What will we make?
MIE Level: Beginners/Intermediate/Advanced
Curriculum level: 2/3
Activity Aims & Outcomes:
Enables the group to choose a medium and a style for their project
How do you want to make it?
Step 1 - Choose your style
- Music Video
- Drama - Scripted
- Documentary - Observational
- News Report
- Sports Report
- Advert - Commercial – sell something
(many of these can be animated or include animation)
Step 2 - Work on your story
Even if it is observational documentary you will need to keep these questions in mind as you make it.
How many people are in it? Describe the main characters real or imagined. How would you make it – live video or animation?
Does it still suit the style you chose? Maybe it is better suited to one of the other styles or media – you can change this now.
Discussion Topics
Step One
Discussion Topics
Step Two:
Whatever you have chosen to make you need first to work on the story. Even if it is observational documentary you will need to keep these questions in mind as you make it.
What’s it about?
Who’s it aimed at?
What is the story?
- The beginning – what is going on in the story at the start – introduce characters and the world they live in
- The middle – something happens to make it interesting and for us to want to know what happens – maybe there is a mystery, a problem, a challenge or a goal
- The end – how does the story sort itself out?
How many people are in it?
- Describe the main characters – real or imagined.
How would you make it – live video or animation?
Does it still suit the style you chose?
Maybe it is better suited to one of the other styles or media – you can change this now.
Step Three:
Write it down.
- Make a brief summary – like the information you might see in a TV guide to make you want to watch it. This is what you use to ‘sell your idea’ – everyone could write their own version and try ‘selling it’ to the class.
- Have a vote on what you would most like to see.
Write a script
That is everything you ideally want to happen written out so someone who doesn’t know anything about it can picture your idea in their head. And so you can look over what you want to do and work out how to make it.
Speaking parts are not necessary – just describe what happens and (briefly) what it all looks like.
Even if you don’t know what is going to happen, write a plan to follow, places to go, people to include, what questions to ask to tell your story.
Draw a storyboard
Ask yourselves – now we have a script, are we using the best style or medium to tell it? Another might suit it better or be easier – you can change this now, just have another look at the list of styles.
Further related Activities
Literacy
Research: Your idea
Literacy/English
Presentation: Sell the idea – make someone think they would like to watch it.
Discussion/Debate:
Social Studies
Next!
In your own time move to Part 2. Teachers - we recommend you read this before starting 1 so you can gauge how much time and work you want to allocate to it.