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Reel in Readers: Connecting Youth to Books through Video

Start:
April 2nd, 2013 9:00 AM
End:
April 29th, 2013 9:00 PM

 

(An Infopeople Online Learning Course)
Tuesday, April 2, 2013 – Monday, April 29, 2013

Fee: $75 for those in the California library community and Infopeople Partners, $150 for all others (about payment)

Course Instructor: Beth Gallaway

Have you ever seen a clever book trailer online, and wondered, “How did they DO that?” In this crash course on video production and digital animation, you will learn how to expand your readers’ advisory services with booktalks and book trailers.

Your library users—children, teens, and even adults―often prefer to get information in a visual format and they enjoy viewing and creating content on the web. This course will help you learn to market your collections online—where your users are, using techniques to which they respond.

During the course you will explore:

  • Software and web applications such as Animoto, Scratch, YouTube, Camtasia, and Windows Movie Maker
  • Pre-production script writing and story-boarding
  • Best practices for short live-action video production

With help from the instructor, you will have the opportunity to produce one digital booktalk or book trailer using any one of the methods introduced in the course. You will also gain the experience and confidence to facilitate workshops for children and teens—even adults!—that enable them to create videos about library materials.

Course Description: This four-week online course will provide an overview of a variety of ways to create digital or animated short films to promote library materials, using software and web applications such as Animoto, Scratch, Windows Movie Maker, FRAPS, and Camtasia. Through hands-on assignments and online help sessions, you will be able to create one or more book trailers marketed to the audience you serve. The instructor will provide samples, resources, best practices, and useful tips and techniques that can be applied immediately.

Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet connection, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and complete the following learning modules:

  • Week 1: Digital Video Production
    • Introduction to digital video production
    • Overview of budget, hardware and software
    • Creative Commons licensing
    • Introduction to Animoto and Windows Photo Story
  • Week 2: Video Booktalks
    • Introduction to video booktalks
    • Setting the scene
    • Public speaking 101
    • Basics of script writing
  • Week 3: Animating with Scratch
    • Introduction to Scratch
    • Machinima
  • Week 4: Live-action Book Trailers
    • Storyboarding techniques
    • Video editing tips and tricks

Time required: To complete this course, you can expect to spend 2½ hours per week, for a total of 10 course hours. Each week's module contains readings and various assignment options, discussions, and online help sessions. You can choose the options most relevant to your interests and experience. Although you can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night, it is recommended that you complete each week's work within that week to stay in sync with other learners.

Who Should Take This Course: Anyone from the library community with an interest in video production for collection promotion. Skills learned in this course will be useful for other video promotions of your library and its services, or tutorials for library staff and users.

Online Learning Details and System Requirements may be found at:
http://infopeople.org/training/online_learning_details.

You will need access to a multimedia computer powerful enough to access the Internet, watch videos on YouTube, and run software such as Scratch; and cable, DSL, or broadband Internet connection.

Please run the newest version of your Internet browser (Internet Explorer 8 or 9, Firefox 18, Google Chrome, or Safari  5 or higher). You must have cookies and JavaScript enabled, as well as Adobe Flash Player (version 10 or greater) installed.

Those who choose to create a video booktalk or live-action video book trailer will need access to video recording equipment. Examples include a modern smartphone that records about ten minutes of video; a FlipVideo camera, a digital camera with at least ten minutes of video recording time, or a digital handheld camcorder.

Those who opt into assignments requiring basic video editing functions will need a computer that will run one or more of these free or trial software packages:

Payment: Your invoice will be emailed to the email address of the person who completed the registration. If that is not the person paying the invoice please forward invoice to the appropriate person. Payment is due within 30 days. If you have any questions about your invoice or payment please contact Gini Ambrosino at [email protected].

Course Start: This 4-week-long online learning course starts on Tuesday, April 2, 2013.

After the official end date for the course, the instructor will be available for limited consultation and support for two more weeks, and the course material will stay up for an additional two weeks after that. These extra weeks give those who have fallen behind time to work independently to complete the course.

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