Assignment #1

Assignment #2

Assignment #3

Assignment #4

Camera Checkout Chart

Assignment #4 – The PSA: Public SMASH Announcement

In this assignment you will create a short video presenting a message that society can benefit from. Similar to the traditional Public Service Announcement, the Public SMASH Announcement sends a valuable message to the public from the SMASH Community.

The objective of your video is to persuade the viewer to take a specific action or adopt a favorable view of an issue or cause. Your PSA should function to do one of the following:

Create awareness of the problem or issue
Shows the importance of the problem or issue
Conveys simple forms of new information
Promotes behavioral change

Essential PSA Components: (MFA)² (MM FF AA)

Message — What simple piece of information is worth telling the world? This information ought to be something useful and relevant for any of your audience members.

Messenger(s) — Who should deliver this message, and how many people should it be? Some messages are more effective if it’s only one person delivering it, though at other times, it’s far more persuasive if multiple people deliver the message

Format — What should the format of this video be? A monologue? A poem? A skit? A demonstration? This may be the most important factor of your video as it’s ultimately how people will remember your message. Essentially, your format ought to be just as compelling as your message, if not more so.

Focus — While there may be many aspects of your message worth presenting, it is important that you focus on one specific aspect so that your audience can clearly digest your message. Pick the one element within your message that is most memorable and be sure to highlight that.

Audience — It is important that you identify one specific audience for your PSA. Your message may be valuable to a variety of people, but is important that you have one specific audience in mind so that you know the best way to craft your message. Your audience will always respond to a familiar scenario (school, dinner table, car, store, etc.), so consider the visual context of PSA and how that can accommodate your message.

Action — This video is intended to persuade your viewers, so think about what specific action(s) you want them to take after watching this video. Do you want them to change their behavior, or do you actually want to motivate them to go and do something? This is one of the most important considerations as it ultimately connects your message to the viewer’s mind.

Tutorials
Making a Public Service Announcement

Examples

CREATE PSA

This Is Your Brain on Drugs

KEV Choice — Wake Yo Game Up

Proving Stereotypes Wrong

Stereotypes

Youth Reckless Driving

Assignment #3 – The Silent Film

In this assignment you will create a short silent film or music video. A “silent film” literally means that there is no sound from the original recording present in the video. However, you are encouraged to use music, or even sound effects in the background to set the mood for your piece. The point is to use images to tell your story instead of using dialogue or voiceover.

You should start by thinking about a short story or idea that you can easily bring to life with actors and props. If you are doing a more traditional silent film, your project will most likely have a narrative flow with a very clear beginning, middle, and end. If you are doing an actual music video, you might have a narrative as well, or you may have a series of repeated actions or visuals. Either way, choose a simple story that you could film in less than 2 hours. The goal of this project is to use a diverse array of shots and camera angles to tell your story.

This project is essentially composed of four elements:

Component 1 – Your Idea

Think of a simple short story, process, or message that can be easily acted out given your various environments, available actors, and props. The story itself doesn’t have to be all too long or complex. Instead, think about adding detail with the number of shots you use.

Component 2 – Storyboards

To represent all the shots you’ll need, create a series of small sketches to represent each type of shot. Your storyboards are essentially a map of your shooting process. They show you how to frame each shot, and ought to include all of the different types of shots you’ll use to depict each action. You’ll want to use your storyboards as a checklist to make sure that you don’t miss anything during the shooting process.

Component 3 – Shooting

All of your shooting should be directly derived from your storyboards. You should plan your shooting order based on how many shots you’ll need from each angle/position, shooting the most frequently used shots first. In other words, you don’t need to shoot your film in order of how it will appear. For instance, your beginning, middle, and end may all use the same wide shot, so shoot all of those parts at the same time. Make sure that your actors have a solid understanding of how your story flows so that they know how to adjust their acting from shot to shot.

Component 4 – Editing & Titling

To finalize your film, you’ll need to stitch together your various shots so that the combined sequence of actions represents your narrative. If you are using multiple shots to depict one action, it will be important that you make shorter cuts so that you have enough time to feature each shot. In general, it is a good idea to make quicker cuts from shot to shot so that the image doesn’t get too stagnant. For instance, if you use a wide shot for one whole scene, the viewer can only see the story from that zoomed out perspective. Each shot provides a different set of visual details, so the greater variety of shots you have, the more detailed our story will feel!

You may also want to use titling to supplement the narrative of your film. Titles help to give more meaning to what is seen on screen can also provide a voice to your characters. This is completely optional, but know that the less you have to rely on your titles, the better.

Examples

Super Movie Bros. – Time To Make A Movie

Ultimate Rivals

Assignment #2 – Day in the Life Documentary

In this assignment you will become a reporter and create a short documentary covering an event or an aspect of your daily life. You are encourage to cover anything in SMASH– an event, an activity, a class, or even free time. However, you may also cover something outside of SMASH if you happen to have enough time away from campus. The point is to tell a story about something that is happening around you; with your own camera and your own voice.

You should start by thinking about an event or topic that you know you’ll be able to easily record on video. You will want to make sure that you have enough time to capture as much of the people and environment as possible. Do your best to capture elements of the environment from a variety of perspectives, and if possible, get some brief interviews with other people involved. This project is essentially composed of two components; b-roll and interviews.

Component 1 – B-Roll

You will be telling your story with images, in addition to words, so it will be important that you capture as many visuals as possible. This can come in the form of video footage or photos; just capture as much as you can so that you have some options when you’re editing. A good idea would be to capture most of the b-roll for your project before you conduct the interview with yourself.

Component 2 – The Self Interview & Candid Interviews

To tell your story, you will need to interview yourself about the b-roll footage you shot of your environment. This interview will serve as the narration or voiceover for most of your video. The most efficient way to do this is to make a list of what you see in your b-roll footage, and use that list as an outline for what you say in your interview.

Examples

SMASH Technology: Week 1

Green Living
Green Living

Smashcast at Blogher 2006

Assignment #1 – Interview Montage

Part 1 – The Interviews
In the first part of this assignment you will interview members of your production group using a list of questions that will be provided to you. Each member of the group will be asked the same questions, but the answers will vary depending on the interviewee.

You are encouraged to answer the questions in full (not just “yes” or “no”) and to be as expressive and creative as possible with your responses… have fun with what you say, but try to be honest as well!

Important points to remember when shooting your interviews:

• Always check to make sure that “all is quiet on the set” before shooting. • Always ask the interviewee to introduce themselves at the start of the interview. • Be sure to ask the entire question to each interviewee every time. • Start/Stop the camera before/after every response. • Wait for the interviewee to prompt you for the next question before you stop recording.

Part 2 – The Editing
In the second part of this assignment, you will edit together responses from members of your group. You are encouraged to juxtapose a variety of speakers and responses, and create a “montage” of answers. Your montage could represent a conversation amongst the interviewees, or it you could structure the responses to make a cohesive statement with your montage. Feel free to experiment with this in any way you’d like. Your final product should be roughly 2-3 minutes. You do not need to use all of the responses.

Part 3 – The Blog Post
To complete your assignment, upload your montage to YouTube, and then create a new blog post with your embedded video.

In your blog post, you will also write a paragraph describing your interview process, and how you made decisions about your final edit. Each montage will be different, so it will be helpful to know why you chose to do what you did with your project.

Your assignment will be graded on the number of edits you make in your montage (you must make at least 6) and how creative you are in juxtaposing the various responses.

Related Tutorials from apple.com

#1: Creative A Movie
[Final Cut Express: Creating Your Movie]
#2: Timeline Basics
[Final Cut Express: Timeline Basics]