Our latest assignment for Tech Trends was to create a movie using still images found on the web, and to include an audio track. Enter iMovie - this program is terrific. It was so easy to use. I decided to have an autumn theme to my movie - being inspired by the chilly temperatures and leaves falling in my neck of the woods (LI). I found about 20 different beautiful pictures with a fall theme and saved them to my desktop, later transferring them to iPhoto. I selected a recording of a piece by a nordic composer Erna Tauro, entitled Autumn Song. I used wiretap to record it from the Naxos site and then I edited the length that I wanted through Audacity. I transferred it to iTunes and was ready to combine it with the images in iMovie. I enjoyed working with the images and I tried to use different timing for each clip, as well as different angles of zooming in. I really was able to work with the audio track to see where timing and images felt right. I loved this assignment.
I can see where this type of knowledge would come in handy with my job. With permission of my students' families, of course, I could take pictures or videotape a performance of the West Side Fiddlers or my chamber orchestra and then compile them into a movie. This could be used for admission to festivals, or simply as a memento of the year. I could also put together a movie of pictures from the year and then have my students compose their own audio track to go with the video. Really, there are many possibilities. I am looking forward to developing more ideas about this.
