ArTechTivity (TM)

The American Film Institute created a great student film curriculum that I have been using with my 8th grade digital video arts classes.

In this assignment the kids had to shoot a film in a small group. the requirements were: one actor only, all filmed within 5 feet of the door. The actor was to walk up to the door, hear a frightening noise, react in fear, struggle to open the door, finally make it through the door and show relief that the strange noise was not in-fact dangerous.

The first day, they shot the film without any storyboard or planning, then they watched the outcome, learned more about camera angles and storyboards and wrote a storyboard. Next, to experience the importance of storyboards they had to re-shoot using the storyboard from a different group. Finally, they re-filmed their own storyboard. For the editing part, all students had to edit their own version from any footage from the several group sessions. They had to edit out all camera audio and use only music and sound effects to tell the story and build the suspense.

 2 finished films by different editors ~ Starring LIZ

door movie starring LIZ

2 finished films by different editors ~ Starring TANNER

door movie with tanner