Mini Art School: Working With Videos and Moving Images

60-Second Video Text:  The Three Billy Goats Gruff Puppet Show

For writing workshop recently my fourth graders acted out The Three Billy Goats Gruff to show them how to incorporate transition words like then, next, after that, etc. into their personal narratives.  Since I cannot put their pictures in public view I decided to make a puppet show into a video.  Luckily I thought to ask them to if they would like to paint a background for me and I described what I wanted but they did a much better job than I had imagined.  I also recruited them for help with making the puppets and again they did a great job.

I used their painting for the background and the bridge is three dimensional although you can't really tell that.  I know that you can see the hand in the shots but if I taped the figures onto the screen for each photo I thought it would be completely two dimensional and I wanted a three dimensional picture.

I used three lamps to add extra light to the scene.  I did not have a tripod so I put the digital camera on a chair with several books to keep it at one level.  I used the information in the chapter on stop motion animation to create the video.

Storyboard for Multimedia Project:

Here is a video of my storyboard for my Voice Thread Poetry Project for the Multimedia Project.    In the video I show each shot of my project.  As I say in the video, I will use a digital camera and Voice Thread.  The audio on the project will include my voice, the students' voices, comments from fellow students, and parents' voices.

The painting on each page will be the focal point where the eye will start and then go down to the typed poem.  I will use a font consistent with the feel of poetry, possibly Kristen ITC, Lucida Handwriting, or Harrington.  This type will be the same on each page to have a flow through the pages.  There will be an title page, introductions, the body of the work, and then a final, closing page.

Mini Art School: Working with Digital Images

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Border Variations
Above is an Animoto of the 10 different borders I created for this photo.  Because you can't see the borders very well on the Animoto I will also show you the individual pictures below.

#1:  This is the original photo taken at Mt. St. Helens in Washington.

#2:  This is a traditional black frame.  There is black in the picture.

#3:  This was a white beveled matte border that I liked and I felt it did not take away from the colors in the picture.

#4:  This was my favorite which is a metal edge which you wouldn't think would go well with a nature picture but I liked it, possibly contrasting somewhat with the picture.

#5:  Here I created a slight shadow as the border.

#6:  This was a blended soft edge.

#7:  This was a strong soft edge.

#8:  For this I chose a green border that was within the the green in the picture and it would be next to green in the color wheel so it would be an analagous color and would not stand out from the colors of the picture.  Then I rounded the edges and it has a reflection of the picture.

#9:  This has a pink glow as a border.

#10:  This has a purple picked up from a hue of purple in the picture and put in as a partial border with a partial glow.


Color Echo

Below are three different creations using the same photograph that was taken at Sandy Hook. The first uses a light green and white taken from the picture along with Informal Roman script. The second uses a light brown taken from the dirt in the picture with the script in Kristen ITC. The third uses a light yellow taken from the flower along with a brown from the dirt for the script which is in Vladamir Script. The second two photographs were done on Aviary Phoenix Image Editor which I reviewed for still media.

Nature Park 2.egg on Aviary.



Nature Park #3.egg on Aviary.


Typographic Conveyance

Pillow was done with a Batang font with a blue grey color and pillow shape surrounding the text.

XXL was done in XXL size font, Wide Latin, vertical on the page.

Brick was Wide Latin with a brick texture within the letters.

Atoms was done with a Chiller font with text effects to the font.

Lightly was done in Freestyle Script in white with a glow effect.

Shred was done in Algerian text with a reflection on the text as well as a dotted outline.

Mini Art School: Word Portraits Exercise and Comparing Two Competing Web Sites

Word Portraits Exercise




Here is the word portraits exercise. I have uploaded the different words made from different fonts to Voice Thread which I reviewed for Mixed Digital Media Critique. I uploaded the pages, pictures, added my voice, and some drawings to get more of a feel for what Voice Thread can do. This Voice Thread did not cost me anything to do. On my screen cast review I said it costs $60.00. It does cost money if you want to set up accounts for students but it looks like you can do some yourself without paying.


Comparing Two Competing Web Sites

I looked at two competing websites, one for Coke and one for Pepsi. Whereas the readings said to consider the competitor’s advertisement and do something in contrast, I think these two websites are very similar. Both use the basic colors of their products for the basic colors of the websites. For Pepsi, the can is blue with it’s logo in red, white, and blue and the website is predominantly blue with white and red. The logo is at the top. For Coke, the can is red and white and so is the website with some blue and their logo in white lettering against the red is also at the top.

Both websites have a narrow margin at the top with the logo or product name and areas to click for registering, and to go to other information.

Both have large margins on the right and left – Pepsi’s is blue with animated bubbles and Coke’s is white with some blue sky at the top. Then both have a horizontal rectangle in the middle at the top with three columns underneath. Pepsi has even columns and Coke has one larger column with a picture with two smaller columns on the side.

Each section in each column in Pepsi’s rotates when you push it and creates a 3D affect. Coke’s large rectangle at the top and each column leads you to another website when selected.

The focal point of Coke is the large horizontal rectangle at the top with the bold red and white lettering. Actually when you first click on the site there is an old picture in black and white that says Friend in Need, Given em a coke and a cactus and you can click on it to send someone a coke icon on Facebook. Coke’s logo is in script and they have a bolder font with a lot of white font on red background. There are tags and links to social networks as with Pepsi’s.

Pepsi leads you in with a picture of The X Factor show and title and presented by Pepsi. Your eye goes here first and then down to the columns below. Tags are to the side. The bubbles give it an airy and whimsical look as well as remind you of soda bubbles. The font is contemporary and the colors remind you of the product.

Both websites have quite generous margins on the left and right and then three columns in the middle with the top horizontal rectangle covering all three columns. Your eye goes to this rectangle and then down to the other information.

I think both websites are striking. I don’t think the black and white as the lead in to the Coke site is very striking and I think it looks better once it goes to the red. I really like the Pepsi site with it’s mixture of colors and in particular the bubbles that are in the margin as it is visually appealing and also reminds you of their product.