a commercial CD. So insert the CD and choose ‘Copy music from CD using Windows Media Player’ from the Windows dialogue.

Ensure MEDIA/Music is selected as the ‘copy to’ location. Check this by choosing Tools > Options within Windows Media and clicking the Copy Music tab.

Click the Change button to browse to the correct location, then import. Now select those files through the ‘Files and Folders’ option within Premiere Elements.

Windows Movie Maker (Pre-installed on all Windows PCs, or a free download from Microsoft)

Windows Movie Maker is a good tool for people just getting started with editing, and the prevalence of Windows computers means you’re likely to already have it in-house. Movie Maker handles basic tasks well, like trimming clips and adding titles, transitions and soundtracks, but offers limited file options for exporting edited videos or converting clips and files from one format to another.


Windows Live Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker 2.6

Using Windows Movie Maker:
The first step is to get your video footage on to a computer by connecting the camera with a USB cable or by plugging in the memory card direct to the computer (if it has a built in card reader).

Then drag the video files from your camera/card to your desktop or select an existing folder to keep your work. It's a good idea to create a new folder with the title of your Visioneca project and put your video files in it for future use.

Open up Windows Live Movie Maker and begin editing your Visioneca film footage. Click on the 'browse for videos' button in the top menu bar and find the video files you want to edit from your new folder. This will automatically add your files to the timeline where you will do most of your editing.

You can drag files around inside the timeline easily and set the order you'd like to have them. If you want to cut a certain clip, then click anywhere on the video and a line will appear where you clicked. You can then click 'Edit' and use the 'Trim' or 'Split' tool to perform the action of your choice. If you choose 'Trim', you can then choose the start and finish points in the preview window using the play bar. Select 'Save Trim' and you will save your changes.

If you want to add sound you have the option of altering your video footage volume as a whole, or you can fade in and out between clips by clicking on 'Video Tools' in the menu bar, if you choose 'Add music' under the home tab you can then select music to add to your video footage - you can use the music tools menu to adjust it just as you can with your video's audio.

You can add transitions add effects to your project - transitions are added by choosing 'Animations' in the menu bar and then clicking the white space between two clips then choosing which transition you'd like. To play around with effects choose 'Visual Effects' and then click on the one you want.



iMovie

iMovie is the free video editing software that comes with all new Apple computers. It's easy to use and edits most every format from cell phone video to HD.

Basic DSLR Video Editing with iMovie


A very basic tutorial on how to take your DSLR video footage and do simple editing with imovie.
 While we use footage from a Canon 5d Mk II for our example, the process is the same for any HD camera footage. For non HD-footage, the process is virtually the same as well, you just need to make a different choice when setting up your project and for some exporting choices.

First, start up iMovie and choose “Create a New Project from the menu.

A box will pop up that asks you to choose a name and saving location for your iMovie project. Name and locate the project in whatever fashion suits you. The important part is the “video format” drop down menu (if you do not see the “video format” drop down menu, click the little grey triangle next to the words “video format” to expand the box). If you are using HD footage, you will need to choose one of the two HD formats or your video will not display properly when you go to export it at the end of the editing process. If you are using a camera that films in 1920/1080 resolution such as the Canon 5D MK II as we are using here, you should choose “HDV 1080i”. If you are using a camera that films in 1280×720 resolution such as the Nikon D90, then you should choose “HDV 720p”. Make your choice and click “Create”.

If your smaller camera only films in a lower resolution, you will need to pick a different video format from the drop down menu in order for your project to display correctly in the end. Most, but not all, other video resolutions will probably display correctly if you choose “DV” as your format.

Now you will be looking at the iMovie “dashboard” (it probably has some other real name) and a big black rectangle where the video should be. Why is there nothing there? Because you have to import your video clips first before you’ll see anything. To do that, go to the “file” menu up at the top and click on “import”.

You will be presented with the standard “choose your file” box. Find the folder where you have saved your video files and choose the file (or files) you wish to edit then click “open”.

A note about file extensions: When choosing the file you want to import, you should be looking for files with extensions such as .AVI, .MOV, & .MP4. These are all video file formats. Depending on what method you used to copy your video files to your computer, you may run into files that have the exact same name as your video files, but have the extension .THM (for example: MVI_4031.MOV & MVI_4031.THM). These are simply thumbnail images for your video files. They allow your computer to display a thumbnail image from the video as an icon when you are looking at a folder of video files.

The .THM file also contains the EXIF data for the video file, camera used, shutter/aperture, and other data. The .THM file is not technically needed for the video files and it is up to you if you want to keep it or not. But in any case, you won’t be doing anything with it during the editing process.

The “importing files” status bar will pop up and the files may take some time to be imported. The time will vary with the length and size of the files. Once importing is complete, thumbnails of the imported files will appear in the “clips” area of the iMovie as thumbnails.

Now that you have your file (or files) imported, you need to put them on to the timeline. The timeline is the horizontal area at the bottom of the iMovie screen. If you have nothing on the timeline, you will see a “Drag clips here to build your project” message, and that is exactly what you need to do. Click-hold on a video clip, drag it down to the timeline, and then release the mouse button. The clip will now take up residence on the timeline.

If you have multiple clips you want to add, you just drag and drop each of them into the timeline. However, as your movie gets longer, it may be easier to switch from “timeline” view to “clip” view. To do this, look for the two buttons on the left hand side just above the timeline. One will look like a clock and the other like a frame of film. Clicking the frame of film button will put you into “clip” view and clicking the clock button will put you back into “timeline” view.

This is a comparison of the two different ways to view the clips in your movie. On top is the “timeline” view and below is the “clip” view. No matter which view you are using, you can click-hold-drag-drop to move the clips around and change their order.

Even if you are just making a movie out of a single video clip, chances are good that you’ll want to trim a little off the beginning or end. Doing this just involves a few quick steps. Place the “playhead” at the point in your movie that is right between the video footage you want to cut out and the footage you want to keep. You can click and drag the playhead across the timeline manually or you can just the video control buttons above the timeline to play and pause right where you want to cut. Then go to the “edit” menu at the top of the page and choose “split video clip at playhead”.

Now you will have two different clips. The stuff you want to get rid of and the stuff you want to keep. Click on the piece that you want to get rid of, it will now be highlighted. Now simply press the “delete” key on your keyboard and the junk footage will be gone. You will also see the timeline tighten back up automatically to get rid of the extra space.

Once you have the clip (or clips) looking the way you want it, you are ready to export to tape, dvd, quicktime or mpeg. The “export” option is in the “file” menu at the top of the page.

A note about exporting: There are a number of different ways you can export your video when you are done with it. What process you use depends on how you want your video to be viewed. The method to export a video for a DVD is different than the method to export a video that you intend to upload to a video sharing site.


Free 3GP Video Converter for PC