PE1_i-movie

Torn Between Two  Video Editors

When I realized that for this assignment that I would build on my skills in regards to i-movie, I quickly thought I would try to learn about a more advanced video editor.  The reason for this is that I feel i-movie is intuitive enough to work in without having to go through a whole formal training. My ego told me that I should spend time learning about a more sophisticated video editor, or maybe even Adobe After Effects so that I could really show off.  I began to watch the Lynda.com training on Premier Pro and realized that there are many great features in that program that allow for superior editing, I could do some really cool stuff.  However, it seemed to be getting very complicated and would be great if my main job was to become a video editor.  However. My job as an educator calls for a quick editing software that is easy to use on the fly. So I felt torn between the two worlds of editing. Should I just do the assignment in i-movie, and learn about all of the ins and outs of the program, even though it might not be able to do all of the things that I want it to do, or should I dive in and take the eight hour training plus about 20 hours to practice everything it teaches, so that I could learn more advanced techniques. 

            As I began to ponder my approach I started to look into other video editors and found that Apple just came out with the redesigned from the ground up Final Cut Pro X. Many users are quite upset that they completely re-designed it from the ground up to look more like i-movie. I on the other had couldn’t be more thrilled. Apple has made the decision for me. If Final Cut X is set up like I movie with added advanced features, then I will learn all I can about I movie and go with Final Cut Pro in a few months when I can afford the upgrade.  Furthermore, instead of taking the time to learn about Premier Pro,  I would rather take the time to learn all I can about Adobe’s After Effects to incorporated superior effects and just import them for now to i-movie. So, with that said the following blogs with be about my adventures in i-movie, and After Effects. Stay tuned. . .

PB2_Aviary.com

One Web 2.0 tool that I have found, and am ready to take straight to my class next year is a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) called Myna.  It is a very easy to use audio recording program that allows students to use up to 25 tracks to record messages, podcasts, readers theater, read aloud or any other aural presentation students might want to create. The program is part of the digital creation bundle on a website called aviary.com.

Like so many new great cloud based programs, the folks at Aviary set up a class account for me for free. This means that my students each get there own account to create different types of programing.

The way it works is students can call up a recording window that will allow them to talk into a usb microphone that goes straight into the cloud.  The program takes what the student inputs and records it onto an audio track. Students can then use a variety of audio effects such as reverb, chorus, delay, and pitch change to augment their recordings.  

Myna also has a complete set of open source audio loops for students to use to put many different types of background music to their production.  I can’t wait to teach my students how to use this program and see what they come up with.  Students can store up to 2gigabytes of information on Myna as well as download their final projects. 

Two students creating a read aloud podcast.

They can also link their projects to our class Edmodo page.  My Challenge Based Research project is centered around students creating projects using academic language. I can see this program quickly becoming one of their favorite. I know it is one of mine. 

PB3_My iGoogle Screen Shots

These are my Google Screen Shots

This is my home page.

This is my FSO/CBR Page

and here is my ECT page: