Computer Science Video

I wanted to create a video about computer science careers, as my CS honor society is developing a lesson on computer science careers for our advisory class. I brainstormed a list of potential CS-related careers and then started to write my script. As I wrote the piece for each career, I also sought an image that represented it.

I used Microsoft ClipChamp to create my video, as it appears to have replaced Windows Movie Maker. I had used Movie Maker a long time ago, so ClipChamp wasn't too hard to figure out. I began by placing the images and creating labels for the photo sources. I started out with every image showing up for 10 seconds, so that I had an idea of how long the video would be. I wanted to label each picture so that it was clear which career I would be discussing. I also added the credits and the course list at the end. I like to include fades when text appears, so I made all the text fade in and out. I experimented with a variety of effects for the different pictures. I really like the slow zoom, since it adds motion without the image moving. I figured out how to make it zoom out instead of in for one of the pictures. I put the Vaporwave effect over the computer hardware engineer image, which seemed to make it more interesting. I also used the color shift effect to make the robot image more interesting. I didn't want the effects to be too distracting.

At that point, I recorded my script and added it to the video. I then had to adjust each image's timing to match the script, but having them already in order and labeled made it easy to place them in the right spot. Once the timing was right, I found a music track in ClipChamp that seemed to make the video seem encouraging and uplifting. (I just realized that I did not put the music in my references. I used "To Be First" by Valentina Gribanova.) Lastly, I added transitions between the various images.

I exported an mp4 file and uploaded it to YouTube. It is unlisted, which means that people can view it if they have the link, but I prefer not to publish my videos so that anyone can find them.