Movie Making Project  6th grade drama

by Wendy S. Duke

Performance Objectives

The learner will:

*   Engage in collaborative work to make an iMovie on the theme of "Freedom."

*  Construct a portfolio to show evidence of the development and exploration of techniques, personal ideas, research, reflection and philosophies (Drama notebook and videotape formats)

*   Engage in collaborative work to study the history of movie-making; its development and analyze its elements, design, structure and creative process.

*   Develop criteria for judging the movie project's effectiveness and the process that created it.

Project:  To Adapt an original idea, work of literature or historical event into a cinematic form.

*  Goal:  to continue to develop collaborative skills.

      *  Goal:  to combine language arts, visual arts and performance arts skills to create a

                   narrative with plot, characters, and setting.

      *  Goal:  to explore the wide variety of job skills and roles in the movie-making industry

      *  Goal:  to develop an understanding and fluency with the vocabulary of films and

                   movie-making.

Week One:  Hands-on experience with equipment.

In small group, students will learn

1.  how to set up a tripod and camcorder.

2.  the differences between VHS and digital 8 camcorders

3.  the rudimentary language of camera shots:

               zoom, pan, tilt, long shot, medium, closeup and so on.

4.  how to open iMovie and work with the tutorial

Procedure:  Students will rotate through the following job roles:

One Camera Operator  shoots scenes

Two as Talent  provides actions for camera to follow.

One as Director  responsible for setting actions for camera operator and talent.

One as Gofer  sets up, moves, and strikes equipment.

Three Editors in training work with iMovie tutorial

Students not with specific roles are to observe, and practice film studio etiquette and vocabulary.

Quiet on the set.  Camera Rolling.  Action.  Cut.

Week Two:   Story Boarding

Monday:  Introducing the concept

Materials:  Simple Story board forms and comic books.

Procedure: 

In pairs, students will analyze a comic book story, comparing and contrasting to a movie.

Pairs will report their findings after five minutes. 

Discussion of camera shots and angles. 

Pass out simple storyboard forms.  What do they look like?  (comic strips)

Show students how to use the form.

In pairs, students will create a storyboard for a comic book story.

Type of shot and angles only

For Tuesday:  hand out storyboard articles to read.

Assignment:  In drama notebooks:  compare and contrast movies with live theatre

Tuesday:  Point of View

Compile findings from homework question  differences between movies and live theatre.

Hand out samples of movie scripts along with play scripts.  In pairs, analyze, compare and contrast.

Report back script writing differences.

Discuss:  Point of View  (live audience vs camera eye)

Using camcorder, students will demonstrate the following camera shots for point of view:

Over-the-shoulder shot

reverse-angle shot

Establishing shot

Eye level shot

worm's eye view

Low angle

bird's eye view

eye-level

Voice-over

POV shot

If time, ask for theme ideas.  Remind students that they will be creating a storyboard along with a script for their movie.

Wednesday:  The Language of Film

Cinematic Devises

Students will observe the opening sequences of a movie and will tally how many shots/edits are in the sequence. The sequence will be shown again and stopped at each edit and analyzed for camera angle, type of shot and use of cinematic devises. Students will identify and provide evidence for the following devises:  (Movie used:  The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock)

Shot

Scene

Sequence

Cut

Transition

Dissolve

Editing

Fade-out

Fade-in

Lens

Sharp

In focus,

Blurred

Out of focus

Deep focus

Focal planes

Background

Middle ground

Foreground

Props

Hand out complex storyboard form and diagram it on chalkboard

Show students how to fill in each area.

In pairs, students will practice filling out the storyboard forms using shots from the movie sequence shown at the beginning of the class.

Assignment:  Be prepared to share Theme ideas.

Thursday:  Theme Brainstorming and Development

Share Theme movie ideas  chalk them on the board.

See if they can be clustered into groups according to theme or time period or fiction, non-fiction.

Divide class into small groups.  Each group will choose a Freedom theme for Development.

Groups have one class period in which to flesh out an idea.

Groups must take into consideration that the project must fit the size of the class and make best use of our facilities, materials on hand and equipment.

Friday:   Presenting ideas to the Producers

Each movie idea group will present their developed idea to the entire class.

Students will be encouraged to take notes on the various ideas and ask questions at the end of each presentation.

If not all groups have presented, this will continue on Monday.

When all have presented, the class and the producer (wsd) must reach consensus on which idea to develop as a class project..

Week Three: Movie production -- Preproduction, production and post-production roles.

Monday:  Production roles

The students will be presented with the concept of the three main aspects of movie production and will discuss what is required of each job in the following:

Pre-production     Production     Post production

Script writers   Director    Editors

Designers        Assistant Director    Soundtrack/score

Budgets and cost control Continuity Credits

casting    Script Doctor    Promotion

director    Cast Re-shoots

assistant director     Makeup & Wardrobe

Researchers    Gaffers

Best Boy & Girl

Sound

Special Effects

Tuesday:  Writing a Shooting Script

The students will be shown the the first ten minutes of Alfed Hitchcock's The Birds once again, but this time, they will follow along with the actual shooting script.  (Copies available on the internet.)  T

Discuss:  the differences between play scripts and shooting scripts.

List:  all the elements of a shooting script

Wednesday - Friday:   Research and Development of a movie script

Students will break into groups to begin research for their movie.  Naturally, the theme they have chosen will determine what is to be researched.  The teacher as producer will assign general areas and/or specific research information.  Depending upon facilities available, students may research via the internet, in books and magazines or on video or film.  Students who are not engaged in research may be practicing with camera or editing program. 

Research Information should be shared at the end of each class, so that the next day's work can be determined ahead of time.