BuZZdex - Index of Tutorials & Articles

Check out the Digital Production BuZZdex. You can search for articles and tutorials available on the web. You can search by category, application or company.

There are three ways to browse.
by application to get a full list of all articles or tutorials for an application. This listing is most useful when you want to see the full scope of what's available for an application.

by category to list all the categories that have Articles or Tutorials for an application.

by Company to find articles and tutorials for, say, all of Apple's products.

You can search forums and other resources. Resources are those things that we use while getting work done. Many of the resources are free, but links to commercial resources are also included.

Minority Report - Sixth Sense Device

The video presentation below is a look into the future. It shows a prototype of a Minority Report inspired device developed at MIT. The presentation comes from a recent TED conference.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. It now has an even broader scope.

The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes).

The Ted.com website makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. More than 200 talks from the archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a Creative Commons license, so they can be freely shared and reposted.

IndyModul - Robot Arm Tutorial

Indy Mogul has a number of free filmmaking tutorials videos. Check out this segment from "Backyard Effects," which shows you how to make your own special effects for cheap. The episode below features a method for adding cyborg arms to an actor.

Final Cut Pro: How to maintain aspect ratio HD to SD

Apple has an article in their Knowledge Base titled, Final Cut Pro: How to maintain aspect ratio when exporting high definition formats to standard definition.

If you're working with media in a high definition format such as HDV or uncompressed HD, and wish to export QuickTime reference movies in a standard definition format such as DV or IMX, here are some tips that will help you maintain the correct aspect ratio in your exported movies.

Also see Final Cut Help tutorial on this subject.

The Day the Earth Stood Still DVD - Free

The Story of Movies is an educational program sponsored by the film-foundation.org. They have developed free curricula for three films. They have also provided a free DVD for each film until their stock in depleted. To date, they have released To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington(1939), and will soon issue The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). Teachers can click on the link below to get your free DVD for your classroom.

CURRICULUM

Each middle school unit from The Story of Movies curriculum has four interrelated components:
A DVD of the selected film for in-depth study. The Film Foundation recommends that all classes view the entire film prior to beginning the teaching unit.
A Teacher’s Guide, featuring lessons with teaching objectives, detailed, step-by-step instructions for presenting each activity, and answer keys. Appendices include chapter tests with answer keys, performance-based assessment activities, and National Film Study Standards. A glossary provides definitions of key terms relative to the study of film. In addition, transparencies for projecting graphic organizers are included.
A Student Activities Booklet, which includes graphic organizers, Screening Sheets to be used while viewing the film clips, and reading, writing, visual-thinking, and group activities sheets.
A DVD that includes selected film clips or segments, most of which have a running time of 3 minutes or less. Also included on the DVD are movie stills and photographs.

The Teacher’s Guides and Student Activities Booklets can be downloaded in their entirety by clicking on the film titles on the right side of your screen.

The DVDs needed for the lesson plans must be obtained through The Film Foundation. There is no charge for the DVD materials that accompany this teaching unit. Click here to order a copy.

Abobe's Revised Digital Video Curriculum - Free

Adobe has released a revised version of their Digital Video: Foundations of Video Design and Production. It is updated for CS4.

The Digital Video project-based curriculum develops career and communication skills in video production, using Adobe tools. You can use the Digital Video curriculum in career and technical education courses as well as courses involving video use in academic courses.

You can also still download the CS3 version of the curriculum.

Austin High Video Handouts

Gil Garcia from Austin High teaches a several video classes: CTE Digital Filmmaking
Intro to TV/FILM, Field Production (K-AHS 1) Studio Production (K-AHS 2). On the RTND list, he offered up his lesson on firewire.

It's not enough to say, "everyone listen to me! never plug in a firewire...."

I devote a whole class to firewire and most importantly the dangers of firewire (sounds like a psa). Feel free to download that pdf lesson off my website, www.mrgarcia.org click on the "handouts" section on the left.

You can find a collection of his materials, including the firewire lesson on his Handouts link. You can find an archive of past K-AHS shows.