Hollywood is Southeast Georgia

Four week lesson plan:

Students will create an idea for a stop action movie using different technology tools, such as digital cameras, video cameras, movie creation software, and audio creation software.

Week 1: Students will begin the planning portion of their video. Their requirements include creating a one minute video presentation, complete with narration and music. In order to begin working on the video itself, students must first submit a movie board depicting the different scenes, with dialogue and sound possibilities graphically depicted on paper for approval. Students may use word processing programs or pencil and paper for this lesson. Referring to previous lessons on comic strip creation and creative writing for dialogue, students will create a script with pictorial information for their one minute video.

Week 2: Students should be finalizing their ideas for their video creation. Scouting of different background locations for their photographs and video should be made at this time. Students will be working with small groups for this project and collaboration is very important. Students will make note of each area they have determined to be of use for their project on their script form, which had been supplied by the instructor. By the end of the second week, the script should be ready and approved by the instructor.

Week 3: Students will work with their small groups to being taking the pictures that will make up their assignment. Students, acting out specific parts of their movie, will go to various locations in and around the classroom to take their pictures. When students return to their computers, they will download and organize their photographs and videos into a retrievable file.

Week 4: Students will work with Microsoft Movie Maker to upload their pictures and videos into the program. From there, students will work to place the photos/videos in an order that depicts their script. Timing issues will need to be addressed to ascertain how long narrations will need to be. Students will use the program Audacity to create narrations, mixed music, and sounds for the program. Once created, audio files will be formated for use with the Movie Maker program. Audacity is a free download available at www.audacity.com . Once audio is uploaded into the Movie Maker program, the audio files can be placed and cut to include in the movie. Completion of the movie will require additional time and the lessons may be extended for addtional weeks.

The final products will be put onto CDs for the students that wish to have copies and be made available to parents for viewing during the school's Writing and Technology Fair in the spring.