appendix: the avio casablanca

All the research in this project was conducted using the AVIO CASABLANCA editing system. It is a distinctive piece of technology in that it is only an editing system, bot a software package loaded onto a computer.

The following accounts indicate the views of some of the researchers as to its impact as a learning tool. The first contribution is from Okehampton College, who although they did not eventually take part in the research, were active members of the Devon Cineliteracy Partnership and have purchased additional Avio’s for use in their large Media Studies department.

Dominic Carnell : Okehampton Community College

Overview

There is no doubt that for the price of under a thousand pounds, this new technology offers an awful lot. It is simple to install, very compatible with school facilities and equipment, easy to operate and easy to demonstrate to students. It can cover most effects required in school video making and to some extent replaces the old linear systems. However, the linear edit suites still have some advantages particularly with sound based projects such as pop videos.

Student results

So far three groups of students have produced excellent results. Two of these groups have produced their GCSE Media projects on the computer and one especially seems very professional in its finish. We are about to embark on AS Media projects with four groups all with high creative intentions. As yet we have not introduced it to key stage three but we will next term. All the students who have mastered the technology are very impressed with the process and results.

The only major problem we encountered was when a student deleted a project to provide space for his own before the original piece was completed. He did this without consulting staff and as a result drew attention to some strict rules that need to be in place before students are allowed to use the computer. Future computers might consider a password for each project to prevent students tampering with other projects.

Cross departmental involvement

Two other departments have used the Casablanca Avio to produce videos for their students. Both have been school trip diaries. Both members of staff enjoyed the process and were pleased with the results. I have produced a school promo for the Head to use in primary school visits.

“Echoes of the past”: An ambitious exercise

When I received an invitation to enter a film making competition by the National Trust sponsored by The Picture House, I decided to put the Casablanca Avio to the test. My aim was to create a short film that looked as professional as possible. I was also using this opportunity to teach myself the ins and outs of its capacity to give me the confidence to pass on this knowledge to students. I selected the above title from the list, I knocked together a script, hand picked my staff cast and organized locations, dates, props and equipment.

Some measure of success

The shoots with the mini digital camera went very well. I spent two weeks editing and I enjoyed the process of trimming scenes, compiling the storyboard, adding the cross-fades and then feeding in the music and sound effects. Generally the instruction manual seemed accurate but I did find some problems –presumably with the translation and I came across some interesting idiosyncrasies with the computer; for example colour cross-fades when entered as black always returned after the computer was switched off in yellow, until I went to the transitions section and replayed the black cross-fade!

Fading music up and down around camera sound did not function in the way that the manual suggested but I found a way that it did by entering a silent section in the commentary band. With a 99% completed film I copied it down onto VHS to show to the cast. This turned out to be a wise move.

Crash

Following some objective viewing I decided to make two small sound alterations. It was during one of these that the computer made strange squeak and decided to shut itself down. When this happens it is meant to fall back on the previous file when the computer was last switched off. It did this but in the process it scrambled the sound tracks in the storyboard. Bits of sound played at the wrong point of the film, error squeaks appeared all over the place and even more worrying – the storyboard would not play through certain moments as though invisible fault lines had appeared. I tried various things after consulting The London Camera Exchange, including withdrawing the whole storyboard back to the first crash point and then rebuilding it from there. This is time consuming and frustrating, and just when I thought all was repaired the same problems began to reappear. My suspicion is that a hard-drive problem has developed and this particular model needs to be replaced but before I do that I will delete the whole project and offer the space to another project to see if the deletion remedies it. Either way it has rendered my master unusable (I was hoping to make a DVD copy) and raises big questions about its reliability. I still have the tapes and one day I hope to re-edit it.

Conclusion

As with any computer technology it is excellent when it performs correctly. I have purchased a second model this year and that one continues to behave and offer tremendous opportunities to students. When computer technology mal-functions it is extremely frustrating and difficult to remedy. Time will tell.

Using the AVIO Casablanca Digital Editing Machine

Carrie McMillan Tiverton High School

Both students were pleased with the ease with which they learned to use the AVIO editing machine. Richard admitted to more difficulties than Megan did, but he was pleased to be able to teach some of his friends how to use the machine, which he did while Megan was absent on a school trip. Megan emphasised the need to experiment with the various tools and said they became more confident when they stopped worrying about “losing” their work as they did in ICT lessons, though she complained that the thumbnail images of each scene were too small to work from.

Throughout the project Megan had seemed to be getting less enjoyment out of the task than Richard. When asked how they’d felt when first set the task, Megan responded that she had thought it sounded like “fun” and was “really looking forward to it” but quickly added that it “wasn’t as fun as I first thought”. When pressed she admitted part of the reason for her lack of enthusiasm was the research set-up. When asked if she’d been sent to work with Millie, who was often her partner in class, she admitted it would have been ‘more fun’. Richard appeared more focussed on the task than his partner, saying he didn’t find working with Megan a problem so much as working with black and white film. Megan also said that a main reason she’d lost enthusiasm was that she “had to think” so much whilst editing. She said “You have to think what you’re going to do, when you see them all (the shots)” She is an able student with no concentration problems in class but found the level of concentration during editing off-putting. Richard agreed with this, though it was Megan who initially brought it up. To Megan, an able and meticulous worker, the editing process was something of a lonely and unrewarding activity. To Richard however, a writer with flair but technical flaws, using the machine for this task flagged up other possibilities in his mind and it’s conceivable that he will want to be involved in other, more creative, projects in future.

Why the Avio?

Gill Clayton – Great Torrington School

In this case the first hurdle for pupils is the technology. Groups needed to acquire the technical skills necessary to use the Avio machine. Because a small group of Year 11 boys had already become experts in using the machine they passed on their skills to the first group ready to edit, and then that group taught the next one and so on. This part of the process was very easy and smooth due to the simplicity of the machine. Students needed very little input before they were finding their way about the program by themselves – it does seem a very simple machine to operate.

However, this simplicity threw up an interesting dichotomy – all the girls liked it, ‘able’ ICT boys did not! There was a definite gender divide in groups containing able ICT boys. To them, the Avio was ‘not the right sort’ of computer, it did not seem ‘professional enough’. The interface was ‘garish’, an ‘eyesore’. The girls however liked it, they liked the mouse ‘it’s touchy feely’ and liked the simplicity of it, it was ‘easy to use’. Girls liked the framework, it gave them something to hang onto.

Within the classroom the Avio is a neat little box that looks interesting, it works consistently and is easy to use for all. Students like the fact that you can get back what you trim out, and that trimming and splitting is so easy. The sequencing framework is clear and makes it very easy to keep track of what you are doing. Finally, students end up with a finished product that looks professional, it looks like a real film. Seeing their own name on the credits and hearing their peers’ applause is a real boost to self-esteem and self-confidence; and for a teacher, seeing the smiles on a pupil’s face when this happens renders the answer to the question ‘Why the Avio?’ obvious.