+++ title = "Meeting and Project Suggestions" +++ # Meeting Suggestions The important thing I think here is to have a mix of low-key items (ie. things that you can make serious progress on in an hour) and larger projects and most of all, be consistent. Have snacks and watch new (or old) SCTV videos. Watch [filmmaking-related videos](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWwWW7rc6eKi7AYXCsl1FO4V6X3PugLhy). Have people split into groups to work on specific projects. Set up voiceover booth & green screen area to make it easier to do impromptu videos. Update the website Video round robin (over multiple weeks). Every week, different people take turns and make the video 30s - 1 min longer. No editing of previous pieces (except transitions between the old and new work). Do a quick check-in of the video at meetings to watch how it progresses. Design a new youtube background / banner Easy projects (could alternate between having people film and having people edit) Prop (and other) making! - We’d need to acquire some more DIY tools, but we could have a running “request†list of props people think would be useful to have / want for a specific project Email / dormspam / poke theater guilds about needing actors for a specific project Script writing sessions Film or edit for a specific project Design posters # Useful Resources **Someone please curate and put this on the members page as well?** * [https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/short-film-ideas-you-can-actually-produce/] * [https://vimeo.com/blog/post/10-types-of-camera-shots] # Project Suggestions Have consistent, easy to make, and easy to adapt video series that people can add to. Ideally shorter videos that can be done in 1-3 meetings. Some of the following will meet that criteria and some are just mumping off points. ### Student Group Colabs (1) Keep a running list of all student groups. Aim to make a short promo/teaser/office tour of 2 groups a semester. Cross them off when you're done. It'll only take us 120382q438740u years to do them all! (But seriously, this is an awesome way to get our name out there so other student groups know who we are and we can get extra publicity by having the groups link to our YT video.) ### Student Group Colabs (2) If you shot something for another student group, make a short video(s) that's like a teaser. Example could be just some of the broll from the shoot to cool music. If they publish a video on YouTube add the video to the 'filmed by student cable' playlist. ### Postcards from MIT 30s - 1m 30s videos focusing on a place/thing/idea at MIT. Template in NAS. Goal is to have every new member do one of these and schedule them to publish through fall/IAP. ### ABC's of MIT 26 videos, one for each letter of the alphabet. Each director gets to choose a letter & a word(s) and run with it. ### Faux Movie Trailer **Eventually Cathleen will put the stuff for this on the NAS.** ### Create a video in the style of your favorite YouTuber Examples: * Let's Plays * Beauty Tutorials * MinutePhysics * SciShow Quiz Show * Vsauce ### Video Scavenger Hunt [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SHq9PdMaMUXfNQDGpsgi8O9msWFVIZQdILQgnCaWiY4/edit?usp=sharing] **Someone please make this a PDF and upload it to the site** ### Mini Monthly Contests Each theme is made to be scheduled & released in the following month. Some of these are for particular reasons. Ex. January is IAP, so there’s more time to create long content. April is CPW, so videos featuring other student groups are more likely to be shared. June/July is great for pumping up prefrosh. September is an easy (and group) activity to get frosh involved. **January** Short form narrative (5+ min). Produce a scripted, fictional video on any subject. **February** Special effects! Include some sort of special effect in your video. Animations, green screening, text overlays, etc. **Cowboy & Loren run some mini sessions & ask them for links** **March** Work with another student group to create a video. Ideas: tours of their spaces, fun facts, ‘promo’ teasers, short performances, mini documentary, interviews... **April** Create a video explaining a science / tech / engineering topic or idea or equipment, etc. **May** Humor! We all need to lighten up at the end of finals, so create a funny video. **June - July** Postcards from … Create a video postcard to MIT from wherever you’re spending the summer. These can be mini blogs from yourself, beautiful iconic imagery of your location, your feelings about being away from MIT, etc. If you’re staying in Cambridge for the summer, then create a video postcard from MIT to wherever you consider home. All of the above suggestions still apply. **September** Working in groups of two or three, gather b-roll for use in future videos by Student Cable members. **October** No dialogue! Create a video without any talking. Use (creative commons) music and/or sound effects! **November** Shot lists! Include at least four of the following kinds of shots: * Silhouette; actor(s) or object must be silhouetted against a background * Shadows; camera shows shadows only * Slow motion * Moving shot; try a handheld or stabilized (gimbal) shot * Establishing shot; shows the entire background and the actor/object is very small * Close up; chest up for humans * Extreme close up; shoulders up or less than ¼ of object * Panning shot; camera on tripod and slowly turning **December** We’re short on time and everyone’s ready to go out after finals… So let’s create a short (mini) video that’s less than 1 minute long! ### Create a channel trailer video for the SCTV YouTube channel ### 20 Steps [https://vimeo.com/blog/post/weekend-challenge-20-steps-iii] ### 5x5 [https://vimeo.com/blog/post/weekend-challenge-5x5-simplicity] ### Convey a Color [https://vimeo.com/blog/post/weekend-challenge-convey-a-color-ii] ### Long Portrait [https://vimeo.com/blog/post/weekend-challenge-long-portrait-iii] This would be really cool to do in the infinite. ### 100 Seconds [https://vimeo.com/blog/post/weekend-challenge-one-to-one-hundred] Use your phone to capture these and then edit it during a meeting? ### Video Poem Make a video poem using the words from a public domain poem. The words can be type on the screen or voiceover or a subject in the shot saying them. Use photographs, found footage (with permission), or new material you created yourself. [Shakespeare Sonnets](http://shakespeare.mit.edu/Poetry/sonnets.html) and [other poems](https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poems?field_occasion_tid=All&field_poem_themes_tid=1456&field_form_tid=All&title=&field_first_name_value=&field_last_name_value=&body_value=&page=105) ### Choose your own adventure Make a rough outline as a group and then split up into smaller groups to do the individual segments. Try doing a POV movie so that you don't have to worry so much about actors. Example of this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyU_1JD2wuA]. ### Short Film / Long-Form Fiction Yes, it's an oxymoron to call it both short and long. Video between 10-20 minutes long that's fiction (or nonfiction really) that's scripted and created just by SCTV. ### Lobby 10 interview random passerby with our nice little photobooth here (ie. one day we do “what’s your favorite thing about MIT†and one day we do “tell us a joke†or other prompts) ### Film Roadkill Buffet / acapella groups / other performances that only require minimal planning and editing ### Film an i3-esque video for Splash / Spark? Also, they’ve talked in the past about filming classes so that’s another collaboration that could happen & would be easy on our part ### Edit old footage we have and turn them into videos 2014-11-02 NextHaunt 2015-02-07 Juggling Show 2015-09-04 Activities Midway 2015-09-07 Freshman Interviews 2015-09-13 Spinning Arts 2015-10-17 Head of the Charles 2015-11-21 TMRC Open House 2016-02-27 WMBR Charles River Variety 2016-03-05 WMBR Charles River Variety 2016-04-09 Activities Midway CPW 2016-09-06 Spinning Arts 2017-04-12 Einsteins Dreams 2017-04-22 March for Science 2017-05-05 Cheer Up (ADT) 2017-05-05 Not Today (ADT)