iMovie Galore

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been involved movie making with students through the application iMovie.  The best part was the fact that these projects were being implemented in multiple disciplines.  Read up on who our bulldogs are doing in their classes.  Who knows?  You might get inspired...

Projects

World Languages
Third year American Sign Language students were tasked with creating an iMovie showcasing a particular famous deaf person.  While some students had created an iMovie product before, this was their first time making one in this fashion.  Students had to sign the entire time.  In addition, they were not able to have any sound effects in the back ground.  In a way, this project took away the 'extras' and truly forced them in being creative in other means.  In addition, students had to make sure that they were not signing too quickly for the eyesight on the laptops and were wearing colors that allowed the viewer to see all of their motions.  This project was done individually.

French II classes were creating movies to convince people to visit their region of France.  They had to do some research prior to filming to get an understanding of what was important about their region.  Filming was completed and students quickly learned how to edit their clips using iMovie.  This was a group project.

Science
For their midterm, the forensics class had to create a movie looking into a forensics file.  Students had to again do some research and look at a crime scene to figure things out.  These students learned about how to create a green screen in PhotoBooth to make it look like they were someplace else.  With one particular scene, one group even convinced me that they were actually someplace else.  What was cool was the fact that some groups were able to also film some of their scenes using either their iPod touch or iPhone.  Students did not have to rely on using equipment from the library.  Students did however need a quick lesson as to how to get the clips from their devices to the laptop computer.  This was a group project.

Wellness
The Extreme Sports class filmed themselves while they were experimenting and ride on trails over the course of the semester.  On sunny days, these students would film each other doing tricks and riding by taking different shots.  These clips were then mashed together to produce a final product on days that was not good enough to ride outside.


In each of these cases, there was engagement.  Students were excited and truly wanted to create some great products.  Students even learned new tools with film editing.  If I had to bet, the movies will be one of those memories that they will have coming out of these courses.  While it can take up a lot of instructional time to create good movie products, in the long run, I find it worthwhile.

I must admit that I really did not know much about iMovie prior to taking this job, as making movies really was not my passion.  I myself learned a lot from helping each of these classes.  Who knows, maybe I will be coming a big movie star...

If you would like to chat about how you can implement a project like this in your class, you know where to find me.  Also, on the my tech website, you are able to find instructions that Kerri made that walk you through how to use iMovie.