Teaching Teach Me Digital Media

Pasha Souvorin

 

Background

The Teach Me Digital Media learning program has three parts: a classroom where all learning and teaching takes place, a series of rubrics that enable students to monitor their own progress through the projects, and a website where students access learning modules that teach them the particular steps of each project. The learning modules are designed to teach only the basics of how to use the software. This allows the teacher to coach and mentor individual students as they work through the tutorials. Since the tutorials are web enabled they could be accessed from home, but regular interaction between the students, peers, and the teacher are interwoven into every step of these projects. Digital Media Production and Design is usually an elective in the high school curriculum. It sometimes counts as Technical Education or as Fine Arts. There will eventually be tutorials for fourteen different digital media courses in this website, but currently only the “Intro to Digital Media” class is complete.

When all the tutorials are complete the Teach Me Digital Media program will allow students to earn credit at their own pace, and to take any digital media course at any time they are ready for it. Different students in the classroom could, therefore, take different classes at the same time. Students could also earn credit for a course whenever they finish it, and begin another class at any time. Since “Introduction to Digital Media” is the only complete course at this time this teaching guide is written for this class only. Several other courses in the website are in various stages of completion, with the portfolio class being the closest to ready. Rubrics are also in place for almost every advanced course, so a teacher who has prior knowledge could offer these advanced courses now. The Teach Me Digital Media website will eventually have complete instructional modules for the following Digital Media courses: 2D Animation, Advanced 2D Animation, 3D Environments, 3D Animation, Interactive Media, Advanced Interactive Media, Video Production 1-6, and Portfolio.

The teacher for this program should be a content area specialist in Digital Media, but this is not essential. It is more important that the teacher be prepared to act as a coach and mentor, and to understand the principles of visual design and communication. Nobody can master every aspect of every piece of software. Instead teachers implementing the Teach Me Digital Media program should help students learn to become self-actualized learners by using resources such as peers, books, content area experts, online learning communities, and online tutorials. The teacher’s role will be to create the learning environment and to set the classroom tone. Some teachers might not be used to this primary role of mentorship. This lesson plan and teaching guide is written to help teachers understand what a Social Constructivist classroom environment is, and how to create one so their students can successfully learn from the Teach Me Digital Media program.

 

Problem Statement

The primary instructional problem the Teach Me Digital Media program is designed to solve is how to teach digital media production and design in the information age. Students today want to learn to create digital photos, animations, 3D projects, and videos. Because of their widely varying computer skills and prior knowledge it is grossly inefficient for a teacher to stand in front of a class of these learners and teach everyone at the same pace and the same time. Today’s learners are also ready for a flexible, student centered classroom environment where each student can learn at his or her own pace. This classroom environment should allow students to create hands-on projects so that they can scaffold their way up through the intellectual skills of identifying, classifying, rule using, and problem solving. Students today are used to looking up any fact they need any time they need it on the Internet. They are ready to be responsible for teaching themselves, or at least they think they are. Social Constructivist theory explains that learning is more efficient and rapid in a social context. True learning--experiences that lead to new ways of thinking and permanent memories-- must, in fact, occur when learners interact with each other and with more knowledgeable others in the course of solving complex problems. The companies that wish to hire graphic artists know this, and real life demands it.

The rapid changes brought about by the Information Age are changing learning, but have not changed the need for teachers. Today’s learners need a teacher to guide them through this sea of on-demand learning, but that teacher must play some new roles in the classroom. The secondary instructional problem the Teach Me Digital Media program is intended to solve is how to prepare a teacher to be a guide, coach, mentor, content area expert, consultant, project manager, timekeeper, boss, and executive producer. This lesson plan is intended to help a teacher successfully implement the Teach Me Digital Media program within a Social Constructivist classroom.

 

Target Audience Identified

The Teach Me Digital Media program is intended for all high school students. Potential learners should have basic computer skills. Some of the Digital Media software is quite complex, and has a much higher learning curve than typical computer applications such as word processors or web browsers. The tutorials in the website are intended for beginners, but students should be willing to challenge themselves with learning a diversity of complex software. The target audience for this program should also be able to work independently. The Teach Me Digital Media program is largely self-directed, so potential learners have to be able to set their own goals and keep to a given schedule. Any high school student with basic computer skills and a desire to learn how to create computer graphics should be able to perform the tasks necessary for the Phoenix Digital Media program. Potential learners also need to be able to read and write English at the sixth-grade level. Other demographics such as age level, prior knowledge, and educational achievement should have no impact in a student’s ability to learn from the Teach Me Digital Media program. The website and learning modules have closed captioning for the hearing impaired. Graphic design is an inherently visual medium, though, so blind students cannot use the Teach Me Digital Media program.

 

Instructional/ Learning Model Specified

The Teach Me Digital Media website and rubrics primarily follow Motivation Learning Theory, and the classroom environment should follow Social Constructivist principles.

 

Explanation of Instructional/ Learning Model

Both Bandura and Shunk’s and Alderman’s research into Motivation Theory found that short term goals, (such as learning how to use the bone tool in Flash) can act as stepping stones towards long term goals (such as learning how to create a great animation). Mastery goals tend to help students focus on what they want to achieve in a more positive way than performance goals. Mastery goals are internal, and involve setting a goal for a kind of skill you want to have. Performance goals are externally measured, such as “I want to get a good grade in the class.” According to Ames, mastery goals lead to better learning outcomes than performance goals.  

Bandura describes the power of self-efficacy to improve performance. Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s own ability to accomplish something. He notes that self-efficacy is affected by mastery experiences (achieving personal success at something), vicarious experiences (observing someone else’s success), verbal persuasion (receiving encouraging feedback), and physiological state (being nervous or excited).

Pintrich and Schunk describe how attribution can affect motivation. If students attribute their success to an external source that they have no control over (such as luck) than they are less likely to be motivated. Internal attributions (such as studying hard) produce more positive motivation.

Zimmerman describes self-regulating learners who take responsibility for their own learning as having internal volition. These students have gained volition because they can visualize a possible version of themselves that will be more knowledgeable in the future. This makes them responsible for their own learning, which is the most self-actualized kind of learner.

Social Constructivism focuses on how social interactions improve learning. On a theoretical level it can be argued that meaning (and therefore learning) can only be created through social interaction. In a classroom, however, we can focus on how peer-to-peer and student-to-teacher interactions impact learning. If students work together and see each other as noncompetitive members of a team then they can gain a sense of their own intersubjectivity. This means an exploration of shared meaning between two or more people, and it leads to learning that can last as long term memory. Once this level of trust is built up in the classroom then students feel empowered to gain additional shared knowledge. The teacher (or even other students) can then take on the role of a More Knowledgeable Other. This phrase refers to anyone who already knows something that a learner wants to know and is able to provide a scaffold to assist the learner with gaining that knowledge. The Teach Me Digital Media classroom should use Social Constructivist Learning Theory to create a classroom environment in which meaningful learning is most likely to occur. The rubrics and website rely heavily on Motivation Theory to inspire students to want to learn in this environment.

 

Relationship of Instructional/Learning Model to Specific Problem

Today’s learners aren’t interested in traditional, teacher-led instruction because that doesn’t give them ownership over their own learning. For their entire lives the primary message of all media, from television commercials to Google’s search bar, has been telling them that they can have whatever they want whenever they want it. A discussion of materialism isn’t relevant here, but the general idea that learning should occur on demand is. Students don’t want to wait for the teacher to get around to telling them the details. They want (and need) to figure it out for themselves. Figuring it out for themselves, of course, means giving them meaningful projects to work on. They also want to do this in a social context. The primary message of the social media that these teenagers are immersed in is that we are all in this together. Social networking sites provide frequent feedback among social groups, and constantly remind people of how we are interlinked. If students can get help for a particular step from one of their peers instead of from a teacher than this is empowering for them. And when you give students meaningful projects to work on, ownership over their own learning, and a learning environment that lets them know we’re all in this together, then Motivation Theory coupled with Social Constructivism provide the road map for how to do it.

Motivation Theory begins with the premise that students who set their own internal, mastery-oriented goals are more likely to succeed in both education and in life. It also assumes that every learner wants to advance up the pyramid of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and that motivation can provide the ladder to climb that peak. As students progress through the motivation process they learn self-efficacy, internal attribution, volition, and finally the goal of all education: self-regulation.

The rubrics in the Teach Me Digital Media website are designed to follow Motivation Theory. Students begin each project by studying examples of excellent projects in the website that have been created by earlier students. Learners then open the rubric, which invites them to analyze these samples as models. They state what they admire about each model. This step helps improve self-efficacy by providing peer models through which students might see positive possible selves. The next step on the rubric is to describe personal goals for the project. This invites students to challenge themselves, and gives them a sense of control over their own learning. Challenge and control are both methods of improving intrinsic motivation according to Lepper and Hodell. Most projects also include one to three project goals that the students can’t change. These goals insure that each student learns the entire curriculum by creating projects that meet the course objectives. Once their goals are set students request feedback from the teacher, and the teacher types that feedback directly into the rubric. This step ensures that teachers and students touch base before each project, and gives the teacher an opportunity to discuss each student’s goals. Many amateur learners don’t set reasonable goals for themselves, and this is a critical place to get professional feedback on those goals.

At this point the student is ready to learn how to do the project, and that’s where the tutorials and demonstrations in the website come in. In the tutorials the teacher talks to the students as if they are fellow experts and refers them often to their own goals. This is intended to help improve volition and self-regulation on the part of the students. The website also includes basic instructions for students with prior knowledge, with embedded links to more detailed instructions for students who need extra help. This bi-level instructional design is also intended to increase volition and self-regulation. While students are working on projects the teacher should move around the room and engage learners in individual conversations about their work. The teacher should guide learners (instead of showing them), and should set a positive tone and high expectations. It’s also helpful for the teacher to engage multiple students at once. Some students will want to get into their own personal “flow” while working by putting on their headphones and listening to their own music. This could be acceptable to some teachers, but others may prefer to play music (especially Jazz or Classical) for everyone to hear at once. This reinforces the sense of community and shared instructional space that is essential for Social Constructivism. Students and the teacher should constantly be engaged in giving each other feedback on their work, and this is impossible if students are locked in their private MP3 player universe.

Once a rough draft of each project is complete, the students return to the rubric for more written feedback. This time the rubric asks them to solicit feedback from both a peer and the teacher. Based on that social assistance, the rubric encourages them to further improve the project before beginning the assessment stage. This final step is intended to help students with self-efficacy.

One of the most powerfully motivating things the rubric does is allowing the students to self-assess their grades. Before assigning themselves a number grade, they reflect on the process by answering a series of specific questions. Then they look at their original goals (and modify them if necessary). Finally, they assign themselves a number grade for how well they achieved each personal goal and project goal. Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons describe how students can work their way towards self-regulation by through self-instruction, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-consequences.

 

Statement of Lesson Plan objectives

Intro to Digital Media is the prerequisite for all advanced digital media classes (except by instructor approval). Students will create a variety of digital media projects. Each project in this course is intended to show students the kinds of things they would learn in one of the advanced digital media sequences. One project is digital photography, one is video production, one is a photo essay, one is 3D design, and one is 2D animation. After these projects students will create a DVD portfolio to showcase their work. After completion of this class students will be prepared for any advanced digital media course sequence. There are no prerequisites for this course. Students will have the opportunity to submit their finished projects to competitions and film festivals to compete for awards and scholarships.

Digital Media Projects
generate finished digital photographs by using appropriate skills in shooting, editing, and publishing digital photography
	demonstrate appropriate digital photographic shooting techniques, including following the rule of thirds and picking an appropriate point of view
	demonstrate digital photographic editing skills including basic use of the crop, levels, exposure, and vibrance tools to produce professionally edited images
	demonstrate appropriate techniques for exporting digital photographs in formats for video, print, or web delivery
generate a 3D project that demonstrates basic knowledge of 3D spatial composition
	demonstrate proper use of basic 3D tools to create objects and materials
	demonstrate rendering of a 3D project from a point of view that creates depth and follows the rule of thirds
generate a short video that tells a story or develops an idea
	execute setting up a 3 point light system that includes key, back, and fill lights
	identify video subjects that are appropriate for a school environment
	demonstrate basic operation of a digital video camera
	demonstrate proper use of non-linear video editing software to create a short video by arranging edited clips in a logical sequence, adding appropriate transitions, adding appropriate titles, adding appropriate music and sound effects, and exporting a finished movie
generate a 2D animation that tells a story
	demonstrate use of frames and keyframes to control the timing of an animation project
	demonstrate the creation of symbols that can be re-used in a project
	demonstrate looping animations, such as the walk cycle
Analysis, Career Application, and Portfolio
generate a written critical analysis of a digital media project that includes the elements of art, the principles of design, and an interpretation
	identify the media and subject matter used in a given project
	classify the lines, shapes, forms, textures, positive and negative spaces, color scheme, and values used in a given project utilizing given definitions
	identify how repetition, contrast, movement, rhythm, emphasis, balance, and unity are used in a given project utilizing given definitions
	generate a written interpretation of the mood and meaning of a piece, given written definitions of mood and meaning
generate a viable career plan
	identify a relevant career in digital media production and research it
	identify a college that offers a degree in that field and research that program
generate a portfolio that showcases student work at the end of the course
	generate a multimedia portfolio of the student’s best work
	demonstrate presentation skills by exhibiting the portfolio in a class setting
	summarize student’s major decisions in the production process
	identify the interpretation student hopes the viewer will experience
interact within a classroom environment in which the students and the teacher will assume the roles appropriate to employees of a small design studio
	demonstrate appropriate research skills to solve problems independently
	choose to ask for help in such a way that it continually improves student’s own self learning
	choose to mentor other designers in a manner that supports their learning
	demonstrate collaborative skills on group projects as appropriate
	identify relevant ethical issues in the industry
	identify copyright issues in the industry

 

 

Details of Lesson Plan

The website has all of the instructions, tutorials, relevant handouts, and rubrics for all of the projects. Since this class is student-driven, there are no explicit lesson plans for a teacher to follow. The students are each following their own course. The role of the teacher is to create the Social Constructivist learning environment. The primary teacher roles are giving each student feedback regularly and providing the scaffolding necessary to help students work toward becoming self-regulated learners. Following are some of the ways teachers can help students become self-regulated:

·      guide students toward setting positive, achievable goals for each project

·      mentor individual students who seem to need help

·      coach students through tough sections of the tutorials

·      answer questions

·      clarify instructions, guide students toward relevant lessons on the website, and assist students with solving problems

·      if students are not engaging with the directions on the website the teacher should guide them toward the relevant directions—some students will try to “figure it out themselves,” and this is usually an ineffective strategy

·      counsel students about fair use of copyrighted material, and encourage creativity instead of copying

·      ask questions such as “can I see your storyboard” or “let me see where you are on your rubric” to remind them of the importance of these steps within the tutorials

·      guide students toward choosing appropriate grades—the teacher should be the ultimate arbiter of grades, and should not accept inappropriate grades from a student

·      help students choose appropriate grades by reading the rubric with them and explaining the language on the rubric

·      give feedback on the quality of student work, point out positive and negative aspects of the projects as they take shape

·      keep students on track by reminding them of recommended times for each project and giving regular progress reports

·      encourage self-management and self-monitoring, but scaffold support for those skills so that students can gradually gain self-efficacy

·      remind students of contests and festivals (listed in the website) and encourage them to think of a larger audience for their work

·      recognize and celebrate excellent work

·      help students see mistakes as a regular part of project based learning, and encourage a tolerance for failure

·      allow students to go back and improve projects after initially turning them in

In addition, teachers should be prepared to do all of the following to maintain a Social Constructivist learning environment:

·      discourage personal music, but offer appropriate music for the whole class (at the teacher’s discretion)

·      encourage students to post drafts on social networking sites to get feedback from other peers (at the teacher’s discretion), but discourage random web surfing or texting that have no relation to digital media

·      set a positive, respectful tone in the classroom

·      encourage positive, purposeful peer feedback

·      encourage students to engage in a fantasy wherein the classroom is the design department of a company that has hired them to do graphic design

·      monitor peer feedback, and discourage feedback in which a peer simply does the work for another student or distracts a student from doing his or her own work

·      encourage students to attribute their success to internal causes, such as hard work, commitment, reflection, or creativity

·      if advanced digital media students are in the same room as intro students, encourage them to act as positive possible selves for the beginning students

·      encourage advanced students to take partial responsibility for maintaining the classroom environment

·      keep classroom discussions focused on creating digital media projects

The following handouts are on the website and available any time students (or the teacher) need them:

·      Syllabus

·      Pre-survey

·      Post-survey

·      Media Permission Form

·      Camera Check-out Form

·      Landscape Rubric

·      3D Object Rubric

·      Video Project Rubric

·      Animation Rubric

·      Single Photograph Rubric

·      Photo Essay Proposal

·      Photo Essay Rubric

·      Portfolio Project Rubric

·      Portfolio Presentation Rubric

·      International Media Festival First Form

·      International Media Festival About My Project

·      International Media Festival Copyright Compliance

Note: Appendix A contains all of the instructions for all of the projects. This is a reproduction of the same instructions from the website.

The video shoot project needs to be something that can involve the whole class, and that can be shot in one or two class periods. The footage from this project will become the raw material for the video editing project later. Most video projects that students might think of are beyond the scope of the intro class. Here are some suggested videos:

·      interview each student about their educational goals, history, plans, or interesting stories

·      have students interview each other (but set guidelines so that they understand this is a school project and the footage will be public)

·      have each students state something about themselves

·      interview students about current events

·      provide students with a simple script and have them act out lines

·      stage mock job interviews

·      shoot small groups of students modeling peer feedback, goal setting, or conflict management through given scenarios

Each student should work at his or her own pace, but following are suggested times for each project:

·      Video Shoot: 2 hours

·      3D Landscape: 8 hours

·      3D Object: 4 hours

·      2D Animation: 12-16 hours

·      Video Editing Project: 6 hours

·      Digital Photography Shoot: 2 hours

·      Photo Editing: 6 hours

·      Photo Essay: 4 hours

·      Portfolio: 12-16 hours

 

Evaluation/ Assessment Component for Lesson Plan

Assessment in the Teach Me Digital Media program is integrated at every level. Students use an interactive PDF document, called a “rubric,” to set goals, gather feedback, check off steps of the project, reflect, and then self assess. This is a much larger role than is traditionally given to a document called a “rubric.” With these documents the Teach Me Digital Media program tries to formalize the ways in which Motivation Theory and Social Constructivist Theory should be integrated throughout the course.

Students should keep up with their own rubric, and continue updating and saving it as they work through a project. When they finish the project itself the last step is for them to self-assign a grade and then turn in the project and rubric together. There are directions for doing this embedded into the rubrics themselves, but different teachers might want to handle this in different ways. These rubrics could be copied to a “turn it in” folder on a network drive within a school’s intranet. They could also be sent as email attachments. Some projects have still images as their final output, such as the landscape design and single photograph projects. Students will embed these images directly onto the rubric, and the rubric includes directions for doing this. The video and animation projects, however, produce video files as their final output. These files cannot be embedded into interactive PDF documents in Acrobat CS4, so they present a little more of a challenge. Acrobat Pro supports a feature called “Portfolios” that allows users to embed multiple documents into one PDF. It might be easier to just ask students to submit the PDF and the video file as separate documents, however. Teachers should come up with a system that works in their classroom and explain that system to students. Since many students will be turning in multiple documents to the same place it is important that students name those documents according to a convention that makes it possible for the teacher to keep up with student work.

Teachers will also need to come up with a system for finalizing the grades. Some teachers will want students to call them over when they are finished self-assigning grades, to have an individual conference on the spot. The advantage of this is that the teacher can more or less “sign off” on the grade before the student turns it in. It also personalizes the grading process, validates the student’s self assessment and reflection, and provides an opportunity for critical feedback on this difficult challenge (students usually aren’t used to giving their own grades and often don’t know how to do it well). This procedure might be impractical in some classrooms, so some teachers might just want students to turn in the PDF rubrics for the teacher to look at later. In this case it will be important for the teacher to come up with a procedure for how to handle inappropriate student grades. The teacher might call over students for a one-on-one conference, for instance. In field testing I have found that most inappropriate grades are actually too low. Many students, especially the ones who set the highest goals for themselves, give themselves grades that are too low with this system. A key feature of Motivation Theory is failure tolerance, and highly motivated students need to learn to give themselves credit for their own success. Teachers should encourage students to give themselves full credit for what they have learned and to attribute that success to internal motivation.

The rubrics for each project are embedded in the website. There are also live links directly to the rubrics here. You will need Acrobat Professional for the interactive parts to function correctly.

Intro to Digital Media Rubrics

·       Landscape Project Rubric: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3785262/rubrics/idm_landscape_project_rubric.pdf

·       Single Photo Rubric: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3785262/rubrics/idm_single_photograph_rubric.pdf

·       Photo Essay Rubric: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3785262/rubrics/idm_photo_essay_rubric.pdf

·       Video Editing Rubric: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3785262/rubrics/idm_video_project_rubric.pdf

·       2D Animation Rubric: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3785262/rubrics/idm_animation_rubric.pdf

·       Portfolio Rubric: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3785262/rubrics/idm_portfolio_rubric.pdf

·       Portfolio Presentation Rubric: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3785262/rubrics/presentation_rubric.pdf

Advanced Digital Media Rubrics (for teachers who want to offer these advanced courses in addition to the intro course)

·       3D Environments: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3785262/rubrics/3d_environments_rubric.pdf

·       Video Production: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3785262/rubrics/advanced_video_rubric.pdf

 

 

Defense of Instructional/ Learning model

In addition to Motivation Theory and Social Constructivism the Teach Me Digital Media program uses a great many concepts from Project Based Learning, Scaffolding, and Computer Mediated Instruction. Many other instructional theories could alternatively be used to teach digital media production and design. Learning By Design would work well in this kind of a classroom because it assumes students will create artifacts in order to learn a set of material. Resource Based Learning would also provide a good road map, as the course could be set up as a series of resources that students could use to help themselves as they solved a complex problem. Cognitive Apprenticeship would also be an excellent method of teaching multimedia production by allowing students to work under the wing of a professional designer.

There are many weaknesses in the Phoenix Digital Media approach. The most obvious one is that the instructions on the website are somewhat linear and proscriptive. Students follow a series of directions (in order) and produce similar categories of projects. It would be more student-centered if the students came up with their own projects, researched to see what is possible, created their own assessment instruments, came up with a list of the skills they’d need to create those projects, and then accessed the website for lessons on those particular skills. If the Teach Me Digital Media program had an army of programmers behind it then it could walk potential learners through that process and track their performance while they worked. If Adobe and Apple would like to give me a grant I’d be thrilled to hire those programmers and get to work on it.

Another weakness is that there isn’t much collaboration built into the projects. Teachers should allow students to work together on some projects (the video, animation, and photo essay projects are all easily adaptable to group work). The video lessons on the website, however, are not geared to this and viewing them is an inherently solo activity. The video demonstrations are also long, isolating, and lack interactivity. While there is a pause button, the Teach Me Digital Media program could do a better job of making these lessons shorter. In a perfect world each of these video demonstrations would be laser focused on one specific skill. Then the website could provide a customized sequence of lessons to each student based on their individual input and goals. This would allow much greater flexibility and would allow the whole program to become database driven. Again, I’d love to take it to that level by working with programmers to build the database.

Field testing has revealed a few more problems. The most significant is that most students are not used to being responsible for their own learning, and have trouble getting started with the program. Another is that many students don’t engage with the video tutorials. They might watch a whole series of tutorials without practicing any of the skills themselves, and then struggle with the actual assignment, for instance. Some students also complain that there is too much reading. Others complain that the videos are too long. Some students also skip around in the directions, which produces gaps in their understanding of the software. Many also don’t think that they need the tutorials and try to go it alone with limited success. Finally, it is too easy for the teacher and students to disengage from the Social Constructivism component, and simply skip all the opportunities for feedback. In such a case the room might seem quiet and orderly, but that is usually a mask that hides the incomplete learning that is going on.

 

Appendix A: Detailed Project Directions

These are the instructions that students will encounter on the website. Teachers should be familiar with these instructions. On the website these instructions have embedded links that lead to detailed lessons on each topic. The links are optional for the students, but are highly encouraged. Many students think that they don’t need the detailed directions, but it is usually the case that they do. The detailed directions are not reproduced in this teaching guide. Also, the blue links in this Microsoft Word document will not work—only on the website.

 

Video Shoot

Set up the Studio

1. Prepare an appropriate backdrop and/or set.
2. Choose whether the subject will sit down or stand up.
3. Set up a 3 point lighting system.
4. Adjust the lights for each subject's clothing, skin, and hair color.

Interview Skills

1. Have the interview questions ready in advance. Some interviewers give their questions to the subject before the interview to help them get ready.
2. Set your subject at ease.
3. Establish a sense of trust with your subject.
4. Ask follow-up questions during the interview. Questions should be open-ended: why? how? when? then what?
5. Cover all the questions on the sheet, but don't be afraid to go off the script if the subject brings up something interesting to talk about.

Using a Basic Digital Video Camera

1. Check out a video camera and microphone.
2. Check the camera to make sure it works.
3. Attach an external microphone to the camera.
4. Attach the camera to a tripod.
5. Turn the camera on.
6. Set it to camera record mode.
7. Check the settings.
8. Attach headphones.
9. Record a small piece of test video to check video and sound settings.
10. Check the video in play mode, and then return to camera record mode.
11. Record each interview.
12. Be sure to adjust the lights for each new subject.

Shoot the video

1. Learn to set up a 3 point lighting system in the studio.
2. Learn the rule of thirds as it applies to video.
3. Learn the basic functions of a digital video camera.
4. Learn the basics of interviewing for journalistic purposes.
5. Conduct interviews of everyone in the class in the studio for a professional look.
6. Interview everyone again in a more casual setting (like outside the school).

 

3D Landscape Project

Assignment: create a landscape that follows the rule of thirds; shows depth through fore, middle, and background; has a point of view that invites the viewer into the landscape; is believable; does not have any visible design flaws, shows an awareness of the elements of art; and shows an awareness of the principles of design.

1. Open the slideshow and then click on the "Sample Landscapes" gallery.
2. Then view the rubric to get started.

Camera Controls

1. Launch Daz Bryce.
2. Practice using the camera controls.
3. Learn to render and then return to wireframe mode.
4. Learn what you have so far.
5. optional: Watch a 5 minute overview of the whole Bryce process. Some people like to start with the overview video, but others prefer to wait until after they've learned the tools themselves. You'll get another chance to watch this in a few days if you prefer.
• part 1
• part 2
• part 3
6. Move on to the terrain editor lessons next.

Terrain Editor

1. Create a new terrain and then click "E" for edit to go into Bryce's terrain editor.
2. Optional: Watch this overview of the palettes in the terrain editor.
3. Learn the Bryce "click and drag" technique.
4. Delete your default mountain by clicking "New."
5. Click on the popup menu next to the word "Fractal." Choose the kind of mountain that you'd like to make from the popup menu.
6. Watch this tutorial to learn how to make a basic mountain.
7. You might want to use "New" to erase your mountain and try it over until you like the resulting mountain.
8. Click on the check mark inside a circle to return to wireframe mode and view your new mountain
9. Practice using the camera controls to rotate around your new mountain.
10. Practice using the camera controls to zoom into a close up view of your mountain.
11. Use the render button to create an image of your mountain, and then the "esc" key on the keyboard to return to wireframe mode.
12. Optional: Try rendering the mountain from several different points of view.
13. Now you are ready to do some fine tuning to improve your mountain.
14. The final step in mountain making is to smooth out the edges so that it will fit in your landscape.

Edit Tools

1. Make sure you are in wireframe mode (not the terrain editor).
2. Click on your terrain to select it. Note: its wireframe will turn red when it's selected.
3. If you can't select it watch this tutorial on solving selection problems or try this control click technique.
4. Type "Control-D" on the keyboard to duplicate your terrain. Note: the duplicate will be right on top of the original terrain, so you won't see it yet.
5. Click and drag the duplicate to move it away from the original terrain. Don't worry about where you put it. You should now have two terrains that are identical.
6. Duplicate again to create a third terrain, and then move the third one somewhere else.
7. Try dragging the terrains around. You should notice the following:
• You can only move them up, down, left and right, not forward or backward.
• It is hard to keep them from floating in the air.
• Also try rotating the camera trackball so that you can look at your terrains from several points of view.
• Try rendering your picture to see what it looks like. Note: it will probably look ridiculous. That's okay for now, because you have not yet learned proper 3D positioning in Bryce.
8. Along the top of the screen in Bryce you'll notice 3 large tabs: "Create," "Edit," and "Sky and Fog." Each of these tabs brings up a different set of tools depending on what you want to do. For the next set of lessons we'll be using the "Edit" tools, so please click on that tab now.
9. Watch this introduction to 3D positioning in Bryce.
10. Optional: review 3D positioning with the move tool.
11. Be sure to practice with the move tool. It is a very important tool. You should keep practicing until you are able to successfully move a particular terrain into the distance. You have three terrains right now. Try moving one into the background, one into the middle ground, and one into the foreground--just like in my demonstration. Also get all of them resting on or just below the ground.
12. Now learn how to use the resize tool.
13. Note: Bryce has almost unlimited undos. You can type "control-z" on the keyboard any time you want to undo the last step you took. You can then type "control-z" over again to undo the step before that. It is easy to go back in time this way.
14. It is optional if you want to learn the rotate or randomize tools.

Adding Materials

1. Make sure you are in wireframe mode.
2. Select one of your terrains (it should turn red).
3. Along the top of the window are the 3 tabs, one of which is "edit." Next to the edit tab there is a little triangular pop up menu. Click it to find the material library. This is a library of pre-built materials that you can apply to objects.
4. Inside the material library is another popup that allows you to switch categories. Notice that there are different categories for different kinds of objects. In this case we are adding a material to a terrain, so choose the "terrains" category.
5. Finally, the terrains category has subcategories of materials, so click on those to explore your options.
6. When you find a material you think you will like, select it and then click the check mark on the bottom right of the material library palette.
7. When you hit the render button you'll your see your terrain rendered with it's new material. You might want to use the camera controls to zoom in for a close up and then re-render.
8. Feel free to spend some time experimenting with different materials to find one you like.

Sky and Fog

1. Use the sky library to pick a preset sky.
2. Be sure to render with your new sky to see how it looks. Take you time to experiment with lots of different skies before you settle on one. You will probably notice that skies with weird colors will change all the colors in your landscapes.
3. Change the sun position to choose time of day (and shadow location).
4. optional: Learn to create special sky effects with the sky lab. Please only use effects like rainbows if they fit your landscape.

Bryce Workflow and Advice

• Now watch these 3 videos about how all the tools come together to create a landscape.
1. part 1
2. part 2
3. part 3
• And then watch this one about picking the perfect point of view to show off your creation.

Bryce tips and shortcuts (you might just remember these are here for reference when you need them)

• saving multiple views in one landscape
• selecting an object that is buried inside another one
• saving a sun position to use again later
• camera trackball options
• rendering part of an image instead of the whole thing

Bryce Advanced Techniques

• optional: Learn to custom paint your own terrains with precise control.
• optional: Learn to carve out rivers and lakes, then learn how to fill them with water!
• optional: Learn to build a custom waterfall. This one is pretty tough!
• optional: Learn how to make a volcano or lake in a mountaintop.
• optional: Learn to make a tropical island with a beach and hills.
• optional: Learn to make canyons, mesas, and other desert shapes.
• optional: Learn to make a cave in the side of a mountain.
• optional: Learn to customize trees with the tree lab.
• optional: Learn how to customize your rendering options to create special effects.
• optional: Learn how to prepare a Bryce picture for printing.

Finish and Grade

1. show it to the teacher to get feedback
2. open up the assignment sheet and fill it out
3. the reference guide explains all the vocabulary on the assignment sheet

 

3D Object Project

You are going to make a 3D object. It should be a simple attempt to reproduce a 3D object using Bryce. The minimum number of parts is 12. For an A you should also use positive and negative objects at least once.

• Student Name: Sample 3D Object

 

Now you can view the rubric to get started. On the rubric you will need to create your goals before you can begin the actual project.

 

Basic 3D Workflow

1. Set the sky to be simple gray, white, or black.
2. Look at your model(s) and try to figure out what basic forms you will need.
3. Create your first form.
4. resize it into the shape you need.
5. To make your next form duplicate the first one, move the duplicate, and then transform it into the actual form you need.
6. Resize the new one as necessary.
7. Repeat as many times as you need.
8. Check out the advanced workflow if you want to see how grouping, rotating, and aligning can make this workflow really powerful.

Positives and Negatives

1. Create two objects (forms) that overlap somewhere.
2. Select the base form (that should stay visible) and change it's attributes to "positive."
3. Select the form that you want to turn negative and change it's attributes to "negative."
4. Select both forms (and only those two forms) and group them together.
5. Render to see the results. Be sure to check it out from several perspectives.
6. If you don't like the results, ungroup and then make changes.
7. optional: learn to create intersecting objects and explore the sample interactive objects in the library.

Advanced Bryce Workflow: A skyscraper

1. Look at a model for ideas.
2. Make your base object.
3. Hollow it out with a negative duplicate that is just smaller.
4. Create a front door with another duplicate of the negative object.
5. Create a window with another duplicate of the negative door.
6. Set the window to belong to a new family.
7. Create a row of windows by duplicating the first window.
8. Group the whole row of windows (temporarily).
9. Duplicate the group, and move them to a new row.
10. Repeat until you've got windows filling two facing sides.
11. Group the whole window family.
12. Duplicate that group to make the facing sides of windows, then rotate the group 180 degrees.
13. Ungroup all the windows in the family.
14. Select and then group the entire building.
15. Add any extra features you want, such as architectural details.

Working with Lights in Bryce

1. Lights are objects that you can create and manipulate like any other.
2. Each one has special properties.
3. The directional lights should be rotated so that they shine on whatever you want illuminated.
4. The light lab gives you the power to make them brighter, change their falloff, and change their color.
5. Advanced option: you can place lights inside of negative objects to light up their insides.
6. Advanced option: you can build walls around lights or put them inside of glass balls.

Advanced Bryce Techniques

1. Families help you keep all of your objects organized and allow you to easily select groups of objects.
2. The sky and fog tab has several interesting tools for customizing the air.
3. There is a sky lab that gives you a great deal of control over the atmosphere.
4. The alignment tool can snap objects into precise positions.
5. The randomizer can easily spread lots of objects out. This is good for scattering things like rocks, trees, hills, birds, etc.
6. There are some really interesting options for advanced rendering.
7. Terrains can be negative objects, so you can use the terrain editor to create really complex negative (or positive) forms.

Finish and Grade

1. Make sure all of your objects have appropriate materials.
2. Add a good sky that helps create the mood you want.
3. Consider editing the sky and fog or using the sky lab to customize your sky.
4. Open the rubric back up, check your goals, and get some feedback.
5. Make any final adjustments that are necessary based on your feedback.
6. Render your creating from a variety of angles. Be sure to include some close ups to show the details. You should have between 4 and 20 total views. Export each rendered image as a TIFF file.
7. Finish the rubric and turn it in.

 

2D Animation Project

Get Rubric

Assignment: storyboard and create a 2D animation. The animation should be anywhere from 2 to 20 seconds long. It should start by introducing a character, then should introduce a conflict or series of conflicts that rise to a climax or conclusion. The animation must have a main character with a motivation, at least one symbol, and at least one tween.

1. Look at some of these sample animations to learn what's possible.
2. Start by brainstorming an idea for the animation you want to make.
3. Download the rubric and use it to get started. Be sure to follow all the directions on the rubric.
4. Watch this video of me talking about my hand drawn storyboard.

Draw Main Character

1. Watch this intro to learn how to approach these tutorials.
2. Launch Adobe Flash Professional.
3. Click on Create New--> Flash File (ActionScript 3.0)
4. Choose the "animator" workspace.
5. Go to the "Modify" menu and choose "Document..."
6. Put the following settings: width of your document to 720, the height to 480, and the frame rate to 24 fps.
7. Use the paintbrush to draw your main character.
8. Use the bone tool to define your charachter's skeleton.
9. Put your character into the library to use for later and then delete him or her from the stage.

Draw Other Characters and Props

1. Determine what additional characters and props you'll need.
2. Draw your next character, and add it to the library.
3. Watch me draw the monster and explain zooming.
4. Watch me draw a bat and explain movie clips with embedded animation.
5. Now draw any extra characters or props you will need.
6. Determine whether you'll need multiple versions of any characters.
7. For each character that you need multiple versions of duplicate the symbol and then edit the copy.
8. Draw additional character versions as necessary and add them to the library.

Draw Background(s)

1. Watch this video of me talking about my hand drawn storyboard.
2. Determine how many scenes you will need.
3. Draw a background for your first scene.
4. Create additional scenes, as necessary, and name each one appropriately.
5. Draw backgrounds for each additional scene, as necessary.

Preparing to Animate

1. We're going to build this animation in several layers. Each layer will add another level of detail to the animation. Each step will also teach you a different technique for animation in Flash.
2. Start by learning about the interface.
3. Look at your storyboard for shot 1 and decide what should happen first.
4. Set up your layers so that you have one for each object that will be in the shot.
5. Put the proper background into the background layer and then lock that layer.
6. Add the first object that is going to move to it's layer. Be sure to put it in the position you want it to be at the beginning of the animation.
7. Learn about the stages of animation: motion tweens, bone animations, keyframe events, repeating cycles, repeating symbols, and shape tweens.

Animation Stage 1: Motion Tweens

1. Learn what frames and keyframes are, and notice that there is a keyframe at the first moment of time in the animation.
2. Add a motion tween to the object, starting with the keyframe where it will begin to move.
3. You can also fine tune your tween by adding additional keyframes within it (if you need to).
4. Learn how to add enough frames to "catch up" the other layers so that they continue to exist for as long as the motion tween lasts.
5. Remember that you are learning to build an animation in stages.
6. Now put in your next motion tween.
7. Test your animation by clicking "control-enter."
8. I am now going to add an audio recording.
9. Then I'm going to move the keyframe for Bubba's entrance to make him wait until Joe says "Go get it!"
10. Now let's check your progress through the stages of animation.

The Fun Part: It All Comes Together

1. Watch while I put in all the motion tweens
1. part 1
2. part 2 (in which I make a huge mistake)
3. part 3 (in which I start over after doing it wrong)
4. part 4
5. part 5
2. Now you can do all of your motion tweens for all of your scenes.
3. Before finishing stage one get some feedback.

Stage 2: Animate Them Bones

1. You already have motion tweens for your characters with a skeleton, so this stage is pretty easy.
2. Go to a scene where you want to move some bones.
3. Double click on a symbol with bones in it to go to it's independent timeline.
4. Add frames to the symbol's timeline.
5. Move the playhead to a moment where you want the character's bones to be in a different position.
6. Use the selection tool to move the bones to where you want them.

Stage 3: Keyframe Events

1. Decide which parts of your project will need to be keyframe events
2. Animate those keyframe events

Stage 4: Repeating Cycles

A repeating cycle is a short animation that repeats over and over. Examples include a wheel that turns constantly, a walking or running person that repeats this "walk cycle," or a bird that flaps it's wings over and over. If you want to use one of these repeating cycles then follow these steps. They are optional.

1. Decide which object (symbol) will have repeating cycles in it.
2. Open up that symbol.
3. Create keyframe events for each stage of the repeating cycle.
4. If you have already used the symbol in your scene then you're already done. Test your animation and watch the results!
5. If you have not already used it then simply tween the new symbol to the scene to watch it work.
6. Some repeating cycles (like wheels turning in a car) are a little more complicated.

Add Sound As Necessary

1. If you are using copyright free music then copy the files you want to your project folder and then go to step 7, below.
2. Check out a digital audio recorder.
3. Record your sounds with the digital audio recorder.
4. Import your sounds to your student number drive.
5. Import the sound(s) into your Flash project's library.
6. Create a separate layer for each sound.
7. Put a keyframe at the moment in time you want the sound to begin playing.
8. Drag and drop the sound onto the stage at that keyframe.
9. If you need the sound to stop at a certain time (like music, for instance) then add a second keyframe that stops it.
10. Optional: if you need to trim the sound's start time or change it's volume then edit the sound's envelope.

 

 

Video Editing Project

Video Project Assignment: Edit a video that tells a story. Before editing you're going to identify your intended target audience, mood, pacing, and meaning. The finished video must include a title, credits, and music. Start by watching a few of these sample videos to get an idea what the project will look like when it's finished.

• Cori McIntosh: Students' True Stories
• Cubit Jackson: Class Interviews
• Jennifer Montero: Why Phoenix?
• Jeremy Duren: Why did you Come to Phoenix?
• Kao Zong Thao: 5 Years From Nowfile://localhost/Volumes/TCIWAWF%20TOO/Mockup/lessons/idm_lessons/video_project/video_instructions/sample_projects/Kao_Zong_Thao_5_years.avi
• Lacey Picker: This is Why We Came
• Matt Tekie: Phoenix Movie
• Wes Traugott: Why Phoenix?

Now you can View the rubric to get started. On the rubric you will need to create your goals before you can begin the actual project.

 

Get your project ready

1. Make your plan.
2. Make a project folder inside the My Documents folder (yes, the "My Documents" folder).
3. Copy the video files from the teacher folder over into your project folder
4. Launch Pinnacle Studio.
5. Save this Pinnacle project into the project folder.
6. Import the raw video into your project.

Trim your clips

1. Switch to timeline view.
2. Use the "Trim a Clip" lesson to learn how to trim it.
3. You MUST trim your video clips.
4. note: If you want more than one clip from a particular piece of video, drag another copy to the timeline and trim it again.
5. optional: Watch the "quick trimming lesson review" to see me trim another clip faster.
6. Keep trimming until your timeline is full of all the clips you want to keep in your project.

Decide on movie order

1. Pick a strategy for organizing the project: by theme, by narrative, or by question.
2. optional: Switch back to storyboard view to make it easier to arrange clips.
3. Watch this movie of me explaining my organizing scheme.
4. Learn about jump cuts and how to avoid them.
5. optional: Watch me as I arrange the clips to make a movie and explain why I'm making each decision.
6. Now organize your clips according to the strategy you have picked.

Add Titles

1. Switch to storyboard view before adding any titles.
2. Click on the titles tab.
3. note: There are THREE ways to add titles to a movie. You are going to learn each of them separately.
4. Add a title screen to the beginning of your movie.
5. Add a title overlay of someone's name while they are talking.
6. Add credits to the end of your movie.
7. optional: Add additional titles to give your movie a personal touch.

Add Music

1. Learn about music and copyright issues.
2. Find the right music for this project.
3. Copy the music files you want into the project folder (yes, the project folder).
4. Import the music into Pinnacle (note: if the music won't import you need to convert AIFF files into WAV format first).
5. Add music to the timeline.
6. Trim the music as necessary to fit the project.
7. optional: Add sound effects from the copyright free library.
8. optional: Record your own sound effects.
9. optional: Fade the music out while people are talking and/or at the end of the movie.
10. optional: Edit to the beat of the music.

Adjust Audio

1. Turn down the volume on the music track(s) until you can hear the voices of the people talking.
2. optional: Keyframe the music to make it loud at the beginning and then soft while people are talking.
3. Figure out which people are quiet, and turn them up with keyframes.
4. optional: Add sound effects or record your voice.
5. Check the project to make sure that audio levels are equalized for the whole movie.

Add Transitions

1. Click on the transitions tab.
2. Learn about transitions.
3. Learn about Pinnacle's transitions.
4. Add a transition to your project by dragging it between to clips on the timeline.
5. Adjust the time of your transition as necessary.

optional: Add special effects

1. optional: Perform color correction to compensate for light.
2. optional: Add other special effects as necessary.
3. optional: Keyframe your effects to control how they work.
4. optional: Add photos or other video in the overlay track.
5. optional: Perform matting to remove part of an overlay image. This is also called "blue screen" or "green screen."

Finish your movie and turn it in

1. Open up the rubric and finish it.
2. Open your movie project in Pinnacle.
3. Export an AVI file out of Pinnacle.
4. Turn in the AVI file by dropping it into the teacher folder.
5. Turn in the completed video assignment sheet by dropping it into the teacher folder.

 

Photo Editing Project

Photography Assignment: shoot and edit a good photograph. The photo should have a good composition, should have depth, should have a proper point of view on it's subject, and should be carefully edited using Photoshop or equivalent photo editing software. You should be able to identify the subject, your intended effect on the audience, and your intended mood. Start by looking at some of the terrific photos that other students have made in the past. Note that none of these were taken on the campus of Phoenix High School.

• sample photo
• asdf
• asdf
• asdf
• asdf

You can view the project rubric if you'd like to. Or you can go ahead and get started. Note: if you already know how to shoot and edit photos you may bypass this assignment. Just go to the rubric and follow the directions to turn in a photo you've already edited.

 

Simple Tricks for Getting Great Shots out of PAS Cameras

1. Learn how to put the camera in portrait mode for shots of people.
2. optional: learn other modes on a PAS camera.
3. Learn how to use macro mode to take easy and cool shots of close-ups.
4. Learn how to lock in the focus in macro mode.
5. Learn how to look at familiar things in new ways.
6. Learn how to find unusual points of view.
7. learn how to look for light and shadow.
8. Learn how to shoot panoramas.
9. Learn this easy trick for picking the right exposure.
10. optional: Learn how to shoot multiple exposures of a shot for blending later.
11. optional: Learn how to shoot multiple focal planes for blending later.

How to Manage Files in Digital Photography

1. Learn how to set up Adobe Bridge for viewing photos.
2. Learn how to make folders to stay organized.
3. Learn how to import your photos from the camera.
4. Learn how to use Bridge to analyze your photos.
5. Learn how to reject bad photos so that you can focus on the good ones.

Editing Photos With the CLEV Method

1. Learn how to crop photos like a pro.
2. optional: Watch me crop lots of photos to see the workflow in action.
3. Learn how to create a levels adjustment layer.
4. optional: Watch me perform a levels adjustment on more photos.
5. Learn how to create an exposure adjustment layer.
6. Learn how to create a vibrance adjustment layer.
7. Learn how to save your edited photo.
8. optional: Learn how to do more adjustments.

Editing Masks on Your Adjustment Layers

1. Learn how to erase and paint the masks on your adjustment layers.
2. Learn how to use the paintbrush on your masks.
3. Learn how to export your finished photo as a JPEG document so that you can use it in other software or upload it to the Internet.

 

Portfolio Project

You are going to make a portfolio DVD containing all the best work you did this semester. The DVD will start with a menu containing a your portfolio title and four buttons. Each of the buttons will play a video containing one of your projects. The first three videos will be your animation, your video project, and your photo essay. The fourth button will play a new movie you are going to make showing off your best still pictures. The DVD will also contain a backup of all your work from this class. When you finish the DVD you're also going to present highlights from it to the class. You'll be able to write some cue cards to help you talk about what you show.

• Student Name: Sample Portfolio DVD

Now you can view the rubric to get started. On the rubric you will need to create your goals before you can begin the actual project.

 

Get Ready

1. Launch Adobe Bridge. We always use Bridge for file management.
2. Set Bridge up to your liking.
3. Make a folder in your student number drive called "My Name Portfolio" (example: "Gene Cronenberg Portfolio").
4. Make three more folders INSIDE that one called "Best Still Pictures," "Photo Essay Originals," and "DVD Media."
5. optional: Watch this overview of my project folder to learn how I manage all my documents.
6. Copy all the Photoshop documents you created for the photo essay into the "Photo Essay Originals" folder.
7. Copy any remaining good photos you have into the "Best Still Pictures" folder.
8. Now move (or copy) BOTH of your Bryce projects into the "Best Still Pictures" folder.

Make Your DVD Menu

1. Launch Photoshop.
2. Create a new "Film and Video" template using the NTSC DVD size.
3. optional: Learn about those blue lines, which are called the "title safe area."
4. Note: if you don' t see the blue lines then you need to show them.
5. Bring in the picture you want to use for your menu background.
6. Create your DVD title.
7. Decide what you want your four buttons to say.
8. Make the text layer for your first button (the one with the most letters in it's name).
9. Make a button shape layer behind your first button text layer.
10. Add effects to your shape and/or title (such as drop shadow or bevel and emboss).
11. Make sure your first button is perfect.
12. Copy that button three times to make the rest of your buttons.
13. Name all the layers correctly to make them DVD ready.
14. optional: show someone your menu design and get some feedback.

Prepare Your DVD Media

Part 1: Animation Project

1. Open your animation project in Flash (the document .
2. Go to Modify-->Document and make sure it is set to 720x480 at 24 fps.
3. Go to File-->Export Movie and then save it in Windows AVI format in your "DVD Media" folder.
4. On the "Export Windows AVI" window make sure you are saving at 720x480.
5. For video compression settings choose "Microsoft Video 1" and set the compression quality to 100.

Part 2: Video Project

1. note: You may have already exported your video in .AVI format.
2. If you did then just make sure it is in your "DVD Media" folder and then skip the rest of this step.
3. Export your VIDEO project out of Pinnacle and save it in your "DVD Media" folder.

Part 3: Photo Essay

1. note: You may have already exported your photo essay in .AVI format.
2. If you did then just make sure it is in your "DVD Media" folder and then skip the rest of this step.
3. Export your PHOTO ESSAY project out of Pinnacle and save it in your "DVD Media" folder.

Prepare Your Best Stills

1. Use Bridge to look at your "Best Still Images" folder inside your portfolio folder.
2. If you have any Photoshop documents in this folder you will now need to export these as JPEGs.
3. If you did a separate DVD menu for your photo essay then put that in the best stills folder as well.
4. You should have 1-6 views of your landscape project. If you want more then export additional rendered images from Bryce.
5. You will need 4-10 views of your 3D project.
6. When you're done you should have a "Best Still Images folder that looks something like this.

Make Your Best Stills Movie

1. Launch Pinnacle.
2. Import all your still pictures into Pinnacle.
3. Create a title for your best stills movie.
4. note: Your best stills movie will have three sections: photos, landscape, and 3D object. You can put those sections in any order you want.
5. Create a title for the first section (photos, landscape, or 3D)
6. Add the images for that section to the timeline in the order you want.
7. Go to file-->save project and save this Pinnacle project into your portfolio folder.
8. Now create titles and add images for the other sections of your movie.
9. Next you want to decide what you want to say about each image when you present this movie to the class.
10. Go back to the timeline, and adjust the time for each image (and title) based on what you have to say about it.
11. Optional: add appropriate music to your movie.
12. Have you saved recently?
13. Add credits at the end, including the copyright notice.
14. Test reading your script or cue cards while the movie is playing.
15. Get another student, and practice the script while playing the movie. Get some feedback.
16. Test it again with a teacher. Get more feedback.
17. When the movie is perfect, export it as an .AVI file into your "DVD Media" folder.
18. By the way, you should now have 4 .AVI files in your "DVD Media" folder (Photo Essay, Best Stills, Video Project, and Animation).

Make Your DVD in Adobe Encore

1. Launch Adobe Encore.
2. Create a new project in Encore and import your .AVI files as timelines.
3. Now would be a good time to save.
4. Set your .AVI files transcoding.
5. Import your menu, and then link each of the buttons to the appropriate timelines.
6. Now would be a good time to save.
7. Optional: choose a piece of music to play during your menu.
1. Note: if your music is in .aiff format then you'll need to convert it.
2. Import the music into Encore as an asset.
3. Set the music to play on the DVD menu.
8. Preview your DVD to make sure everything works.
9. Create a backup of your portfolio folder by importing it as a DVD-ROM folder.
10. Note: Your DVD will also have a backup of all the files in your portfolio folder on it.
11. Save.

Finalize Your Portfolio

1. Open the rubric, which you should have saved in your student number.
2. Do all of part 4, including getting feedback.
3. Make changes to your portfolio as necessary, based on your feedback.
4. Save.

Output Your Portfolio

1. Check your DVD for errors.
2. You might want to preview one more time.
3. Export as an interactive flash website into your portfolio folder.
4. Turn in your "My Name Portfolio" folder to the teacher.
5. Burn two copies of your DVD (one is for you, and one is for the school).
6. Give the teacher a copy and keep the other one.

Output Your Portfolio

1. Check your DVD for errors.
2. You might want to preview one more time.
3. Export as an interactive flash website into your portfolio folder.
4. Turn in your "My Name Portfolio" folder to the teacher.
5. Burn two copies of your DVD (one is for you, and one is for the school).
6. Give the teacher a copy and keep the other one.