Description
You will create a tour of the school. The tour guide will be a magical person who has the ability to snap his or her fingers and appear anywhere in the school! A bolt of lightning and a crash of thunder accompany each appearance and disappearance of the magical guide.
Videotaping your project
When going to a location, set up the tripod. Videotape the location without the tour guide. Pause the camera. Have the tour guide step in. When you begin recording again, the tour guide will seem to have magically appeared. This is not hard, but it takes a little practice to get it right. Some tips:
Your camera must be on a tripod.
Videotape the scene without the tour guide. Videotape for at least five seconds. (This is where you will put in the lightning). Pause the camera.
The tour guide should stand in front of the camera holding his or her hand up, ready to snap their fingers.
The tour guide must freeze until the director or cameraperson gives them the signal to start.
Don’t yell “action†because it will be heard on tape. A silent hand signal is better.
Hit “record†on the camera, but count two seconds before signaling the tour guide to snap his or her fingers. If the guide moves before the camera is recording, you will lose the finger snapping. Sometimes, video cameras tell you they are recording before they really are! You can always edit out any dead time, but you can’t recreate the actor.
If there are other people in the scene, such as the office staff, try to have them freeze after you pause the camera (#1). They can then look startled when you give the signal for action.
Rewind the camera, play it back, and see how it looks.
You can practice making people appear and disappear in your classroom before you go out to make your video. Practice will make you better! Be sure when you hit the record/pause button, you do it gently — without rocking the camera.
Your guide can give the tour of offices, the library, the nurse's office, etc. The guide can also introduce teachers. Teacher will help you with magic by reacting to the appearance and disappearance of your guide.
When your guide is finished at one location, have them snap their fingers and freeze. Pause the camera. If there are other people in the shot, they should freeze, too, until the guide is gone. Begin recording again (remember to count two seconds) and record the scene without the guide. If there are other people, have them react with surprise at the disappearance.
Important Note: Because you are editing your video in the computer, you can make the guide appear and disappear without pausing the camera. Simply cut out the part of the tape where the guide walks in and out. But it is easy to use the record/pause button on the camera, and the teamwork of the in-camera edit is fun. And you can check the effect right away by rewinding the camera and playing the tape. Also, the signals make it easier for any other people in the shot to freeze and unfreeze.
By doing it in the computer without using the pause button, you will have more control when you edit with the computer, but this sometimes takes more time. Try it both ways in your classroom, and decide which method you want to use for your video. When you get more experienced, you will probably find yourself doing it without using the pause button. But the practice with the pause/record button will help you grasp the concept.
