The Complexities of Video Production

Part of my job on a daily basis is to find, test, and review digital sites and tools that are of potential use to teachers and students in grades K-12. This video project has given me a new vision and purpose in how I critique and investigate digital resources especially when it comes to student-created media. From the importance of planning to the production and sharing of the final product, my impression of how complicated a ‘simple project’ can become has changed. Hicks (2013) points out that teachers should focus on “the writer, then the writing, and finally on the technology” because the digital piece is only part of the whole process (p.113). Over and over again during my project, I found this to be absolutely true.

Realization 1: High-quality audio text is difficult to achieve even with a script

It seems like so many times when trying to do a live recording too many background noises or interruptions mean you have to do a retake or the video is altogether ruined. An external microphone can make a huge difference in the sound quality of either a video or audio text. Prior to even starting a recording, developing a storyboard or an outline of what you intend to capture can be effective especially for students. The storyboard provides the group with direction and potentially even a script to read from while filming (p. 115). For this project, I took my script, even though it was a rough draft initially, and made a written transcript for my post. I considered including music for the introduction, but quickly realized that with short amount of time it would play, it did not add any value to my production. Once I pulled my video together using WeVideo, some of the audio portion seemed garbled in spots.

Realization 2: Be prepared to completely revamp your plans

No matter how the end product turns out, sometimes the learning happens during the process of creating. Learning to adapt my plans and search for a different tool or program that I could test and use is all a part of crafting digital media. I often create screencasts and conduct live webinars for teachers in my district, but the complexity of decisions I have made throughout the process of making my video project surprised me greatly. Several digital tools that I have used in the past just were not user-friendly and efficient enough for my purpose. One program I have used many times in the past, MovieMaker Live, was a disappointment too because the .avi clips I intended to bring together and edit would not load. I say this not to complain, although at the time, it was frustrating, but as a reminder that when developing process and content guidelines for students, we need to make sure we have tried out a few trustworthy sites, programs, and apps that will work best for student needs.

Realization 3: It is easy to get caught up in the editing process

Too much time went into trying overlays and audio replacements, so I nixed many of them during my remake. Using WeVideo, I added some 'bells and whistles' to the ends of my video and placed some 'b-roll' slides onto portions so it wasn't just my face on screen the whole time. I got out of my comfort zone in using a software that was new to me and simply did not know how much time I would spend figuring out how to do each edit and each addition.

I have many takeaways from this experience but most importantly, I learned not to take for granted that my end product would appropriately show my efforts and time spent planning out my project. This was not something I even considered up front, but it reminds me that each second, each word, and each decision are carefully produced as a part of the creation. 

Link to my Intro Remake Video

Transcript of Video Text

References:
Hicks, T. (2013). Crafting digital writing: Composing texts across media and genres.