“The best camera is the one that’s with you” - Chase Jarvis (Richter, 2020).  Truism, or something profoundly worth remembering, given that most of us carry smartphones all the time?  Despite the amazing improvements in imaging quality over the past few years, few photographers or cinematographers would use a smart phone for their professional work.  'Professional' cameras have larger imaging chips and greater variety of lens options than smartphones, which allows for greater dynamic range, low-light capability, and creative focusing.  However, because of their size and weight, many photographers are often leaving these devices at home, in favour of smaller, if less capable devices.  Even hollywood directors are experimenting making movies with smartphones! Oscar Winning director Steven Soderberg has now made two movies using iPhones - 'Unsane' (Woodward, 2018) and 'High Flying Bird (Lackey, 2019).  Clearly, we should not underestimate the power of the smartphone in making peer modelling videos!

Here is some guidance (not 'rules') to improve the quality of the peer modelling videos that you make:

1)  ORIENTATION OF PHONE

Make sure you shoot the video with the camera held horizontally to produce video that will best match the YouTube (and HDTV) 'aspect ratio' of 16:9 - this sounds obvious; however, many students will usually shoot video for other social media and hold the camera in a vertical position (the natural position for holding a phone).  To maximize the use of the YouTube frame, and therefore create a larger image for easier viewing, the 16:9 ratio should be respected. 

2)   AVOID HANDHELD VIDEO

​​Avoid holding the camera directly with your hand, if possible.  Whilst the electronic stabilization of many new smartphones is impressive, it cannot entirely compensate for the movement that inevitably comes from hand holding a camera for any great length of time.   Sometimes it is possible to rest the camera on a solid object.  A good option is a tripod, which can be purchased for as little as $20.  An adapter to hold the phone to the tripod will also be necessary and can be purchased for a few dollars.   If your video making requires movement, it can be smoothed with a gimbal - these can be purchased for about $100.   All of this video was shot with a gimbal.   And all the panning shots of this video were shot with a gimbal.  However, all of these videos could have been made with a tripod, like this one.  Of course, a big advantage of a tripod is that you can shoot the video of yourself working, whereas the gimbal is held by someone else.

3)  SHOOT LOTS OF VIDEO

When capturing the art making, make sure you record more video that you think will be required. It is difficult to sense exactly how much will be required when you are shooting video; what seems to be plenty at the time of shooting, often turns out to be far too little for the viewer to appreciate - you do not usually want your video to jump around from one shot to another.  It is easy to edit too much video down to size later, so shoot more than you think you need.  
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4)  THINK ABOUT YOUR LIGHTING

Try and shoot the video next to a window that is not in direct sunlight.  This will give a nice diffuse and naturally daylight balanced light.  Most indoor lighting is poor for video recording.  You can buy LED video lights if you have to use artificial light.  One advantage of artificial light is that it stays constant throughout the recording, whereas  the light from a window will change in intensity and even colour, sometimes within minutes.  This video was shot with artificial lights because it was made over a period of weeks and in a variety of locations .  All of the following video was shot with natural daylight from a large window, in one session:

5)  LEARN ABOUT CAMERA SHOTS AND PLAN THE VIDEO

Before making any videos, watch lots of high quality documentary and tutorial style videos on YouTube and get a feel for different angles and ways of 'telling the story'.  There are lots of great tutorials for beginners on YouTube too.  And shoot lots of video for practice - when you come to edit it, you will soon learn what is required!  If you don't have much time to get experienced at video making, shoot a lot of video from different angles, and at different stages of the art making, and then work it all out later in editing.  The only problem with this approach is that editing takes a lot of time, and even longer if you are not working to some sort of plan. This is why most film makers work to a storyboard.  You should at least have a general idea of what you want the viewer to know before beginning to shoot the video.  This is not difficult, since you really want to show the viewer how you meet curriculum outcomes in your art practice and how you are working like an artist.  Perhaps you could write down these outcomes and regularly refer to the list.  This will have the added benefit of helping you to continuously reflect on your practice, which is one of the main reasons for making the video.

7)  THERE ARE MANY WAYS OF EDITING VIDEO

There are apps to edit video on the smartphone, but this is difficult with such a small screen.  A tablet computer is a little better, but ideally you want to do this on a regular computer - it will make careful editing much easier.  If you have an Apple device, you can simply use iMovie.  Otherwise, you could try some of the following apps:

WINDOWS 10 PHOTOS VIDEO EDITING APP:   Old Windows systems may still have 'Movie Maker'. In Windows 10, you have to look in the 'Photos' app to find 'Create a video'.  There you will find perhaps the simplest video editing app.  THIS IS A GOOD BEGINNERS TUTORIAL

DAVINCI RESOLVE:  This is the platform used by many Hollywood film editors.  And its free!  The only issue is that you need a computer with a dedicated graphics card of at least 2Gb  (cost $50 if your computer doesn't have one).  Of course, because it is a professional program, there is a lot to learn.  However, free tutorials are provided.  The software comes with professional audio editing and effects package too.

OPENSHOT:  A simple yet effective editor.   Tutorial here.

8)   THERE ARE MANY WAYS OF EDITING AUDIO

​There are many ways of editing audio.  You can even edit audio with free apps on your phone. However, because of the size of the interface, you will find it easier to edit the audio on an iPad, laptop or desktop computer.  If you have an Apple device, you can simply use the Garage Band app.  Otherwise, I recommend you use one of the following solutions:

AUDACITY:  Students and teachers have used this software for many years.  So, it is easy to find beginning tutorials online, LIKE THIS ONE

FAIRLIGHT STUDIO WITHIN DAVINCI RESOLVE 16:  If you have a powerful enough computer, I recommend you try the audio editing suite called 'Fairlight' which comes with Davinci Resolve.  This is a very powerful suite of tools.  Beginners tutorial here and  HERE

SOUNDTRAP:  This is perhaps the easiest sound editing app to use, and its online!  And there are lots of easy tutorials.

If you want to make a peer modelling video without a camera, for whatever reason, there are alternatives.  You can make it using screen recording software as in this example.  However, still images would still have to be made of the artwork.  Another way of making the video would be using an online video maker like Adobe Spark as in this example.  Again, still images would have to made to include in the video.

CROSS CURRICULAR OPPORTUNITIES:  A student might be able to combine their art making with a project in a technology course.  For example, in the Nova Scotia high school curriculum there are many outcomes in the Exploring Technology, Multimedia, Communications, and Film and Video courses that could be met by the creation of a peer modelling video.  If the art student wasn't also doing a technology course, they might collaborate with a student that was taking such a course.  Without a doubt, this would enable a much high quality of video to be made. 

TECHNOLOGY LINKS FOR FREE RESOURCES

Audio Recording:

Android:  ASR
iOS: Voice Memos
Chrome extension:  Mic Note

Audio editing apps: 

Windows/Mac:   Audacity
Online:  Soundtrap
​Android:  Mstudio
iOS: GarageBand
Or, edit audio in a video editing app:  DaVinci Resolve   (this has a professional audio app, 'Fairlight',  included) 

Video editing apps:

Windows/Mac:  DaVinci Resolve   (Highly recommended, but only if your computer has a graphics card 2Gb+)
Windows 10:   Inside the 'Photos App' that comes with Windows 10, there is a video editing app. Older systems still have 'Windows Moviemaker'
MacOS/ iOS:  iMovie comes with these operating systems.
Windows/Mac:  Shotcut
Windows: VSDC
Windows/Mac:  Openshot


Alternative 'video makers':

Online: Adobe Spark  (allows you to make a video with just stills photography, and recording your voice within the app)
​Online Chrome Extension:  Screencastify  (allows you to record your screen and audio synchronously)
Windows/Mac:  OBS  (screen recording software)


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Most videos are made using a video camera.  The most useful (because ubiquitous) video camera is the one that comes with smartphones, and most high school students have these with them at all times.  It is not difficult to record video on a smartphone.  However, to make high quality videos takes some preparation and skill.  There are aspects of lighting, sound, video stabilization, focus etc. that all need to be considered.  But perhaps the most challenging aspect of video production is the editing of the video, both in terms of the learning of the editing tools, and the telling of a coherent story.  These challenges can be overcome, and we address these in a future post.  However, there are even simpler and easier ways of making a peer modelling video, and these may be suitable depending on the student project.

SCREENCASTIFY

This peer modelling video was made using the SCREENCASTIFY app (extension for Chrome Browser):

To make this video, Jackie took photographs of her artwork and made a slide show with them using Google Slides. 
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Research based art practice is a dynamic process where an artist tries to make sense of their world through close observation and experimentation with ideas and materials.  It can start with the formulation of a question or series of questions arising from personal experience.  It grows with reflection into an idea worthy of investigation - arising from wonder, curiosity, puzzlement, confusion, anger, sadness, joy, and all that makes us human. It asks the big questions of our existence, without pretending to know any answers; its purpose is not to confirm grand narratives, but to question them, whilst building new understandings, knowledge, and meaning.

In current curriculum theory terms, this research based art practice combines aspects of inquiry based learning, project based learning, and experiential learning; that is, the learning is through concrete and personal experiences, open-ended exploration and experimentation arising from the formulation of questions, and conceptualization of ideas after critical reflection.

Just as each individual is unique, so is the research based art process.  Each artist, with experience, will develop their own unique creative process.  But where does the emerging artist start?  One way is to consider some of the elements or behaviours of practice that many artists have in common:

• Artists record personal experiences and observations
• Artists formulate questions for investigation
• Artists hypothesize using their experiences/observations and imagination.
• Artist research ideas and make unique and original connections between them.
• Artists learn from other artists, their ideas and ways of working
• Artists experiment with ideas and materials - bending, breaking, blending 
• Artists reflect critically on their work and develop their meta-cognition or ability to think about thinking and feeling.
• Artists learn to understand and deal with these thoughts and emotions that arise from reflection, and they make connection with, but also challenge their prior knowledge and ways of looking at the world. 
• Artists synthesize or combine their research in material forms - embodiments of the ideas they wish to share with the world - concrete artifacts of the process that can be felt or experienced.

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What does a visual art classroom look like where students are learning about research based art? Perhaps the first thing you will notice is student artists working very independently, motivated by their interests.  The teacher artist will be there,  acting as a guide and provocateur; the teacher artist promotes artistic thinking, the creative process, and research skills, whilst facilitating the development of technical art-making skills.   The teacher artist encourages and supports critical thinking, and meta-cognition.  The teacher artist does not provide answers and solutions, but through continuous questioning scaffolds the student artist to develop their own knowledge.  Students will be sharing ideas with their classmates, and there will be a spirit of dialogue and collaboration. To be more specific, the inquiry based art classroom will often exhibit the following features:

1   Time, space, and materials for students to research and make art independently.  The Internet and devices will be available for research and documentation of work.  Most senior high students have smart phones that can take photographs, record videos, access YouTube videos, access art websites, take notes, use mind mapping apps, use apps for creating (bending, breaking, and blending their experimental imagery), recording their work, ideas, and reflections in online journals, and watching peer modelling videos.  Almost all high school students have a smartphone capable of these many research based art practice tasks.  Those that do not can usually borrow an ipad from the school.  Old smartphones that have been disconnected from mobile phone plans can also be used by students as video/photography devices.  

2  Regular teacher-student tutorials where current and future work is considered. The dialogue is rich with teacher questioning, and student reflection; it also is an opportunity for the teacher and student to share knowledge of other artists, techniques, and materials.  Students are helped to prepare for these tutorials by reviewing their journal reflections.  Similarly, they are helped to move their work forward by reflecting on the tutorials in their journals.  It is very important that the student reflects on these teacher-student conversations; so, it can be useful if the student makes an audio recording of the conversation, rather than try and take notes, which can hinder the flow of dialogue and distract from more profound thinking.  There are many free apps for audio recording, and chrome extensions (see below).

3 The journal is an essential tool for the artist practicing inquiry based art.  It is the space for recording observations, recording visual experiments, collecting ideas, analyzing and interpreting information, and critically reflecting on these.  These enable creative exploration.  It is particularly effective if this journal can be easily shared with the teacher, who can then get a continuous insight into the student artists’ practice, and think more profoundly about ways to support their work. An online journal, perhaps using a blog platform, is a very powerful tool.  It allows the student to easily record documentation of work, with photographs, with video, with audio notes, as well text. It enables the easy recording of hyperlinks to other artists' work, video and research.  The blogging tools have useful archiving tools, that enable very very effective categorizing and organizing of work.  This reduces the cognitive load of the reflective process, and so allows for more creative energy. 

4  Researching skills will be demonstrated, and the use of research tools modelled.  For example, students will learn what kinds of questions or series of key words can be used to pursue a line of inquiry; which websites are likely to produce quality sources of information; how can students use article references to explore a subject; how can ideas be mind-mapped or brain stormed to help make connections and stimulate further ideas. 

5  Peer modelling will be recognized, encouraged, and supported - within a cohort, and in other cohorts across time and space.  The Art Practice Archive is designed for this purpose: to share peer modelling of good research based art practice to students in other classes and schools.  Quality videos can be made with most smartphones made in the last few years.  It is best to record in 1080p (HD) so that the video will be of sufficiently high resolution for viewers to clearly see the art work.  Audio commentary can be made at the same time as the video is being recorded, or added to the video later.  There are several advantages to adding a separate audio commentary later: 

• It is usually easier for the artist to concentrate on their art making when they are not also trying to explain what they are doing in real time.  
• The student has more time to reflect on their whole process, and highlight the important aspects of their work, including the key curriculum outcomes that are evidenced. 

• If the student is not used to speaking publicly and with fluency, it allows for them to script their commentary, or at least bullet point what they wish to talk about.  One method that students have tried with some success is to write a script and read it several times, and then for the actual recording narrate the commentary without reading from the script.  Of course, every student is different, one may feel the need for a fixed script, and another will want to talk extemporaneously. 

Whatever methods are used, it is usually a good idea that the video has some sort of introduction, middle, and end; without this it is very for the viewer to lose track of the material.   Even titles can be added to guide the viewer.

It is important that the student keep in mind the key curriculum outcomes when shooting the video.  This will make the video more useful to the viewer later, but will also help the video maker continuously reflect on the process and thus help them in their making.  The key elements that should be evidenced in the video:

• Independent planning of artistic inquiry
• Working with and assessing different materials and techniques
• Developing work from personal observation, experience, and imagination
• Creating work informed by other artists
• Creating work of personal importance
• Critiquing and reflecting on personal work

At the heart of the  Art Practice Archive is the peer modelling videos.  However, as can be seen from the list above, these are just one element in a classroom that supports research based art practice, which should also feature access to Internet connected devices, teacher-student tutorials, online journals, 


TECHNOLOGY LINKS

All the technology you need to have a really successful research based art practice is available free online.  Here is a selection of free apps  that have been found to be useful and reliable (some have additional premium features, but these are unnecessary to be successful) :

Online Journal (blog) platforms:

BLOGGER         
WEEBLY          
GOOGLE SITES 
WORDPRESS
WIX      

Or, the student could simply share a journal with the teacher using a Google Doc.  This is particularly good with younger students who may not fully understand issues of cyber-safety.  However, with older students, it is good that they learn about the online journaling methods of practicing artists.  Some students continue to maintain these journals after graduation.  


Mind Mapping platforms:   

COGGLE
MINDOMO
MINDUP
MINDMEISTER
VENNGAGE
CANVA
MIRO
WHIMSICAL
VISUAL PARADIGM

Voice recorder apps  (for taking tutorial notes, or recording ideas for journal):

Android:  ASR
iOS: Voice Memos
Chrome extension:  Mic Note


Audio editing apps: 

Windows/Mac:   Audacity
Online:  Soundtrap
​Android:  Mstudio
iOS: GarageBand
Or, edit audio in a video editing app:  DaVinci Resolve   (this has a professional audio app, 'Fairlight',  included) 


Video editing apps:

Windows/Mac:  DaVinci Resolve   (Highly recommended, but only if your computer has a graphics card 2Gb+)
Windows 10:   Inside the 'Photos App' that comes with Windows 10, there is a video editing app. Older systems still have 'Windows Moviemaker'
MacOS/ iOS:  iMovie comes with these operating systems.
Windows/Mac:  Shotcut
Windows: VSDC
Windows/Mac:  Openshot


Alternative 'video makers':

Online: Adobe Spark  (allows you to make a video with just stills photography, and recording your voice within the app)
​Online Chrome Extension:  Screencastify  (allows you to record your screen and audio synchronously)
Windows/Mac:  OBS  (screen recording software)


Creative photography apps:

Android/iOS:  Snapseed  (Double Exposure took particularly useful for layering images)
iOS:  ADOBE LIGHTROOM


Experimental imaging apps (for playing with visual ideas quickly and easily):

Windows/Mac: GIMP  (free alternative to Photoshop)
Windows:  STERLING FRACTAL 
Online:  

PHOTOMOSH
​DEEPART
DEEPDREAM
EXPERIMENTS WITH GOOGLE

Music making apps with samples and loops (some students like to add music to their videos, and this can be done with freely available creative commons licensed music; however, this is also an opportunity for them to get musically creative too!):

Soundation
Bandlab
Soundtrap

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