Creating a multimedia project may be daunting; here’s a few possible exercises to have students break the tasks down, allowing the student to focus on one or two areas and build their skills.
Create an audio podcast
This helps a student focus on the story, and not the visuals. There are plenty of great podcasts out there as examples of storytelling, such as This American Life or Radiolab. Key concepts would be to work on the traditional 3 act story arc, have the student consider the audience, and have the student be able to “hook” the listener within the first minute (or first ten seconds!).
Tell a story without narration
With no spoken words, have the student tell a story with only images. You may want to look at examples from silent films, or have this Radiolab/NPR video as an example of a story without narration.
Record a script with still images
Record a script only with still images. This will help the student focus on the timing of the video (if video length is part of the assignment), and the delivery of the narration, while focusing less on the visual editing.
Demonstrate how music and sound enhances a podcast
View an edited video without any sound embellishments. Have the students find sources and add them to the video that would then enhance the mood of the video. Or, have students identify the sound elements used in a short video – often there are several being used at one time. Identify if they are diagetic or non-diagetic sound.
This is where you pull everything together. You will review any footage or media, fix any issues with the media, then bring them onto a timeline and do your first edit in the editing software of your choice. Then, refine the final piece, which can take several rounds of editing.
Gather media. Hopefully you have gathered some multimedia resources from the pre-production phase, and have some high resolution images to work with.
Recording video. Be sure to know the rule of thirds and other framing techniques, as well as know some lighting basics before hitting the Record button for your videos.
There’s links in the post-production section on how to record or screen capture your Mac computer screen, but here’s those links here, as these techniques are often used during the production process.
Know how to compose your subject in the video camera frame accordingly (know the rule of thirds!); test out the framing beforehand with a test subject, if possible.
During recording:
Monitor your audio recording to make sure your microphone isn’t recording any unwanted sound. The microphone is placed on the table, but is picking up a lot of noises from acitons on the table, such as the table being bumped and the water glasses and pitcher being moved around.
Record 10-15 seconds (minimum!) of room sound (i.e. with no one talking). This can aid in the editing process to hide the amount of cuts you make.
Have the subject look across the frame, if using rule of thirds to frame your subject.
Ask simple questions first – get them comfortable with any lights you may be using, and being in front of the camera.
Don’t ask yes/no questions.
If you’re recording a set of interviews, will you be asking the same question for each interviewee? Sometimes you can edit all of the responses in one segment of your video/podcast.
If your spoken questions will be used in your video, make sure you record your audio and their audio, ideally with separate microphones, or if not, at equal distance between the two speakers. The closer the microphone is to the subject’s head (without becoming distracting), the better. An example of an interview using one microphone where one person is too close to the microphone, and the other too far:
Decide beforehand if your questions will be in the interview(s), or just their responses. If recording your questions and their responses, make sure to follow the preceding tip. If only recording their responses to your questions, have the interviewee repeat the question in their response, or put the question into their answer.
Be wary of extra noise that may drown out your subject’s responses.
You can easily create a storyboard on paper, or use powerpoint or a word doc to help sketch out the story visually, with cues on what will occur during a specific moment or frame of the story. A few helpful templates are linked below.
Ideally stories should have a few common elements. If doesn’t have any of these, it most likely will be less engaging or interesting.
Emotion. The story should created an emphatic response from reader/viewer. Often this involves the next bullet point, call to action.
Call to action. Sometimes a story may urge the viewer to do something.
Story arc. Stories often introduce characters, give a conflict, then a resolution.
Consider who the audience might be; sometimes you may need to define terms or concepts for a general audience who may not know all the terminology you are using.
Brainstorm. Come up with various ideas, no matter how ridiculous.