Lights! (Digital) Camera! Action!

What exactly is digital video? It's either video that's recorded directly onto digital videotape or analog video (in other words, standard VHS-cassette footage) that's brought into a computer in digital format via a video conversion card. One of the most appealing things about this format is that it's easy to edit. Like a word processor that lets you select and shift an entire paragraph, digital-video-editing software enables users to relocate a scene. And if you discover that you don't like where you've moved it, you can simply delete the scene or return it to its original spot.

There are a lot of cool things that schools are doing with digital-video production. At the Conestoga Middle School in Beaverton, OR, each day begins with a live, student-produced, closed-circuit broadcast featuring the latest school news and current events. The student news anchors arrive early to rehearse the show with classmates who make up the camera and sound crew. About 30 percent of the district's 46 schools offer student-run newscasts, says Scott Hacke, Beaverton School District's media production specialist. Since few staff members have the time to offer digital-video instruction to students, Hacke says the school has been forced to take a "if you know it, you teach it" approach—and that means encouraging tech-savvy kids to share their video skills with their peers.

At Whitford Middle School—also in Beaverton—media specialist Linda Lowell and sixth-grade teacher Jody Reeg run an after-school, video-yearbook program. Reeg helps students narrow down the list of events they want to capture on Whitford's two Sony Hi8 digital camcorders. Lowell shows students how to use Apple's iMovie software.

Lowell has been training kids in digital video since 1997, and she's convinced that iMovie is a great program to teach kids the fundamentals of video editing. Plus, she says that teaching older elementary school and middle school students how to edit a video presentation is terrific training for media literacy. "When kids make a video, they have to think about how to get their message across, how to sequence the story, and how to use music, titles, and camera angles," says Lowell. "It also motivates them to take the initiative and try new things."

Almost every teacher and librarian who uses iMovie raves about it—and the recently released iMovie 3 ($49), which includes new bells and whistles (including the ability to zoom in on photos like documentary-maker Ken Burns) that students will find irresistible. Editing a video using iMovie is a piece of cake. Students just download the unedited digital video from a camera into a Mac (iMovie works only with Macintosh computers), go into "edit mode," select and save video clips, and add photographic images and music. They can also add chapter markers, like those found in commercial DVDs, and burn their own CD copies.

There are, of course, other digital-video programs that are available for Macintosh and Windows computers. Adobe makes two sophisticated video editors, Premiere ($249) and AfterEffects ($299), and Apple also makes a high-end program, FinalCut Pro ($499), but they aren't appropriate for the majority of younger students. Pinnacle Systems's Studio DV ($99) is another inexpensive program many school districts use on their student video-editing stations.

While some districts, like Beaverton, have been using this technology for years, other schools are still getting their feet wet. Joan Marstiller, an information specialist at Franklin Regional Middle School in Murraysville, PA, has had good luck with an after-school video class, teaching eighth graders the fundamentals of filmmaking. But Franklin's program relies on cobbled-together analog-video equipment, and Marstiller would like to launch a more sophisticated digital-video endeavor in the fall. Now, thanks to a generous $100,000 grant from a local supermarket chain, she'll be able to purchase the necessary equipment and expand the program to include sixth and seventh graders.

What sort of equipment should video start-up programs have? Hacke, who has supervised Beaverton's digital-video program for the past eight years, recommends "Canon cameras and Macintosh computers, because they've served me well through many years and many projects." Rather than buying one of Sony's pricey miniDV cameras, he recommends the manufacturer's less-expensive Digital8 camera. (The Sony DCR-TRV33 MiniDV camcorder, for example, lists at $799.99, while the Hi8 CCD-TRV318 lists at $299.99.) "If you go with miniDV, you'll typically get equal or greater value for less money with Canon," adds Hacke. (The Canon ZR40 MiniDV camcorder is $599.) He also recommends purchasing a tripod with dolly wheels to eliminate shaky student-held camera shots. Good sound quality is also essential, but in a noisy school environment camera-mounted microphones are often incapable of picking up students' occasionally soft voices. So Hacke recommends a quick trip to the local Radio Shack, where you'll find a clip-on microphone or an external mic that can be mounted on a stand. And while you're there, pick up a few Velcro straps to bind those dangling microphone and camera cables safely out of harm's way.

Hacke and Lowell have also discovered an unanticipated benefit of digital-video production. Recently, as their district's library programs have faced potential budget cuts, the two educators have banded together with other media specialists to produce a short video presentation called Libraries Are the Heart of the School. They presented a CD of the film to each member of the school board. The video is superbly produced and includes commentary from parents, students, and educators about why school libraries are important. (To view the presentation, go to teach.beavton.k12.or.us/~scott_hacke/media/library.mov; you'll need a QuickTime plug-in to watch it.) It's still too early to tell if the video will help preserve the current library budget (the school budget won't be finalized until later this month), but whatever happens, Hacke says he and his colleagues can't lose: "We still consider ourselves victorious because we're modeling the very tool we use to empower our students."