by Savannah Fillerup
***will take 2-3 days***
Objective
● Students will be able to communicate meaning in a followable story by filming and editing silent films.
Standards
● Utah
○ Standard 7-8.T.CR.5: Explore physical, vocal, and emotional choices to
develop a performance that is believable, authentic, and relevant to a
drama/theatre work.
○ Standard 7-8.T.P.4 - Communicate meaning using the body through space,
shape, energy, and gesture. ● National
- ○ TH:Cr3.1.8.b. Refine effective physical, vocal, and physiological traits of characters in an improvised or scripted drama/ theatre work.
- ○ TH:Pr6.1.8.a. Perform a rehearsed drama/theatre work for an audience.
○ TH:Cr3.1.7.a. Demonstrate focus and concentration in the rehearsal
process to analyze and refine choices in a devised or scripted
drama/theatre work.
○ TH:Cr2-8.b. Share leadership and responsibilities to develop collaborative
goals when preparing or devising drama/theatre work.
Materials needed
● A camera or phone and some editing app
○ CapCut and iMovie are great options
Instruction
● ONLY DAY 1: Go over things to think about per shot—they are playing a lot of
roles, so it’s important to think about all of these things.
○ Acting - They will be graded on the four elements of movement, so they
should be very intentional about including those in their silent films. Remember how we created characters using those elements? Your characters in this should be very specific with those elements as well!
- ○ Director - checking the storyboard and making sure everything is lining up, so if you drew the storyboard, you should probably be the director as well. You CAN both act and direct (like Buster Keaton)
- ○ Cameraman - film in landscape mode, shot should be steady, make sure you’re not covering the mic. If a shot doesn’t work, delete that clip
immediately so you don’t flood your camera roll with messed up shots. By the end, the only videos in the camera roll should be the exact ones that they will put into the editing app, that way they only have to drag and drop and maybe cut off the ends, then put the subtitles in.
■ It’s often best to film in order so that you can easily put everything into the editing app. This may be difficult if you are playing multiple characters with elaborate costumes, in which case, you may want to film all your parts as one character and then all your parts as another character.
○ Editor - won’t have to do anything until after shooting is over, but use their phone for shooting so they can have all the footage. They will also need some sort of editing app (iMovie, capcut, etc.)
Practice
● DAYS 1 & 2: Give them the class period for work. Here’s the sequence of events
they will need to follow.
- ○ Finish outlining/storyboarding.
- ○ Start filming, storyboard by storyboard.
○ Editing. You can either do this as you go, by filming into the editing app
itself or you can film everything and then add it into the app.
● I will be on Zoom for the rest of class if they have questions or need help with
anything. They will not have to come onto Zoom for the next class unless they need help. However, for each day of class, they will have to fill out a Google Form that I email out so I can check in and see what they are accomplishing. If I do not receive a form response, they will be given a zero for attendance and rehearsal etiquette, and I will email to check in.
Assessment
- ● Google Form: https://forms.gle/gA9VJfgkoThsWq3cA
- ● Turn in storyboards on Canvas.
● DAY 2: Send them an email to remind them that the next class will actually be
the “performance.” If they can, it would be good to turn it in now! If the editor still needs a little time to finish up and download the video, they have until the beginning of next class to turn it in. Next time, we will watch each other’s videos!