Project 3: Digital Video

Screenshot of Track Layers in Camtasia

The image below is from Camtasia and shows 7 tracks -

• Track 1 - The original video with zoom and pan effects

• Track 2 - The first layer of animated annotations added on top of the video

• Track 3 - The second layer of animated annotations added on top of the video - these play concurrently with the first layer

• Track 4 - Background music - Acoustic Breeze from Bensound - Licensing "Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music”

• Track 5 - Background image for introduction video

• Track 6 - Introduction video with embedded audio track

• Track 7 - Narrated audio for original video

The top half of the screenshot shows media that I imported into the library and used in the video on the left and the main video preview window on the right.

The media that I imported into the library and used in this video are -

• Background music - Acoustic Breeze from Bensound - Licensing "Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music”

• Project 1 Title from digital image (Adobe Illustrator)

• Project 1 Vector graphic - edited (Adobe Illustrator)

• Project 1 Digital Image - edited (Adobe Photoshop)

• Project 1 OEL Resource Book (Adobe Illustrator)

• Project 3 Music Mixdown (Adobe Audition)

Introduction and Learning Objective

My final project is to have a collection of media that can be used as part of our training and resources for online faculty as they design their courses for ease of use and navigation, while aligning with the Quality Matters rubric. The purpose of this audio file is to guide the listener through the homepage image created in Project 1 and highlight the essential elements of an effective homepage that we would like for faculty to include in their courses at St Charles Community College. We do not mandate a design or force the use of an institutional template; but we will be implementing Quality Matters internal peer reviews in Fall 2019, and this is one of the steps in introducing some guidelines and ideas to faculty along with Quality Matter, Canvas, and online best practices training.

Learning Objective:

After viewing the video, the participant/viewer will be able to identify the essential elements and their placement on an SCC homepage and explain briefly the reason for each element.

Storyboard

Link to storyboard document - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1X_iB3hv9HEhSP9wxqcxlQ-S7ElI4muuB&authuser=0

Licensing

Track 4 - Background music is Acoustic Breeze from Bensound - Licensing "Music: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music”

Techniques

Audio Tracks

• The introduction video has an embedded audio track

• The narration of the original video is a separate audio track

• The background music is a separate audio track

Shots

• The Introduction video is a solo/single shot

• The original video uses close up and extreme closeup shots both to show elements of the home page

Angles

• The introduction video is and eye level angle

• Zoom is used to get to the close up and extreme closeup shots

Motion

• Panning is used to move around the video during the screen capture video

Transitions

• Dissolve

• Pixelate

Background music

• Surround Reverb - Church/small room

• Volume was reduced to allow narration to easily be heard

• Track fades in and out at the beginning and end of the video

Reflection

I enjoyed this project and continue to learn how much time goes into making a media file that is less than 2 minutes. In this video, I think I had a much bigger idea of what I wanted to do that I had experience to complete, but I gave it my all. In some video players, I get a little distortion in the introduction video, but I wasn't able to isolate it and correct or delete it. I re-recorded the introduction multiple times and was using the same headset that I used for the narration, so as with any technology, I was left completely befuddled and frustrated. I think I enjoy the editing and mixing process the most and feel that is where I can really get creative and focus in on the subject, making specific pieces stand out where I want.

I started out using Premiere, but I am more familiar with Camtasia which is a similar program but not as complex. Considering what I was hoping to create, I felt that trying to learn a new video production software would not be in my best interest, so I am hoping that Camtasia will be an acceptable video software. I worked with Premiere enough to know that I want to learn that application, and I have bookmarked some Lynda.com courses for later, possibly during the winter break.

Videos are definitely more effective in demonstrating material, especially for online courses. Students are used to watching YouTube and other sites on their phones and mobile devices anywhere they are, so putting that information in short videos online will help to convey course material and also provide alternate ways of presenting information for those who do not learn best by simply reading. For online learning, Camtasia also allows you to embed quiz questions at any point in the video, which is also a nice interactive learning feature to be able to add to course materials online.

In this project I also took elements from the project 1 digital image assignment and edited some of those images for what I hope is a little better presentation. I wanted to include those in this video for consistency across the portfolio, but I have also been thinking since submitting those that there were things that I wanted to still change and play with to see if I could make them a little more readable and clean.

All Project Files Located on Google Drive for Review

Click any file below to see the original file used in this project.