Coming a high school experience in which the teachers gave us A LOT of freedom in our projects, I've been exposed to both the advantages and disadvantages of using a video production as a means of evaluation.
Lund was absolutely correct in saying that the the pre-production aspect of the project was the most important. In high school, we were given almost too much freedom with our projects. The focus was really only placed on the final project, not so much in how we got there. As a teacher, I'd like to follow Lund's opinion and focus a bit more on the planning aspect of the project. I would set up a few days for the students to work on making at least a general script and plan out exactly how they would go about conveying their message. The actual production element, I wouldn't stress over as much. It seems as though we often get caught in the little, meaningless bits when we focus too much on production, and I'd rather steer the class in a different direction.
(By the way, this is one reason why I'm looking forward to the 20 shot film project that we'll be doing later this semester.)
I also liked that Lund said "visual and aural must be complimentary." Again, the planning portion of the assignment can assure that there is a connection between the two. If you just hand a group a camera and tell them to make a movie, you'll probably end up with something that has moments of good aural content and moments of good visual content. Though they may happen to mix without much planing, they would certainly match up better if there were more focus on the pre-production and less on how polished the final product came out.
Hey Jake,
ReplyDeleteI taught TV production for 9 years. I have tons and tons of activities, lessons, notes, assignments. If you ever want to look at anything, please let me know. From news packages, to Public Service Announcements...i've got a ton of things to share.
And I totally agree....pre-production is crucial. I used to tell my students that 75% of the work is in pre-production. I read that somewhere, but unfortunately I cannot remember.
I may have to take you up on that offer at some point (even if just for distant future reference).
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to add to this post that while making the podcast this weekend with Terry, the necessity of pre-production became even more evident. You're absolutely right; about 75% of our time was spent prepping and planning for what we would say and how we would make it all come together.