My peers and I worked to create a series of pinhole camera lessons, mixing science and the photography art-form together. The video documents our collaboration process. Along with photography and physics, we also imagined that biology, chemistry, social studies and more could be brought into such a project. I certainly learned a lot. I know others would benefit from this sort of collaboration as well!
My first project during my long practicum has been going pretty well. Here’s the assignment description I gave to students:
In groups, film each other being interviewed. Answers should only be about 30 seconds long.
We will discuss as a class what some techniques for creating an interesting interview might be. Make sure to implement some of these techniques in your filming (dynamic camera angles, formal and informal styles, etc).
Film each question in a different outdoor location. For example, the group will find filming location #1 and take turns filming each member answering question #1. They will then find filming location #2, and film everyone answering question #2, and so on.
Here are the interview questions. Each student in the group should answer all four questions:
What is your best idea for an invention that the world needs today?
What good deed have you done that you are most proud of?
What is your most important long-term goal?
What is the most interesting fact you know?
Today consisted mostly of watching movies. Movies in the morning, and in the afternoon…movies in the evening, and underneath the moon. Really though, I enjoyed seeing the student works interspersed with big production work. It made me realize just how simple filmmaking is, and simultaneously, just how hard it is.
One grade eight group learning the basics of camera shots had a series of outtakes, just a closeup, just trying to capture an angry face. The two girls in the group tried and tried again, struggling to portray anger through an assault of giggles. In the end, the straightforward task of filming someone’s angry face on camera failed. I pondered this deeply later on while watching some Quentin Tarantino scenes — now those are some angry characters!
All in all, the success of the day can be summed up by this meme.
