Make a Movie Camp

[Enders]

I just started my afterschool class in Middle school and we are going to make a video. All the materials here have been so helpful. When our videos are finished I will post the links for them here and if I create any new material which is not already on this thread, I will post that up too. Cheers guys

[xtreme]

Hello Everybody. I just finished this camp I put together for the last two weeks and I have to say it turned out very well! In two weeks, 40 minutes/day, a small group of students and I made a short movie. This was done in Elementary school, but I think it's highly adaptable to any age level. In fact, I did it in High School last summer and it was a success then as well.

First thing's first. Here are the finished movies:
 
"The Nojeon Ghost", 5th Grade Elementary Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-ucg5dd8Rg

"The Monster of Death", 6th Grade Elementary Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IId0xyPXm3s

"Death Note", 5th Grade Elementary Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HSywtxnnhE

How you organize this project is up to you, and I highly suggest organizing it to fit your style, but here's the schedule of how it worked for me, in a 10-day format.

Day 1: Introduce Camp and Icebreaker
Day 2: Movie Idea Brainstorming
Day 3: Script Writing
Day 4: Script Writing
Day 5: Script Writing/Filming
Day 6: Filming
Day 7: Filming
Day 8: Storyboards
Day 9: Editing and Finding Music
Day 10: Movie Party and Oscar Ceremony

I was lucky enough to have a very small group of students in each class (between 5-7), so we were able to make the movie all together as a class. It helps to have them brainstorm in pairs first, and then come together as a group afterwards, especially if the class is not familiar with each other. Script writing was done as a group in my case, with 2 or 3 students generally acting as the leaders and giving the most input for the group.

I can go into more details about each stage if anybody is interested. Overall, it is a fantastic way to do something that lasts beyond the borders of the classroom. I feel that students can remember their camp experience fondly by using English in a creative and unconventional way. Please post your results if you decide to do this!


~~~~~

As I mentioned, I also did this in High School last year. The premise was slightly different (they had to adapt fairy tale characters into a new story), but the project was basically the same. Here are two of the finished products from that camp:

"Irreparable"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgF-ekr3xP8

"Poor Humpty Dumpty"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpgWNltPN0g

What would you say is the biggest difference between the high school and primary school reaction to this concept?

[whanous]

This is such a great idea. I did stop-motion with year 7 Science students back home. They absolutely loved it.
Here a nice guide to using stop-mation films: http://content.photojojo.com/tutorials/stop-motion-digital-camera/

[GreenFloyd]

^ Good question. The high schooler's are more capable of making comprehendable plot-flow and were generally enthused to work together. They did not need much help as far as writing the script or filming. The elementary school students were much harder to get working together in a way that feels like they are doing it and not you (the teacher). This was a problem with a few of the elementary school groups, but not with any of the high school groups. Elementary kids needed a lot of guidance in script writing (but not ideas - they came up with a lot of those on their own). The more you give them to do on their own, the better, I found.

It's a challenge to do in Elementary, but very rewarding!

[waynesworld]

Whoops!  I meant to get back to this months ago!  I have loads of time since my students are studying for final exams next week and I'm settling in for 2 weeks of deskwarming.  If only I had a camp idea for winter that lives up to the way this one was received...!  Okay, here are the PPTs.

Hey CellarDoor,

In your day 2 PPT you mention a "film pack".  Could you please post this on Waygook?

Thanks, and great job.