I recently started teaching videography lessons to one of my classes using diagrams and tutorials pulled from several places on the web. To give the students firsthand experience, I tasked them to work in groups to develop an idea for a short video to pitch to the group, followed by storyboarding, shooting, and editing the video. The students use a template created in Inspiration to storyboard the scenes and write their scripts using the note tool. The early lessons on lighting, audio, camera angles, etc., usually don’t sink in until the student groups shoot their two-minute videos and show them to their classmates. With their constructive criticism, their peers help those early lessons sink in.

Once we move into students creating videos for their subject area assessment projects, I plan on having several copies of The Guerrilla Guide To Moviemaking handy for students to review the basics while advancing their skills.

As someone who teaches video to elementary and older students, I especially like the way Rick illustrates his book using cartoons, which connects to students as visual learners. His step-by-step procedures provide his readers with a very understandable pathway to shoot a school video project while offering tips for students who want to expand their videography techniques.