Here is Stage 2’s latest “Book Week” video podcast, which works best with the latest version of Quicktime. Click HERE to view the podcast.
I was able to play this new trailer to a group of students who were contributors to a brainstorm, only a week earlier, for many of the sequences, character suggestions, dialogue snippets. But the final shot list and script had been developed by a different group. It was such fun watching individual faces light up when “their” suggestion was suddenly up on the screen, as part of the cohesive whole. The power of collaborative writing, producing a final work which is greater than the sum of all the already-great smaller parts.
If you have trouble viewing Quicktime podcasts, please try the Flickr slideshow instead. When the slideshow opens, click “Show info” to read the captions.
I do a big emphasis on talking & listening, using the format of “Circle Time” (I did a “Scan” article on it a few years ago). For this trailer, I was mentioning which shortlisted books I happened to have toys to represent characters. It was the students who decided we should add various book characters, not just “Fearless”, who is starring in the current NSW DET book rap.
Then I set small groups to work with storyboarding their interpretations of the brainstorm, and then eventually we are adding text.
If we’re going for comedy, whatever makes the kids laugh (and is “appropriate”) is what I jot down to keep for the final draft. (I’d actually forgotten about owning a “Where’s Wally” until the shooting of the suggested images, so the students were very surprised when he popped up – and one student suggested “How did you find me?”, and we all had a big belly laugh. So that line was a keeper.)
Again another brill production. Not only will it provide enjoyment but so much potential for learning with all the cross references… a great way to engage the students and to assess their understanding of ‘many’ concepts. Intertwining the storylines to produce this piece, great. The humour tickles my fancy also let alone the children’s – troll meets troll confrontation, Nicholas in “The Wrong Book” … Hehehe (know they will be keen and find it funny). I can’t wait to show them… on hold though. .. following my program (only, but will include this in eval and assess). Maybe the troll found it funny cause he’s legless now? (See my attempts – quite lame). Again many thanks for sharing your brilliant projects.