Art of Video and IB Film

Italian NeoRealism- Research Script

2010-04-17T13:45:00.001-07:00

Italian Neo Realism- Bicycle Thief and The Children of Heaven- Research Script-

Research Question:

How do both the Bicycle Thief and The Children of Heaven use the Italian Realist style as a form of social criticism?

Areas to focus:
1. Themes and Ideology explored in the films
2. Cinematic Techniques used to communicate ideology
3. Historical Context- Societal and Industry

Requirements in Response:
1. 2 Column Script Format in googledocs
2. Still Images from Films- see youtube-
3. Use textual analysis and film language from the textual analysis questions
4. Make sure to choose INSIGHTFUL scenes and shots as evidence.

Steps in Process:
1. Blog on Primer-
2. Venn Diagram-
3. Screen Shots w/ Analysis
4. Build the 2 Col. Script

Reviews-
Children of Heaven-

Behind the Scenes of Avatar

2010-01-18T07:45:00.000-08:00

In addition to our 3D IMAX adventure of Avatar, I would like you to reflect on the film's production process as well as its economic, and socio- cultural impact on our culture. Please read and view all of the following links before responding in your own blog post.

1. Production: What challenges did James Cameron have in realizing his vision?
2. Creating the Virtual World: What was the process used in creating Pandora?
3. Performance Capture verses Motion Capture: How has performance caputure changed the filmmaking process?
4. Avatar Earnings to Boost News Corp:-
a. How much money was spent on marketing for the film?
b. What challenges does News Corp face in realising profits?
c. In your opinion, does the massive budget spent on the film effect the authenticity of its message?
5. Socio-Cultural Impact-
- Avatar Challenges Us to Be All We can Be
- Avatar is Marred by Racist Subtext , 2 and 3
- Fail Blog- Avatar's Plot Fail
a. Do you agree with the critic's claim that Avatar "identifies the profound spiritual bankruptcy that underlies our financial insolvency...and reminds us (to)... make new choices for the greatest good of all". Or is this film just a trite recycling of previous plots that reinforces racist stereotypes? Explain with examples from the film.

2009-04-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

Short Film Narrative- Yes, we need to keep the story short and sweet. That's the very nature of the medium. Want to complete a basic narrative analysis of your treatment consider:

Character: Who is your story about and what are their defining features?
Challenge: What defining moments, setbacks and ultimate conflict have they been confronted with?
Change: How and what has the character learned in the end? What's your resolution?

Challenge: Focus on a short film you've found on line and outline these 3 basic areas of narrative development.

Thanks,
Mr. B

2009-03-25T13:05:00.000-07:00

Where the Wild Things Are- such a classic book but how can Spike Jones adapt this to the big screen. A coming of age story with what angles? Watch the trailer and spin off what you think the narrative will develop....

http://www.filmjunk.com/2009/03/25/spike-jonzes-where-the-wild-things-are-trailer/

Welcome IB Film and Advanced Students

2007-10-19T08:25:00.000-07:00

Yup, you guessed it. It's time to commit our thoughts, feelings and research to a forum where we can bounce ideas off each other and continue our quest to be better film makers.

So to get us started in this process, each of you will be creating your own film blog that will be your digital note book for the following areas of exploration:

Personal Stories: Each day we are visited upon many stories in our lives that might make for interesting films. Each week you'll commit one to your blog. It can something that happened to you, a family member, a friend, or even in the news. I will also be providing prompts on occasion.
Film Reviews and Responses: Each of us is an avid film fanatic and watch films at an chance we get. Sometimes these are seen in class and sometimes they are in the privacy of our homes. Let's share our thoughts regarding what excites us or annoys us about these films here. You can discuss shorts from the internet, classics you rent, or new releases; it's all fair game.
Research on Film History, Theory and Production: All of you are in the process of developing your abilities as film critics and therefore are reading, researching, and screening films and texts in order to develop your understanding and ability to articulate the style and technique you see in film. Here we can post your independent research from textbook readings as well as on-line in blogs and research sites.

So as you can see, we'll have more than enough to write about and the best part of this is that " "WE ALL" will be reading what you write! Yes, as a blogger, you must read what other people are saying and comment on their thoughts in a meaningful and constructive way.

Directions:
1. Create your own blog with your first name, last initial and design it the way you see fit.
2. Send me the URL to your blog so I can create a page for us to subscribe to each other's sites.
3. Commit to creating 3 posts a week. The topics will be from class assignments as well as self selected.
4. Let's start with a post on a personal story! What themes are you interested in exploring as a film maker? What seem to be controversial topics with in our culture that a film maker might give us some insight? Look at what's playing in the theaters, headlines in the papers, and what's on tv and throw out 3-5 ideas. If you have a link to a article, web page, image, movie.... great embed it into your post....

Let me know if you have any questions or issues getting started.
Let's get blogging!

Racisim in 2007

2007-02-01T15:03:00.000-08:00

Take a look at a powerful segment produced by a 17 year old filmmaker in Washington DC. Kiri Davis is a young filmmaker whose high school documentary has left audiences at film festivals across the country stunned -- and has re-ignited a powerful debate over race.

Take a moment to view the short segment and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Here's the link: http://www.komoradio.com/home/video/5001856.html?video=pop&t=a

Video Poems: Brainstorming w/Culture Spies

2006-11-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

So now its time to explore your thoughts and write a poem that can be visually developed. Ideas for poems can come from anywhere. You might adapt a story from the news, create a social commentary on a personal issue or provide a vision statement for a character. Included in the piece should be some values statement or personal vision. Here's a few links that might peak your interest. Think of a theme or idea and explore. After searching, report back in the comment window below to give us some possible topics and share what you might say. In order to receive credit include your first name last initial and period (EX. "dominicb1") as the name in your comment below.
This I Believe @ NPR
Poetry Alive Research Site
Salon.com

Web 2.0 - It's the Read/Write Web

2006-11-09T12:53:00.000-08:00

Web 2.0- Technology makes Literacy Sexy! Yes it's true!

(Graphic From Ricardson's "Redefining Literacy" click on the image to enlarge)

So you assign yet another written response for a reading assignment and your students do as they have done for all their teachers; they work independently and create a response that may or may not be very critical of the topic and submit this to the teacher, who must in the course of their teaching find time to respond to that students thinking. Once the assignment is returned, the conversation regarding the ideas has ended and the only people who have participated in the discussion are the teacher and student. Why not make the conversation public, invite criticism from fellow classmates, collaborate, include multimedia, or reference others thinking on the topic?

Consider an alternative: Will Richardson's article The New Face of Learning
explores the new literacy landscape. Basic literacy skills are still the foundation, yet the technology can definitely enhance the conversation. As Will mentions in his article, moving towards new forms of interaction does require some risk, but as Will puts it in his article, "How, as educators and learners, (will) we respond? Did we embrace the potentials of a connected, collaborative world and put our creative imaginations to work to reenvision our classrooms? Did we use these new tools to develop passionate, fearless, lifelong learners? Did we ourselves become those learners?

So what can you do with, an internet connection and a computer. Well, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. There are people who have been working at it. Today we'll look at two tools that are super accessible: Blogs and Wikis.

Blogs:- A blog is a website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order . Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. As you will see below, some are used to discuss class content such as novels, research, readings, experiments, etc.
Room 399 Blog- Linda Henry's blog challenges readers to make connections with their reading to the outside world.
AP Calculus A site published to help students learn calculus. Each day a student takes a turn as the note taker for the day and publishes at the end of the period.
Ratner's Hong Kong Travel Blog
Our cultural attache Mr. Ratner is doing his part to expose Hong Kong through western eyes. Having students report out as culture spies, investigators, reporters or biographers could be a powerful motivator.

There also blogs about education:
Kyle's ED Tech Blog-
Will Richardson's Blog
David Warlick's Blog

Wiki- is a type of Web site that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove, and otherwise edit and change some available content, sometimes without the need for registration.

Wikipedia - a collaborative online encyclopedia that started the wiki model.
Bigue's Understanding Film Wiki I use my film wiki as a place where my students review and present the information they are asked to process from their readings.
Rutigliano's Sophmore Wiki
Global Com
Kyle's Cisco Wiki

So, you want to give it a shot? There are a few pitfalls we've encountered, so make sure be upfront about your expectations before you cut them loose.
1. Avoid Anonymity- create user accounts that identify the student, period number and in some cases the teacher. (Example: justinmdwyer 5)- blog directions
2. Model Academic Writing- No IM (Instant Messaging) Speak!
3. Verify and quote your sources. Read Online Alert: Be a Skeptic!
4. Embed links in your thinking. Reading and writing can be 3D when you link your ideas or vocabulary to other resources as you write.
5. Model ethical use of materials.
6. Build in some sort of accountability for responses by having students copy and paste posts and responses.

Try these FREE Tools
Schoolloop- Yes even schoollop will allow your students to reply to homework assignments and hold discussions.
Blogger.com
Blogmeister
Wetpaint.com
Wikispaces

Before you leave today, let me know your thoughts and ideas on some of what we talked about today.

Thanks

Reading Images- Visual Literacy

2006-06-21T10:26:00.000-07:00

Okay folks, we've spent the morning discussing terms that help us break down an image into noticeable pieces and create meaning. Now what we need to do is use these terms in discussing photos that you find worthy.
http://nuovo.com/southern-images/analyses.html
Here's the assignment:
1. Find and Copy 5 images using this website. Find images that are interesting or intriguing, maybe because they show a certain emotion, use light in an interesting way, or have other noticeable traits.
http://www.photo.net/gallery/

2. Next creat a powerpoint that uses a slide for each photo.
3. Each slide should use at least 3 of our terms in an analysis of the photo.
4. Explain how the photo is an example of the terms you are focusing on.

Baraka and the Power of Images

2006-06-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

Baraka takes us around the world in the hope of revealing certain truths about our past and present and gives us a vision for the future. Please take some time to reflect on your segmentation of the film and answer the following questions:

What themes or ideas do you feel the film explores?
After watching the film, what images stick in your mind? What meaning can you create from the film based on the association of these images?
What does the film teach us about the fate of humanity.

For more info check:
http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/baraka.aspx