GoAnimate is an animated comic strip creator where individuals can add their own images, voices, and music to make a unique multimedia project.  Teachers use this tool for student projects, to recreate a scene from a book, to tell a story, etc. 

On the site you and your students can view numerous animations created by GoAnimate users and find information about animation contests.

Microsoft Education has a Digital Storytelling e-book that contains resources, project ideas, and information you may find useful for your classroom filmmaking activities.  Since it’s a Microsoft product, the editing software highlighted in the e-book is Windows Movie Maker and Photo Story. 

iDEA is excited to offer four Saturday workshops on aspects of filmmaking that can easily be brought into the classroom.  No matter your experience with filmmaking, you will leave each workshop with creative lessons and effective techniques to share with your students in the classroom.

The workshops are:

Not Your Average Book Trailer: Create a movie trailer for a book (March 6th)

Personal Narratives: Document a personal story in a video (March 20)

Claymation: Bring content to life through animation (March 27)

Bells & Whistles: Lighting, audio, and the green screen (April 17)

For more information and registration go to Workshops on the iDEA site.

We look forward to seeing you at the workshops!

Digitales has interesting resources related to evaluation of digital projects.  The resources include:

-       an overview of evaluating projects

-       information about peer review of digital stories

-       digital media scoring guides

I received an announcement from ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) about an upcoming webinar series on K-12 technology integration.   

"ISTE is pleased to offer a K-12 teacher and teacher leader free webinar series running January through May. This series, underwritten by ISTE 100 corporate partners, offers teachers engaging project ideas, teacher professional development resources and focuses on helping teachers integrate technology in effective and relevant ways across the K-12 curriculum.

Microsoft kicks off the series with a webinar on Digital Storytelling in the Classroom on Jan 26 (1pm PST, 4pm EST). Attendees will receive a $5 coupon for ISTE's new book on Digital Storytelling. Upcoming topics include Digital Citizenship and Critical Thinking & Web Literacy. More topics are being added, so check back often!

Click here for more information and to register: www.iste.org/webinars/spotlight.  All webinars are free."

We recently discovered a fabulous site about digital storytelling created by a teacher in Missouri.  Krissy Venosdale’s site http://greatdaytolearn.com/digital_storytelling/portfolio.html contains:

-       Definition of digital storytelling

-       Portfolio of student projects

-       Sounds & music resources

-       Assessment resources

-       Image resources

-       Storyboard tools

-       Software and technology resources

Enjoy!

Disney/Pixar’s Wall-E (trailer) was without a doubt one of my favorite movies of 2008. The expert use of simple, but effective story techniques and visual storytelling made this movie a masterpiece in my mind. Ever since the movie came out on DVD and I was able to watch it with Director’s commentary I’ve been referencing it in my storytelling lessons.

As far as I’m concerned, this movie should be considered a blueprint for how to film a movie. Wall-E’s filmmakers subscribe to the idea that you should be able to watch a movie without sound and still understand what’s going on, and Wall-E definitely accomplishes this. For a movie that features very little dialogue, Wall-E is extremely easy to understand, and can be a great lesson for students.

 Wall-E would be a great addition to your teaching library. Watching the first 10 minutes of the film can begin a great discussion with your students about how to tell a story visually.

Below, I’ve included several resources that explain analysis about the film and the steps leading up to its creation. I’ve found it interesting to see how much work went into Wall-E before the filmmakers even sat down at a computer to create the characters. Andrew Stanton, the Director, explains that Wall-E was his full time job for four years, and a significant portion of that was dedicated to the first 15 minutes of the film.

Click here to see a video about the creation of Wall-E featuring interviews from the filmmakers. The video is on Youtube, so you may not be able to view it in your school. Even if you don't show it to your students, there's some great information here that you can pick up for yourself.

Here is an A.V. Club interview of Wall-E’s director, Andrew Stanton. It’s pretty interesting to see some of his inspirations. Also, pay attention to how much of the discussions leading up to the creation of the film had to do with the story rather than the technology used to create it.

Click on this link to see how Karen J. Lloyd’s storyboarding blog go into some serious detail about how the Wall-E’s shot selection tells the story.

            Finally, this film analysis blog points out the brilliant use of visual storytelling in Wall-E, and how it might not be for everyone.

There have been a few requests from teachers for us to mention some movies that are a good example of various filmmaking techniques. Below is a list of films to check out:

Shot styles and composition – Watch the first scene of "Napoleon Dynamite." Have students comment on the types of shots they’re seeing and how the director uses the rule of thirds and different angles to tell the story. Remember, this is our first introduction to Napoleon, what is the audience learning about him?

Lighting  - As far as lighting goes, it’s difficult to get students to have a discussion about what lighting is “good” because lighting can be very subjective. My suggestion is to have students watch specific moments from films and have them discuss what the lighting says about the character. Windows MovieMaker offers some tips on lighting as well.

Take a look at the final act of “Return of the Jedi” specifically the final fight between Luke and Darth Vader (find link to that clip here - must have access to youtube)***. During this scene, Luke hides in the Shadows from Darth (this happens at about 3:19 in the youtube clip). This scene is lit where half of Luke’s face is in the light, and half is in the shadows as Vader tries to lure him to the dark side. Have students discuss what Darth Vader is saying relates to the lighting of the scene. ***zamzar.com is a way to download video off websites to your computer. Contact us with questions.

Additionally, the film “E.T.” is full of interesting lighting that students can analyze. Pick a scene for students to watch and have them pay attention to its lighting. How does the mood of the scene relate to the lighting?

Documentary – Pick up the documentary “Spellbound.” This is a brilliant film about students competing in the national spelling bee.  Pick a scene in the movie and have students watch through it. Students can identify the different elements of a documentary they noticed (interviews, b-roll, music, etc.) and discuss their opinions. [You can review documentary filmmaking in your iDEA curriculum].

Storyboarding - You can find examples of storyboarding in the DVD "Bonus Features" for both Snow White and Monsters Inc. Be sure to purchase the 2-disc set containing bonus features. DVD bonus features are a great place to find examples demonstrating film concepts.

Don’t hesitate to pick any film your students are familiar with and would enjoy. Every movie using lighting, sound, and shot styles, so every movie can be analyzed. It helps when students know the movie well, they will stay more interested and have a clearer sense of how these filmmaking techniques fit into the film as a whole.