The National Film Board visited Central Senior

The National Film Board visited Central Senior school recently to build student and staff knowledge and capacity in the areas of stop-motion film making and clay animation.

Staff and students were involved in two ½ day workshops.  Each classroom teacher identified 5-7 classroom “leaders” to learn alongside them.  Staff and students collaboratively developed stop - time and clay animation videos.  The product staff and students developed in just a short time was amazing - it was a clear indication of what can be created with more time, support and fluency.

The National Film board offers a variety of workshops that target different audiences, ages and purposes.  The cost for the workshop was affordable, however, they capped the workshop at 30 so providing access to all staff and students was not economically feasible.  I believe it would be great learning for technology champions at each school to participate in and then share with their colleagues back at the school.  The NFB also came out with a new movie making APP recently.  You should definitely check it out.

We have included some photos and videos of our experience.  Contact us if you have any questions.

Jamie Stone

Clay Stop Motion Clips

CSS unravels the secret of Oak Island

For over two hundred years treasure hunters have been digging on a tiny island off the coast of Nova Scotia. What are they digging for? Is it a hoax? A sink hole? Or something more? The truth is no one knows for certain what if anything is buried on Oak Island. Students at Central Senior School armed with iPads, Google Drive, and inquisitive minds hope to unravel the secret.

In a collaborative effort students are researching their own theories on Oak Island. They are turning these theories into short films dramatizing the truth behind the Oak Island money pit. Not only are students learning to make inferences, research, and support a main idea they are also learning to take risks and act upon their beliefs.

As we are in the early phases of this exciting project and we are looking forward to adding videos to this blog shortly. The project represents the adaptiveness of film by providing students a cross-curricular, collaborative opportunity.

Stay tuned for more!

Rory Ellis

Film Making at CSS

Throughout Central Senior small teams of students are engaged in film making - interesting conversations can be overheard about acting, camera angles, editing, and communication. As each group works towards a finished product they have planned, scripted, prepared and edited (one group has 1.5 hours of video to edit down to 3 mins) using iPads.

Mr. Lowell’s class - using video to meet expectations from Writing, Media Literacy, Oral Communication, and Drama and develop Learning Skills like collaboration, initiative and responsibility. Students are using Success Criteria designed for the Film Festival and given choice of the different film categories in order to develop and express their ideas using the Enduring Understanding “We can make a difference.”

A variety of genres are being represented, stop motion, PSAs using actors, drama and documentary. Students are also advertising in order to promote their films in the class.

Clips and photos of students at work

Creating Films in Central Senior Classrooms

Central Senior has begun the film making process. We have been experimenting with using iPads and MacBooks to film and edit short videos. I have posted links to examples of Commercials, Heritage Moments, Procedure Videos, Promotional Videos and Stop Motion. Our students are very engaged in the process and are becoming more creative and daring as they experiment and learn about planning angles and transitions.

Shoe Commercial

Heritage Moment

Music Procedure (Weight Room)

Welcome To Central Senior

Stop Motion with Watch

Stop Motion with Chalk

Stop Motion with Cups