Video; Pictures that move or are made to move. Whatever you call it; Movies, motion pictures (isn’t that pictures in motion?), moving pictures…whatever, video is the core of Industrial Strength Learning. An eLearning video or motion graphics segment needs to capture the imagination and eyes of its audience. Quality storytelling and visual thought are what make great eLearning. And it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Our secret sauce includes great thinking, sometimes a bit off kilter, and great writing and execution. Writing great eLearning isn’t easy. There are subjects to study, SMEs to interview, then a lot of creative elbow grease to get the information to the place so we get to do the fun stuff, which is actually making the project.
How we do it
Sometimes we use our cameras to capture live video. Sometimes we use photographs, move them or deconstruct them and put them back together again in compositing software. Sometimes we create montages of photos. This kind of animation can bring life to a story…any story, even if the learning goals might not seem exciting. Learning adults remember training when presented with good stories. Video has the power to make anything into a story. Just ask us how.
Great eLearning Video isn’t an Accident
We like to think every project we do makes great learning. Great learning is only great if evaluations are good after 6 months. Then you’ve made something great. The hard work that goes into a video; The ideas and concepts before anything is put on ‘paper,’ writing the script, finding the actor(s), scouting locations if a live shoot or research into images for the project. Then there’s shooting the video or assembling the assets (pictures, sound effects (SFX), audio if it’s a voice over, pictures, video snippets from outside the live shoot, etc. Then it all gets sliced and diced in the editor or compositor and titles or some effects are added, the sound track is built with all the sounds to create a sonic environment. And after all the hard work we all put into it, you end up with a product that you can be proud of. The added benefit is it helps people learn what they need to do their jobs and helps them remember what they need to remember.
Some Examples
University of Michigan–Depression Center Cancer
This was a long form documentary style project. In this example, we needed to make a video cancer patients could relate to. That’s what we did. When first diagnosed with cancer, people told us time and again their brains just wouldn’t shut off. It filled their heads up with white noise. So we created a feature that is filled with white noise. People and families with cancer know what this is about. If you or any close relative hasn’t had cancer or faced the disease, it’s a little noisy.
Carlito the Crew Leader-Episode 2
As the Python would say; “And now for something completely different.” And it is as different as can be then the video above. First, it’s not video, it’s a photographic animation…Photeo or whatever you want to call it. Second, it’s a meta of the lesson. Carlito was a character invented because a group of learners were not prone to be good students. And the learning was developed to show the consequences of not paying attention in class. In this episode, Carlito is faced with dilemmas each week that would be easy to solve, if only he had listened in class.