49 Video Editing to Remix Films

ANDY HORBAL / HEAD OF LEARNING COMMONS

University of Maryland Libraries

LEALIN QUEEN / PRODUCTION SPECIALIST

University of Maryland Libraries

Type of Library Best Suited for: Any

Cost Estimate: $0–$2,500 (depending on whether or not you choose to purchase film editing software and/or computers)

Makerspace Necessary? No

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

More and more teachers are turning away from traditional paper-writing assignments and are embracing audiovisual projects as an ideal way to accommodate different learning styles, foster deeper engagement with course content, and inspire students to unleash their full creative potential. Often, though, these teachers don’t know where to turn for help when instructing their students in the basic film editing skills they need to be successful. This creates a golden opportunity for library makerspaces to step in and save the day!

In 2013, staff in the University of Maryland Libraries’ Library Media Services Department created an “8-second video essay” activity as a quick, efficient way to introduce students in the Film Studies Program to basic film editing concepts that they could use to complete video production assignments. Over the years, this activity evolved into a movie remix activity that could easily be adapted into school and public library environments as a library instruction session for a class working on a specific assignment, or as a training session for “walk-ins” into a library makerspace that offers audio and video post-production software.

This activity is designed to help librarians support students working on audiovisual projects, regardless of how much experience they have in this area. Because it assumes no prior knowledge, it is an effective introduction to film editing for students who have never done it before, but it’s also open-ended enough to ensure that more advanced students don’t get bored.

OVERVIEW

This project was designed to be utilized in “one-shot” library instruction sessions of varying lengths, but it works best when students have at least an hour to work on their project, and the project ideally would be split into two sessions. Students begin by analyzing a film scene, then receive a crash course introduction to a video editing program like Adobe Premiere, iMovie, or Windows Movie Maker. After viewing an example movie “remix,” students create a remix of their own using clips from the film they analyzed at the beginning of the session. The session ends with a “film festival” consisting of everyone’s remixes. Students can work individually if enough computers equipped with video editing software are available, but we prefer to split classes into groups of 3–5 students. If working in groups, it can be helpful to survey the class about their level of film editing experience so that more advanced students can be evenly distributed.

MATERIALS LIST

◦ Set of film clips legally obtained from the Internet or a DVD/Blu-Ray. We typically use the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho.

NECESSARY EQUIPMENT

◦ Video editing software. We typically use Adobe Premiere, but we have also worked with iMovie and Final Cut X. You should use whatever software you’re most comfortable with.
◦ Computer workstations able to run the software.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

1. Begin by showing students a scene from the movie that they’ll be working with: you should discuss its meaning and break it down shot by shot so that students can see what editing techniques have been used. When we first created this activity, we used scenes from the 1940 Howard Hawks film His Girl Friday, which is in the public domain and freely available for download from the Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/HisGirlFriday-1940), but we later switched to the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho because it utilizes editing techniques that are easy to explain and demonstrate. Any film that the instructor is familiar with would work, though. Be sure to highlight any specific techniques that you would like the students to incorporate into their projects.
Next, introduce the video editing software that the students will be using, concentrating on features directly relevant to the activity to avoid overwhelming them with too much information. We typically work with Adobe Premiere and discuss the following topics:
- — Basic video editing terms that we’ll be using, such as assets (all media files which will appear in the project, including image, video, and audio files) and B-roll (supplemental footage like still images or landscape shots)
- — The basic layout of Adobe Premiere, including the tools panel (where students will select which editing tools to use), the timeline panel (where all the actual editing takes place), and the program monitor (where media from the timeline can be previewed)
- — How to add audio such as music, ambient noise, and voice-over tracks to a project
- — How to add titles to a project
  It is important to keep this portion of the activity as brief as possible in order to allow plenty of time for the students to gain hands-on editing experience. Tutorials for most film editing programs can be found on Lynda.com, the manufacturer’s website, and elsewhere on the Internet.

2. Introduce the remixing activity. You can either pre-populate the computer workstations that the students will be using with film clips, or show them how to either rip them from a DVD or Blu-Ray or download them from the Internet (being sure to explain how this is in compliance with the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law or the equivalent local exemption) themselves. Explain that their task is to make a remix of their own by rearranging the clips and/or adding new material so that it tells a different story. You should show the students at least one example of a remix: movie trailer remixes like Shining (https://youtu.be/sfout_rgPSA) make effective examples, or you can create one yourself that models what you want the students to do. The final product should:
- — Consist primarily of clips from the example film
- — Be at least thirty seconds long
- — Include a title card with all group members’ names
- — Include a title card citing the example film and any other works used to create the remix
  Students should be given as much time as possible to work on their projects. This portion of the activity could also be completed outside of class as a homework assignment, or in a second workshop or instruction session. Near the end of the allotted time, show each group how to export their finished remix into an appropriate file format; if the students will be working on their remixes at home, then this would obviously need to be covered earlier in the session.
- — Conclude the activity with a “film festival,” in which each group screens their remix for the others. In addition to being fun and interactive, this also exposes the students to new ideas and techniques that they might not have tried in their own group.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

◦ Students learn how to analyze a film scene.
◦ Students learn how to use a video editing program like Adobe Premiere, iMovie, or Windows Movie Maker.
◦ Students learn basic principles of film editing.
◦ Students learn about intellectual property concerns related to using audiovisual materials created by others.

RECOMMENDED NEXT PROJECTS

We generally use this activity in conjunction with video production assignments that we design in collaboration with the students’ professor, but it would also be an ideal way to prepare people to enter a local film festival. In either case, the “Storyboarding to Create Films without Celluloid” project in this section, which teaches students pre-production skills that they need to prepare for a film shoot, would be a great companion to it!