Hamilton Buhl Hamilton HDV5200 Curriculum - Manual (Page 2)

2
Introduction
Welcome and thank you for purchasing the Hamilton Digital Video Exploration Kit.
You and your students will find exciting ways to enhance teaching and learning
with digital video. This kit will help you incorporate digital video into almost any
lesson or project and this manual will help you get started on this wonderful
adventure by introducing you to your new camera, software and digital video in
general.
In 1895, fifty‐six years after the invention of photography, the Frenchman Louis
Lumiere, sometimes credited as the inventor of the motion picture camera, used a
suitcase‐sized machine to film, process and project the first motion pictures. The
era of silent films soon followed, marked by D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation
released in 1915 and Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, released in 1936. The 1930’s
brought the rise of the Hollywood studio system and motion pictures with sound
and music became a vital part of our cultural life.
In 1951, the first video tape recorder (VTR) captured live images from TV cameras
and saved the images onto magnetic tape. In 1956, the first VTR was sold for
$50,000. Fifteen years later, in 1971, Sony sold the first commercial VCR. At the
start of the twenty‐first century, camcorders, VCRs and DVD players are ubiquitous
and relatively inexpensive. New technologies such as digital video camcorders and
video editing software have revolutionized video to the point where teachers and
students are now able to produce professional video projects.