Making and editing digital media
Computer Science · Key Stage 1 · The School
Plan before you record
A storyboard is a row of boxes. You draw one rough picture per shot. Under it you note what is said. Ten minutes of planning saves an hour of re-recording. You find the problems while they are still just drawings. Too many shots. No ending.
The three edits that matter
TRIM the dead air at the start and end of each clip. That one thing alone makes amateur video look far better. ORDER the clips so they tell the story. ADD sound: music underneath, voice over the top. Everything else is decoration. These three do the work.
Using other people's work
Music, images and video usually belong to someone. Use material that is licensed for reuse. And CREDIT the maker. Give the title, the creator, and where you got it. Taking someone's work without credit is not a technical problem. It is dishonesty. The habit of crediting is worth building now.
Plan a 30-second video in six boxes. Shot 1 is wide, to show where we are, for 5 seconds. Shot 2 is a close-up on hands, for 5 seconds. Shot 3 is the thing going wrong, for 10 seconds. Carry on like that. Write the sound under each box. Now film it. Some people film first and plan afterwards. They end up with lots of footage and no story. And they find the shot they needed was never taken.