Date of Award

2006

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Communications with Emphasis in Digital Media Production

First Advisor

Michael Castro

Second Advisor

Peter Carlos

Abstract

Educational videos have the tendency to be sterile, uninteresting productions that fail in their attempts to stimulate knowledge in young minds because they themselves are not stimulating. The focus of this culminating project is the production of an effective educational video for middle and high school science students. This work will also provide a process analysis text discussing the production process and providing statistical evidence supporting the effectiveness of the video production.

Discussing the topic of Archimedes' principle of floatation, this educational science video gives an energetic look at why some things float while other things sink. This topic can be deceivingly difficult and complex to beginning physics students and therefore was worthy of a thorough investigation with emphasis on building a good foundation of required concepts.

This video project and the process analysis developed here are divided into the stages of pre-production, production, post-production and analysis. Creating outlines, scripts and cartoon characters are among the many things that go into the preproduction stage. Also included in this planning would be creating a shot-list of images to record or generate in the computer. Pre-production includes setting up and preparing for interviews that will enhance the topic and not be redundant. Many hours spent in the planning stages will allow for a smooth production.

Production refers to the recording of audio and video for use in the project. Setting up special effects shots and generating graphics in the computer are among the many tasks of production. This stage also conducts the planned interviews and experiences the decision making that must occur when all does not go as planned.

Post-production includes the art of editing all of the hours of recorded footage into a cohesive project that fulfills the intended purpose. Deciding what stays and what goes is a key component of this stage.

Analysis of the project requires personal reflection of the director as well as information gathering from the intended audience.

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