Dear Multimedia Boot Camp Participants,

Welcome to Multimedia Boot Camp! We are looking forward to meeting you shortly and working with you to develop your multimedia skills. The hands-on Multimedia Boot Camp will cover the following topics:

• Audio slideshows with Soundslides
• Story structure and story arc
• Character driven, narrative stories; Fundamentals of shooting for the Web
• Composition and technical aspects
• Interviewing for the camera
• Fundamentals of audio storytelling
• Editing and post production with Final Cut Pro.

During the workshop, participants will produce a short, multimedia story. Please be prepared to allow some time Thursday evening for a short shoot and do project homework. We will have some advance story ideas available for you, or feel free to do some research on your own if there is a brief, local story that you would like to pursue. Focusing on a small, unique, local restaurant or shop would be perfect for this quick turnaround assignment. Be sure there are plenty of visual possibilities and interesting characters.

The Multimedia Boot Camp detailed schedule is currently online. Please take a moment to review it.

We’d like to request that if you have a digital camera, please bring it with you to the workshop, along with cables or card readers that you might need to load your media.

Also, if you can take just a couple of minutes, please complete the following 9-question survey so we can better assess your skills prior to the workshop.

Feel free to let us know if you have any questions. Thanks again and see you all Thursday afternoon!

Best,

Amara Aguilar

Multimedia Boot Camp trainer

HANDOUTS

	This is a worksheet the Associated Press has created to help with SoundSlides production. Click here or the icon to download the PDF. Other Soundslides tips can be downloaded here.  Check out this eight-minute SoundSlides video tutorial. Eight minute soundslides video tutorial: http://web.mac.com/amara_media/Soundslides/Video_Tutorial.html
	Field recording tips by Tom Krymkowski. Click here or the icon to download the PDF.
	A useful story arc handout provided under a Creative Commons license by Bay Area Video Coalition. Click here or the icon to download the PDF. *The camera we will be using is the Canon FS-200, click here to read the Instruction Manual.
	The handout on “Editing Audio in Final Cut Pro” is here Quick tips on producing video stories, including how to interview for the camera, composition, editing, and more is here.

Record Like a Pro

Recording audio like a pro can be as easy at three steps: set levels, adjust volume, position microphone. Martina Castro walks you through long-time sound engineer Tom Krymkowski’s how-to-guide for recording audio.