Help My Band Get In The Movies!

Click HERE to link and vote for my band.
If we win, you will get a Krispy Kreme Party complete with movie and orange juice.

Shorecrest/Shorewood Lip Dub Requirements

The dates you are required to attend for the Shorecrest/Shorewood Lip Dub are as follows:

May 20: Walk-through practice mainly with video students.
May 24th: After school practice.
May 25th: Practice during the last 45 minutes of 4th period and after school.
May 27th: An assembly schedule is built in to the day to allow the entire school to participate. We will shoot four or five takes in between fourth period and lunch.

Click HERE to sign up for a character from the "1960s". Make sure to write your name in the slot to the right of the character. Once you do that, it's automatically saved.

Motion Tutorials

It's not time to embrace the real power that Final Cut Studio has to offer.
The software program "Motion" is a very powerful special effects and post-production tool that will widen the visual scope of the videos that you will continue to work on for the rest of the semester.
I have a series of Video Tutorials that you are required to watch before we dive head first into using Motion in your creative process.
Click on the following links in succession while simultaneously having Motion open on your desktop.
Once you learn something, try to apply it to a video clip in your "Files Pane" in Motion. The more you play around and explore Motion on your own, the more you'll learn.
Watch the following Clips:
Basic Tutorial - Part 1
Basic Tutorial - Part 2
Basic Tutorial - Part 3
Motion Interface
Text Effects
Creating a "Film Look"

April Fool's Challenge

You have one class period to come up with an idea, storyboard, film, and edit a zinger to be shown to the ENTIRE Shorewood Staff and Student Body.
IT MUST BE APPROPRIATE AND IT MUST BE APPROVED BY ME.
Hurry, the clock is ticking.
"GO!"

DUE DATES FOR PROJECTS AND RAW FOOTAGE

#1 Movie Recreation -OR- Movie Trailer is due on May 13th. The minimum time requirement is 30 seconds. (RAW FOOTAGE DUE ON APRIL 29TH)

#2 Video Bulletin - Last day to turn in a Video Bulletin is on May 27th

#3 Any Film Festival/Grant or Scholarship/Video Competition of your choosing. This is due by June 3rd. (If entering a video for the Shorewood/Shorecrest Film Festival, you MUST have this submitted to Mr Ballew by Thursday, May 20th)

#4 Project London Viral Video (30 Sec. - 1 Minute) is due June 3rd.

Movie Trailer or Movie Recreation? Choose Your Own Adventure

For the first time in Mr Ballew's teaching history, you, the student, will have the option to choose between 2 somewhat similar, yet different, video projects.

OPTION #1 is the Movie Trailer. - Come up with a movie trailer for your fake movie. Spoof a famous movie you like or just invent a totally radical new idea for a movie. Make sure that the narrative of your fake movie is clearly conveyed in your movie trailer. There should be NO resolution to your conflict in your movie trailer, so do not add an ending. When was the last time you saw a movie trailer that gave away the ending? Make your fake movie trailer engaging by using quick cuts and a variety of different types of shots.

OPTION #2 is the Movie Recreation. - Do you have a favorite movie? Do you have a favorite scene in that movie? Now's your chance to try and recreate that scene to make it look as close as possible to the original. If you choose this option, you will need to match the dialog, action, and lighting in that scene and use the original soundtrack of music that appropriately fits the mood of that scene.

The Raw Footage for your Movie Trailer OR Movie Recreation is due on Tuesday, April 27th.
Your completed project, edited and in the can, is due by the end of class on Thursday, May 6th.
REMEMBER - YOUR MOVIE TRAILER MUST HAVE THE FOLLOWING:
1. IT MUST BE BETWEEN 1 MINUTE TO 2 MINUTES LONG
2. IT MUST HAVE A VOICE-OVER, OR NAT SOUND BITES.
3. IT MUST HAVE A SOUNDTRACK. (IF YOU COMPOSE YOUR OWN EFFECTIVE SOUNDTRACK YOU WILL GET 10% EXTRA CREDIT)
4. YOUR MOVIE TRAILER MUST BE EFFECTIVE IN ALL AREAS OF COMPOSITION AND ENGAGING THE AUDIENCE IN IT'S CONTENT.
5. YOUR MOVIE TRAILER MUST HAVE A CLEAR VISUAL NARRATIVE.

1st Group Project

Your group has a mission.
The mission before you is to produce a short film. Your film can be anything appropriate to be shown in school.
Everyone in your group will receive the same final grade for this project. Teamwork is essential.
Your Short Film will be no longer than 90 seconds, and no shorter than 1 minute.
You're Short Film will have a soundtrack, either made by you, or be something from your iTunes collection (or mine). Make sure that your soundtrack is fitting of the moods you portray in your Short Film. You can have more than 1 song in your Short Film.
Your soundtrack must be NORMALIZED with the NAT SOUND in your Short Film.
Today you will begin Pre-Production on your Short Film. Brainstorm your idea in your designated group. Figure out which moods you'll use and start to plan a visual strategy to effectively tell your narrative.
Your requirements for this assignment are as follows:
1. 1 minute - 90 seconds. No more. No less.
2. It must include an appropriate soundtrack.
3. There must be at least 2 insert shots and 2 cutaways.
4. You'll need great continuity from one shot to the next. NO JUMP CUTS!!!!!
5. Use proper framing composition and camera angles. (Think 'Rule of Thirds')
6. You must stick to your storyboard. Points will be deducted if your Short Film deviates from your final storyboard.
7. Teamwork will also be a big portion of your final grade.
8. You will turn in one Quicktime per group with normalized sound.

You will need to finish filming your project by the end of class on Thursday.
We will be editing and processing your project in Post Production, when we get back from mid-winter break.