For my learning project I decided to try out the FilmMaker app which at first I was hesitant to use as I am not that good at technology but I found it really fun. I found it very tricky and a bit frustrating for me to use and figure out. Using my learning project and taking snapshots of how to use the app was okay until I had to showcase the steps. I just want to mention that I may use it for my learning process however, that depends on if it works out for my interest of this course. Originally I was going to go with iMovie but I decided to go with FilmMaker. I chose this app because watching a short video on YouTube and found it fairly easy to add videos, edit pictures and so I decided to get it which it is free but if you want the full package deal with all the kinks then you can pay but for me since it is just using the basics to document my progress then i am staying with the free version.

The App has 7 menus; basic editing, intro & animated text, stunning effects, speed & filter, picture in picture, green screen, and music & sound options. For this blog post i am only going to show the first menu just as an demonstration but i am going to add a video of my overall experience with the app which may not be great however, i am still learning

For this option you can zoom the timeline for a better editing where you would pinch with you two fingers to zoom in and zoom out in the timeline icon so that you can edit more precisely as to how long you want you video or photo to show before transitioning onto the next.

In this last option for basic editing icon, this option you can adjust you video or photo sequence, the idea is to press your picture and hold the clip you want to swap and drag it to swap among pictures so rearrange then in the order you want.

After importing the tutorial pictures I made a little demonstration with FilmMaker and later I imported my media of making my little tutorial of my earrings that I posted in in my blog of Post 3 and clicked on the ones i wanted to use for making a short video. I trimmed, added different transitions to make it a little bit more interesting.

For this post I will add both my short tutorial and my clip of my progress that I did so far in my learning project. I still have a long way to go to learning how to make different shapes, designs and characters for my earring however I am still in the learning phase and soon will get to where I like to make more beautiful Delica brick stitch earrings. After learning the basics and watch clips on how to create amazing videos with FilmMaker, it kind of got easy but I still find it challenging and will continue to use this app so I can get better.

The Classroom: This app can be useful for the classroom with teacher permission and from the principle and teacher guidance, it can enhance literacy skills through digital video production where students can create their presentations. Students routinely interact with complex forms of online and digital media. Increasingly, teachers are being asked to address an ever-broader notion of literacy – one that includes new forms of digital literacy, related to the multimedia technologies students routinely interact with (e.g., blogs, wikis1 and social networking websites, apps). How can teachers integrate digital literacy with the curriculum which underscores the importance of traditional forms of print and oral literacy? Student-created videos are one possibility that affords an opportunity to integrate print, oral, and digital literacies
into a compelling curriculum unit.

In summary: Incorporating student-created video production into the curriculum and classroom not only broadens the notion of what constitutes “literacy” and “texts” in the classroom but also serves to reinforce traditional forms of literacy through the creation of storyboards, scripts, and other print works and through apps such like this one (FilmMaker). Furthermore, the opportunity to create their own videos may generate genuine enthusiasm for learning on the part of students. Students retained a high degree of ownership, not only of the video production process, but also of the personally meaningful stories the students can create through video.