Production and Editing Fundamentals

This unit teaches core production techniques and introductory editing workflows for short YouTube videos. Students practice lighting, directing, shooting, and shot evaluation, then create and organize projects in iMovie—importing footage, recording webcam and voiceover, and adding transitions, jump cuts, and titles—to prepare for advanced post-production and publishing.

Learning Objectives

• Apply lighting techniques and basic directorial choices to set up scenes that achieve clear exposure, consistent color, and support the intended narrative.
• Demonstrate camera operation and shot composition by executing planned shots, checking framing and exposure, and applying appropriate shooting tips to capture usable footage.
• Create and organize an iMovie project by selecting an editing workflow, importing media, recording webcam and voiceover tracks, adding clips to the timeline, and implementing transitions, jump cuts, and titles.
• Evaluate raw footage and assembled sequences for technical quality and storytelling effectiveness and make targeted edits (cuts, transitions, titles, audio adjustments) to improve the final video.