A project I did

Comment

Comment by Susannah Bell on July 19, 2010 at 6:53pm

I did this project because students were having a hard time understanding the book (Lord of the Flies), and at the same time were excited about anything having to do with digital media. We applied for and received a grant from the AFI digital storytelling workshops; I attended a summer session taught by AFI filmmakers and was chomping at the bit to teach the skills I learned. I found a real benefit was the added motivation the students seemed to show to understand the book so that they could convey the characters' emotions, etc. on film. One challenge was buying the cameras, but we were lucky enough to get a private donor to foot the bill for that. Another challenge was that we only had I-Movie on our computers and there were lots of glitches in that program, even though it was really easy to use. Additionally, it took a longer time than I expected to get through the editing process. I've done the project with my students four times now, and each time I think of a way to improve the products and make the process more meaningful for them. Thanks for this opportunity to share!

Comment by Jessica Parker on July 14, 2010 at 2:02pm

You should write something on why you did this project with students and explain some of the challenges and benefits and we can have you as a featured guest blogger on the site! It would be really cool.

Comment by Susannah Bell on July 14, 2010 at 12:55pm

They loved it, of course. They especially loved looking at the rhetorical devices at work in film and trying some of their own techniques to convey specific emotions, etc. I bought nine cameras and used materials from the AFI digital storytelling workshops.

Comment by Jessica Parker on July 14, 2010 at 10:14am

Impressive. How did the students take to the video making experience?