‘La Lang (Just for the heck of it)

Context
In an evening, at the request of their parents, show a handful of already computer-savy Filipino kids aged 9-16 a couple digital tools on the computer and the internet that they may have never thought of or are curious enough to ask about.

These two are non-linear digital video editing for the first time.
Premise
The computer is just one of many tools that can help us learn, accomplish tasks and have fun. The project will use a variety of both traditional and digital tools to accomplish a goal.

The set.
Project
The kids will plan, create and publish a video on the internet. The video will show each kid playing an English word association game that they make up on the spot. Each word must then be illustrated with an image they must collect using a search engine. Every aspect of the project will be coordinated and created by the kids. I answered questions and helped them troubleshoot any technical problems.

I was pretty much just a spectator who got to walk around and goof off. Photo by Jamie.
Tools
Markers and paper, some bed sheets, two cheap digital cameras, a couple of computers (a Mac and PC), an internet connection, Google, Flickr, Wikipedia and YouTube.

While one half was starting the first edits the others were Googling for images on the second laptop, saving to a designated folder and swapping them over to the editors via USB stick. They were also playing Maple Story.
Result
‘La Lang (Just for the heck of it)

Or download the original QuickTime la-lang.mov [2:39, 12.6MB]
Some final notes:

• At one point one of the kids pulled out his PSP and a USB cable in order to transfer some mp3s to edit into the video.
• In between tweaking volume levels, deciding where to trim a clip in iMovie, running around taking pictures and asking how they can record Harry Potter clips from YouTube to their harddrives, the kids were also Googling for funny pictures of dogs and playing multi-player strategy games online while telling me stories about famous Filipino martyrs.
• While the multitasking is great, you also got to keep clapping the project along at a rapid pace before it becomes tedious
• Have supplies ready and have back-up plans (I got the sheets and extra batteries for the camera, and had an extra camera on duty and even an extra laptop…Murphy’s Law
• I didn’t have to do much, let them have their space and they’ll fill it up no problem
• It took them about one minute to get used to using a Mac (their first time with OSX, too). The OSX effects they couldn’t get enough of are minimizing windows (zwooom) and deleting clips in iMovie (poof).