Media Literacy: Learning Video Editing with Ulead Video Studio 11 Plus

Download free trail Video Studio Pro x3 (full version): www.ulead.com

Instructions for Uploading Sample Clips into video editor

1. Go to start – All Programs – Ulead VideoStudio 11 – Ulead VideoStudio 11
2. Select Video Studio Editor
3. Press the Folder button and import the sample video clips
1. Select from D or E Drive “Sample Videos” Folder
2. Choose Video_1 to Video_11
3. Select “Open”

Instructions for Video Editing

1 Select Timeline View

2 Insert Video V18 into the Video Track

3 Insert Video Video_4 in the Video Track

4 Keep the parts with the lady; delete the rest with the man and the child.

5 Insert the transition effect under the category PUSH and select Side in between the first and second videos.

6 At time 00:00:08, add in the text “Where should I go for my holiday?” in the Title Track. Select the appropriate title style preset and the position of the text. The text should end at time 00:00:13

7 Animate the text by selecting the Animation tab and select appropriate type.

8 Insert Video Video_1 plus the transition effect under the category Flashback and selectFB10.

9 Increase the video speed of Video_1 by right click on Video_1 and select Playback Speed to 300%.

10 Insert Video Video_2 plus the transition effect under the category F/X and selectCrossfade.

11 Cut Video Video_2 at the time 00:00:21 and set the playback speed of the last clip to20%.

12 Trim the last clip at time 00:00:34.

13 Insert Video Video_11 at time 00:00:17 on the Overlay Track and left click on the clip.

14 Click on Mask & Chroma Key and select Apply Overlay options.

15 Position the girl on the bottom left corner of the screen such that she does not look like she is floating in air and trim video at time 00:00:33.

16 Insert Video V19 and the transition effect under the category F/X and select Blowoutin the Video Track.

17 At 00:00:17, select the Audio Tab and select Auto Music, choose the music “Olympic” and click Add to Timeline.

18 At 00:00:06, using Auto Music, choose the music “Take me there”

19 Make sure that the entire clip is about 00:00:35.

20 To create video, select the Share Tab and choose Create Video File and select WMV (WMV Broadband) and save it on your thumb drive.

Watch the movie trailer and answer the questions...



Question 1:

Did this battle really happen? How could 300 men fight so huge an army (a million strong)?

Question 2:

Did the "God-King" Xerxes really look like the one in the movie? If different, why did the directors make him to be like that?

Question 3:

Did the spartans really wore so little for battle? If not, what did they wear?

Question 4:

Did the Immortals really look like Japanese ninjas? If not, why did the directors want them to look like that?

Question 5:

Was the Spartan King Leonidas the last to die in such a spectacular fashion?

Use the following websites as reference materials for your answers...

http://www.nhne.org/news/NewsArticlesArchive/tabid/400/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/2742/language/en-US/Movie-300-Legend-Versus-Reality-Exercise-Regimen.aspx

http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/300spartans.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonidas_I

Individual Journal Entry 03 (Deadline 5th May 2010)

Analyse the commercial and answer the following questions...



1. What do you think are the equipments used to produce this poster?


2. What techniques are used to produce this poster? Elaborate on the following aspects:

a. Colour

b. Size

c. Creative Language
d. Others...


3. What is the purpose of this poster?
(What is this media trying to sell you?)


4. Who do think this poster is intended for?
(Which group of the population is this for and how do you know it is for them...)


5. What values do you think the poster is conveying?
(This is asking for your evaluation of the poster, whether the poster is effective. If it is/is not effective, state your reasons? Is there any dangers when this poster is publicised to the public? etc...)


Submit your answers through email to the following address: jss10ml1c@gmail.com

Make sure that your name is clearly shown at the top of the email.

Blog Assignment 2 : Blog comments (Deadline: 11 April)

Examine the poster and post your answers to the following questions in the comments box. Remember to write your REAL NAME at the end of the comments.



1. What do you think are the equipments used to produce this poster?


2. What techniques are used to produce this poster? Elaborate on the following aspects:

a. Colour
b. Size
c. Creative Language
d. Others...


3. What is the purpose of this poster?
(What is this media trying to sell you?)


4. Who do think this poster is intended for?
(Which group of the population is this for and how do you know it is for them...)


5. What values do you think the poster is conveying?
(This is asking for your evaluation of the poster, whether the poster is effective. If it is/is not
effective, state your reasons? Is there any dangers when this poster is publicised to the
public? etc...)

Answer Scheme for Blog Assignment 1 (Hyundai Car)

1. What do you think are the equipment used to produce this media?
The equipment should be video cameras to take the video footage, lightings to create the morning look, sound recorder to record the music and narration and green screen to create the footage of the baby surfing.

2. What techniques are used to produce this video?
Colour: The colour of the car is creamy white (to portray the idea of fun) which is used to contrast with the black car (which is normally used to portray serious).

Size: The main characters are little children could make the car look much bigger and give us the impression that it is very roomy. The surf board in the boot also creates an impression that the car is roomy.

Creative Language: This can be found in the song and the tag line of the video. In the song, it says, “The wayward wind is a restless wind, a restless wind that yearns to wonder…” They are trying to say that when you drive this car, you can fulfill your wishes and go where you want to go, do what you want to do…” “The next generation…is here.” is the tag line which is trying to say that when you buy this car, you are stylish and modern as you belong to the next generation.

3. What is the purpose of this video?
It is to show that Hyundai Stante Fe is:

• easy to drive: Even young children will be able to drive it.
• attractive and can impress: You can pick up your potential girlfriends in it and make people’s jaw drop when they see you driving it.
• multi-purpose: Car is driven on the road, on gravel, even on sand.
• For the next generation: Tag line (refer to question 2)

4. Who do you think this video is intended for?
This ad is directed at men who want a multi purpose vehicle who can impress girls and be seen as fun and exciting modern age men.

5. What values do you think the video is conveying?
Is is quite effective as the music helps to drive the happy mood of the car. The idea of using the car from the morning till sunset and having fun all the time and the car being the object of envy of everyone, makes it hard for anyone not to consider buying this car.

Sterotyping of man and woman’s roles in society is also portrayed in this commercial as the man is the one who drives the car and does all the fun things like surfing while all the woman does is to act cute, giggle and have admiring looks for the man.

However, the use of little children in this advertisement could have potential dangers.
Being a commercial, you would be watching this several times a day. Little children might copy what was done in the commercial and attempt to drive their parent’s cars which could lead to potential accidents.

Blog assignment 1 (Deadline: 27th February midnight)

After watching the commercial, answer the following questions...



1. What do you think are the equipment used to produce this media?
(example: sound recorder - for the audio effects ...)

2. What techniques are used to produce this video?
(example: Colour, Size, Creative Language, othes..)

3. What is the purpose of this video?
(What is this media trying to sell you?)

4. Who do think this video is intended for?
(Which group of the population is this for and how do you know it is for them...)

5. What values do you think the video is conveying?
(This is asking for your evaluation of the video, whether the video is effective. If it is/is not effective, state your reasons? Is there any dangers when this video is broadcasted to the public? etc...)

Problem Based Learning 01 - Part 03

Now that you have a good idea of what a good piece of news is like, create one of your own newscast based on the NTU Stabbing incident. By comparing with as many different sources as you can, you are to report from your own perspective on what could have happened ensuring that your reporting is as unbiased as possible.

Requirements:

1. You need to create a less than 10 minute newscast using the equipment in the Pulse Studio only.

2. You will need to include the following portions in your newscast:
a. A brief summary of what happened…
b. Explain the possible reasons why would a student want to stab his professor…
c. A discussion with an “expert” on one of the reasons why a student would want to stab his professor…
d. An interview with student/s on their views on this story…
e. A conclusion on what are the possible steps students should take when they face similar situations.

Please remember that a good newscast needs to satisfy the following requirements:

1. Journalists should have a neutral point of view, not taking a stand on any issues on which there is some disagreement. Instead, journalists are simply to report "both sides" of an issue.
2. It should mean reporting things without bias.
3. They need to be fair and accurate.

Problem Based Learning 01 - Part 02

Please read the following news articles from various sources.

“A NANYANG Technological University professor was stabbed by his final-year project student, who later fell off a bridge linking two buildings on the Boon Lay campus on Monday morning.” Straits Times, 2 March 2009.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_344879.html

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/03/stabbing-incident-in-ntu-is-it-really-an-attack/comment-page-1/

http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/geekonomics/post.htm?id=63009411

http://bbqchickenwings.blogspot.com/2009/03/conspiracy-theory-in-ntu-stabbing.html

http://static.stomp.com.sg/static/thecourtroom/ntu/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXOHcOlK4NQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmIYedUnqiA&feature=related

This news shocked the entire NTU community and has given rise to many theories on why the student stabbed his professor before jumping to his death. This has also raised the question on whether citizen journalism can be a good thing for Singapore and also whether mainstream news channels like the Straits Times is being objective in their reporting. The link below gives us the ethics journalists in Asia has to abide by.

http://www.medialaw.com.sg/ethics/jcode.htm

Problem Based Learning 01 - Newscast Part 01

Fact:

We have already understood that the internet can be a place where reality can be altered but in the last 5-10 years, we have also seen the rise of the internet: web-based news organizations like Slate.com and Salon.com, the use of websites for both newspapers and TV stations to break news and the broadening of media to include more internet-based sources, such as blogs. We can now receive news from all over the world in real time 24 hours a day. The major change have been the rise and dominance of the Internet as a source for news and the slow, but steady decline in newspaper circulation and even viewership of Prime Time news on Television.

Trigger News Article:

Thursday January 1, 2009
How the news media has changed
WIKIMEDIA
By joel

Every news organisation has woken up to the importance of new media, and all are still seeking the right combination of news feed and interactivity.
I’VE been watching the changes that have been taking place in the news media industry since 2000 when I left traditional media to venture into new media. To say that the industry has been through an upheaval would not be an exaggeration. A lot has happened between then and now. It’s definitely better for the consumer. Whether it’s better for the industry is harder to say, but it’s definitely a challenge for the industry.

> New sources of competition
The obvious source of new competition would be the online-only news sites. But an unexpected source of competition comes from the audience. Yes, I’m talking about the bloggers. The socio-political bloggers have made a serious impact, regularly providing a different perspective, sometimes providing some really interesting insight and occasionally even breaking news.

> Multimedia
From a purely technical standpoint, blogging has always been an easy thing. All you do is type and press “publish” and voila, you’ve got a blog! No wonder blogs have mushroomed in recent years, so much so that it’s unusual these days to find a young person who doesn’t have a blog.
Audio podcasting and videocasting are less common because recording, editing and hosting such content are much more difficult to do. But even that is changing. These days, you can even make audio and video recordings on your mobile phone. Editing can be done on free, open-source software, and sites like Odeo and YouTube offer free hosting for audio and video, respectively.

> User-generated content
Time was when user-generated content meant letters to the editor. What Web 2.0 has brought about is the concept of the audience becoming part of the content creation process.
Another, perhaps, more radical, approach would be to encourage a discussion among readers about the content found in the news organisation’s website as well as those of other news sites and blogs. In other words, provide a platform for discussion of hot topics of the day.

> New distribution methods
Traditional print media is distributed physically. New media is distributed online but the old way was to passively wait for readers to come to the site and click on content that catch their eye.
Social media like Facebook, Twitter and Flickr are not just a place where many young people network and share content. They are also a distribution opportunity and a great way to reach target audiences.
Another useful tool is RSS, which is vastly underestimated as a distribution channel. It facilitates very specific consumption of news, as readers would be able to subscribe to just one section of a news site or even to a specific columnist – very handy in the age of information overload.

> More accountability
Since bloggers like to comment on news items they find on news websites, it’s not surprising that they also act like self-appointed watchdogs. At the most fundamental level they can highlight factual mistakes. On another level, they can point out cases of plagiarism (which does occasionally happen). And of course, bloggers are more than happy to point out bias (although bloggers themselves have their own bias, newspapers are not supposed to, at least not for news reports).
Self-appointed watchdogs may be an irritant but viewed positively, they keep journalists and editors on their toes. More importantly, they keep us in the news industry more accountable, and that can’t be a bad thing.

http://thestar.com.my/columnists/story.asp?file=/2009/1/1/columnists/wikimedia/2905766&sec=wikimedia

Here are some of the video you have watched...

What do you look out for when analyzing print media?

1) Colour
a. Are the colours loud, bright and bold?
b. Are the colours dark and dull?
c. How does the colour of the background, title, slogan, characters affect the mood created? i.e. bright colours usually create a happy mood while darker colours are generally more serious.

2) Size
a. Is the positioning of objects, actors, and text within the frame of a poster meant to achieve a particular effect? Explain.
b. Which are the items (characters, font) in the poster which are bigger in proportion to the rest? What effects does that present?

3) Creative language
a. Is there a slogan in the poster?
b. Is the slogan catchy or memorable? Why?
c. Is the title (For a movie or the name of a product) prominently featured? Is the text easy to read?
d. Do you think this poster is persuasive? Will you buy the product? Why?
e. What are the other information present in the poster which will affect your purchasing decision?

4) Other techniques
a. Is any information withheld from you? Are some details left out intentionally?

"Deconstructing Magazine Covers" Group Presentation

All groups are to prepare for a 3 minute presentation on the magazine covers they were given in class. All members are to present on one area of the magazine.

Journal Entry 1

"Is it ethical for the media to use photoshop to enhance the appearance of a person?"