12 replies to this topic

[skratchmasta]

Of course with the normal version of moviestorm, there are a number of ready made 'stock' sets and movies to get new users up and running quickly. Of course this idea is a much better one for education as its a great platform to release popular lesson plans and ideas.
As I will be creating most of the content here in the office I would like anyone who has or would like to use moviestorm in an educational environment to post their ideas, what they did or are doing. With the collaboration of the teachers or students I really feel we can unlock the full potential of moviestorm in education.

For example. I did a workshop in moviestorm with some media students at a local college a few weeks ago and the teacher there had a great idea of building a movie and leaving certain stages blank. Such as an exercise in camera work by creating a set, characters and all direction and the students job is to film it by creating the camera shots.

Attached is a few stock set ideas (classrooms), an idea for a basic arithmetic movie using the numbers in the Funland pack. Also a movie idea for ordering in a restaurant for a foreign languages exercise.

Attached Files

•  high_school_classroom.JPG   229.02KB   41 downloads
•  Preschool_classroom.JPG   210.89KB   30 downloads
•  arithmetic.JPG   105.3KB   26 downloads
•  Foreign_languages___resteraunt_01.JPG   64.7KB   25 downloads
•  Foreign_languages___resteraunt_02.JPG   85.78KB   29 downloads

[bchtchr6]

I love the classroom set. Would it be possible to have someone write on the board?

[squirrelygirl]

I'm not a teacher, but I do have three school age kids and I wanted to pass on some ideas. Hope that's okay. First, you might want to consider making some cafeteria benches. I live in the U.S. and every school cafeteria I've seen from grade school through highschool look similar these:




Also, the Drama department might find Moviestorm useful for planning out stage plays. So, a school gym with a stage might be useful. So, something like this:



Just some ideas. Please, feel free to disregard them.

[lucindamc123]

Great ideas and sets. I am going to contribute to my daughter's school when they get Moviestorm installed. I plan to give them all my addons especially all the new Fantasy ones I am doing with the characters from Wonder Boy because I believe a lot of the kids would want to make films like their games plus when they are studying history, they will be able to use Chris Ollis's costumes and horses and the castle which I plan to buy for the school.

Are you maybe also going to do a new Policeman addon that doesn't have guns or shooting because I know they won't wnat that at schools but they do want information about police and how the police can help children. The election addon will be great too and I plan to buy that for the school also.

[boxrocks]

Being a middle school student, I love your ideas SQ! Thats pretty much spot on! Here's my idea, now brace yourself this is a REALLY big one! The idea is to make different size characters instead of those that are made in moviestorm. Such as basic grade school, middle school, and high school heights. (Though high school is pretty much same as adult, disregard that one ) Now I have read threads about why this is very hard to do. But how about making basic animations for things like that? Such as sitting, writing, walking, the average students actions. I know this is and will be very hard to accomplish, so I'm not expecting anything. Just saying.

[willshetterly]

Being a middle school student, I love your ideas SQ! Thats pretty much spot on! Here's my idea, now brace yourself this is a REALLY big one! The idea is to make different size characters instead of those that are made in moviestorm. Such as basic grade school, middle school, and high school heights. (Though high school is pretty much same as adult, disregard that one ) Now I have read threads about why this is very hard to do. But how about making basic animations for things like that? Such as sitting, writing, walking, the average students actions. I know this is and will be very hard to accomplish, so I'm not expecting anything. Just saying.

I would be delighted to have child actors whose initial animations and costumes were more limited than those of adults.

[skratchmasta]

Great ideas guys keep them coming, thanks. love the ideas of a cafeteria and a sports hall. Thanks SG.

I love the classroom set. Would it be possible to have someone write on the board?

Yes this is possible with the interactive white board. There is an animation to pick up the pen and write on the board along with other various animations that will be released with the education assets.

The idea is to make different size characters instead of those that are made in moviestorm

As much as we agree and would like to see this its a long way off if at all. Its not a matter of being hard that gets in our way. Its simply the matter of time and money. We would have to build not only the characters, animations, costumes but a hell of a lot of code development not to mention UI. Its not impossible, just not possible with our current resources I'm afraid. It would be almost like building everything in moviestorm all over again.

Thanks for the feedback guys!

[lucindamc123]

Just today I was able to make the animated prop characters I am creating to have lip movement so with the variety of animations I am creating for the children I already created, there will be children who will also be able to have lip movement, facial and head gestures to have lip sync. You will have to create the lip sync by using the different variations of facial and lip movement I am creating for them. I will also create more costumes for them so they can also have school uniforms and more variety of faces, hair and skin textures too so that will help out with having children for the school assets and these will be free as all my addons are.

[boxrocks]

Just today I was able to make the animated prop characters I am creating to have lip movement so with the variety of animations I am creating for the children I already created, there will be children who will also be able to have lip movement, facial and head gestures to have lip sync. You will have to create the lip sync by using the different variations of facial and lip movement I am creating for them. I will also create more costumes for them so they can also have school uniforms and more variety of faces, hair and skin textures too so that will help out with having children for the school assets and these will be free as all my addons are.

Sounds good!

[JMZ]

I'm using Moviestorm in an experimental course where students write, direct and edit their own short films. We're partnering with faculty within and outside our department so in addition to learning the program, students also study cinematography, editing principles, elements of genre, movement and some of the issues in writing for animation versus live action.

It's been interesting these last few months and we've hit a few bumps in the road but the students really are working very hard. And I think we'll have some nice finished pieces. We're also keeping a list of things the students liked about Moviestorm as well as a "wishlist" of features for the future.

If we can get our screening scheduled, I'm hoping to stream it online. But with the cuts to education here, it might not be something we can afford. I'll post here or send Matt an announcement for the MS News page (if not both...) if it can be worked out.

And later this summer I'll be using the program in a more presentational method. I'm teaching our basic film production class and the assets in Moviestorm are perfect for illustrating basic camera angles, the Rule of Thirds, the 180 Line (aka Axis of Action) and Depth of field. I can also use it augment lectures on lighting and composition.

[skratchmasta]

Hi JMZ,

Its great to see examples of Moviestorm being used to teach media and film. I cant wait to view some of the work that the students come up with. I'm also really interested in seeing a list of feedback from the students for improvements to the software. Thats an excellent idea as it will give us some very valuable new user issues that we could use before releasing 1.4.2.

Please keep us updated on how things are progressing and if you should require any assistance. Also If you would like to see any ready made templates that we could make that would be helpful to you then by all means let us know as your influence could be of assistance to all of the media teachers using Moviestorm. For example, I could create a set with two characters interacting or talking which anyone could use to demonstrate depth of field, the 180 line, camera shots, lighting etc. Would this be of any help?

Kind Regards,
Alex

[JMZ]

Hi JMZ,

Its great to see examples of Moviestorm being used to teach media and film. I cant wait to view some of the work that the students come up with. I'm also really interested in seeing a list of feedback from the students for improvements to the software. Thats an excellent idea as it will give us some very valuable new user issues that we could use before releasing 1.4.2.

Please keep us updated on how things are progressing and if you should require any assistance. Also If you would like to see any ready made templates that we could make that would be helpful to you then by all means let us know as your influence could be of assistance to all of the media teachers using Moviestorm. For example, I could create a set with two characters interacting or talking which anyone could use to demonstrate depth of field, the 180 line, camera shots, lighting etc. Would this be of any help?

Kind Regards,
Alex

Alex,

The class is compiling a list of things they like and things they didn't like quite as much. They're a very diverse group. We have filmmakers, editors, writers, musicians and a couple of very competent animators. So you should get lots of feedback. They aren't very...well...diplomatic, so they will likely be very up front about the issues they had. But they're enjoying the work.

Oh, and if you're offering, a template with two characters talking would be great. I realize it's likely something I could easily create but if there was a way to have a representative 180 line it would help tremendously. I'll look over my notes for the Introduction to Film Production class over the summer and see exactly what might be of use.

I'm going to try my hand at some basic layouts for lighting (key, fill, back, kicker, background...) along with high-key and low-key effects just to see how well I do. But I'm sure you could do it so much faster.

[skratchmasta]

Hi JMZ,

That will be extremely helpful at this point as were currently focusing on development of the new version (1.4.2) So its a great time to get some user feedback in a completely organic environment. So we may even be able to add some of your suggestions into it. We very much value the opinions of our users. Theres no room for diplomacy in quality assurance, being critical is what creates great software so honesty is of upmost importance.

As for a template, I'm currently really busy creating academy recourses but it should take me very long to knock something up. Ill post it and e-mail you the movie file once I have something solid.

Those layouts sound like a great idea, please keep me posted on developments, attach some screenshots. If you upload an example movie to this site then you can embed it to a post using this line:

CODE

[moviestorm]Vid_id[/moviestorm]

Simply replace the 'Vid_id' with the number at the end of the URL address of your movie. I'm very interested in what you come up with as we will eventually put them up on the academy to inspire other media teachers like yourself. Of course we will credit you

Kind Regards,
Alex