Thursday, November 19, 2009

Free Green Screen Plates

Hollywood Camera Work has generously made available some green screen and VFX footage that students can practice with.

They allow you to download clips .
  • Green Screen Plates
  • Tracking Plates
  • Matchmoving Supplies
  • Scripts / Blocking Diagrams
  • Blocking Template
  • Virtual Dolly / Crane For Maya

YOU MAY: Use the clips to make instructional videos or teach a class, as long as you mention us. You may even include a few original clips with our permission.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Creative Commons - Legal Music for Videos

The Creative Commons website has a page about using music legally in video projects.


Can I use any song with a CC license on it?

Almost — you need to make sure that what you want to do with the music is OK under the terms of the particular Creative Commons license it’s under. CC-licensed music isn’t free for all uses, only some — so make sure to check out the terms (you can find these by clicking on each song’s license icon).

Most importantly, you need to use music that is not licensed under a No Derivative Works license. This means that the musician doesn’t want you to change, transform, or make a derivative work using their music. Under CC licenses, synching the music to images amounts to transforming the music, so you can’t legally use a song under a CC No Derivative Works license in your video.

Also, make sure to properly credit the musician and the track, as well as express the CC license the track is under. For example, you might include text like this at the end of your video:

This video features the song “Desaprendere (Treatment)” by fourstones, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Free Music Archive.org

Freemusicarchive.org is a place to find music for student video projects under Creative Commons and other license agreements.
Are you a podcaster looking for pod-safe audio? A radio or video producer searching for instrumental bed music that won't put your audience to sleep? A remix artist looking for pre-cleared samples? Or are you simply looking for some new sounds to add to your next playlist? The Free Music Archive is a resource for all that and more, and unlike other websites, all of the audio has been hand-picked by established audio curators.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

SEVA Training - Effective PSA PowerPoint

On October 17, I gave a presentation on Creating Effective Public Service Announcements for SECC's SEVA Teacher Training Day. You can download a copy of my PowerPoint at the link below.

With some slight modifications, you can use it to make a presentation to students.

PSA PowerPoint

Friday, October 9, 2009

Video Made on a Mac - Calibrate a Monitor - Free tutorials

Peachpit Press is posting podcast from the authors of a book titled, Video Made on a Mac. There are several, including one on how to calibrate a monitor:


Richard Harrington and Robbie Carman show you how to create professional video on the Mac. In this series, they share videos and project files using real world examples in Final Cut Studio and Adobe Creative Suite. From pre-production to post, and accomplishing it all within a tight schedule, this podcast series gives you a sample of what you can learn using their book, Video Made on the a Mac.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Got Milk? Contest and Video Features

The Got Milk? ad campaign is working with Scholastic by hosting a video contest for California public high school students. The goal is to recreate scenes from the 20 minute short film White Gold Rock Opera: Battle for Milkquarious.

The video on the website defaults to the Standard Mode, but if you select the Competition Mode you can access several "extra features." These include interviews with the producer, cinematographer, production designer, costume designer, and editor.

The White Gold Rock Opera Video Contest (“Contest”) encourages public high school students between the ages of 14-18, in the state of California, to develop the most creative video recreating a got milk? scene as presented by the Sponsor. Ten (10) Finalists' videos will be posted online for the general public to vote for their favorite. Cash prizes will be awarded to winners' schools to be used towards enhancing the schools' arts education programs.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Moxie - Music/Videos for Airplay - Free

Moxie is a free service that will send CDs to student publications and radio stations. For TV, current videos are sent for broadcast use.
MOXIE provides free record service to high school student organizations that are interested in using music as part of what they do. We primarily work with high school newspapers, radio/TV stations, and Student Government/ASBs. CDS, videos and other materials (stickers, bios, photos, etc) are sent to you and you decide if you want to review/write about it in your school paper, give it airplay on your radio station, show the video as part of your broadcast, or play the music at school dances and events. In addition, we also do ad campaigns, run contests, set up interviews with artists, provide tickets for you to review concerts, and bring artists to play at/visit schools.