Geography at the Movies

Test

2007-07-26T16:25:00.000Z

Test

2007-07-26T16:24:00.000Z

Test

GATM Revamp!

2007-04-06T21:31:00.001Z

Had a little bit of a play with the homepage, and to be honest the whole site is a bit of a mess I will sort it in time. However not got an introductory screencast on homepage and links to blog and bliptv channel. I have also put a donate button on homepage just to meet costs of website hosting and domain name. The rest (if I get any) I will give to charity.

Let me know what you think!?!

GCSE Leisure and Tourism Revision Byte

2007-04-06T12:39:00.001Z

The revision material for GCSE Leisure and Tourism on the net is I always find disappointing. There is the revision pack from edexcel that can be downloaded here. The Work Related Learning Website for the North East is also a useful resource.

In comparison to Geography the big gap seems to exist that as a teacher I find frustrating is a BBC Bitesize resource to aid revision. This is not just in terms of its online content but also the lack of revision based videos that are so useful in other subjects.

So here is the plan....

I am going to make a series of my own Bitesize clips that I am calling a Revision Byte, aimed at GCSE Leisure and Tourism. These will eventually cover the whole qualification and will eventually be available on a separate blog or website (I will see how it goes). I also will add pages to support revision and resources to download.

I will evaluate the project on this blog, and if interested you subscribe to blog update from the geography at the movies website.

As I will not and can not spend any money on this I will be searching the web for all sorts of video clips etc. So this will also be interesting to see what is actually out there that we as teachers can use and adapt. May it be legal or not?!?

Right so I have Windows Movie Maker to put the video together. Audacity to add narration to video. Blip.tv to host the video. All these products are free. I have also downloaded a trial of Camtasia Studio which is a great bit of software, but I did not use it in my first movie.

So with no further chat here is my first video, it focuses on the first part of "The Travel and Tourism Industry" part of the specification (page 14 for edexcel).

It states (copied directly from Edexcel spec)

You will need to know what tourism is. Tourism is a broad area to define but it usually covers temporary travel away from home or work. An essential part of tourism is the traveller’s intention to return home afterwards. The purpose of visits includes:

• a holiday
• sightseeing
• visiting an attraction
• visiting friends or relatives
• going to a sports event as a spectator or to participate
• business.

Click To Play

Crazy Talk 2

2007-04-05T16:50:00.001Z

Very much enjoying this I think it could be used to make some excellent visual resources. Just as many possible e learning tools of value out of the price range of a teacher. Well deffiently mine anyway.

Anyway one more example before I put it to bed for now. An introduction to the British Isles. Source of audio here.

Click To Play

Crazy Talk

2007-04-05T13:52:00.001Z

I saw the ICT Department playing with this the other day so thought I would give it a try.

The software is called Crazy Talk its fairly simple to use!

1. Find a picture of a person

2. Add your voice

3. Crazy talk does the rest

4. It can be saved as a wmv file and imported into Windows Movie Maker to add music and effects.

The full version comes without the logo that you can see with my example, although it is pricey! However there is a 15 day free trial, and good fun.

I wanted to make one using Sherlock Holmes to introduce how to go about solving a thinking skills mystery because I often find it hard to explain and the students are more likely to listen to him. Maybe a set of clips that can remind the students of how they should go about solving the mystery as they go.

However the logo would be annoying. Instead I have settled for GATM's most famous supporter. Nice accent Shane! Oh and if you ever read this Mr Warne...this is for educational purposes only!

Click To Play

Latest Updates

2007-04-04T18:15:00.001Z

Recently recieved this from Christine LS which is a "Baraka" style movie.

Baraka's subject matter includes footage of various landscapes, churches, ruins, religious ceremonies, and cities thrumming with life, filmed using time-lapse photography in order to capture the great pulse of humanity as it flocks and swarms in daily activity. (Source: Wikipedia)

Click To Play

Geogdocs Under Way!

2007-02-18T15:13:00.000Z

So many computers problems this week, but I have finally updated GATM and Geogdocs.

Many thanks to the teachers who have spent time to send in pupil work and indeed the pupils themselves. A random example of a pupil movie:

Click To Play

Geogdocs

2007-02-05T19:24:00.000Z

Geography at the Movies has a sister site for pupils!

I am very excited to be awarded the RGS Innovative Teaching Grant and have launched the site above. Even if you dont take part the resources and scheme of work may be useful.

The site needs a bit of work but my online tutorials will be good if you need something to send you off to sleep!

Google Video Download

2007-01-26T19:27:00.000Z

This may well be handy!

Earthquake Watch

2007-01-26T19:24:00.001Z

Options Evening: Choose Geog!

2007-01-20T12:32:00.000Z

Great movie from Simon Turton suitable for AS and GCSE.

Click To Play

Geographyphotos

2006-12-20T17:12:00.000Z

Some of you may or may not know, that using images from most places on the Internet is an infringement of the owners copyright. As teachers we have a few choices:

1. Go and take photographs that are our own images. This can be difficult when making a Rainforest movie, especially on my position on the pay scale.

2. We can use copyright free images or ask (and get permission) to use. You must also give credit to the owner generally on the same page as that image. If the owner of the images does not reply then more than likely using them will be illegal. Indeed, legislation of educational use of these images is complex and well...frustrating.

3. You can pay to use images.

Ian Murray at Geographyphotos has the answer excellent value and no copyright worries. He has a range of 4,500 images (some I took..although not many).

WOW! A current special offer:

Special Christmas and New Year offer - all subscriptions
received from now on (until further notice) will be set to run
until the end of January 2009 ( yes, 2000 and NINE). This
offer will be automatically backdated to all subscriptions and
renewals since August 30th 2006. The sooner you join the
more time you'll have to use the site.....until 31st January
2009. Sign up now by email or post in the subscription form.

If we all used geographyphotos to make our movies then I would only have to worry about all the copyright issues for the music used. Which may well reduce my prison sentence when I am caught!

2006-12-13T19:01:00.001Z

Well its that time again...end of term and 10 minutes of the lesson left, you have watched all the videos and running out of ideas!

Jenny Ruddick has come to the rescue with a Geography "Pub Quiz!", she is a PGCE student currently at Fair Oak College in Rugeley.

This movie is not yet featured on the website yet as I am "....well busy!".

Thanks Jenny!

Click To Play

Download here 21MB

Flash Movie here

Geography Quiz!

2006-12-13T18:24:00.000Z

Click To Play

Download here 21MB

Flash Movie here

Borat

2006-12-08T18:18:00.000Z

Getting towards the end of term, this movie from Gary Dawson may help you out.

Click To Play

To download click here

Rock Education

2006-12-08T18:02:00.000Z

New website launched with resources for Geography.

Flv and video conversion

2006-11-22T21:53:00.000Z

Video Downloader

Made a few finds this evening. Some I believe will be a great help and the programs are all free. Downloading flv files in seconds. No download required. Simply copy and past the html of the movie you require into the download box. How easy is that!

Super

Super is a video converter that is I believe the first of its kind. It offers video conversion from many formats (which is often the case) and is it free (rarely the case). The bonus is it seems to work!

Riva Encoder

If you are just interested in converting flv movies to avi or mpeg then this is the program for you. Guide is available here.

Student Work using Movie Maker

2006-11-18T18:26:00.000Z

Several moons ago Charles Gould from St Albans High in Hertfordshire sent some student work using movie maker to GATM (AS Level). I have now finally had time to upload them and they are available at the link below.

They are the top seven movies on the page.

http://www.geographyatthemovies.co.uk/Population.html

Thanks Charles and class sorry it took so long.

Christmas is coming....

2006-11-08T21:21:00.000Z

Well in an attempt to beat the major department stores and supermarkets to it....its Christmas time at GATM.

What do you need to get in the Christmas spirit? Microsoft's

Winter Fun Pack! Which is free to download here. Enjoy!

Viewing Site in Internet Explorer

2006-11-05T21:53:00.000Z

I use FireFox as my web browser, but I realised the other day the link buttons on the website appear differently in IE compared with Firefox. I am not aware of any way to solve this. If you find it annoying get Firefox I guess!

Geography Bond

2006-11-05T20:51:00.000Z

Receieved nearly 20 new movies this week! Uploaded half of them check the Home Page for details. Among the movies sent in was Geography Bond by Gary Osburn, looking at the Burgess model.

Click To Play

If you want to make your own Geography Bond all you need is here. Scroll down to Geography Bond.

Windows Media High Definition

2006-11-05T20:44:00.000Z

Free High Definition movie clips now available from Microsoft. Downloaded the Coral reef one and it looks excellent. These files can be adapted in movie maker. Click on image to go to page.

Coastal Kung Fu!

2006-10-29T12:08:00.000Z

Click To Play

Recenetly added this movie that deserves a special mention. It has been created by Graham Green to support the Coastal Kung Fu PowerPoint created by Peter Bell. Portchy (sln) had the original idea.

Click here to go to download page.

Sticky!!!

2006-10-27T17:44:00.000Z

"Sticky" in indeed a growing star at GATM he has firstly appeared in Trevor Smith's critically acclaimed "Sticky" does sheep farming below.

Click To Play

Now "Sticky" after a number of contractual negotiations has passed over to the dark side to make a History movie (no complaints historians please!). Darrin Potts cast sticky in a lead role playing all candidates for the Crown of England in 1066 in "So you want to be King".

Click To Play

Geography Teaching Today

2006-10-26T15:06:00.000Z

The Geography Teaching Today website is up and running as part of the Action Plan for Geography. It is something all Geography teachers I believe need to get behind in order to reduce and eventually reverse the decline in our subject. The site is in its early stages but will hopefully quickly develop to support geographers at all levels.

It is also very nice for GATM to get a link and small write up. Thanks!

Lost Movies

2006-10-08T12:36:00.000Z

I have been working alot lately and have struggled to keep up to date with new movies sent in. Sadly I have missed the download yousendit window for two movies.

Deserts - Trevor Smith

China One Child Policy - Alison Richardson

Hopefully you will read this and be able to send the movies again. Sorry for the inconvience.

On a brighter note...uploaded 8 new movies to GATM today. Thanks for those who contributed.

Windows Movie Maker Archive

2006-10-04T21:01:00.000Z

Found this nice set of effects and transitions for Windows Movie Maker today.

Also PipPlus 2 is currently being developed and can be downloaded. Real potential for educational use... I have several ideas I hope to put in practice soon.

Ourmedia

2006-10-02T21:07:00.000Z

Great news for online hosting of resources!

I started using Ourmedia to host the resources on the GATM website when it all first started and in the end got frustrated with it, it was very unreliable. However it is without doubt one of the biggest developments on the web!

Once uploaded you have a direct link for that item, at no cost and it will never be deleted!

Now with the use of spin xpress (which is free) uploading to ourmedia is easy!

Follow the guide here.

You will need an Ourmedia and internet archive account.

Thanks BBC!

2006-09-23T14:35:00.000Z

The BBC have updated the Open Archives with more excellent video footage. Spurn point and some Weather in the UK included in the new additions. The navigation of the site has also been improved. What a resource!

Geography Archive

You can now batch download a set of clips here.

Make sure you look outside the Geography part! Some examples are:

Leisure and Lifestyle

Business and Industry

Disasters

Search by topic here or locality here.

I think I read somewhere this project may end soon so get in quick!

Geography of Happiness Project

2006-09-23T14:19:00.000Z

How happy is your locality?

Excellent project from a number of geography teachers. I decided to try this out with a GCSE group....the amount of issues we discussed from the video stimulus was incredible.

Poverty, terrorism, sustainability, politics, immigration...are just a few!

Geograohy of Happiness

Updates

2006-09-09T14:24:00.000Z

Some start of term updates...

Two movies from Suzie Murphy on the Development page

"The Beautiful Game" from Victoria Ellis

"Why is Omar Stiching Footballs" from John Barlow

"Krakow: Poland's Tourist Magnet" from Christine LS

Thanks for your support.

Introducing Sticky

2006-09-01T16:24:00.000Z

I was trying to avoid thinking about AS Rural module that I should have been planning and made this movie with a stick person and Microsoft Paint. I have never been one gifted in art but very much enjoyed making my first of maybe a few.

Anyhow, the movie looks at settlement site factors…can be used as a starter or plenary.

Feel free to make your own Sticky movie!

Click on the image to watch in Flash.

Click on this link to download

Updates - Newlook website

2006-08-31T20:26:00.000Z

I have changed the website around and I think it is much improved. Movie page layouts are now easier to follow and all images have been updated. Don't worry its still full of typos and dead links!

On the home page updates are displayed automatically when uploaded on the slide show on the right hand side. The home page itself has changed slightly with a bit of flash for good measure. All news will now appear on this blog.

I hope to introduce a search engine soon and introduce rss feeds for updates.

Thanks for your support.

Video clips on the internet

2006-08-30T19:53:00.001Z

The Internet now is a source of a number of video clips with geographical relevance. However some we are allowed to download and sadly some for whatever reason we are not! Actual video footage projected using an Interactive White Board or projection screen has many possibilities for geography teaching, from quirky starter clips from South Park to aerial footage of the Holderness coast.

To help me and hopefully others I searched the Internet to compile this list. Remember these are not all readily downloadable but there are ways and means.

If you want to add to this list feel free to send me an e mail or post a comment with your suggestion.

ARKive

This website can to my attention via a post on the sln forum from Bruce Phillips (ARKive education officer). There is a wide variety of issue based video clips available. A list of current available clips can be found at this link to the sln forum.

BBC Open Archives

The BBC Open Archives project offers an array of useful clips. Please BBC we want more of this!

BBC Open Earth Archive

Again from the BBC the Open Earth Archive with exclusive footage from the “Planet Earth” series. This would be wonderful if this was replicated for the forthcoming "Equator Series".

BBC Open School Archive: Geography

The Open School Achive for Geography, I look forward to see this develop. Especially useful for tectonics and rivers.

BBC Open School Archive: Places

The Open School Archive for Places

Greenpeace Videos

Although not ready for download, Greenpeace have a variety of useful clips. You can search these by issue.

Singingfish

Searching for audio and/or video files? use this search engine.

East Yorkshire Coastal Observatory

High quality videos of the Holderness coast from The East Yorkshire Coastal Observatory.

Kingsgrove School

Flooding video clips from Kingsgrove School

Severe Weather

A wealth of severe weather from Australia and the USA.

Footage Firm

Although you have to pay for full access many clips available mainly from the USA.

British Pathe

Mainly history based but a few could be of value.

Ray Mears

Clips from Ray Mears, particularly useful one in the Amazon.

Learning Through Windows

Learning Through Windows created by Dan Raven-Ellison. Excellent footage of the Dorset Coast.

Channel 4 Clipbank

The whole package is pricey, but they do have a settlement collection as a trial.

United Streaming

An American online source for digital video. You can get a free 30 day trial and then mortgage your house and pay the subscription. However this is a truly superb resource, would be great to have something similar in the UK.

Annenberg Media Learner

Excellent videos here. Join up and movies can be viewed online but not downloaded (unless you know how). Many case studies that we all use.

Youtube

See the seperate "Youtube" post.

Google Video

Both "Google Video" and "Youtube" clips can be downloaded using a Mozilla Firefox Add-on called Video Downloader. Still stuck? Here is a useful tutorial from Tony Cassidy .

Open University

Came to my attention on the sln forum by Tony Cassidy, 60 clips on a variety of subjects including Antartica and Rio.

Youtube

2006-08-23T22:40:00.000Z

So whats it all about?

http://www.youtube.com/

It is a website with 25 million hits a day and has more than 40 million movie clips uploaded by its visitors. But what potential for the geography teacher?

I type in "geography" in the search engine:

Firstly I get extreme geography which was not as good as it sounds. The second video was a useful cartoon from the animaniacs, could be used to introduce world geography and possibly lead to some singing geography for places in the local area.

To be honest the next four movies I could not post here. However I did discover a good video made using windows movie maker by a pupil about the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in Singapore. This could be used for modelling or as a starter, although I admit not many of us do this case study.

Then I come across a useful starter from Fox News and their attempt at UK Geography, you can not miss this. Spot the deliberate mistakes!

After a have to admit several movies of teachers, field trips and general madness I found again another example of pupil work, dealing with a number of geographical issues.

Finally a teacher has uploaded a Hurricane Katrina Video, of which many are available.

This is a random sample of youtube movies and you can sort by rating to find the highest rated movie which tends to be sensible. There are simply thousands to look through.

I have several ideas for teaching and learning after visiting youtube for the first time. The amount of videos about geography field trips made by kids really proves most do love geography!

Verdict

1. Youtube is without doubt popular with young people and it make sense therefore to incorporate its use in the classroom.

2. Without doubt there are some valuable teaching resources available. Made by professional organisations e.g. Greenpeace.

3. Youtube is growing at an alarming rate.

4. I must pay more attention when kids point mobile phones at me, who know what they are recording.

If one day you are stuck for inspiration maybe a starter to your lesson on deforestation. Search for "deforestation" on youtube and I believe you will find several things of use, on what is a fast growing resource base.

Coming soon......Using youtube in the classroom!

Geography at the Movies Website

2006-08-23T22:11:00.000Z

The Geography at the Movies Website is at the following address:

http://www.geographyathemovies.co.uk/