tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post141720086575817645..comments2024-03-10T07:42:17.071-04:00Comments on The Film Doctor: The 2010 video production class weblog--day two--the derangement kicks inThe Film Doctor http://www.blogger.com/profile/03073505923746994988noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-12696084883927888222010-01-06T20:39:26.245-05:002010-01-06T20:39:26.245-05:00Thanks. Now I don't feel so bad about interfer...Thanks. Now I don't feel so bad about interfering when I do. With the little experimental films that are basically fooling around, I've stayed totally clear - and the students feel totally in charge. But with a film that's a story, I find that they need a little tip once in a while to help them create more of a conflict or to come to a better conclusion. I've had a number of students with very impressive imaginations, but many students just haven't had enough practice honing their imaginations - and often that's because they haven't read enough books or seen enough films that are different or unusual in some way.Richard Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-57114354942802764682010-01-06T20:33:19.453-05:002010-01-06T20:33:19.453-05:00Thanks, Hokahey. I have also found that a class v...Thanks, Hokahey. I have also found that a class very much needs large blocks of time to produce a video. Otherwise, they are just too busy. Our school is too intensive to allow for piecemeal shooting and editing on weekends (although we did manage to make <i>The Happening</i> during the regular semester).<br /><br />As for your question about participating in student writing, I tend to go both ways too. I have made a film less effective by interfering in the writing of it. In other cases, I definitely goofed by <i>not</i> interfering. For one film called <i>Baseball</i>, the writer did not want to touch his original idea, but the ending did not work at all, and the finished work is one of the worst of any of the classes. I remind the students that they need a hook, some sort of progression to a climax, and there should be an attempt to get the viewer involved somehow.The Film Doctor https://www.blogger.com/profile/03073505923746994988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-7999745276961375292010-01-06T12:52:51.956-05:002010-01-06T12:52:51.956-05:00Now here's a question for you - something I st...Now here's a question for you - something I struggle with each year- and I go both ways with it.<br /><br />Sometimes a student will pitch a story idea that is just okay - but immediately I can think of a slight tweak that would turn an okay idea into a great one. Do you suggest the alteration or do you shut up? <br /><br />Recently, I've been trying hard to just shut up so that the students feel that the video is totally their own creation. Sometimes, I suggest the tweak - and students seem appreciative and excited, but I'm not sure it's the right thing to do.<br /><br />What do you do?Richard Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704583061723470804.post-15126091827799515152010-01-06T12:29:14.517-05:002010-01-06T12:29:14.517-05:00FilmDr - Sounds like an imaginative bunch. Also, i...FilmDr - Sounds like an imaginative bunch. Also, it helps to have a large block of assigned time. For Film Club, we only have a short block a time, it's not a graded course, and students get pulled in other directions - so production has been low. Also, this bunch is not that imagainative or perhaps they are imaginative but not inspired enough by their own imaginations to follow through assertively. They pitch ideas and then they AND the ideas evaporate. (And in the time they pitch an idea, I have already conceived of two or three related ideas.)<br /><br />Thus, I have never taught a graded video production course - but I've gotten a lot of tips from you and I've used some of them to improve the film club this year. Last year, meetings sometimes dissolved into chat about ideas. This year, they are not allowed to be in my classroom during the meeting time unless they are producing something. Chiefly, the time factor holds us back. There's not enough time and these students are overbooked.<br /><br />I like your students' clever stories that have specific messages - The Happening and Cereal Boy. I had a group like that for two years. They made some pointed, serious, well-crafted short films - one was a very well-done story about a school shooting. Alas - then they graduated.Richard Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.com