The School Video Yearbook

Today was spent in an area school where we discussed creating a video yearbook for the senior class. Actually, we're a little late in the school year to discuss planning, because some events like Homecoming have already happened. But better late than never.

Our plan for a video yearbook is to create chapters, much like those in a print yearbook. The video yearbook is meant to supplement rather than to replace the printed version, but some of the content is similar. Here is an example of chapters you could use in a video yearbook:

Example #1
I. Fall Activities
II. Winter Activities
III. Spring Activities

Example #2
I. Sports
II. Music and drama
III. Everyday life
IV. Graduation

Example #3
I. Senior collage part one
II. Football and basketball
III. Senior collage part two
IV. Life in the classroom
V. Senior collage part three
VI. Drama, arts, music
VII. Prom and graduation

Most of my smaller schools like to include a baby picture and senior picture of each graduate. Remember that some local photographers may hold the copyright on senior photos, so be sure to get clearance to use the photos. And in return, it's nice to give a "Special thanks to XYZ Photography of Silver Plume, CO" in your credits.

If each photo is on the screen for five seconds, we know that 12 pictures will take one minute to show. If you have 50 graduates, each showing a baby picture and senior picture, you are looking at 500 seconds, or nearly 8 1/2 minutes of photos. For that reason, we usually break this up into two or three chapters, so viewers don't fall asleep as the video slogs through all the photos.

Once you have decided what chapters you want in your project, you should make a "shot sheet" or "shopping list" of the video clips and/or still photos you want in each chapter. If, for example, you are working on the "Sports" chapter, you would want video or photos of:

Sports
football
Homecoming
basketball (boys and girls)
volleyball
track
cross country, golf, soccer or any additional sports.

You also might want photos of cheerleaders, pep rallies, coaches, cheering crowds, celebration bonfires or "Spirit Week" activities.

You can break this down even farther if your students can visualize what they want to see and hear on the finished video. Such as:

Football:
closeup of foot kicking ball from tee
coin toss
scoreboard showing winning score
cheerleaders
cheering crowd in stadium
two people hugging or cheering after a big win
two people crying, sad or depressed after a big loss
bus pulling into or away from school
coach giving pep talk to the team

You can see that you could easily list every shot you want in a chapter that only runs three minutes. This shot sheet is much like a shopping list. Much like you go to the store and buy milk, eggs or macaroni, you are taking your camera and obtaining video clips of "coin toss," "scoreboard" or "kickoff." Using this method, you don't shoot 10 hours of footage hoping to get four or five nice 10 second video clips.

Here is the list of steps I give students when planning their video yearbook.

1. Make an outline of “chapters” you want in your yearbook.

2. Write down the specific video clips, still photos, sound bites or interviews you want for each chapter.

3. Assign someone to videotape events you want on tape (Homecoming, Class Play, etc) Have shots of as many different students as possible, not just your friends

4. Obtain permission to use any copyrighted music.

5. Gather all still photos needed. Carefully label them so that they can be returned to owners.

6. Log tapes so you know what clips are on each tape.

7. Put still photos in the order you plan to use them in the yearbook. A still photo is on the screen for 5 seconds; so it takes one minute to show 12 photos. Make sure you don't want to show 400 photos in 10 minutes.

8. Write down all titles and credits ahead of time. Check the spelling of names.

9. Have your video planned before you come to the Video Suite to edit! Allow enough time to complete the project.

10. Plan enough time for the project.

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