Video Documentary: Slate to Notebook
I chose to use Camtasia to create my video documentary about the transition from writing slates to notebooks and the improvements they brought to literacy and education. I decided to use Camtasia because it is a program that is available to UBC students at no cost, which typically cost approximately $150. What I liked most about it was that it was intuitive and enabled me to capture both audio and video. Various elements could be added to different time lines, text or images could easily be incorporated and the editing functions were simple. The only downfall was that as I approached the end of my creation, the processing time began to lag and would eventually timeout. This proved to be extremely frustrating, as I would have to restart my computer each time in order continue working on the video. However, given that the video contained multiple elements and timelines, and was of considerable length, I would imagine that it would still be a great program to use to create shorter videos.
What I found really interesting when searching for information, especially on blackboards and notebooks, was how many of the sites referred to new digital technologies, such as Blackboard Learn and notebook laptops. Upon further reflection, it was interesting to note how in our MET program, Blackboard Connect is essentially the remediation of the old blackboard, seeing as it is where we receive our instructions, and our computers remediate paper notebooks, as they enable us to store information externally.
When I started working on this project, I feared that I wouldn’t be able to find enough information and create sufficient dialogue to last 10 minutes. However, I found it went surprisingly fast, and felt I could have elaborated even more on the topic. Choosing appropriate images and spacing them throughout the video was challenging at times. I didn’t want to put too many pictures, thereby detracting from the message, but also wanted to incorporate enough to add depth to the narration. Hopefully I succeeded in finding the right balance.
My approach in creating the documentary was similar to how I would approach writing a paper. In order to make sure that I could elaborate sufficiently on the topics, I wrote my script as I would write an essay. This helped me keep my ideas organized and made the voice recording much easier.
Documentary Script: From Slate to Notebook – Improvements in Literacy and Education