State Podcasts
After you have finished your script, go back and check it. If you haven't already done so, you should organize your podcast by starting with a "big picture" of your state - a map image is a good idea, and your script should mention important things it shows:
After that, statements in your script should be about other things in the state that apply to the whole state, not just a part of it, such as the state flag, the state bird, and so on. You should be able to use a picture of each of these things you mention. If you talk about the main products of the state, or its geography, or other things it's famous for (in general) just be sure that these are things that can be shown in a picture, and that you include the picture as you speak about it.
Later, you should begin getting more specific about your state, such as talking about specific cities or regions instead of the state as a whole. Make sure you keep your talk focused on things that make your state interesting.
Keep the organization of your podcast clear - Don't include general things about the state when you're talking about a city, and don't include things about a single city when you're talking about the state.
It's important that you always have the right picture showing on the screen when you talk about it, so making yourself a storyboard is a good way to keep things accurately organized. Also, be sure to choose pictures that clearly show the thing you're talking about, that are not copyrighted, and that are in focus.
Once you've written your script and collected your images, you need to record the narration for your podcast. We'll use Audacity to record it and also to edit out the mistakes. Once you've edited the narration down to its best form, you need to Export it to a .wav file. This will be added to the podcast as its soundtrack.
We'll use Movie Maker to combine the pictures and narration into a properly synchronized podcast. You'll need to import your audio narration and your images into Movie Maker, and then drag the audio onto the audio track at the bottom of the page. Make sure this is a .wav file. Play it back in Movie Maker to make sure you can hear it, and Movie Maker recognizes it.
Remember: Save your work OFTEN in Movie Maker. It has a tendency to freeze when you don't want it to, but if you've recently saved, you won't lose too much when it goes bad.
Drag the images to the Storyboard view in the order you want them to appear from your narration (and storyboard). You'll have to switch to the Timeline view to adjust how long the images are shown on the screen while your narration talks about them. Drag the right side of each image clip in the image track to lengthen or shorten that image's time on screen. [Remember: Save OFTEN!]
When you have everything the way you want it, don't forget to add a Title slide at the beginning to introduce your podcast, and add a Credits roll at the end with your name and any reference notes you need to include about the pictures you've used. These don't need to be part of the narration, so you can play these with silence or whatever music you can fit in underneath.
When everything is fully finished, you still have to "render" the video as a final product. All the edits you've made up to this point have been "non-destructive" edits, meaning they're only a collection of pointers to the picture files and sound file, saying when and how long these things appear in your video. When you render your project file, the computer starts copying the actual images and sounds, and sews the parts you've pointed at into a single sequence that will become your final video, which Movie Maker will save as a .wmv file. And that's what you'll share with me.
- where your state is located in the country
- which states are on your state's borders
- locations of important cities
- locations of major physical features (e.g. lakes, rivers, mountain ranges)
After that, statements in your script should be about other things in the state that apply to the whole state, not just a part of it, such as the state flag, the state bird, and so on. You should be able to use a picture of each of these things you mention. If you talk about the main products of the state, or its geography, or other things it's famous for (in general) just be sure that these are things that can be shown in a picture, and that you include the picture as you speak about it.
Later, you should begin getting more specific about your state, such as talking about specific cities or regions instead of the state as a whole. Make sure you keep your talk focused on things that make your state interesting.
Keep the organization of your podcast clear - Don't include general things about the state when you're talking about a city, and don't include things about a single city when you're talking about the state.
It's important that you always have the right picture showing on the screen when you talk about it, so making yourself a storyboard is a good way to keep things accurately organized. Also, be sure to choose pictures that clearly show the thing you're talking about, that are not copyrighted, and that are in focus.
Once you've written your script and collected your images, you need to record the narration for your podcast. We'll use Audacity to record it and also to edit out the mistakes. Once you've edited the narration down to its best form, you need to Export it to a .wav file. This will be added to the podcast as its soundtrack.
We'll use Movie Maker to combine the pictures and narration into a properly synchronized podcast. You'll need to import your audio narration and your images into Movie Maker, and then drag the audio onto the audio track at the bottom of the page. Make sure this is a .wav file. Play it back in Movie Maker to make sure you can hear it, and Movie Maker recognizes it.
Remember: Save your work OFTEN in Movie Maker. It has a tendency to freeze when you don't want it to, but if you've recently saved, you won't lose too much when it goes bad.
Drag the images to the Storyboard view in the order you want them to appear from your narration (and storyboard). You'll have to switch to the Timeline view to adjust how long the images are shown on the screen while your narration talks about them. Drag the right side of each image clip in the image track to lengthen or shorten that image's time on screen. [Remember: Save OFTEN!]
When you have everything the way you want it, don't forget to add a Title slide at the beginning to introduce your podcast, and add a Credits roll at the end with your name and any reference notes you need to include about the pictures you've used. These don't need to be part of the narration, so you can play these with silence or whatever music you can fit in underneath.
When everything is fully finished, you still have to "render" the video as a final product. All the edits you've made up to this point have been "non-destructive" edits, meaning they're only a collection of pointers to the picture files and sound file, saying when and how long these things appear in your video. When you render your project file, the computer starts copying the actual images and sounds, and sews the parts you've pointed at into a single sequence that will become your final video, which Movie Maker will save as a .wmv file. And that's what you'll share with me.
