Instead of waiting for a Hollywood movie studio to produce a film version of a popular novel, enlist the creativity of your students to make their own. Storyboarding, researching, and learning the art of film-making is the ULTIMATE way to test comprehension and increase learning about the novel style of literature.

Watch students develop comprehension and increase learning while researching characters, storyboarding plots and learning the art of film-making by translating a novel into a Hollywood-style digital movie.

Directions

1. Create Production Teams for each section of the novel (5-6 students max.)

   Each student in a production team is involved with

   • storyboarding,
   • writing or choosing dialogue from the novel to use,
   • selecting sites as settings,
   • reviewing versions of the video segment for editing

   Production team members’ are assigned specialized responsibilities:

   • Videographers (2)
     • Sole users of videotaping equipment (video cameras, FLIP video, etc)
     • Must complete the daily video goals on time
   • Computer Technicians (2)
     • Searches online for images and/or sound effects to add into video segments
     • Uploads and completes editing of video segments daily
     • Uploads videos to PowerPoint each day
   • Production Managers (1-2)
     • Meets with production team daily to update them with deadlines, the day’s goals, and to field and solve any production problems (i.e. getting or making props, etc)
     
     
2. Storyboarding and planning
   
   
   • As this is a culminating activity at the end of reading a novel, many activities have taken place during the reading that have led up to this.
   • To prepare students for video production, I instruct in the concept of storyboarding.
   • Each production team will need a 50 minute class period or half of a block period to storyboard their section of the novel.

3. Manage Video Production

   • Assign novel segments to production teams
   • Show some examples of student-generated videos as benchmarks (YouTube has a host of student-generated videos of novels-search by title)
   • Review storyboards PRIOR to allowing students to shoot video.
   • Instruct students to complete the Videotape Checklist (PDF)
   • Teach students how to use the video equipment and give tips for shooting (i.e., shooting with the sun at videographers’ backs)
   • Meet with Production Managers each day and assist with each teams’ productions. Insist on seeing some product each day.
   • Allow videographers to videotape for 30 minutes maximum each class period to allow computer technicians time for editing.
   • Once videographers return with footage, they assist computer techs with editing and begin planning for next day’s shoot by completing new Videotape Checklist.
   
   
4. Manage editing process

   With iMovie (Mac)
   A great student tutorial can be found at: http://desktopvideo.about.com/od/desktopediting/ss/imoviestart_2.htm

   Important processes to demonstrate to students designated as computer techs:

   • How to import clips from the videocamera
   • How to import still images (from digital camera to iPhoto or saved, downloaded images from the WWW)
   • How to add sound effects or music into their video (two different views in iMovie)
   • How to add special effects (especially the Ken Burns effect using still photos

   With MovieMaker (PC)
   A great student tutorial can be found at: http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/moviemaker/ss/import_pics.htm

   Important processes to demonstrate to students designated as computer techs:

   • How to import clips from the video camera
   • How to import still images (from digital camera or saved, downloaded images from the WWW)
   • How to add sound effects or music into their video
   • How to add special effects
   
   
5. Hold a special screening
   
   
   • Create invitations inviting administration, staff members, parents, and students to a private screening of the film version of the novel.
   • Non-production team students may make movie posters that can be posted around campus.
   • Charging $1.00 admission can be used as a fundraiser for the department, for future projects, to pay for refreshments offered at the screening, or to pay for blank DVD discs to burn copies of the video for each student.

Supporting All Learners

Working in teams affords students opportunities to work at varying paces.

Any student(s) who does/do not want to be a part of a production team can demonstrate comprehension of the novel (via assessment, etc.) and can take part of the film by:

• Gathering or making props
• Creating a photo journal of the process of making a movie version of a novel
• Making movie posters that can be posted around campus prior to the final products’ screenings

Home Connection

Invite parents and community members to a screening of your film or after completing several film versions of novels read, host a novel-to-film festival (could be a great fundraiser!)

Evaluation

The objective of making a film version of a novel is to evaluate how point of view affects storytelling. Create a questionnaire that asks students to evaluate how similar or different their point of view of the sections of the novel were to the ones created by their peers. Their explanations will provide valuable insight to you as a teacher as to the level of comprehension each student had with the novel and help with re-reading/reflecting opportunities.