Stacy Hocker Streett S603 High Tech Learning 9/24/07
Learning how to use the Video Camera
I was excited about this project because learning how to download my videos to my computer, storing them and sharing them with friends and family has been on my 'to do' list since I bought my digital video camera three years ago. What I wanted to learn to do was to create a web page I could share with friends and family that had pictures and videos of the kids and could be updated as new things happened. I am going to demonstrate the process of creating a googlepage with picture links as well as video links.
My camera is a Sony Handycam DCR-HC26. It came with Picture Package software that I just downloaded for the first time. With the Picture Package came the First Step Guide that walked me through the process. I was directed how to download the video from the camera via the USB port (luckily I had a USB cord with my Nikon Coolpix camera that I could use since the Handycam didn't come with one). This required me having to learn some new things on the actual camera -like using the menu to turn one the USB stream (all of which I found in the camera user's manual).
Then I captured the exact parts of the video using the Capture Video Device. I attempted to make a music video using the clips I downloaded to myvideos folder. I never quit figured it out. At some point I must have clicked on one of the clips and it automatically opened Windows Movie Maker. (This isn't the first time in this class that I found some really cool software I didn't even know I had.)
Editing with Windows Movie Maker
Movie Maker opened automatically when I clicked on my video clip in myvideos. I liked the task bar down the side of the Movie Maker screen. The task bar basically walks you through the entire process. I had to import the clips from myvideos into Movie Maker since I changed software. It automatically divided my 2 minute clip into 5 differend files. I'm not sure how it decided to divide it - they weren't equal lengths. I made one movie using the Make AutoMovie feature. I chose the style and the music and let the software design the video. I could have created the story board on my own with the effects and transitions but it looked crazy when I did it myself. When I started the second one, for some reason, it combined with the first. I had already saved the first and made the link to this google page but somehow, the song changed to be the same as the second???? I didn't quite figure out how to separate the two files from each other (escept to just delete the first one from the second story board).
Also, when I added music I was limited to only a few music files in our music folder because Movie Maker wouldn't accept most of them because of the file extensions. I understand from some of the other students that I could have downloaded Audacity and import them as 'raw files'. Just before I was a about to do this, I found a song I liked from my own mymusic. I would also have liked to narrate my own thoughts or just keep the original soundtrack (which I have yet to figure out).
I liked making my own titles and credits. It made it more like a movie. I also was thankful that the program analysed the music and the video and put it together for me. I wasn't too particular about any of the song happening at any specific moment in the video. I used the timeline to delete some unwanted extras that made it into my second video.
I was then able to save it to various places: my computer, for email, for the web, a CD or a DVD
I love Googlepages! I didn't know they existed until I checked out some of the other projects! (Thanks to Tammie Klage!)
My actual project is using this site to download photos and add videos for family and friends to keep up with the Streetts. I should however, change the name so only our friends and family know who we are. Check out the videos I edited!
