We are underway with our first piece of writing: our script on Change. 

The assignment? Write a :90 story about a major change in your life. We will take photos to illustrate it, and turn it into a photo slideshow.

Our assignment for Tuesday was to create a list of three big changes in your life that would be fun to write about.  This was mine:

• When I taught my son how to play baseball, I learned be a good coach at a sport I hated as a kid. 

• Learning to cook taught me a new skill, and increased my confidence.

• In middle school, I wound up crushing on a girl I used to hate. It showed me how judgmental I was, and made me consider that I could be a bully sometimes, too.

Three sounds the most embarrassing, doesn't it? YUP. I'm picking that one. I'll write the story in front of you, and explain my process as I go.

We will work on this script in class on Thursday, Friday and Monday, most of us with paper and pencil, so bring your materials each day.  If you leave them at home from the previous day, I'll have you start over again.  When the story is done, we'll Peer Evaluate it.

Your goal for right now? Just write the story. You can write it like a letter to someone, or like a poem, or like a short story. Write it, then we'll work on making it pretty when rough drafts are done.  Want to see a good example? Scroll down and re-watch the movie Remain, which we watched in class on Monday.  

Tripod use is pretty straightforward once you learn the basics, so here they are.  

Unlock all of the leg clamps while holding the tripod in the air.
Set the tripod on the floor with the feet spread apart for the widest base.
Disconnect the quick release with the thumb screw and connect it to the camera.
Put the camera upside down on a table while connecting the quick release.
If there's no table, take a knee and use your leg as a flat surface for the camera.
Don't attach the quick release while holding the camera to your chest.
Loosen the pan and tilt locks so you can swivel back and forth easily.
You may want to lock the tilt lock down once you find the sweet spot.
Need more height?  Pedestal up, then lock the pedestal lock.
Leave a few leg clamps undone for a shorter shot.
To pack it up, lift the tripod in the air and open all the leg clamps.
Set the tripod down, then close them while it's sitting on the ground. Let gravity do the work!
Bag the tripod heads up.

That's it!  The only thing left to do? Practice, man, practice.  😀

I attended an amazing teachers workshop over the summer here in Fort Wayne at Erin's House. It's a center for grieving children, who are dealing with the death of someone close to them. They deal with kids of all ages, but when I went into the Teen Room, I saw a snapshot of a former student and her brother on the wall, and it reminded me of the video she produced for him, in this room, three years ago.  

Writing is best when you can talk about things that matter to you.  With our first script of the year, each student will write at least 90 seconds on Change, Loss or Gain.  When did it happen to you? How did you feel? How did you work through your fear and pain?

This video is sad, but yours doesn't have to be. It could be happy. Think of other times your life has changed:

• When you were too old to participate in an activity you'd done for years
• When you moved
• When you lost touch with a close friend
• When you met your best friend
• When you switched from elementary school to middle school
• When a brother or sister was born
• When you signed up for a sport or activity, and learned a new skill or talent
• When a new person became a part of your family
• When you knew someone in a new way you hadn't before

You aren't limited to the examples here.  Do you have an idea about what would be fun to write and produce as a photo slideshow with narration? Let me know.

We will tell this story visually, but we will use photographs, not video. You'll have to take pictures that illustrate what you're saying. You'll need actors to do this. Who can they be? Would your family or neighbors help? 

You'll see some Google images in this video, but for our project, all photos should be taken by you, so don't write anything you couldn't reenact with the help of a few friends.  

Assignment for tonight: Brainstorm three possible stories from your life that you could write at least 90 seconds about. Your main idea is a time of change, loss or gain. Don't feel limited to a sad topic because the example video was sad.  

Let's find out. I need to update my Power and Network Connections video, but there's still some good stuff there. Let's check it out and catch up.

Fill in the blanks for the Peer Evaluation side of today's handout.  Which word goes where?

Format     Team    Peer Evaluation    One    Correct    Two    Group

If you wrote your sequel or prequel on your computer desktop instead of in Office 365, select all of your text, and copy it.  Open an Office 365 document, and paste everything there.  Be sure to include the names of all students who worked on the piece.

Click on Share at the top of your page, then input steven.hepler@fwcs.k12.in.us as my Email address.  

Many of us are turning in papers that look nothing like a script or a proposal.  If that happens, I'll put the grade where I think it fits best in the grade book so you get maximum credit.  Check with your teammate who shared the paper with me, and they can click the comments, and everyone can see what I wrote.  ​

A few of you have said that writing the script format is confusing and you'd like to write your sequel and prequel scenes like a novel.  If that's you, click here.

You could also write it in the script format below.  Whichever format is easier for you, just pick one and stick with it.

Don't forget - one line of dialogue is not a scene.  The assignment was to summarize what your story would be, then give a list of at least five scenes you could write.  You'll need to have at least one scene completed by Friday and shared with me.  Don't share your final script with me until Friday.  Write all you can between now and then.  If you finish your first scene, write a second.  If you finish your second, write a third, and so on.

You'll also need to work every minute of every class period we have left.  The last week of school is always problematic with many of us turning in half-done work, then talking and doing things we shouldn't.  If that's the case, I'll go with pink slips and referrals.  Instructions are pretty straight-forward, and they're all outlined in the posts below.

Make sure you share your writing with me instead of Emailing it directly to me.  Check the second paragraph of my post from 5/23 for a review, plus where to send it. 

Let's keep busy.  We have regular schedule on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, then we'll have shortened classes on Friday for the Talent Show and Monday for the yearbook signing.  Only three normal school days are left. 

Here you go.

Out of five 7th and 8th grade Media classes, I've received twelve sequel/prequel proposals, when I should have received forty. Only six resemble the assignment that was given. I'm putting zeros in the grade book for those who have turned in nothing so far, but I'd like to add a second assignment to Pinnacle so we have a second try at it.  

If you need to share your work with me, log in to Office 365 and write your paper there.  If you've already written it, copy and paste the document from your computer into a Word Online document, then click the SHARE button, and share it with steven.hepler@fwcs.k12.in.us. Make sure you don't copy the period at the end of my email address.

Have it peer evaluated first by three people, and ask them to leave written comments on the sheet.  Scroll down to my example, all in orange, and make sure your summary tells your entire story.  After your summary, you should have five scenes you could write that tell that story. Once you send it to me, immediately start writing those scenes.  I'm not interested in how many you write in the next seven days.  I'm interested in the quality of scenes you create.  Do they tell the story?  Do I understand the drama and the tension?  

Tell your story well.  Keep yourself busy.  Stay in your seats, and quiet voice, quiet body. Classroom rules are still in effect.  Don't wreck your grade at the end by bailing out.   

PS - Those of us freaking out because one zero dropped us to a D or F, do you have a grade in Pinnacle for a video you've filmed or produced?  Did you finish a Foley movie?  Did I grade it?  Was it entered in Pinnacle?  If you have no participation grades, then didn't write a proposal, your participation total for the nine weeks is a zero.  We started Foley two months ago.  If there's no grade for it, plus you haven't finished this week's assignment, that's why your grade is so low. 

The end of the year problems have arrived.  Our two biggest ones recently are that many of us don't understand the assignment, so we need lots of review, and we're so stressed out that negative behaviors are up. 

Click here to review the classroom expectations we'll need to keep up until the last day of school, and listen closely while we review the sequel and prequel assignment today.  Many of us turned in nothing, and those of us who did are struggling with what the assignment means, and what we had to do. 

There's a lot of confusion about our last writing assignment.  Many people are giving me summaries for movies that already exist.   

The point of watching Puss in Boots was to show you how a summary of that prequel would be written, and how the list of scenes told the story from that summary.  You should create a summary for a sequel or prequel of your own, then create a list of scenes that have to take place to tell that story.

If you've submitted a summary for a movie that has already been written, start again.

Also, some of us have turned in a list of five shots, not five scenes. 

A scene is a group of shots that tell a small part of the story, like a chapter in a book.  The video we watched from The Princess Bride  yesterday is a scene.  It tells the story of how The Man in Black kills Vizzini and rescues the Princess.  It includes dialogue, or people talking to each other.  Your scenes should do the same.  Your scene could have a narrator, or you could leave it out. 

Let's watch a movie clip, then see how to script it as we work on our own prequels and sequels to end the semester.

Your outline and five recommended scenes are due at the end of class today.  To see an example, check the post below.  Let's try something different this time.  Instead of emailing your work to steven.hepler@fwcs.k12.in.us, share it with me instead.  I'll see if I can leave comments on the document for you to see.  Have everyone in your group check your work like usual, then people from two other groups.  Leave your Peer Evaluation sheet with your names and the name of your project at the time.  Read the form and you'll know which information goes where.

Big things to do as we finish up the year?

• Stay in your seat unless you're grading someone else's work.
• Don't switch seats because someone's absent.
• If your work is nowhere close to being done, don't peer evaluate someone else's paper. Finish your own stuff first.
  
• Quiet voice, quiet body
• Body and possessions to yourself

We've quizzed over these procedures for five months, but behaviors always go up during the last month of school. Don't get a pink slip or a referral because you can't follow them, then argue about it. 

Once you've shared your outline and your five scenes with me, begin scripting whichever scene would be easiest.  

For our final unit, let’s do a bit of storytelling.  Take a favorite movie, book, or TV show and create your own scenes to add to that series as a sequel or a prequel.  We’ll start by summarizing the plot of our movie, then breaking it down into scenes so we know what to write.  Here’s my example for Puss in Boots.

SUMMARY OF MY FILM

The movie takes place before the outlaw cat meets up with his friends in Shrek II.  It tells the story of how Puss falls victim to the evil plans of Humpty Dumpty, as the egg tricks our hero into helping him rob the San Ricardo bank, then makes it look like Puss was the one who planned it all along.  The two main characters also try to steal the magic beans from Jack and Jill in order to steal golden eggs and pay back their debt to the town.  Kind of.  All Humpty wants is to lure the mother of the Golden Goose to San Ricardo to destroy the entire village because no one likes him.

In the end, Puss in Boots is thrown in jail for life, but escapes with the help of Kitty Softpaws, the woman who loves him, even though she is hired by Humpty to make sure that the egg goes free, while el gato pays the ultimate price for his fake friend’s greed. The good guy wins, but only after realizing that sometimes the man who calls you his brother is actually your worst enemy.  


WHAT SCENES CAN I WRITE TO TELL THE STORY?

Lowlife criminals in the Tavern tell the tale of the golden eggs to Puss, inspiring his desire to rob from the rich, and give to the poor, like his mother who runs the town orphanage.

Flashback to Humpty and Puss growing up.  Humpty is always cheating, but Puss ignores it, seeing the best in his new friend.  In the end, this winds up hurting our hero, not helping him.

Jack and Jill talk about using the golden eggs to buy a home, leave their life of crime, settle down, and have a family.

Humpty, Puss and Kitty Softpaws grow the beanstalk, climb it to the giant’s castle, then steal the golden goose.  Through the entire process, it’s obvious that Humpty wants Kitty to betray her boyfriend, but she can’t fully do it because she is in love with him.

Humpty tells Puss how he planned the entire scam from the beginning, then has the police arrest Puss, and throw him in jail.

In his cell, Puss meets Jack, who tells him that Humpty’s goal was to send Mother Goose to destroy the town, not to give all of the golden eggs to the people.  He’s lying in order to have the goose kill all of San Ricardo, and the people believe him, contributing to their own deaths if Puss does not save them.  

Mother Goose comes to rescue her baby, and destroys much of San Ricardo while doing it.  In the end, Puss has to choose between saving Humpty and saving Baby Goose. Humpty kills himself so that the cat saves the goose, revealing a golden egg inside of his selfish, nasty exterior.

____________________

You see how it works.  First, create your overall story arc, then break it down into individual scenes and write them one by one.  Your proposal and those individual scenes are due at the end of class on Friday.  Come up with at least five scenes to write and begin there.

Talk with your partners about what would make for a good scene.  What can you add to the story that isn’t already there?  What are your characters’ motivations in doing what they do?  

Stay diligent.  We have twelve days of school left, and two of them will be half days.  I want us to come up with several scenes so we don’t run out of material after one day of writing.  If your team doesn’t do that, you may be given something else to write.

All of the behavioral rules we’ve reviewed all semester are still in effect.  If your work level goes down while you’re wasting time or bothering a neighbor or me, your chances of receiving a pink slip or a referral go up.  Stay on task, please.  

This is it.  Our final assignment.  Let’s get to work.

We've reached the point in the term where producing videos can be more harmful than helpful. Everyone wants to boost their grade, but many of us want a huge final project that we don't have time to complete. Starting today, only groups with instructor permission may edit video.  This means that all footage is filmed, and will be imported before the end of the hour today, Monday, May 13.  If this isn't you, here's what we'll be doing for the next 16 days.

I like to end the year with a final scriptwriting assignment.  Take a fairy tale, or any story or movie franchise you like, and write a short sequel or prequel where you take the characters you love and put your own spin on their lives.  Two or three pages is all we're looking for - this is a VERY short story, but something fun to end the year.

Our example is Puss In Boots.  We'll watch the film, then look at an outline of the film from start to finish, to see how they took his legend and added to it by creating new characters, and using old ones from other fairy tales to move his story forward.

Let's watch a movie, and have some fun.

Let's start with a five minute review for what happens when an app is deleted from your desktop.  Have each person in your group complete the puzzle as many times as possible in five minutes. Pass the mouse to another person each time you finish the puzzle. 

Click here to make it happen.

Click here for camera storage tips as we finish our Foley Movies.

We will start our last unit of the year on Monday.  After that point, producing videos will be by teacher permission only, and I won’t want to start any new productions unless you have everything planned out well, and you have a good track record of making your own videos.  
 
For Thursday and Friday, check Pinnacle.  Is your Foley in the gradebook?  If not, you’ll need to finish it this week.  We’ve been at it since March 20th, so we’ve had plenty of time.  
 
If I’ve graded your Foley, but it’s not in Pinnacle, call me over to grade it again.  I’ve found lots of Grading Rubrics for Video Production on my desk with no names on them, so I didn’t know who got the points.  I’ll grade it once without the usual three people checking it before me, but points will be deducted for the usual mistakes. Be sure it’s perfect.
 
If your Foley is finished and in the gradebook, starting a new project with two days left until Monday would be pointless.  The main thing to do is to follow all the rules I ask you to follow every other day. Media work only on your computers. If you don’t trust yourself not to play video games, log out and do some work for other classes just between now and the end of class on Friday.  
 
Quiet voice, quiet body, and body and possessions to yourself are the biggest things to do if you're finished.  I’ll go with pink slips and referrals for those who can’t do this.  Please don’t get angry when I ask you to do the things we've quizzed over since January.  Keep it classy, Jefferson.

We have 19 school days left.  Production at the end of the term is always a mess, with lots of people fighting over cameras to finish a project we started on March 20th, so we will lock down the camera cabinet at the end of class on Friday.  Beginning Monday, May 13th, production will be by teacher permission only.  If you're working on a Foley, that means all of your voices are recorded, and the only things left to do are music and sound effects editing.  

I end the term with a creative writing unit where we watch a film, then use it as a story prompt to fit in one more scriptwriting exercise.  We will begin this on Monday.

We'll start with our Monday Check-In.  Socrative will tell you that your answer is incorrect due to a glitch with the program.  Ignore it.  Anything you need to talk about?  Send a message to steven.hepler@fwcs.k12.in.us.
​
The end of the school year is always tricky.  Work goes down while negative behaviors go up. Our classroom rules remain in effect.  Click here to review them.  

Let's review how to add iMovie when it disappears from your dock.  Happens all the time.  🤷‍♂️