This is part of a series suggesting different ways to use Moviestorm in schools or other educational environments. They also make useful exercises for film-makers wanting to develop and practice different film-making techniques. Many more lesson plans and ideas, with free downloadable resources, can be found on the Moviestorm Web site.
Assignment: Foreign drama
Take a scene from a set play and present it in movie form.
Suggested techniques
Film it as if on a stage, or else film it as if it were a movie, and compare the difference between the two approaches.
Use modern dress if appropriate.
Add in background music to add mood.
For teachers: benefits to students
Requiring the students to perform the play helps them understand the meaning of the words.
This also requires the students to examine a scene in depth, understand staging, and create an interpretation of the work. You can then build on this in class as they explain why they chose to present the work that way.
It gets the students engaged, and requires them to stop thinking about drama in written form and think about it as performance.
Filming in animation allows them options that would not be possible on a classroom or school stage.
Dramatic performance makes for a good group project.
Voicing an animated version builds confidence in speaking without needing to do it in front of an audience or camera.
Use of music demonstrates that the student has understood the emotional content of the play.
This is part of a series suggesting different ways to use Moviestorm in schools or other educational environments. They also make useful exercises for film-makers wanting to develop and practice different film-making techniques. Many more lesson plans and ideas, with free downloadable resources, can be found on the Moviestorm Web site.
Assignment: Meet The Author
Create a short film about a famous author. Tell the story of their life, and explain why they and their books are historically significant.
Suggested techniques
You can do this using an on-screen presenter, or completely with voice-over, or even have the author narrate their own life. You could interview the author in the style of a chat show.
Reconstruct significant moments from of their life in dramatic form. You can do it in modern dress and setting if period dress and sets aren’t available.
Intersperse the presentation with still images and video if appropriate. You could do this as a studio presentation or lecture, and display the images on a screen behind the presenter, or else you can make the images go full-screen.
Add extra content on-screen by using text to complement what you’re saying, such as extracts from the author’s works.
Add appropriate background music to create atmosphere, and ensure you have a striking title sequence.
For teachers: benefits to students
Reconstructing events from the author’s life gives the student new insights into the context in which they were writing.
Dramatic reconstruction makes for a good group project.
Adding multimedia content enables the student to approach the subject in a richer way than just using written text and still images.
Finding images and music to enhance the presentation requires detailed research.
Providing narration builds confidence in speaking without needing to do it in front of an audience or camera.
Creating a multimedia presentation helps develop presentational skills and requires the student to consider what information is best presented using the different media: spoken, written, or visual.
This is part of a series suggesting different ways to use Moviestorm in schools or other educational environments. They also make useful exercises for film-makers wanting to develop and practice different film-making techniques. Many more lesson plans and ideas, with free downloadable resources, can be found on the Moviestorm Web site.
Assignment: Soundscapes
Create a video using a piece of music as a soundscape.
This was created in association with an Oxfordshire school Students start with the video and source appropriate music for it. Suggested techniques
Tell a story to illustrate the music.
Use instrumental music rather than vocal music so the emotion comes from the sound rather than the lyrics.
John, from Oxford, suggests the following: “We’re looking at music which suggests the seasons. I’m getting the students to create movies based on the themes of spring, summer, autumn and winter.”
For teachers: benefits to students
This helps students understand the relationship between sound and vision.
This is an easy way to get students to engage with a piece of music.
Suitability
Ages 12+
Suitable for solo work
Music
Downloadable resources
Click the link to download a Moviestorm movie template.
This is part of a series suggesting different ways to use Moviestorm in schools or other educational environments. They also make useful exercises for film-makers wanting to develop and practice different film-making techniques. Many more lesson plans and ideas, with free downloadable resources, can be found on the Moviestorm Web site.
Assignment: Foreign poem
Create a short film based on a set poem in a foreign language.
Suggested techniques
Have someone read the poem aloud.
Tell the story of the poem in the film, using extracts from the poem on screen.
For teachers: benefits to students
Students are required to develop a good speech rhythm to do say the poem aloud, which helps develop their fluency in the language.
This requires the students to examine the poem in depth to create an interpretation of the work. This allows the student to get a better understanding of the poem by taking it beyond the written word and into something visual and active.
You can build on this in class as they explain why they chose to present and interpret the work that way.
Voicing an animated version builds confidence in speaking without needing to do it in front of an audience or camera.
This is part of a series suggesting different ways to use Moviestorm in schools or other educational environments. They also make useful exercises for film-makers wanting to develop and practice different film-making techniques. Many more lesson plans and ideas, with free downloadable resources, can be found on the Moviestorm Web site.
Assignment: Meet the Character
Do a chat show style interview with a character from a book or play. Get the character to talk about their background, their motivations, and explain their actions.
In this example, a reporter interviews Lady Macbeth’s maid about her unusual behaviour.
Suggested techniques
Don’t necessarily do a main character - it can be more effective to take a minor character.
Remember to make sure the character speaks in the same way as in the original material.
You could do a “This Is Your Life” approach and bring in other characters to talk about their relationship with the subject.
For teachers: benefits to students
The student is required to demonstrate a good understanding of the character and their role in the story.
The chat show approach allows them to take a less formal approach than writing an essay.
The student has a chance to visualise the character.
This can lead on to discussions of works like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead or other works based on minor characters in literature.
This is part of a series suggesting different ways to use Moviestorm in schools or other educational environments. They also make useful exercises for film-makers wanting to develop and practice different film-making techniques. Many more lesson plans and ideas, with free downloadable resources, can be found on the Moviestorm Web site.
Assignment: Great Mathematicians
Create a short film about a famous mathematician. Tell the story of their life, and explain why their work is important.
Suggested techniques
You can do this using an on-screen presenter, or completely with voice-over, or even have the author narrate their own life. You could interview the author in the style of a chat show.
Intersperse the presentation with still images and video if appropriate. Create diagrams to illustrate theories if necessary.
You could do this as a studio presentation or lecture, and display the images on a screen behind the presenter, or else you can make the images go full-screen.
Add extra content on-screen by using text to complement what you’re saying.
Add appropriate background music to create atmosphere, and ensure you have a striking title sequence.
For teachers: benefits to students
Students get the opportunity to talk about mathematical concepts and theories in an interesting way.
It gives students a perspective on history in mathematics, and helps them put things into a different context.
Adding multimedia content enables the student to approach the subject in a richer way than just using written text and still images.
Finding or creating images and music to enhance the presentation requires detailed research.
Providing narration builds confidence in speaking without needing to do it in front of an audience or camera.
Creating a multimedia presentation helps develop presentational skills and requires the student to consider what information is best presented using the different media: spoken, written, or visual.
This is part of a series suggesting different ways to use Moviestorm in schools or other educational environments. They also make useful exercises for film-makers wanting to develop and practice different film-making techniques. Many more lesson plans and ideas, with free downloadable resources, can be found on the Moviestorm Web site.
Assignment: Personal Awareness
Create a short film on a topic such as bullying or stranger danger.
Suggested techniques
Tell a story to illustrate the message.
Create a simple instructional video telling people how to behave and what to be aware of.
For teachers: benefits to students
This makes an alternative to using puppets to deal with sensitive issues.
Students can address issues in a personal way with no risk.
Suitability
Ages 8+
Suitable for groups, or can be produced by teachers
This is part of a series suggesting different ways to use Moviestorm in schools or other educational environments. They also make useful exercises for film-makers wanting to develop and practice different film-making techniques. Many more lesson plans and ideas, with free downloadable resources, can be found on the Moviestorm Web site.
Assignment: Sports debate
Create a TV-style discussion on a sports theme. This could be a future or past sporting event, or a topic such as the use of drugs in sport, a rule change, pay equality for men and women, sports funding, and so on.
Suggested techniques
You could do this by having an expert representing one point of view being interviewed, or as a panel discussion representing many different opinions.
Intersperse the presentation with still images and video if appropriate.
Add in on-screen text to help support the points being made.
For teachers: benefits to students
This helps students appreciate other aspects of sports, including commercial and health, and enables them to appreciate the different types of controversies on and off the field.
This can be done as a group project where the students have to reflect different points of view. If done as a solo project, the student will demonstrate that they can appreciate all sides of the issue.
This is likely to be something that students are quite passionate about.
Adding multimedia content enables the student to approach the subject in a richer way than just using written text and still images.
Finding images and music to enhance the presentation requires detailed research.
Providing narration builds confidence in speaking without needing to do it in front of an audience or camera.
Creating a multimedia presentation helps develop presentational skills and requires the student to consider what information is best presented using the different media: spoken, written, or visual.
This is part of a series suggesting different ways to use Moviestorm in schools or other educational environments. They also make useful exercises for film-makers wanting to develop and practice different film-making techniques. Many more lesson plans and ideas, with free downloadable resources, can be found on the Moviestorm Web site.
Assignment: Visit Us!
Create a short film promoting tourism in a foreign country, in the language of that country.
Suggested techniques
Cover the major landmarks, sights and tourist attractions.
Include more everyday things such as food, style, and nightlife.
Include information on how to get there and where to stay.
Do it in the style of a TV commercial.
Create scenes set in the country.
Provide links telling people where to find out more.
You can do this using an on-screen presenter, or completely with voice-over.
Add in still images and video if appropriate.
Add extra content on-screen by using text to complement what you’re saying.
Add appropriate background music to create atmosphere.
For teachers: benefits to students
This helps students develop language skills relevant to foreign travel.
Students are encouraged to find out something about the country.
Adding multimedia content enables the student to approach the subject in a richer way than just using written text and still images.
Finding images and music to enhance the presentation requires detailed research.
Providing narration builds confidence in speaking without needing to do it in front of an audience or camera.
Creating a multimedia presentation helps develop presentational skills and requires the student to consider what information is best presented using the different media: spoken, written, or visual.
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