Summary: Students who've had a hard time with term papers and essay questions may be shocked to learn how much their postgraduation world revolves around writing. This program shows how effective written communication is possible for anyone, even those who struggle to complete a simple fax or e-mail. Methods for improvement include gauging the needs of the reader, keeping prose short and simple,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: Was there a "big bang" in human language and cognitive development, or did speech and abstract thought evolve slowly-perhaps across 200,000 years or so? Surveying prehistoric burial sites and other archaeological finds, including what might be the world's oldest work of art, this program attempts to locate the junction of creativity and communication at which human intelligence was born....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Written language is arguably humankind's most important invention. This delightfully accessible documentary uses maps, tables, artifacts, and copious examples to trace the progression of communication through its six stages: gestures, picture writing, pictograms, ideograms, phonograms, and acrophonic characters. Through detailed narration, the program explores topics such as the function of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Where do abstract painters and fashion designers find their muses? To what extent does the creative process differ between video artists, sculptors, and fine art embroiderers? How do illustrators and mixed media artists handle the business side of their work? Using capsule interviews with contemporary figures on the U.K. visual arts scene, this program draws viewers into the studio space and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program provides a succinct overview of the commercial applications of photography, the graphic arts, and desktop publishing, along with the careers associated with them. Demonstrations of equipment and software, plus definitions of industry jargon, demystify these fascinating fields, while discussions on a diverse range of topics such as how a camera functions and how DTP technology has...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In today's world, "communications" and "the arts" mean more than just the things you'd find on a newsstand or in a museum. This program introduces viewers to three Digital Age communications professionals-a video editor, a desktop publisher, and an audio technician-and a trio of somewhat unconventional artists: an animator, a photographer, and a fashion designer. Correlates to all applicable...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: CADD-Computer-Aided Drafting and Design. This video is designed to provide an overview of CADD, Computer-Aided Drafting and Design, and its importance in today's world. Viewers will see real-world examples of applications, including engines, circuitry, and heating and air conditioning systems. Benefits of using CADD are outlined, and we hear from experts in the field who are actually using CADD...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: The principles of design are visible almost anywhere, but too often they are explained in an abstract, intellectualized way. This hands-on video presents the basic elements of design and their importance in a wide variety of fields and professions-architecture, landscaping, fashion, furniture design, the culinary arts, information technology, and other disciplines. Studying balance, contrast,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Overview to Drafting is a thirteen-minute video which is part of the series, Drafting.Whether your students are just beginning to learn basic drawing skills or are already involved in CAD programs, this video series will ignite an interest in the "drafting world-of-work. The set of 3 videos covers: technical/ mechanical drawing, including the tools and equipment needed; computer-aided design...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This video guides viewers through each step of making a one-minute/150-word digital story based on the theme "Who Am I?", a project that relies on editing software such as Final Cut Pro to integrate digital snapshots, original or royalty-free music, and voiced-over narration into a multimedia essay. Technology is reshaping the way students learn and relate to each other; use How to Make Digital...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Here's a place where your students can turn their creativity into a career. This program looks at opportunities to design, produce, exhibit, perform, write, or publish in a variety of media, including theater, film, textiles, newspapers, radio, and television. Real-world insights into this cluster are provided through interviews with a cable TV broadcast engineer, newspaper reporter,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program traces the evolution of writing from its pictograph and hieroglyph antecedents. Recent discoveries have revealed that the earliest alphabet was corrupted shorthand for Egyptian hieroglyphs, developed by Semitic mercenaries. As the Roman alphabet became dominant in the Western world, indigenous languages were lost as Roman law and the Latin alphabet became a tool by which minority...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Retailers go to great lengths to ensure the garments they sell live up to certain standards of quality-anything less would mean returned purchases and the risk of losing repeat business. This program shows technicians conducting a variety of performance and physical-wear tests on fabrics. Jackets are assessed for waterproofing, breathability, windproofing, and warmth. Tee-shirts that promise to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Computerization has taken fabric-printing to new levels, allowing for more designs, more colors, and softer fabrics, all at a lower cost. This program explores technological advances in printing and dyeing, giving viewers a detailed look at flat-bed, carousel, roller-screen, and transfer methods of producing patterns on cloth. Digital color-matching, use of an atmospheric jet machine for...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: What makes a good design? What must a designer do to develop a fresh, original approach to a product? This program explores those questions as it investigates one of the main factors that influence design: innovation. Identifying the basic concepts of innovation with help from an engaging host, the video visits design studios and workshops to see innovative practices at work. Viewers meet the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
View online at AVOD
Summary: Throughout history, one type of individual has instinctively grasped art's power to persuade and manipulate-and indeed, images have become at least as deadly as swords or guns in the hands of political and military leaders. This program revolves around a basic question: when did art mutate from a vehicle of the imagination into a tool of the ruler? Beginning in Britain, the program looks at the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing has replaced the old-fashioned screen process of transferring designs onto fabric, giving textile artists more flexibility while reducing overhead costs. In this program designers at RA Smart demonstrate how CAD and CAM technology is used for joining, engraving, printing, and cutting fabrics. The video also investigates computer-aided...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: From prehistoric cave paintings to the invention of today's high-speed printing presses, there has always been a need to "get the message out," and with the advent of computer technology, anyone can get their own message out with the services of a desktop publishing professional. Using computers and DTP software packages, these pros work in home offices and small design firms putting together...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Art may represent a quest for beauty and perfection, but throughout history it has also explored a terrifying realm of doom, decay, and darkness. This program delves into the age-old human compulsion to surround ourselves with images of death. Starting with the Neolithic relics known as the Jericho Skulls, the film identifies a pattern of morbidity and death fetishism covering a broad swathe of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: City planning that puts people before cars, sculptural museums that are as artistic as the masterpieces they contain, commercial spaces that redefine retail—these are some of the paradigm-shaking ideas of today’s architects at work. This compilation of recent NewsHour segments introduces viewers to Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, Vincent Scully, and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: This video defines CAM, shows how a CAM system is integrated with a CAD system, and discusses background necessary for employment with CAM and the future of CAM in industry.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Many saw the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center as the end of the skyscraper. They were wrong. This program interviews architects and engineers who have dedicated their lives to reaching new heights, and investigates the risks and benefits of building tall. Two projects-Taipei 101 and the Shanghai World Financial Center-are featured as they race to become the world's tallest building....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: A master lithographer's aim is to keep the immediacy of the artist's hand intact-from fine pencil lines to painterly brush strokes. And yet, even as it preserves the complex modeling and tonality of original work, lithography becomes an art form in itself. This program gives students a way to experience and incorporate professional lithographic methods, many of which have been practiced for...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2010
View online at AVOD
Summary: When it comes to depictions of the human form, art history reveals something strange: we prefer images that don't look like us. This program seeks to understand why unrealistic figures are so prominent throughout the evolution of painting and sculpture. Beginning with the Venus of Willendorf, one of the oldest representations of the body ever found, the film explores stimulus-and-response...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009