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Children in the Liberties area of Dublin are being taught digital editing techniques using new software developed by an Irish multimedia company.
During the last two months, more than 100 children from the Liberties have been involved in a project that gives them the opportunity to shoot and edit film of themselves and their friends skateboarding.
Called Digiboarding, the project has enabled children aged between 10 and 14 years from local summer projects to record skateboarding images and sounds through cameras placed on their clothing and on the ramps of a purpose-built skate park. They can then use the new software to edit the footage in real-time with the aim of producing short films of their skateboarding adventures.
Developed by the multimedia division of Rough Magic Films, the Audio Visual Presenter (AVP) technology allows up to six video streams to be manipulated by one user. This means that images and sounds can be edited simultaneously. Most other video software applications only allow one stream to be edited at a time.
According to those behind the software, AVP has integrated Java and Macintosh technology to produce a cross-platform player that is similar to the Macintosh QuickTime Player and Windows Media Player. The difference between these more established software tools and the AVP software, claims Rough Magic Films, is that the Irish company's technology is user-friendlier and has a real-time editor, recorder and vision mixer.
John Gerrard, a supervisor of the project and a member of the multimedia division of Rough Magic Films, told ElectricNews.Net that the aim of the Liberties scheme had been to teach children about digital media in a fun way. "The kids have reacted brilliant to the project," said Gerrard. "Some of them had never used a mouse before and now all of them can manipulate images and edit video digitally."
The multimedia division of Rough Magic Films was established 18 months ago after its members, Gerrard, Jobst Graeve, and Stephen O'Reilly, met in Trinity College while studying for MScs in multimedia. Developing AVP was their thesis project. According to Gerrard, future applications of the software include recording and real-time editing of live theatre and dance performances, and sports matches.
The Digiboarding project is a Liberties Learning Initiative, which was developed by the Digital Hub and funded by Guinness UDV through its EUR1.27 million community education sponsorship of the area. The concept for the project came from Gerrard, Graeve and O'Reilly, and Digiboarding runs until 09 August 2002.
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