The following index outlines the entirety of the online technical demonstration resource I created. The resource was first housed on edX, but currently functioning well on Canvas. There are 6 modules and 2 Appendices, and approximately 50 videos in total varying in length from 3 minutes to ½ hour, which all add up to just under 10 hours of technical demonstrations. Students are able to refer or return to the ones they need for the duration of the term. Most all videos are followed by assessment questions to solidify their learning, indicated under each video description.
Online Technical Demonstration Video Library Index
MODULE 1: FUNDAMENTALS (1 hour video time total) |
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The welcome video introduces students to the organization and structure of the online technical demonstration library, how to use it, and how to pursue extra resources. The video is 3 minutes and 20 seconds and followed by 3 assessment questions. |
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OSX Interface (Video is 13 minutes long, followed by 3 assessment questions) |
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The OSX system is the Macintosh operating system, while it might be new to some, with time and practice it will become second nature. You should also start by formatting your external drive, so that you can use it cross-platforms if necessary. OSX Interface component includes basic file management and navigation in OSX, including naming, moving, deleting and copying files, creating folders, and folder management. |
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Digital Workflow and Formatting Your Drive (Video is 4:25 duration, 3 questions) |
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Good habits of digital workflow refer to the entire process of creating and outputting digital media. This includes formatting your hard drive or USB key for whichever platform you will be using, gathering content, naming, saving, and structuring your files and folders. A consistent organizational structure for each project is instrumental in minimizing the time you spend looking for files and trying to rescue projects that have missing files and links. |
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Raster and Vector Graphics (Video is 4:45 followed by 2 assessment questions) |
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General understanding of two types of digital imaging systems, raster and vector, are explained. |
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Output and Software (Video is 10:37 followed by 3 assessment questions) |
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Ways in which to output media towards realizing your visual arts projects in the format you desire. This section provides a brief introduction to different software/programs that we will be using in the course, as well as software we will not be using but are good to know that they exist, and what they do. This video will take you through the different considerations in a selection of programs that will allow you the output you desire to execute your project idea. |
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Input (Video is 4:23, followed by 2 assessment questions) |
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In order to create a digital project, for the most part we take media from outside sources, and bring them into our programs in order to make them our art. Importing refers to the insertion of media into a program in order to be able to use, alter and manipulate that media information to create your project. Input media is a variety of different media that can be used as source material for your project, such as video, images from your camera, scanned images, or downloaded from the Internet. |
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MODULE 2: INTRODUCTION TO PHOTOSHOP (2 hour video time total) |
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Introduction to Photoshop video is three minutes and thirty-even seconds, and acts as an index of how the two Photoshop Modules are organized and information is distributed. There are no quiz questions for this video. |
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Bits, Bytes, Histogram and Density (10 minute video, 5 Assessment Questions) |
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In order to use Photoshop effectively and efficiently in your projects, it is important to understand the fundamentals in the program’s language. Digital images in greyscale are made up of 8 bits, otherwise known as 256 variations of grey. Compared to an image that is just 1 bit, an 8 bit image creates a more detailed, “photographic” look. Photoshop uses the Histogram, which shows the distribution of colour or tone on a scale from 0-256, using the number of variations of 8 bits. By reading the Histogram correctly, you can easily read the makeup, density, and contrast of your image, thus acting as a powerful tool when manipulating your image. In images, density is tonal quality, contrast, and the distribution of light and dark. It is a good rule of thumb to have some information in both the pure white and pure black areas with plenty of information in between to achieve a clear, complex image. |
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Colour Channels (Video is 11:19 duration, followed by 4 assessment questions) |
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Colour is the balance that we give our hues, and is read by the computer through the “Channels” for the image. Knowing how to manage the density and colour of your media in Photoshop gives full control of successful colour and density balance. With these controls we are able to fix things that may not have been perfect in the original capturing of the media, such as colour correcting an image shot with improper white balance, or to remove a specific colour cast in order to make an image look more neutral. Becoming comfortable with these ideas and techniques will allow you to turn a wider variety of media into a professional, presentable final product. Once you have gained a sensitivity for the delicate nuances of a properly balanced work, then you will be able to find this balance for your own work. |
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Resolution (Video is 14:18 duration, followed by 7 assessment questions) |
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Understanding how resolution works is crucial to achieving successful projects. Unlike Analog photography, digital cameras use a Charged Couple Device (CCD). This is a chip that is inside of the camera that converts light that goes through the lens into electrons, which are then recorded as pixels. Therefore, depending on how sensitive your CCD is, your resolution will vary depending on your camera. With different cameras, they inherently will capture different numbers of pixels due to CCD size and camera settings. An image with more pixels has more information and detail, and therefore a higher resolution. It is important to remember that different modes of output have different resolution standards and requirements. Images on the web only require a 72-100 ppi resolution, while a Fine Art print has a standard 300 dpi resolution. Photoshop can resample your image to both downsample or upsample your image by using interpolation. While it can be a useful tool, it must be used with caution as it either destroys existing pixels (downsampling) or uses “fake” pixels (upsampling). |
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Photoshop Workspace (Video is 8:10 duration, followed by 6 quiz questions) |
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This video takes you into the Photoshop Workspace, showing the Toolbar, Properties Bar, and select panels. You will also be introduced to working views, and how to adjust them. The video also shows you how to use rulers and grids, and other viewing options. |
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Photoshop Tools (14 minute video followed by 4 assessment questions) |
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A run through of the basic tools in the Photoshop default toolbar: Select, Marquee, Crop, Eraser, Gradient/ Paint Bucket, Dodge/ Burn, Sponge, and Type tool. The best way to familiarize yourself with these tools is to play around with them in your own images and projects. The video ends in a demonstration on sharpening an image, a basic function of digital photography. |
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Getting Started (14 minute video followed by 6 assessment questions) |
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Setting up your document correctly when getting starting on a new project is crucial for good workflow and organization. It is important to properly set up your project resolution from the beginning, while things like canvas size and can be changed throughout your project. As you progress along your projects, you will have to set up your images and workspace before beginning any image manipulation. Changing Image Size, adding rulers and grids, and transforming your image in different ways are all important things to consider when setting up a new project. |
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Adjustment Layers (10 minute video followed by 5 assessment questions) |
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The video associated with this module covers colour adjustments of a raster-based image. Adjustment layers are a powerful way to transform an image colour quality without destruction to original information of the image. Changing levels, adjusting the colour balance, and adding masks will allow you to manipulate your image color and density in sophisticated ways to achieve any effect you want. |
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Exporting from Photoshop (4:36 video time, followed by 3 assessment questions) |
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Photoshop is able to export your file into a variety of different formats for the different platforms you may need them for. This video will explain a few commonly used formats and their differences. Understanding the ways in which to export will help you output your project properly for the means you need. |
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Frame by frame Animation (Video is 9:26, and followed by 5 assessment questions) |
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Photoshop can not only manipulate static images, but it can also make simple frame by frame animations- specifically great for GIFs.
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MODULE 3: ADVANCED PHOTOSHOP (1 hour video time total) |
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Advanced Tools in Photoshop (Video is 14 minutes long, followed by five questions) |
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When manipulating images, much of the work is done through selecting specific elements of a photo. This way, you have the agency to only edit your selected area instead of the image as a whole, allowing for much more artistic freedom and expression. With the many ways to select a specific part of your image, from the lasso tool to the magic wand tool, it is a good idea to test out these different ways to see which method works for you and what you are trying to achieve. This also covers a few tools such as clone, blur, sharpen, and smudge that can assist you in achieving multiple effects to be as much or as little photorealistic as you desire. |
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Subtractive Manipulation for Still Images (Video is 4:53, followed by 5 quiz questions) |
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If you want to hide certain aspects of your image, whether it be blemishes or visual litter, subtractive processes gets rid of information in your image. This video shows you the multiple ways in which you can do so- each with slightly different outcomes. It will cover how to delete information, and how to use tools such as spot healing, clone, and patch to “clean up” an image to look seamless. While these processes are appealing and can be used to look realistic with expertise, it should be used with caution as too much “subtraction” and repetition in texture can make your image look unconvincing. |
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Addition Manipulation for Still Images (Video is 18 minutes, followed by 6 questions) |
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If you have an image and want to add more information, manipulation through additive processes in Photoshop will help you to do so. Photoshop has many tools to achieve believable images. When adding new, different components into an image, there are many things to consider such as perspective, lighting, colour, and density. All of these can be balanced and corrected through various tools and functions in Photoshop. Additive manipulation takes time, patience, and practice to create photorealistic images. |
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Video to Frame Animation (This video is 8 minutes long and has 4 quiz questions) |
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This video will show how to import a video into Photoshop to creating an endless loop of frame by frame animation. |
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MODULE 4: INTRODUCTORY PREMIERE (2 hour video time total) |
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Introduction to Adobe Premiere video will give you a brief explanation of the Adobe Premiere software, and introduce you to the structure and learning goals of this module. |
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Technical Terminology (Video is 5:13 duration, and is followed by 6 quiz questions) |
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By understanding the technical language associated with digital video, you will be able to properly communicate the technical components of your digital video projects, to use online resources to troubleshoot any technical issues that come up when working in Premiere. In this video lesson you will learn the differences between high definition and standard definition video, the relationship between a videos resolution and its frame aspect ratio, and how this relationship determines its pixel aspect ratio. |
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Video File Formats & Codecs (Video is 6:21 duration, followed by 4 quiz questions) |
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A thorough understanding of the structure of the video file format, and the importance of codecs when saving and playing back digital video media, will greatly help you when exporting and playing back your finished projects. As well, knowing exported codecs you can use will help troubleshoot any playback or export issues you may encounter. In this video lesson, a video file will be opened up to explore its different components, giving you a thorough understanding of the anatomy of a video file and what makes it different from other files. These components include container types, video and audio signals, and codecs. The four common video container types MPEG-4, QuickTime, Windows Media Video, and Audio Video Interleave will be covered, as well as a demonstration of video and audio signals, and a demonstration of what codecs are used for and the different types of codecs you can expect to use. This video lesson will finish with instructions for resolving compatibility issues between video files and playback devices or programs. |
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Premiere Workspace (Video is 1 minute and 55 seconds, followed by 5 quiz questions) |
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In this video lesson, you will gain a familiarity with the layout of the Premiere workspace. Specifically, this video lesson will provide a brief overview of the different windows in the Premiere workspace: the Source Monitor, Audio Track Mixer, Metadata Panel, Program Monitor, Timeline, Toolbox, Project Panel, Effects Panel, and Effects Controls Panel. |
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Getting Started in Premiere (Video is 11:26 duration, followed by 5 quiz questions) |
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It is important to properly set up a new project in Premiere, and knowing what scratch disks are and how to properly set them up will ensure an organized and efficient workflow. As well, knowing how to properly use a USB to work between computers in Premiere, the different ways of importing media into your Premiere project, how to resolve issues that may arise when importing, and understanding how Premiere imports media into your project, will greatly enhance your workflow experience. These are fundamental to giving you more time to focus on creating and building your video project, rather than troubleshooting avoidable issues. In this video lesson, you will gain a solid understanding of these workflow essentials, including a close look at the Project Panel and Media Browser Panel in Premiere, how to keep your imported media organized in the Project Panel with bins and labels, and how to investigate the properties of your media in the Metadata Panel. |
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Sequences (Video is 4 minutes and 58 seconds, followed by 3 quiz questions) |
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Sequences are an essential part of building video projects in Premiere, in fact, when you export your finished video project you are in fact exporting a finished sequence to a video file. This video lesson will cover the basics of working with sequences in Premiere, including: the different ways you can create a sequence in Premiere, how to properly set up and create a sequence for your intended media, what happens when you accidentally create the wrong sequence and how to resolve this issue, and how to properly keep sequences organized in the Project Panel. |
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Marking Clips and Populating Sequences (Video is 13:43, with 4 quiz questions) |
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Marking is the process of making specific selections from clips for use in your sequences, and Premiere offers many different options and strategies for bringing media into your sequences. This video lesson will take a close look at the Source Monitor, specifically: the different components of the Source Monitor and their respective uses, the different ways you can play, navigate through, and view your clips, and how to mark your clips. This video lesson will then cover the basics of bringing marked and whole clips into an opened sequence from the Source Monitor through insert edits, overwrite edits, and how source patching plays an important role in these editing processes, as well as a different look at the Project Panel. This video lesson will finish with what track targeting is, how to use it, and how to selectively bringing in audio and video components of video clips. |
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Timeline, Tools, and Trimming (Video is 17:31, followed by 7 quiz questions) |
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Premiere offers many different tools for editing the clips you place on your sequences, and a good understanding of the different tools available to you will make the editing process flow smoothly, allowing you to focus more on the creativity behind your editing actions rather than how to accomplish those actions. The bulk of editing that you will most likely be doing in Premiere will be trimming, and Premiere also offers many different trimming tools. Trimming is the refining of in and out points of already placed clips in your sequences, allowing you to quickly adjust a composition. In this video lesson, the Timeline including different components and their respective uses as well as a brief look at standard playback options, available viewing options, and how to selectively play a sequence by including or excluding specific tracks. Strategies for selectively editing tracks will be covered with the sync-lock and lock options for tracks, followed by the different basic editing tools available in the Toolbox, including in-sync edits and out of sync edits. We finish with the different trimming tools, options, and strategies Premiere makes available through the Toolbox and Source Monitor. |
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Exporting from Premiere (Video is 6 minutes and 14 seconds, with 5 quiz questions) |
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Learning how to properly export a finished sequence is crucial for creating a stable video file containing your video project, this will guarantee that it plays in a way you expect it to. As well, a good understanding of the different exporting options available in Premiere, and how to properly use them, will ensure that your finished project exports with the best possible quality available to it. This video lesson covers the basics of exporting from Premiere, including some useful suggestions for ensuring universal compatibility between your exported video file and different playback devices or programs. |
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MODULE 5: ADVANCED PREMIERE (1 hour video time total) |
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Sequences and Clip Techniques (Video is 7 minutes and 30 seconds, followed by 4 quiz questions) |
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Now that you are familiar with the editing process from beginning a new project to exporting a populated and finished sequence, this video lesson will introduce you to some of the ways that you can streamline this editing process. You’ll be exposed to the advanced editing strategies of nesting sequences, proper uses of Match Frame, three useful methods for cycling between clip selections in your sequence, and a different way to prepare and mark your clips ahead of time. |
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Fixing Clip Distortions (Duration of 4:30, followed by 3 quiz questions) |
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Clip distortions can happen for a number of reasons in your sequence, especially when importing and using media from many different sources. This video lesson will cover the three most common types of potential video distortions between clips and sequences, including a brief analysis on how they occur, and the strategies for fixing them. |
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Effects & Transitions (Duration 4:56, followed by 4 quiz questions) |
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Effects and transitions, when used appropriately, can enhance a moving image piece greatly. This video lesson will demonstrate the proper practices of applying video effects and transitions to placed clips in a sequence, and how to further refine these effects parameters. A close look at the Effects Panel, and Effects Controls Panel will be covered as well. |
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Audio Techniques (Video is 19 minutes, followed by 4 quiz questions) |
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The choice of either including or excluding silence can greatly change the feel, message, and intended delivery of a final moving image piece. Knowing how to work with silence, as well as with audio, is a crucial skill to have when editing in Premiere. This video will cover some important technical terminologies required for properly understanding and speaking about digital audio, then move on to cover audio extraction and editing in the Project Panel, audio editing and keyframing audio effects in the Timeline, and helpful audio editing practices to follow when editing sound. |
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Ken Burns Effect (Video is 2 minutes and 38 seconds, followed by 2 quiz questions) |
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The Ken Burns effect is a type of panning and zooming effect used in video production from still imagery. The name derives from extensive use of the technique by American documentarian Ken Burns. This video lesson will demonstrate how you can create your own Ken Burns effect in Premiere, and save it as a preset for future use in other projects. |
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MODULE 6: AUDACITY (1 hour video time total) |
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Introduction to Audacity (Video is 2 minutes and 18 seconds, followed by 1 assessment question) |
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Audacity is an open source freeware sound editing program that is comparable to professional paid sound editing programs. This lesson will explain what the software is, what it does, and how to install it (free) onto your machine. |
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Sound Terminology and File Types (This video is 14 minutes, followed by 2 questions) |
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It is important to understand the dynamics of physical sound and sound processing before working with digital audio. This lesson will go over some of the terminology used when describing sound, the mechanics of sound waves, the properties of sound waves, how to interpret and describe sounds around us, and how sample rates and bit depths describe digital sounds. Furthermore, the video will go over terms used in digital audio such as “channel”, “mono”, “stereo”, “track”, “Gain and Clipping”, and “Equalization”. |
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Audacity Workspace (Video is 4:55 duration, followed by 2 quiz questions) |
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This video will help you navigate the Audacity workspace, covering a brief overview of the toolbars, menus, and layouts available. |
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Getting Started in Audacity (Video is 14:35 duration followed by 3 quiz questions) |
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Basic Tools and Effects (Video is 27:23 in duration and followed by 2 quiz questions) |
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Being comfortable with using Audacity’s tools will help you make meaningful editing choices over the many aspects of your audio composition. Knowing how to use these tools will direct your project into its most effective and meaningful form, letting you focus more on building your composition rather than troubleshooting how. In this lesson we will go over how Audacity organizes your audio into clips and tracks, and the different editing tools available in Audacity’s toolbars, specific editing, cutting, splitting, and organizing options found in Audacity’s menus. |
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Exporting (Video is 3 minutes and 8 seconds followed by 2 assessment questions) |
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This video goes through the various ways to export a sound file and how it will handle sound at different compressions, flexibly play, and other decisions for the exporting process. |
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APPENDIX A: CONCEPTS (1 hour video time total) |
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Design Fundamentals (11 minutes, 25 seconds) |
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Basic aspects of design are presented through this video such as how value contrast, colour relationships, typography can add more depth to a project when implemented carefully. When layering images, objects, and text together, it is important to consider how their contrast value will affect the readability of your workCertain typefaces communicate differently than others. There are also many different ways to manipulate your text, including tracking, kerning, and leading. This video goes through some basic fundamentals in design that can assist you in your projects, however don’t forget that the key to a successful project is its effectiveness in communicating your intention behind the work. |
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Layout (6 minutes) |
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A layout is the set arrangement of material on a surface. Layout can imply a specific order, chronology, or an un-ordered inventory of images, a collage of sources, etc. It can include many materials, including shapes, borders, orientation, text and images. The video will take you through layout techniques and essential decisions you will have to make before planning your layout. If you will be creating a layout using photographic images, you should use Photoshop. |
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Layout Workshop (28 minute video) |
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The “Layout Workshop” bonus video takes students through a hands-on demonstration of the creation of a layout using various sources into one document. |
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Manipulation (5 minutes and 25 seconds) |
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Although photo manipulation has existed since its photography’s inception, digital tools have made it easier for us to transform a photograph; we can do this many ways. This section will examine how we can manipulate by addition or subtraction. When we add to manipulate, we may be applying an effect or pixels to super-impose something to our image. When we subtract to manipulate, we may be erasing something out of an image to take it away. Manipulating an image is a very influential effect on what is rendered, therefore you must be precise in how, why and what you are doing it for. |
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Chronology (9 minute video) |
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Chronology video explains basic ideas or concepts of creating a timeline project. The order of clips, pages, or sounds, in time, creates a chronology. This can invoke narrative or ordered arrangement, and can make connections between two scenes or two spaces in time. The decision of what would come after what, and how that juxtaposition informs the narrative is key. To deconstruct how the property of time relays information can be trickier, and abstracting the sense of what comes after what can be a more creative endeavor. For moving image, how we manipulate the order of time can create a narrative, and the juxtaposition of clips can imply meaning. For example, the Kuleshov Effect is a film editing effect demonstrated by Soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s. It is a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation. The rules of order or chronology can be manipulated, challenged or broken. For example – a ‘loop’ would take away the idea of a beginning and an end to a time-based work, or a “choose your own adventure” book would constantly change the order of a narrative. |
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APPENDIX B: UBC RESOURCES (20 minutes video time total) |
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UBC Platform: WordPress (9 minutes 39 seconds) |
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UBC utilizes the WordPress platform and allows students to use their site to host their own sites, ranging from e-Portfolios, blogs, and other personal and academic platforms. This video will go through some basic features of WordPress. It will go over the interface, including both the Front and Back End, the features included in the Admin panel, explain the different between a post and page and how to organize them properly through tags, categories, and creating sub-pages. It will also cover some elements of online design, such as how to design a page with efficient and easy navigation, and what to consider in terms of layout, navigation and responsive web design). This video is meant to be supplementary to the UBC ePortfolio Guide (link can be found in the Extra Resources section). |
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UBC Scanners (1 minute 18 seconds) |
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In order to create a digital project, for the most part we take media from outside sources, and bring them into our programs in order to make them our art. Importing refers to the insertion of media into a program in order to be able to use, alter and manipulate that media information to create your project. We need input our media in consideration of what we would like to output. Therefore, how we gather our input, our initial format and resolution, and the settings by which we import it into a program is important to our whole project being a success. Understanding and using the appropriate settings when importing media will eliminate compatibility issues between imported components during the construction of a moving image project. In still images you need to define the resolution you will need to execute the project you want. Doing this upon importing will save you time, and allow you to focus more on creating your project, rather than fixing format issues. The following video will go through ways to bring in raw media for your projects, images, video, and audio files, the video will explain how. |
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Printing in the Bining Lab (10 minutes) |
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This video goes introduces you to the fine art printing lab located in BC Bining Studios. The video shows you proper procedures of getting your file ready, submitting a print request, payment and pick up, as well as other handy tips. To use the Visual Arts professional fine art printer, please review the video “Printing in the Binning Lab” where you will find information on where the BC Binning Lab is, how to properly set up your file, and the procedure for getting your artwork printed. This video goes through some specific guidelines and things to keep in mind when printing in BC Binning. |