Challenge 5 - Movie by Number

Challenge 

Your challenge is to create a one minute video, using found still images with permission, that represents a single number in a creative and artful way. Show the number as it is represented in the world and nature. It need not always be literal. Be creative. Think metaphorically. Also, add relevant music but not narration. Let the visuals and the music tell the story of the number you have selected.

Objectives

• Create a video, including visuals and audio
• Find and select still images, that you have permission to use, that represent the selected number
• Arrange images and audio in a way that represents the number creatively
• Edit audio to meet the assignment limitations
• Experiment and explore video and audio storytelling tools

Rationale

There are a handful of ways to use copyrighted material in your own creative work. Identifying images, filtered by permissions and editing copyright songs, provide an introductory step toward deeper understanding of the concepts of transformativeness and copyright. Similarly, representing a number, already an abstraction, supports abstract and figurative thinking.

Instructions

There is limit to the number of images you can choose. However, the one minute limitation impacts how many found images that can be used well in your video. Similarly, the one minute limitation has greater implications for the audio selection(s), considering most songs exceed a minute in length. Yet, there is also no limitation to the number of songs you can remix. You may even consider composing your own audio.

Finding Images

Conduct advanced searches using the copyright owner's permissions as a filter. There are a number of tools that allow you to search for license or royalty free and Creative Commons licensed images, including:

• Creative Commons Search - a meta search tool for scanning multiple source sites
• Photo Pin - search engine for Creative Commons and non-Creative Commons images
• Compfight - search engine for commercial and Creative Commons images in Flickr, with clear distinction between commercial and free
• Let's CC - Creative Commons search tool
• Multicolr Search Lab - search engine by color for Creative Commons and Flickr
• imagebase - searchable database of royalty free photographs
• morgueFile - searchable database of royalty free photographs
• everystockphoto - search engine for license-specific and free photos
• Advanced Search and Filtering options for Google, Bing, and most other search engines

You will need to download the images to use with your video editing tool. Additionally, you will want to maintain some method of tracking and including proper attribution for the images and songs.

The video editing tool you use is your choice, but you will need to make a rough cut of your images in preparation for a separate audio track.

Finding Audio or Songs

Since there are already significant limitations on length of the audio you can use, the possibility exists for you to include samples from known, popular music. However, you will need to edit the audio to create a remixed version of the selections to suit your piece. You may also create or compose your own music for this project, if you choose. It may be beneficial to edit your audio separately, using an audio editing tool, and then add it to your rough cut video in your primary editing tool.

Select a Main Tool

There are a number of video editing tool options for combining video and audio, and everyone with a MacBook Air has access to more than one (iMovie and WeVideo - via Google accounts). Feel free to choose the one that best suits your needs. It might be worth exploring some of the options before making a decision.

Legal

• Only use images that you have permission to use (royalty free and Creative Commons).
• Only use relevant samples of songs that you choose to use and remix them.

Exemplars

Here are a few additional examples of videos about numbers that illustrate some possibilities for you.

Challenge 4 - Photo Story

Lily Geoffrey Geval @ Cowbird

Challenge 

Your challenge is to compose a photo story, using a single image, textual story that serves as a script, and audio that serves as vocal interpretation of the material. It is the combination of all three elements working together that tells the story.  It is one of the simplest forms of digital storytelling and can be a great platform and preparation for longer more multimedia forms.

Objectives

• Compose a digital photo story, including visuals, text, and audio
• Capture a moment about an event or a person
• Experiment with visual storytelling tools

Rationale

A photo story is designed to highlight your voice, both speaking and writing, and enhance the story's power for the audience. The image should be compelling, drawing attention and hinting at the story in some way. The text serves as the script and is the heart of the story. The audio includes your voice-over narration, as well as sound effects and possibly music.

Instructions

The power of the piece will derive from three factors: image, words, and sound. The best way to approach this is to try capturing a single moment that is compelling or dramatic. You want to keep the story tight and focused, especially considering that you are using a single image. The more personal the story, generally the more specific and easier it is to capture.

Find an Image

Choose an image that helps focus or illuminate your story in some way. Select an image the represents an event, person, place, or possibly combination. If it is already a digital, everything is easier. If not you will need to convert the analog image into digital format, either by scanning it or using a digital camera. You can be creative if you need to photograph a photograph.

Compose a Text

Compose a sort piece 150-500 words is a good range. It is narrative and should have an arc of beginning, middle, and end. However, keep it about a single moment, involving an event or person, and focus on a clear point that you want to share. Be descriptive and detailed. Consider using an anecdote to make it real. If it is more about a person, provide enough background to give the story some context, but stay focused. Think of it almost as a sketch with words.

Create the Audio

Narrate the piece either by recording your reading. Add appropriate sound, background music or sound effects, if you like, as long as they do not overpower the narration. It will likely require more than one recording take. It is advantageous to record your audio in a separate application like Audacity or GarageBand, which will allow you to edit and layer multiple audio tracks.

Select a Main Tool

Choose a tool that will allow you to combine all three elements in a unified whole. There are a number of possibilities, including presentation software, iMovie, Cowbird, a single blogpost with the separate elements arranged together, a tool you discover on your own. Be creative and try working with something less familiar, challenging yourself.

Legal

• Use your own images, new or old.

Exemplars

While it is not a requirement to use site, Cowbird is an online community and tool that works really well for this kind of storytelling.

The Best of Cowbird offers a lot of fine examples that are worth a look, including the piece "Lily" featured above. The selections with the microphone icon in the lower left corner are the pieces that feature audio narration.

Student Examples

Here are a handful of strong student samples that each make use of different tools and methods of presentation. All are successful but require a slightly different approach to assembly and inclusion of all the required parts.

 

This example used YouTube for presentation, which captures the image and audio, but needed to include the text of the story in the actual blogpost.



This example uses CowBird for presentation, which does a nice job of including all three parts, image, audio, and text.

The Never Ending Road @ CowBird

This example uses SoundCloud for the presentation, which does well with the image and audio, but needed to include the text of the story in the actual blogpost.