Technology
Creating
Photomontage Videos
Kevan Nitzberg
Several years ago I began Implications for Students born. That crossover between media
exploring the use of digital My personal sense of exploration, referred to before was quite evident
film and video as art-mak- however, did not always translate in this new application of artistic
ing media when I took over to the students I had in my video process.
instructing the video computer computer art classes. On more occa- The electronic tools that now
art class at the high school where sions than I would have liked, the replaced those more familiar in
I teach. The idea of creating and video that I found being shot was a conventional art studio require
manipulating images (both still more about the excitement of play- no less dexterity and subtlety in
and moving), was quite intriguing ing with the camera and shooting their implementation. Degrees of
to me both as an art educator and various questionable antics in the how much, in what combination,
as a painter. I had taken a series of hallways of the towards what
classes in multimedia technologies school. The quality and emotive aspects end, and how
and software that specifically dealt It became of text, sound, motion, time, best to convey
with digital photography, animation, clear to me the moment
Adobe Photoshop, iMovie, and Final that expect- and sequence all add levels of in visually
Cut Pro. ing students awareness and richness to the aesthetic
I found numerous ways to inte- to work with artworks being formulated. metaphor are
grate a variety of those tools with the effect and as important
more traditional types of visual transition tools in iMovie, simply in the use of the computer hardware
art processes and techniques that I because they were there and could and the software that provides the
employ in my own artwork. I also do amazing things, was not always interface with the electronic “can-
found that, as different as my visual enough motivation to extend itself vas.”
art media and multimedia handling to the filmmaking process. I then Additionally, I find that as stu-
processes were, there were also a began considering how to more dents go deeper into exploring the
number of crossovers between the directly involve students with the possibilities that digital editing
two through the elements and prin- effect tools that are provided in provides, the quality and emotive
ciples of art that made me feel quite iMovie. The idea of using pre-shot aspects of text, sound, motion,
at home with these new tools. DV tape and then exploring those time, and sequence all add levels of
effects by creating what I began to
call photomontage digital film, was
Continued on next page.
