Project - Biography

This project may be completed by the following students:

1st Year Media Arts Majors.

2nd Year Media Arts Majors.

3rd Year Media Arts Majors.

Technology Concepts Students.

---

Directions

1. Pre-Production

   1. Select and research a historical figure. You are encouraged but not required to have this project align with a similar assignment from another class.
      1. While not the "end-all-be-all," wikipedia.org articles have a wide variety of citations at the bottom of every half-decent article. This is a good starting point, but you'll need at least three different sources of relevant information.
      2. Likewise, Wikimedia Commons is a good source for images of historic people licensed for reuse.
   2. Collect at least 10 facts about your chosen person and list them in alphabetical order.
   3. Biographies are more than just lists of facts, however. Use these facts as a starting point to create a script for a short (3-5 minutes) video that gives a brief overview of the roles and responsibilities of the career you selected.
      1. Time yourself as you read your script out loud.
         1. If it takes less than 3:30 to read it, you should add more content. (RELEVANT CONTENT, not filler, digressions, or a plan to just read more slowly with 2 minutes of credits.)
         2. If it takes you more than 4:30 to read it, you should cut parts of it out so you have time to add a title and credits.
   4. Get your script approved by the Media Arts teacher. They may have advice to make the recording/editing process easier.

2. Production

   1. You will likely be able to record your entire script as a voice-over. Check to see if your Media Arts teacher has a higher quality mic than what is built into your ChromeBook.

3. Post-Production

   1. Open your recording in a video editor. Look for anything that should be removed to improve the quality of the video.
      1. Long pauses
      2. Misspoken words
      3. "um," "er," "well," etc.
   2. Add thematically appropriate background music.
   3. Add appropriate b-roll.
      1. This will most likely be still images (Make sure you have permissions and citations!) as opposed to video, but it should ALWAYS relate to the dialogue.
      2. There is a temptation to only include text on the screen. This makes the video less interesting visually and thus should be avoided.
   4. Be sure to use credits at the end of your video to give thanks to anyone who helps you create it.
      1. This includes YOU! YOUR NAME should be in the credits!
      2. This includes ALL CITATIONS for work not created by you!
         1. If your teacher cannot quickly and easily find the media you added using your citation as a guide, you will not get credit for your citations.
         2. This is easy to do, but being too lazy to do it WILL cost you 25% of your grade.
   5. Export your completed video and upload it with a copy of your approved script.

---

---

Rubric

• 25% Evidence of planning (script and/or storyboard) is included with the project.
• 25% Video is 3-5 minutes total run time (TRT)
• 25% Video contains at least 10 facts about an historically important person provided an a narrative format (as opposed to a list format).
• 25% Citations for all content not owned by the student are included in the credits, including the media name, creator's name (if known), and where the media is from. (Remember, Pintrest and TikTok don't give permission for reuse elsewhere. Google is a search engine, not a citable source.)

Standards

• Anchor Standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work
  • I:6-8:1: Organize, design, propose, and evaluate artistic ideas, models, prototypes, and production processes for media arts productions.
  • E:6-8:1: Refine brainstormed ideas into a production plan.
• Anchor Standard 10: Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art.
  • I:6-8:1: Evaluate and use personal, cultural, and/or external resources to create media artworks.
  • E:6-8:1: Make judgments and decisions on which resources (personal, cultural, and/or external) will be
    used to create media products.

Resources

• wikipedia.org - While not the definitive source, this is a good starting point for finding additional references.
• OpenClipArt.org (Vector graphics!)
• Pics4Learning (Mostly photos, free for education projects only.)
• Wikimedia Commons (All kinds of media: Images, audio, and even video!)
• MP3 Downloads from FouloisTech.info, including citations.
• AudionautiX (Creative Commons Attribution licensed music.)

---