Adventures in After School Learning Blog

-By Mike DeBritz on Monday, April 30, 2012

Kids can't live without their cell phones and especially love smartphones with all their enhanced capabilities. These devices make text messaging seem old school compared to how easy it is to be on the web or chat over video with friends. 

The video below demonstrates an app that harnesses the incredible power of smartphones to help people eat better.  This could be interesting idea for young people to really analyze what they eat everyday.   

How would you feel about sharing this kind of information with your friends?

-By Mike DeBritz on Wednesday, November 09, 2011

-Guest Post by Shelly Rafferty Withers

One game that has found its way onto the early evening couch at our house is one we call simply “Screenwriter.”

After dinner, like millions of other American families, my 15-year-old and I routinely settle down to catch a couple of hours of television. Playfully, Jake and I tease each other about “who committed the crime” “who will end up with whom” or even what crazy outcome will befall the protagonists of “The Big Bang Theory,” “CSI Miami,” or “Terra Nova.”

See, we’ve come to fancy ourselves as screenwriters: We have learned to correctly predict what’s going to happen during a TV episode (and even some commercials!) before the end of a show.

And we come by this title honestly.

Over the last year, Jake acted as my right-hand man as I wrote and constructed Community Learning’s new “Screenwriting for Short Video” course. In the course, which covers everything from plotting and action development, to characters and dialogue, Jake and I have role-played all the examples, reviewed all the films together, and even drafted some short scripts.

The result, not surprisingly, is that Jake’s become a kind of screenwriting wizard. He understands story structure; he recognizes foreshadowing devices; he’s got a newfound interest in reading movie reviews (in the New York Times, no less!); and suddenly, he’s some kind of expert in his English class when it comes to the finer points of understanding narrative.

“It’s really a cool course,” I heard him tell his friends recently as he popped in the DVD (it comes in the Course Kit). He handed out copies of the Film Critic’s Scorecard to his visiting friends. “Let’s look at this zombie movie,” he encouraged them. “Then we can compare our scores!”

I passed out the popcorn as the boys took to their task. Afterwards, one of them said, “We should be doing this in school.”

I nodded, smiling. Yes, I thought, you should.

-By Mike DeBritz on Wednesday, October 05, 2011

If you’re thinking about creating a club or offering a movie making class there are a number of considerations.  I know the first thing running through most directors’ minds would be “Who can I find to teach this?”

After the basic logistics are worked out around curriculum and personnel, the next thing needed is a solid promotional plan. How can you get the message out to the kids you want to attend, especially if they don’t currently attend your program?

Here’s where it gets a little tricky. What incentive or motivation do they have, especially upper elementary and high school age, to stop whatever they’re currently doing to attend your program?

First think about the old adage. “Scarcity Sells.”  Promote your program as a special offering with limited space, say 15 spots.  Advertise that interested parties need to attend two informational sessions before they can apply to the program. In these sessions, your teacher will communicate that a dedicated effort is required and is the only way they can produce a decent product. 

Students need to fully commit (within reason) to the entire program for that quarter or block. Now of course you may have more spots and don’t really want to exclude participation but making it clear real work will be done sends a strong message.

Next you want to highlight the benefits of dedicating some energy to your movie making class by showing them what’s possible with student film examples.  Use your two informational sessions to run through a couple of different genres like drama or comedy just like the Emmys.

This may dissuade some students, but hopefully you’ve inspired many more and have the right mix of kids that are truly interested in being there and doing the work.

Now with your dedicated core, you can tackle the question “What kind of movie do you want to make?”   This will set in motion ideas about characters, scenes and dialogue. Now your young film makers are on their way!

After that initial year, you’ll have some of your own local films to entice students the following year.

Below are just a handful of links to film festivals that are always looking for teen films. Many have student film examples you can preview and use to kickoff your program.

Good Luck! 

Youth Film Festivals and Contests

http://www.thedirectorintheclassroom.com/festivals4.php

http://www.reelteens.org/

http://www.nffty.org/

http://247youthfilmfestival.tumblr.com/

http://www.nwfilm.org/festivals/youngfestival/

http://www.westportyouthfilmfest.org/

http://www.theyouthfilmproject.org/

http://www.towerofyouth.org/