Movie Works, digital stories....

Well the big thing was Movie works. Very impressive program. Looks like it can be anywhere from very simple to very complicated. Frankly, I think he has a replacement for power point. You can do the powerpoint type presentations in it, and you can do very complicated stuff with it. Haven't played with it yet, as am trying to do other homework before I get lost in that program. The one thing power point does that Movie Works doesn't do is allow notes. I suspect before opening the program that there are two ways around that. One is put in a button that will go to a screen with notes. Put the button in the "credits" section or on the last scene. If you don't hit it, you don't go there. Keeps the notes hidden. A second way is to put in a last scene and put notes there. My suspicion is when rendering, you can specify the scenes to render, just leave that one out, and the production movie has no notes, but the original production file has the notes.

The digital story telling looks great. Can have 1st graders put together a story board and then assist them in getting it on the computer. By 5th grade at the latest, can use movie works tutorial to teach them to do every thing from presentations, to reports, and even digital stories. This has GOT to be great for ESL students as they can use voice instead of text. Partner them up with someone and they can add their own text. Burn it all to individual CD's or DVD's and they can show/keep all the stuff for life. Heck, can do a class picture and have everyone add stuff and hand out at the end of the year - instant year book for the class!

The USB port for audio looks like it gets past Hollywood's encryption schema. Very legally too, as ultimately the AV output signal is what the consumer pays for. Where it lands is the consumer's choice. This puts things back in the hands of consumers where it belongs. As 10% of a work is usable for class presentations, I can record two scenes from Saving Private Ryan, and show a class what a "human wave infantry attack" looks like from both sides (Allied rushing the Germans, Germans trying to shoot the Allies), then record a scene from Enemy at the Gates for comparison. And yes, I'm sure I can come up with other side by side comparisons.

My wife and I have a number of documentaries, many of which would put a class to sleep. But with the Movie Works and the USB input, can cut any documentary down to key scenes. Not only that, but in effect can make one's own documentary, specifically tailored to class content and in a fashion to not put a class to sleep. With the possibilities for covering EVERY subject, I think my head is going to pop. Can use to come up with a direct instruction presentation, so if you come up with a great way to demonstrate a concept, can keep it from year to year. If there's a problem with it, can easily modify it and use it the next year.

As for marketing, hmm...... I think he's missing a major point NOT marketing it as a replacement to PowerPoint. If he added a notes section, I can't think of anything that anyone would have left to complain about. IF he added a PowerPoint to AVI or QuickTime converter, I think he would have a legacy component that would make PowerPoint devotee's willing to leave PowerPoint as they wouldn't lose the use of prior work. Additionally, with his Scene format, I can't but think that anyone who learned PowerPoint would be other then comfortable making the switch. I certainly am. I know Bryan is. And judging by the number of programs he sold, the rest of the class looks downright comfortable. I'm curious how many class presentations are going to use Movie Works instead of PowerPoint. I know I'm considering approaching other teachers and asking if I could do Movie Works instead.

The only other thing that PowerPoint has that Movie Works doesn't have is the ability to print up the slides. Though considering what you get, I'm not sure that is necessarily a minus. I've never been that enamored with what PowerPoint prints up. And without further examination of Movieworks, I could be wrong about that. Ah, more to look for.....

On the home front, my father is very much into genealogy, and he has family photos going back to about 1870. I have most of them scanned and sitting on a CD. It would be easy and interesting to go from scan to movie with music. Making one's own family history movie would be interesting. Hmm, have photo's from when Sandra and I went to England for 10 days. Could turn that into a movie rather easily. See, I got to get the rest of my homework done before I load up the program and turn troglodyte...........