Smooth and Steady

My Students

Have you ever felt sea sick from the camera movement of amateur video? Help us not make you sick! We know that good video has no camera movement unless it's smooth, steady and intentional! That's why we're asking you to help us get some essential video equipment.

My students are thirteen and fourteen year old film makers in a public middle school in Northern California.

My students make movies that matter. They create public service announcements and documentaries about topics that are important not only to students their ages, but to our community, our nation and our world. They are creative, enthusiastic and excited to have access to a video productions class. My students are fortunate to be part of a school population that is ethnically and socioeconomically diverse because it gives them many opportunities to learn from and about one another. Learning from one another about different cultures, circumstances and situations helps to enrich my students' outlook on their own lives and adds depth and complexity to their movie projects.

My Project

Camera movement while recording is the film makers worst enemy unless it's smooth, controlled and intentional. Currently, my video productions class does not have access to the types of equipment that allow smooth and controlled movement. Because jerky, uncontrolled camera movement ruins video footage, my students are taught not to have camera movement at all while recording. It's been frustrating to tell students that they can't film what they envision because we can't get the camera that high or that they can't include a scene in which the camera slowly pans across the campus because we don't have the proper equipment. Intentional camera movement is a very important element of video composition. We need a quality tripod, slide rails, crane and camera stabilizer to allow students to improve the quality of their video productions work. Having access to equipment that will allow my students to move their camera in a professional manner will provide me with the ability to teach them to achieve new levels of success. To no longer limit student creativity because of a lack of equipment will be liberating for us all!

There isn't enough middle school access to Career Technical Education, CTE and School of Technology, Engineering and Media, STEM courses.

My students are lucky to be among the few in our district to have access to a video productions class. All of the equipment my students use to create, film and edit their video projects has been obtained through donations. We respect what we have by taking great care of our equipment. We hope you will support our efforts to improve the quality of our work.