Term 4 – Introduction to Movies

Sorry I haven’t updated all term. It’s been a mad last term, as any teacher can sympathise with.

Because of the madness of this term, instead of going week by week, each post will concentrate on a project I did with the kids. With special days, camps, transition days, my term planner got adjusted so many times to keep up, going week by week doesn’t seem feasible anymore.

So, let’s recap. The Prep-Gr 4s last term did animation. This term they are doing Video Production. One of the projects I did this term, the Instructional Videos and the Trailers that I did with the Gr 5-6s, this term I did with the Gr 3-4s. If you would like to read about that, you can find my post on Instructional Videos here and my post on Trailers here.

The Gr5-6s upgraded to doing “Post Production”. This refers to motion graphics, audio mixing, green screen work and video effects. The only one we didn’t get into was audio mixing, but that might work well next year when the Gr 5s become Gr 6s and I’m on the look out for new projects.

Anyway, going way back to the start of the term, it was time to start my video production unit to the younger grades. The Preps-Gr 4s spent this session looking at a more basic version of the PowerPoint I used last term with the older kids.

Instead of looking at the different stages of production when shooting a movie, though, we looked at the different genres that make up the world of movies.

I went through a list of genres, explaining what kind of movies fit into them. We made the connection that movies and genres are like books and text types. We also discussed how many movies can have several different genres.

I then asked them to nominate some of their favourite movies according to the genre I put up on the screen. Finally, I made a game where I had several movie clips that I played and asked them what genre they thought the movie belonged to. Again, I stressed, there were more than one answer for most of them.

The kids had fun sharing their favourite movies and why. Before the lesson finished, I said to them that I want to get them to start thinking of movies more analytically. Previously, they had just been consumers. Now I want them to watch and to wonder how movies are made – how they’re shot, how they’re edited and how effects, stunts and music go toward the final product. Even at this young age, even to have an inkling that a lot of work goes into these movies, and it doesn’t just happen by magic, will help students think about and plan their video projects better.