PROJECT: Summer Exploration Week Lesson Plan: Video Editing Basics

 Summer Exploration Week Lesson Plan: Video Editing Basics

Instructor: Jonathan Furtado
Program: Film/Video Production (SVCTE)
Classroom: Room 104
Project Title: Edit a Story
Total Duration: 5 Days (One Week)
Daily Time: 3 hours per day

Introduction to the Assignment

In this week-long editing intensive, students will learn to craft a simple story using a set of provided video clips. They’ll be introduced to Adobe Premiere Pro and gain hands-on experience with it, as well as key video editing techniques. The goal is to understand basic storytelling through editing by assembling scenes creatively and logically, even when clips are out of order or contain mistakes.

California CTE Arts, Media, and Entertainment Pathway Standards

10.3  Construct projects and products specific to the Arts, Media, and Entertainment sector requirements and expectations.

A2.1  Demonstrate skill in the manipulation of digital imagery (either still or video) in an industry-relevant application.
11.1  Utilize work-based/workplace learning experiences to demonstrate and expand upon knowledge and skills gained during classroom instruction and laboratory practices specific to the Arts, Media, and Entertainment sector program of study. 

Learning Objectives

By the end of this week, students will be able to:

• Navigate Adobe Premiere Pro’s interface
  
  

• Log and label footage effectively
  
  

• Use insert/overwrite edits to build sequences
  
  

• Import/export media properly
  
  

• Construct a short narrative from unordered clips
  
  

• Apply editing decisions that enhance story clarity and creativity
  
  

Materials & Resources

Hardware/Software:

• Classroom Computers with Adobe Premiere Pro installed
  
  

• Headphones
  
  

• Access to Google Drive
  
  

Digital Resources:

• Raw Footage Download Folder: Story Edit Raw Clips

• Raw Footage #2 Download Folder - Beach Day: Beach Day Edit Raw Clips
  
  

• Premiere Pro Walkthrough Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7yehgBr2PU
  
  

• Optional: Music/SFX resource link for bonus sound design work
  
  

File/Folder Structure:

• Student Folder → EditaStory → EditaStoryRaw
  
  

Lesson Plan Schedule

Day 1: Introduction, Setup & Importing Footage

• Overview of the project
  
  

• Folder and file structure setup (create project and raw footage folders)
  
  

• Watch the Premiere Pro walkthrough video as a class
  
  

• Launch Premiere Pro and create a 1280x720 timeline project
  
  

• Save the project in the correct folder structure
  
  

• Practice: Import footage, organize clips, and begin labeling and logging shots
  
  

Day 2: Shot Types, Story Assembly & Rough Sequencing

• Review shot types (wide, medium, close-up, OTS)
  
  

• Identify errors in footage (continuity issues, black frames, bad takes)
  
  

• Finalize labeling and organize timeline bins
  
  

• Discuss basic storytelling and scene arrangement techniques
  
  

• Practice: Begin rough sequencing and experimenting with different clip orders to form a story
  
  

Day 3: Editing Tools, Trimming, & Building the Story

• Demonstrate insert vs. overwrite edits
  
  

• Use razor, ripple delete, and trimming tools
  
  

• Begin building a more polished timeline
  
  

• Practice: Refine story edit, adjust pacing, and lock picture
  
  

• Downloading/importing/editing Music to sequence

Day 4: Final Touches, Export & Showcase

• Add title slate (project name, student name, TRT)
  
  

• Export walkthrough: H.264, 1280x720P, 24fps
  
  

• Final video review and corrections
  
  

• Uploading videos to Youtube
  
  

• Class Showcase: Watch selected projects, give peer/teacher feedback
  
  

Assessment

Criteria	Description
Story Construction	Clear, creative use of footage to build a logical narrative
Technical Quality	No black frames or visible editing errors
Proper Labeling & File Management	Organized folder structure, named project properly
Title & Export Settings	Slate included, correct export resolution and format
Creativity	Thoughtful and imaginative approach to editing choices

Q: What do you like best about teaching at SVCTE?
I love being part of a community where students are excited to explore real-world skills and creative problem-solving. SVCTE provides an environment where students take ownership of their learning.

Q: What do you enjoy most about teaching your CTE pathway?
What I enjoy most is watching students discover their voice through visual storytelling. Video production combines technology, creativity, and collaboration.  It’s interesting to see students realize how powerful editing can be.

Q: What will students learn/work on during the summer program in your classroom?
During the summer, students will learn the fundamentals of video editing using Adobe Premiere Pro. They’ll work on organizing raw footage, crafting a narrative, and exporting a polished final video. It’s a hands-on introduction to editing and digital storytelling.

Q: What is one takeaway that you hope students will gain from your class and CTE pathway?
I hope students walk away with the understanding that editing is not just a technical skill—it’s where the story really comes to life. The ability to think critically and tell a story through visuals will serve them well in any career.

PROJECT: WEBSITE

WEBSITE

Individual Assignments

Your reel will be the ultimate culmination of all of the work that you have done in the course over the year/semester.

Note:  You are required to finish both of these before you graduate.  If they are not completed, you will not receive your certificate.


WEBSITE

Learning Targets

• Craft a modern, visually appealing creative web presence for your creative work.
• Demonstrate and exhibit your creative style and work.
• Include a way for perspective employers or collaborators to get in touch with you.
• Include your reel, blog and examples of your creative work on your website.
• Include relevant images of your work on your website.

Your website will be a reflection of you as a budding creative professional in the creative industry.  Your website must be attractive, informative and show off your creative talent.  There are a wide variety of free online website hosting services such as wix, wordpress, weebly and squarespace.  Use one of these sites to craft your creative space on the web.

Student Example
https://megumiikeda.wixsite.com/website


You must include the following pages of content on your website:

1. Your reel
2. Videos that you have made
3. Your blog
4. A short biography of yourself
5. Resume/Filmography
6. Social media links:  Instagram, Twitter feed, etc.  Note:  Be careful which of these you link to.  EVERYTHING YOU PUBLISH ONLINE IS PERMANENT.

You will be graded on the following:

1.  Completeness of website - If you are missing any items on this list, you will be deducted points.
2.  Quality of work.
3.  Organization.
4.  Proper formatting of work included.
5.  Creativity and visual appeal of website format.
6.  Professional presentation of yourself on your site.

Filmography

Filmmakers have a unique element of their resume called the filmography.  This is a list of their best creative work to date and the role that they played in it.

This should be expressed in the following format:

role, title of project, type of project, year produced

Actor, “The Peoples Shopping Cart”, Short Film, 2015
Camera Operator, “Modern Metamorphosis”, Short Film, 2016
Producer, “SVCTE Auto Engine Repair,” Documentary, 2016

Writing a resume in high school can be challenging.  Be sure to think about all the volunteer work, activities, clubs and community involvement that you participate in.  Here's an example of a well formatted resume for those who don't have a lot of work experience.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2TTPPeqOBqSekFQSE9UWjlsX1k/view?usp=sharing

PROJECT/CONTEST: FILM RIOT STAY AT HOME SHORT FILM CHALENGE

Individual Assignment
50 points
Assignment: 60secondfilm yourname

Learning Targets

• Make a video within the 60 second limitation.
• Be creative given your limitations.
• Use everything that you've learned in the course so far.

Introduction

I was looking at crafting a 60 second film challenge and FilmRiot and NoFilmSchool beat me too it!




Resources

Look in the video description above for a ton of FilmRiot links on techniques, tips and tricks to make the most of what you can do.


Rules/Requirements

No longer than 60 seconds (don't worry about a slate)
Must take place at your residence.  Outside is only allowed if you own the property.)
No doom and gloom
No end credits
Royalty Free Music Only!  MusicBed qualifies!

Film Riot's contest ends on April 2nd @ 5PM Central Time


NoFilmSchool 60 Second Film Challenge


NoFilmSchool is running an additional 60 second film challenge!

https://nofilmschool.com/nfs-60-second-film-challenge

Their due date is March 30th @ 11:59 PM Pacific Time

See their link for rules.

The assignment will follow the FilmRiot rules.

Upload your film to Youtube and link it to the Jupiter assignment.

Also, please paste a link to your video on this sheet so every can watch them:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qiXkUcAqBkHR-lIkOhbnjhXWYi1a-FIDDrVOoD0cRRo/edit?usp=sharing

PROJECT: HOMAGE TO THE SILENT FILM

AN HOMAGE TO THE SILENT FILM

Groups:  3 Students

Length: 2-5 minutes in length.

Sound: Music (no lyrics) and sound effects only.

Note:  Every student will craft their own cut of the film in post.

OBJECTIVE: To utilize online resources to research the assigned filmmaker and craft a film that pays homage and/or emulates their historical contributions to cinema.

LEARNING TARGETS

• To research the life and work of the assigned filmmaker.
• To craft a complete story with an arc that pays homage to their historical work.  This can take the form of a sequel, remake, parody or inspired by.
• To use all of the knowledge and skills that you have attained in the editing, aesthetics and early cinema units to craft a film that emulates your filmmakers style.
• Students will demonstrate their knowledge of cinema history by crafting a film that appears to belong from the time period of their filmmaker.

Silent Film Homage Rubric:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2TTPPeqOBqSR0hQbWZZN3lieVU/view?usp=sharin

Student Examples

PART 1: LEARNING ABOUT “THE GREATS”

A lot is said about “originality” in filmmaking. The truth is, we all owe a lot to the early pioneers of cinema as you learned in the history lecture this month. We close out the final project of this unit by making an homage film!

Many early pioneers broke ground in different ways and developed all kinds of unique styles, symbolism and visual cues.

Below you will find a list of famous actors and filmmakers.  Each of them is famous for a variety of different reasons.  During your research you will find that the early silent film period shares a lot of similarities to todays Hollywood!

You and a partner will pick from a hat one of the following names of a famous silent era filmmaker:

1. D.W. Griffith - 

2. Charlie Chaplin -

3. Erich von Stroheim - Sebastian, Bethanie, Adriaan

4. King Vidor -

5. Fritz Lang - Emma, Nathan

6. Buster Keaton -  Jacob, Erik, Daphne

7. F.W. Murnau - 

8. Mary Pickford - Chris, Usmanee, Andrea

9.  Mabel Normand - 

10. Fatty Arbuckle- Rachael, Diego, Christian

11. Harold Lloyd - Russel, Ian, William

12. Alice Guy-Blanche - Nahilea, Gabby

13. Mack Sennett - JD, Eric, David

14. George Melies - Evan, Bennett, Joslynn

15. Edwin S. Porter - Jonathan, Brandon

16. Tom Mix - 

17.  Cecil B. DeMille -

18.  Douglas Fairbanks - Nicholas, Ozzy, Mario
19.  Lon Chaney - 

20.  Rudolph Valentino - Sam, Devei, Whitney

21.  William S. Hart -

22.  Anna May Wong - 

23.  Lillian Gish -

24.  Clara Bow - 

25.  Ramon Navarro -

26.  Oscar Micheaux - 

27.  Butaro Futagawa -
28.  George Albert Smith -
29.  Gloria Swanson -
30.  Laurel & Hardy -
31.  Greta Garbo -
32.  John Gilbert -

We learned about some of these filmmakers in class, so first refer to your notes.

Spend the rest of the class researching the filmmaker you’ve picked. Locate and read articles online and video’s about them or their work on YouTube.

After you’ve looked at enough of their work, and studied about their life, answer the following questions and submit them via Jupiter as:

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

silentfilmresearchquestions  yourname

Answer the following questions during your research:

1. What was unique about this filmmakers career and work?

2. What were some famous films that they made? Why were they unique or important?

3. Why are they significant to filmmaking history?

4. What are they most famous or infamous for?

5. Some of these filmmakers were famous for particular genre’s. What were they? Why were they unique? How did they revolutionize this genre?

PART 2: EMULATING THE “THE GREATS”

You have been hired by a production company to make a short sequel to one of these silent film stars great works! The studio wants the film to be similar in style to your silent film stars work so they can play it at the beginning of a film festival.

They have the following requirements:

1. 2-5 minutes in length.

2. It must be in black and white.

3. Have appropriate music to your filmmaker.

4. Have appropriate title cards in between appropriate shots.

5. Have a story arc that honors your silent film stars work.

6. Include appropriate props, costumes, sets/locations for the story and your filmmaker.

7. Have at least 1 shot against the green screen.

8. Be emotional, funny, scary, creative or exciting!

You will create the following pre-production steps for this assignment:

1. Research Questions: 20 points

2. Written Pitch/Google Slide Presentation, 20 points

3. Outline, 20 points

4. Script, 20 points

5. Storyboard, 20 points

6. Shot list, 20 points

POST PRODUCTION RESOURCES

In order to make your film look more like a classic silent film, you will need a title card background. Also, it might be a good idea to age the film and make it look old. In the folder below you will find two different title card templates and a dust/scratch layer for your silent film:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B2TTPPeqOBqSTG1yWGItckxrcDA?usp=sharing

Your project will be delivered by YouTube link by the final due date: Thursday, March 3rd.

Note: You will have other project during this time. But you will be expected to deliver this film on time for the studio by that due date!

GREEN SCREEN LIGHTING AND POST PRODUCTION




POST PRODUCTION

WORKFLOW

1. Create Project Folders

2. Import Footage, Background plates, film effect, Music, Title card background

3. Log Footage

4. Assembly Edit – Put clips in the right order

5. Trim Edits

6. Place Backgrounds – Adjust edits

7. Key Backgrounds

8. Make Black/White

9. Overlay Film Effect 

10. Edit in music

11. Rough Cut

12. Get Feedback

13. Fine Tune Rough Cut

14. Final Cut

Your project should be turned into Jupiter as: silentfilm yourname

VIDEOS





GROUPS






AM

Jameson , Evan , Anna

Jacob , Erik , Daphne

Mario , Nicholas, Osvaldo

Usmanee , Andrea , Christine

William , Russell , Ian

Gabriela , Nahilea

Nathan , Emma


PM

Adriaan , Bethanie, Sebastian

Devei , Sam , Whitney

Evan , Joslyn , Bennett

Rachelle , Diego , Cristian

Juan , Eric , David

Brandon , Jonathan

PROJECT: PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Groups: 2 Students

Total points:  150

Objective: Create a 30 second PSA informing the public of a type of service available to them or making them aware of a public issue.


Student PSA Examples

 

Learning Target

• Students will learn how to visually communicate a issue of local public awareness in 30-60 seconds.
• Students will learn the 2-column AV script format.
• Students will learn to apply the rules of composition and movement that they have learned so far in their project.
• Students will craft a 30 or 60 second spot for a real local non-profit or government agency for public air or the web.

Steps

You must choose a time format and edit to either a 30 second or minute. (Credits are never considered in your overall running time.) Your project must express a real concern or bring awareness to the public. It should be concise and powerful in its message. You must provide a website or phone number where the public can look for more information regarding your topic. You should do some research on your own to have a deeper understanding of your topic. Remember, we are not making fun of conditions/situations. Some of your classmates might be dealing with your issue so be sensitive.  However it can be entertaining.

You must also write narration and record voice over for your PSA.

You must complete the following:

Requirements

Students MUST contact a local non-profit agency and obtain a client to create a PSA for.  It must be an organization with its headquarters or offices in Santa Clara County.  The final PSA will be given to the client for feedback and approval.

Pre-production

1. Pitch Presentation - 20 points - Brainstorm, select a topic, then pitch it to the class.
2. Client Contact Letter - 20 points - A formal introduction letter to your client non-profit.
3. Treatment - 20 Points - Fill out the treatment for a client proposal:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/12AGG9R5FbJdOJMREybXiL0xgO957ulFOCMXT5WfkvDk/edit?usp=sharing
4. 2-Column AV Script - 30 points - Write a properly formatted 2-column script.
5. Storyboard - 20 points - Storyboard out all of your shots.
6. Shot List - 20 Points - List all of your shots from your storyboard/script that you intend on shooting.
7. Call Sheets - 20 points - Craft call sheets for every day that you shoot.
8. Final Project - 60 points - Compressed using h.264 1920X1080p 30p video.  Submit via Jupiter.

Pitch Slide Requirements

1.  Topic
2.  Client
3.  Logline
4.  Synopsis
5.  Hook, Introduction, Body of Story
6.  Call to Action - Tagline?  Contact Info?
7.  Location of Shoot
8.  Costumes? Props?
9.  Cast/Crew - What will each group member be doing for shoot?

Production

• Shoot one master shot of entire opening sequence.
• Vary your shots and inter-cut with your master shot to make it visually interesting.
• Make sure to shoot images that support and communicate your topic.
• Demonstrate and follow the composition guidelines presented in the keynote.

Post Production

• Build the following file structure:  psa yourname========>psa_raw yourname
• Import all footage to the raw folder.
• Review footage.
• Use storyboard as a template to cut film. Make notes, if necessary, to remember parts of clips.
• Edit your film. Match on the action.
• Create a soundtrack, make adjustments if necessary.  Make sure to use non-copyrighted music.
• Record all relevant narration in the audio booth.
• Create and edit relevant graphics.
• Obtain a rough cut.  Get feedback from at least 2 other groups.
• Re-Edit according to feedback.
• Export final video as:  psa yourname
• Upload final video to Jupiter.

Be sure to:

Pick a well thought-out project topic of local importance.

Review & log all footage

Include a title slate then 2 seconds of black afterward.

Include a sense of urgency and helpful information.

Appeal to your audiences emotion on the topic.

Include a website and/or phone number for more information.

You MUST keep to 30 seconds or 1 minute.

Follow all of the basic continuity edit rules.
Include relavent narration to the topic.


AM

Nathan , William , Jacob

Anna , Mario , Evan

Ian , Erik , Usmanee

Russell , Osvaldo , Andrea

Nicholas, Christine , Emma

Nahilea , Gabriela

Jameson , Daphne




PM

Cristian , Jonathan , Diego

Juan , Bethanie, Sam

Brandon , Evan , Sebastian

Adriaan , Whitney , David

Rachelle , Joslyn , Eric

Devei , Bennett