Teach-Primary-18.3

Talk to the children about timings; their film must be no longer than two minutes – how will they keep to this limit? Remind them as well that the viewer needs to know what the film is about, so it should introduce the book and author, and explain who any featured characters are. 3 | FILMING AND EDITING YOUR MASTERPIECE! Make sure you have quiet working spaces available for filming to minimise background noise. You might want to test out different lighting options as well before you begin. Allow at least an hour for filming so that the children have time to make mistakes and learn from them. Remind the children again that they need to monitor how long each scene takes. Give the children time to edit the videos and add text or audio. Free video editing software currently includes iMovie, Movavi, Canva and Clipchamp. Finally, each group can show their film to the rest of the class. You might want to set up a ‘cinema’ space to make this a more memorable event. If pupils have used copyright-free images and music in their films you can also share them online. It’s a great way to involve parents in the learning process or inspire fellow teachers. Amanda van Dijk – van ‘t Noordende spent 18 years as a classroom teacher and now works as an education advisor for Greenscreenbox. For more green screen lessons, see greenscreenbox. nl/en/shop screen, and encourage them to think about the effects and staging they could use. Their films should include three scenes (introduction, main section, conclusion) they should add audible or visible text to each scene. Some children can find recording speech difficult, so some of them may want to write out speech bubbles to include in the film instead. • What would happen on the screen if you put a character dressed in green clothes into your scene? • Why do you think film studios use green screens instead of real sets and locations? • Can you think of any uses for green screens? 2 | WRITING FOR THE SCREEN Bring everyone back together and discuss the books you’ve chosen. Explain again that the children won’t be filming the entire book. Groups can swap books if they wish. Give the children time to read their books and agree on the activity they want to do. Hand out the worksheets to the children ( tinyurl.com/ tp-greenscreen ) and explain that, before they start filming, they’ll need to select an extract or some pieces of information from the book. Ask the children to work in their groups to create a storyboard for their film. Pupils sometimes find it challenging to come up with plots, so provide plenty of support during this activity. Remind the children that they will be using the green • With some extra help, younger children can create simple films too. So consider holding a school film festival with contributions from across all year groups. • You could structure this activity around an author visit, with children using insights from the writer to inform their films. You can also give the author a chance to view the completed films. • If your school is holding a book fair, ask the company for a list of popular books before it arrives and challenge your class to create trailers for their favourites. You can use this activity to start a discussion around the different roles involved in bringing a book to life and getting it into readers’ hands. EXTENDING THE LESSON “ Youmight want to set up a ‘cinema’ space tomake this amore memorable event” USEFUL QUESTIONS www.teachwire.net | 77