During this term of the maker, we worked on making videos. We learned about all the different things that go into making a video. We learned how to analyze for different shots, take different types of shots, plan, film, edit, scout locations, and much more. With each video, we learned about different components of video making.

When we were making the four-shot video, we learned how to show as much information as possible using only four shots, we also learned how to use duplicate shots for different shots.

With the ghost town video, we learned how to scout different locations for filming. 

While in Drumheller, our video at the museum taught me how to plan quickly and efficiently.

My Alberta Peoples video was my first real taste of full-fledged research. I researched every location to see which people I could interview, and which questions to ask.

My “Run” video helped me understand how much the little details matter, especially when making a carbon copy.

My Revolution videos taught me how to plan ahead of time for filming. We were given strict timelines and this helped us stay on track and research the Revolutions, and see how we want to plan them out.

My Take your kid to work day video I feel was a mix of everything. I did pre-film planning thinking of questions and such, filming in different locations, and editing.

Overall, each video helped me grow my knowledge of video making in a different way. Each video contributed in a different way to my learning, and overall I grew so much and I am extremely confident I can make a well-rounded video including all the things I learned.

And, I’m going to be completely honest with you. It wasn’t easy. There were constant disagreements between groups that we had to overcome. For example, in the Revolutions videos, we didn’t always agree on things. Whether it was which lines to say and when for the rap video, or whether we wanted to film in the tennis courts, beside them, and much more. Another struggle was with myself, During the Alberta people’s video, I often disagreed with myself. One minute I wanted to use Hawk’s clip first, then 5 minutes later I wanted to use the Lake Minnewanka clip first. I often struggled to stick to one plan because I kept changing my mind. Going through these struggles helped me in the long run with my decision making. I am now better, more decisive, and confident in my idea meaning I won’t have to change it.

There were many competencies I learned throughout this term. Each one teaching me a variety of things.

The first competency is being an Empowered Learner. While making each video I was able to use technology to my advantage to complete my goals. For example, while editing the “Run” video, Noah and I went out to record different sounds. One of these sounds was attaching the microphone to a leaf close to a pipe and getting sounds of rushing water or clipping the mic to the cuff of my pants while running to get a realistic footstep sound.

Another competency is being a knowledge constructor. To find knowledge, and information about the topics I was able to use different sources and see whether they were reliable, and why or why not. A great example of this is studying for revolution videos. In class, we looked at different sources. A website, magazines, textbooks, and videos. For each source, we looked at whether they were reliable for different reasons. They could have been outdated, opinionated, or just flat out wrong.

The Third competency is being an innovative designer. I was able to utilize different technologies to identify problems by creating solutions. This is highly applicable to the videos. Especially in my “Run” video. When we had to get bird sounds, we faced a problem. There were no Copywrite free sounds. ALl websites required a monthly subscription of $5. Then, we tried to go into nature and get original bird sounds. As you can probably tell this was extremely tedious and didn’t work. We barely heard any birds, and when we did the mic could not pick the sounds up. So, we found a solution. We went into the garage band and made bird sounds. I went into the garage band and downloaded the “animal kingdom” pack. After this, I got all sounds that sounded remotely like a bird and made a bird song out of them. In the end, we used this in our final video and it turned out amazing.

The fourth Competency was being a computational thinker. I developed and applied strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technology. A basic example of this was during our Revolution videos. There were certain times where I wasn’t able to explain my idea because I couldn’t find the right words. So, I took out my iPad and drew my idea out. This also helped my group because it gave them a visual description of what I was thinking about.

The last competency was being a creative communicator. I ALWAYS expressed myself clearly and creatively. I used tools, formats, styles and digital media appropriate my goals. I made sure I was present in the group and was always contributing to the discussions and video making. My group members did a good job letting everyone in the group voice their opinion. This, in turn, helped us as a group because it built bonds that would help during filming.

All in all, This term in Maker has been amazing. It did have its ups and downs but overall I really enjoyed it. My favourite video to make was probably the “Take your kid to work day” because I enjoyed using different video styles. 

Each and every video contributed to my growth as a learner. Each video contributed in a certain way and in total all the videos came together taught me a whole term.

Thanks for coming again and I’ll see you next time.