Ohio Department of education
The Early Learning and Development Standards Videos will be used to support the implementation and training of new standards for infant and preschool aged children.
Early childhood professionals from across Ohio will complete training on the new standards that include video content illustrating the nine domains of learning and development.
Project Overview
For seven days, our video crew documented young children engaged in everyday routines and activities at playin different group care settings including public schools, family child care homes, and child care centers. Going into the project, we knew there would be minimal opportunities to direct any of the scenes. We planned meticulously to maximize capturing footage with a two-camera video crew before naptime. The video crew was briefed before each recording by the state team to instruct the crew on what to capture in each age range and activity.
The footage was renamed, cataloged, and exported with timecode after each recording so that
the ODE team could select their favorite examples of each standard. Over 230 clips were
selected for consideration of the 81 final videos. The VSS team created a system of cataloging
selected footage and working collaboratively with the ODE team to edit each selection, often
sequencing several different clips together. The edits included captioning and a few spanish
translations.
Project Constraints
● A few families of requested their children not to be in the video series, so the team kept track of the children without signed talent release forms.
● To minimize distractions and truly capture children in their daily routine, we kept the crew
small, developed hand signals to provide camera direction, and used transmitters to
allow the client to view footage on their cell phones in a different room.
● Lightweight DSLR cameras, battery powered gear, and video transmitters allowed the
crew to be light and nimble and to not have dangerous cords laying on the floor.
● Capturing audio was tricky in the busy classrooms so a combination of boom mics, directional mics, and wireless lavalier microphones were used.
Project Numbers
● 4 locations, 8 days of recording with a 2 camera, 3 person crew
● Cataloging over 39 hours of video footage
● 232 clips were lifted for the source footage
● 76 finished videos and stills pulled from videos
“We feel so good about these videos. They make everyone happy. It will make a huge difference in the level of engagement with our training.”
Sophie Hubbell, Assistant Director, Curriculum and Assessment Office of Early Childhood Learning and School Readiness