Brian Mitchell EDTECH 504 Spring, 2011

Mobile Technology Digital Filmmaking Lesson Plan

Overview Mobile devices have become an increasingly important addition to the world of broadcast journalism and filmmaking. During the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, mobile devices were the eyes and ears for the world to see the tragedy and devastation, almost as soon as it happened. In the world of television and film, reality and documentary programs have made portable video cameras and mobile video a very prominent filmmaking tool. Whether you are shooting video on your cell phone or using a professional film camera worth thousands of dollars, it is equally important to know how to use good visual storytelling techniques in order to get your message across effectively. For this exercise, you will use a portable device capable of shooting video (i.e. cell phone, smart phone, iPod, portable video camera, etc.) to tell a story using the techniques you have learned in class. Objectives After this lesson, students will be able to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Justification Under the principles of constructivist learning, a teacher will not be a supplier of knowledge, so much as a guide to help the students learn skills on their own. This activity is very student-centered, in that the student will choose the subject of their project and learn the skills of the lesson through practice on their own. The teacher will be there to guide them through the process and give advice on how to improve their work. However, the students will be responsible for learning and producing a good project with a mobile device. Materials: Search the web and several print resources to learn what makes a good visual story. Create a rubric for analyzing examples of good visual storytelling. Use a mobile video camera to tell an effective story. Practice the elements of good visual storytelling when shooting a project on video. Practice good videography and technical skills when shooting the video. Analyze the work of their classmates as to the quality of its visual storytelling and videography techniques.

Students will use their own smart phone, cell phone, or other portable device cable of shooting video and audio. If the student does not have access to such a device, the school will loan them a small handheld digital video camera to use.

Activities: Students will be given a set of books and web resources that they can use to help them learn what makes a good visual story and how to shoot effective video. Students are also welcome to find their own research materials to help them in this task. The teacher will provide assistance during this discovery phase of the project, insuring that the students are finding accurate and relevant information and answering any questions or misunderstandings they may have about the material. The teacher will show examples of news or documentary videos that were shot with portable devices. Some of these will use high-quality visual storytelling and some will not. The students will then discuss the qualities of the example videos and determine whether they are good or bad examples and why. Based on the above discussion, the class will come up with a rubric that will be used to grade a visual storytelling project. The teacher will facilitate a brainstorming session with the students to help them come up with ideas for a story they would like to tell with video. Students will be paired up and will use a mobile video device to go out and shoot video that will help them tell their story. Depending on their subject, most of this shooting will take place outside of class time. Students will not be allowed to edit the video they shoot. Each project will be shown in class or posted on a blog. Using the above constructed rubric, students will critique each project. The completed rubrics will be returned to the students who completed the project, and the class will discuss the quality of the work.