Video Remix

Students will:

• Be able to create a remix.
• Be able to convey a message with text, images and video. 

Vocabulary Words:

1. Remix: A remix is a piece of media which has been altered from its original state by adding, removing, and/or changing pieces of the item.
2. Convey: To convey is to express an idea or message. 

To prepare for this lesson:

Remixing will be an engaging and fun activity for students. Students can take images, videos and sound clips in the Public Domain (free from copyright) and use them to convey a message. Teachers can make this into a full blown project with having the students do research, find the images, video, sound clips and then use resources like iMovie or WeVideo to create the remix. 

For this activity, it is suggested that it be scaled down until the students know what a remix is and are comfortable with the tool. 

• In 5th grade, the teacher will want to introduce the idea of a remix and gather the resources for the students ahead of time. 
• The teacher will pick a topic that the students have studied and can easily add their own voice (text or audio) to the remix. 
• The teacher will save the resources into a saved folder where the students can access them from their computer. 
• The students will use the resources from the saved folder and add them to their remixes. The students will have to create the text to overlay over the video and images. Each remix will have a different flavor as students use their own voices. The students can also record their own voices onto the remix. Adding an audio voice is recommended once students are familiar with adding images, video, and text. 
• There are several good choices to use for the creation of a remix: 
  1. If the school is an Apple district, iMovie is a logical choice as it is already on the machines. 
  2. WeVideo is a great choice across all platforms as it is free and very easy to use. The FREE version has a limited recording time of five minutes. That is perfect as students should be creating a remix of three minutes or less. WeVideo has great video tutorials to learn how to use the program. 
• Public domain images can be found at:
  1. Photos For Class
  2. Pics4Learning
  3. Google Images - Use the advanced search feature and select the correct usage rights of free to use, share, or modify. 
• Public  Domain Videos can be found at:
  1. Library of Congress
  2. Pond 5
• Sounds are a little more difficult to find as artists want to collect what is due to them. For the initial remix project, it is recommended that the students just use images and video. Here are several sites for when the students are ready to incorporate sound. 
  1. Sounds from NASA
  2. Musopen

See the Accommodations Page and Charts on the 21things4students website in the Teacher Resources. 

Directions for this activity:

1. The teacher will introduce a topic to the students with the idea that the students will be adding their own voice to explain or convey a message about the topic. 
2. The teacher will introduce the idea of remixing to students where they take the materials from others and use them to convey an idea or message.  
3. The teacher will show the students how to use WeVideo or iMovie. 
4. The teacher will show the students how to access the saved resources (images, sounds, videos) in a shared folder. 
5. The teacher will tell the students that in their remix, they can use whichever resources they want to from the shared folder. The teacher will assign a time limit of one-three minutes for the video remix. 
6. The teacher will tell the students that they will type text over the images and videos to help convey the message or idea. The text will compliment the media and enhance the message. 
7. The students will save their videos and share the URL for their completed video with their teacher and classmates. 

Optional Activity: The students can do their own research, find their own videos and images to do their remix. The students should still use the Public Domain sites that the teacher has used. 

Different options for assessing the students:

• Observations
• Check for understanding
• Create a rubric at Rubistar for the students. 
• This rubric can be modified slightly to fit the assignment.