think it. dream it. design it.: Panther Review

our film and music cycle out at panther was a complete success. by the end we had up to 15 teens participating regularly and many other kids interested and assisting. we took 9 on a field trip to tcu one day, and by spring break we had completed a two minute film we could proudly enter into a national competition. but in order to get the kids interested in dedicating time to a film project, i had to take them through a couple excercises that taught them about the many steps in film making.
after the "simpson's storyboard" excersize, we continued storyboarding, but this time with stories of their own. i brought 5 intel play cameras, and a box of random objects. their job was to pick three objects and write a storyboard for an animated short using their objects before even touching a camera. i've posted two examples of drawn storyboards in the photos below. this definately got them focused on plot before playing.

"one armed grape" storyboard

the next week i had two activities planned. the first to keep encouraging their drawing skills, and the second to help them get aquainted with using and acting in front of the digital camera. first i set up a drawing pad with markers, some cards with random objects, people and places they picked, and jolly ranchers (the jolly ranchers pulled in the crowd). we then played an intense game of win, lose or draw.

storyboard for "3 object" animated short

the game got their attention to where now we had a stage and an audience. so for the next activity, entitled our "movie quote marathon", we set up the digital camera and i pulled out a hat full of movie quotes. earlier that day, i ran around the museum collecting a favorite movie quote from every staff memeber i saw. with these quotes, i had the kids pair up and then pick one quote each. they then had a moment to brainstorm a short dialog using both quotes and shortly rehearse before filming. after two or three takes, some with brilliant acting debuts, the pair would then move behind the camera to film. we even had a directors chair where the person within could yell things like, "actors, places!" or "lights, camera, action!" or everyone's favorite, "quiet on the set!" which turned quickly into, "shutup on the set!". but the shorts always ended with an applause and "that's a rap!".

gotta go, but just to give a little reference to the photos i've posted, i finally photographed some of sketches that accompanied some of the activities we've done. the first two are sketches made of a proposed ALA chain reaction piece, and, as complicated as the the sketch seemed at first, this group eventually created a near exact replica of what was proposed in this drawing. very impessive.

ALA halloween chain reaction

also, i couldn't help but photograph the drawing that accompanied the answer to my ice breaker question to the ALA art cycle group, "what is art?". awesome.

answer to "what is art?"

and finally, i posted an example of one of 25 movie tickets needed to get into the first annual panther film festival, which i will detail its success in my next blog. best to you all.