Film Lab has been going well. The students have been developing their short story scripts on their journey into the complex mechanics of script writing. At the end of this semester, the best scripts from students will be chosen and put into full production for the duration of the program- the entirety of next semester. Seeing this process has been amazing. Their first project was writing scripts based on music videos. These were rather…interesting. And my, how they have improved. I cannot help but believe that this class will help their in-school writing as well, especially since most of the students are high school sophomores.
Today the students brought the drafts of their short stories to class and conferred with other students, basically a peer-review system. At the beginning of the semester I doubt this activity would have been helpful. But now, with the knowledge and language and practice of analyzing, I have hopes that this activity will, in fact, be beneficial. I write this during the introduction of the activity to the class and will check back in at the end of today’s session.
The script break-out session went very well. I had four students whom I consulted. Three of them brought scripts, one of which was finished. I was very impressed with their drafts. One student is working on a one-room suspense film. While he is struggling to build the pressure and anxiety, he is very keen on making it happen. I offered advice while my supervisor was in the room. My supervisor was impressed, and I overheard his reuse my comments later. One of the drafts is very much a draft. The third, the only complete script, was excellent. I offered some alternatives for the ending and the student asked is she could use them. All of their writing skills have come along immensely, and I am proud of their progress.
The students are now working on their cinematography project. I was not here when they began this project (due to midterms and fall break) but I helped some of them with settings in Adobe Premiere. I am not fully familiar with the program but adapted some of my skills from other Adobe software. I am looking forward to seeing their films after today’s session.
