Sustainable Video Production in Short-Term Courses
By Barbara Morris, University of Delaware English Language Institute
Would George Lucas have made Star Wars if he knew he could show it to an audience only once?
Maybe. After all, it’s hard to contain creativity. But he probably wouldn’t have produced a sequel.
My first forays into student video production involved whole-class projects––four weeks of discussion, writing, storyboarding, rehearsing, filming, and editing––with much of the last two steps taking place outside of class hours. The finished product––a news show, a take-off on the movie Fame, or some other type of entertainment video––was shown to students and teachers at graduation and then put on the shelf.
The process was exhilarating––and exhausting.
Each time, my students––doubtlessly enriched both linguistically and emotionally by the experience––moved on to other classes or to other lives. I was left two days later with a new group of students beginning another eight-week session.
Despite the drawbacks, I found student video production such a compelling experience on both the educational and human levels that I was reluctant to give it up. I tried a number of variations––shorter videos, smaller groups, more student autonomy––in an effort to find a model that would satisfy students’ desire for expression and my need for a life.
Then something happened that revolutionized the way I thought about video production. My class failed a quiz, and I took it personally. If they didn’t know the difference between “The house is on the corner of Fourth and Pine Streets” and “The house is around the corner from here,” it was because I hadn’t taught them well enough. I needed a new method to help them see the difference. I turned to video production.
That first batch of mini-videos concentrating on prepositions of location turned out to be effective, and I had the pre- and posttest results to prove it. I suddenly realized I could use video production to target specific language skills. And there was an unexpected bonus: I had a set of videos to use again with my next eight-week class. Suddenly making videos no longer seemed like a time drain, but a time saver.
I was eager to apply this method to other areas of the curriculum, imagining a stockpile of videos to address my students’ every language need. The next area I decided to attack was a pesky list of decontextualized phrasal verbs.
Other problems emerged, however. The first was motivation. A 30-second clip on turn off or put away is just not as exciting for students as a 20-minute remake of Mission Impossible. Even putting eight phrasal verbs into a skit does not guarantee a compelling performance. And along with more independent student production came issues of technical and quality control: camera angles, lighting, sound. I was not teaching a class on video production. How could I expect my students to be able to foresee or solve these problems on their own?
As I was struggling with these issues, I had an “aha” moment. I realized a way to solve the tension between my students’ desire for creativity and self-expression, and my goal of targeting very specific language needs. I discovered the key to producing dramatic content in only 30 seconds. I also came up with a system to overcome most of the technical problems without placing too many extra demands on my own time.
Perhaps I should put my name on it and patent it––but instead I’d like to share this model with you. Consider it a kind of open-source recipe for video production, which you may modify for your own needs.
How to Make an Effective and Reusable Mini-Video
Provide for student expression within a narrow structure.
A mini-video lasts between 30 seconds and one minute and focuses on a single language target: a lexico-grammatical item or a language function, for example. To challenge students and provide sufficient variety of language use and interaction, I adopted the following procedure. I divide my class into teams of three or four students. Each student becomes the director of his or her own video. In other words, a group of four students will produce four videos. Each director decides which of his teammates will act in his or her video and who will be operating the camera. (Small teams may have to borrow a cameraperson from another team.) The director is generally responsible for writing the script. With this system, each student becomes writer, actor, and cameraperson. Individual students feel ownership for the video they direct and also must collaborate with their teammates. The multiple roles allow everyone to shine.
Second, create dramatic tension.
A video needs to be interesting. Otherwise, everybody falls asleep and nobody learns the target language skill. How can you make a 30-second video about start over compelling to watch? By making the phrasal verb the center of a strong emotion. Requiring students to incorporate emotion into their scripts guarantees dramatic tension and can lead to some amusing performances. Witness the following sample student-written script:
Start Over
Two male students are in a classroom. One is doing push-ups while the other holds a stopwatch and counts. A female student enters the room.
First male student: 45, 46, 47…
Female student: Hi, Seung-hwan. What are you doing?
First male student: We have a fitness test. So I’m counting push-ups.
Female student: Oh, I see. Don’t forget the number. Bye.
First male student Have a good day. (turning to his friend)
Oh, my gosh. I’ve lost count. Sorry man, we have to start over.
Second male student: Start over? Oh, no! (collapses)
Ideally, after watching the video, the class audience can be asked a question about the emotional content, the answer to which contains the target language.
Question: “Why is the student doing push-ups so upset?
Answer: “Because he has to start over.”
This particular mini-video was exceptionally funny to make because, in the process of rehearsing and filming, the poor student really did have to start over several times when doing those push-ups!
Time management and quality control.
I have each group come after class to do the actual filming. Production for three to four videos can be kept to under two hours if, early on in the planning and writing process, students are told to storyboard. Storyboarding means planning the visual content along with the text, or audio, content. It can be as simple as drawing a line down the center of the page and labeling the left side “Video” and the right “Audio.” Each time someone says a line, what will be in the camera’s frame? A carefully prepared storyboard helps filming go much faster.
When explaining storyboarding to students, I take the opportunity to discuss different kinds of shots––long shots, medium shots, and close-ups. As a rule of thumb, I tell my students to include at least two different types in a 30-second video. That visual variety adds a lot to the impact of the video.
Another big timesaver is in-camera editing––even if you have a digital camera and editing software. Basically, if you make a mistake, you rewind and do it again. But to avoid multiple takes as much as possible, on film day I always have students go through the performance twice before we film it: once without the camera and once with the cameraperson looking through the lens, but not filming. This second take is particularly helpful if you can attach the camera to a TV monitor so everyone can watch. Then we film it and watch the video to make sure it’s okay. All these takes are of course in addition to previous rehearsals done in class.
Quality control has a lot to do with what you see in the frame and especially what you hear in the audio. Unless you are using external mikes, try to film inside whenever possible. If you must film outside for a shot, keep the camera as close to the actors as possible and turn the volume up on the camera if you have that option. Beware of noise from traffic! Again, watch the scene after you film it to make sure voices are audible.
If you follow these guidelines, the odds are high that you will end up with a quality video that your students will have enjoyed making, that will have taught them the target language skill very effectively, and that you can reuse with future classes. Have fun producing your own video teaching materials!
Barbara Morris teaches at the English Language Institute at the University of Delaware, where she has worked with student video production for more than 10 years. She is the former chair of the Video and Digital Media Interest Section.
Video News February 2006 Volume 17 Number 1: Table of Contents
