Until recently, making movies required expensive equipment and software, hours of postproduction editing, and skills taught only in highly specialized courses. But now, with the proliferation of user-friendly video-editing programs and Web 2.0 technologies, almost anyone with a computer can create a professional-looking movie in a matter of days.
As a result, the medium has begun to creep into art classrooms across the nation鈥攁nd the world.
鈥淲hen I was in college, 鈥� [making movies] was a great deal of work that required an upper-level video class to create the same kind of results that my 3rd graders can achieve in a few minutes with iMovie,鈥� says David S. Gran, a technology integration specialist and art educator at the Shanghai American School in China, referring to movie-editing software created by Apple Inc. The 2,600-student K-12 school teaches students from about 40 countries.
鈥淢aybe that鈥檚 a bit humbling,鈥� Gran says the effect of the new technology, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 also truly amazing.鈥�
See related story 鈥�Digital Approach to Art Ed. Gains Momentum鈥�
Three years ago, when Gran was an art teacher at Huntington High School in Huntington Station, N.Y., he began a project in his advanced video class in which students would rotoscope鈥攐r create an animation by tracing and altering film frame by frame鈥攁 15-second video of themselves receiving a ball from the left of the frame, interacting with it, transforming it into something new, and passing it on to the right of the frame.
He then linked all the videos together, added music, and unveiled the first edition of what has come to be known as . Since then, his annual film project has grown to include contributions from 80 students in 11 schools in four different countries.
鈥淲eb 2.0 technologies have allowed us to work far beyond the borders of our classroom walls and collaborate with schools from around the world,鈥� says Gran. 鈥淭hrough participation in this video, [students] have the opportunity to see a large and varied series of creative and technical responses to the same lesson.鈥�
Patricia M. Fuglestad, an art teacher at Dryden Elementary School in Arlington Heights, Ill., was one of the teachers who participated in the project.
鈥淸It] was enthusiastically trail-blazed by three girls who would work on the animation during recess,鈥� she says. After Fuglestad taught them the software, the girls drew the 75 frames for their 15-second animation on their own, making one or two frames each day.
Watching her students work on the animation, Fuglestad learned two important lessons. 鈥淐omplex software is not intimidating to my digital natives,鈥� she says, referring to the generation of students who have grown up using digital technology. 鈥淭hey just need to know where to click.鈥�
Secondly, she says, 鈥渄igital media can create a surprising motivation level when it is connected to an authentic audience, even if it requires tedious work.鈥�
鈥楾ell Stories, Make Movies鈥�
Fuglestad, who has been making videos with her art classes for several years, has noticed a consistent spike in student enthusiasm when her students know their work will be shared online. Last year, when a group of her 5th graders made a movie called 鈥溾�� about a paintbrush that is destroyed in the hands of a careless artist, she tracked the progress of the project on .
鈥淥n the day that the movie was uploaded, we had over 800 views,鈥� says Fuglestad. 鈥淭o help [students] understand how large their audience was, I printed out a world map and put push pins in places where they received an e-mail or some feedback.鈥�
The student-made movie has gone on to win a local film festival and be screened at three international children鈥檚 film festivals.
鈥淣ow all my students want to tell stories and make movies,鈥� she says.
Several of the movies by her students center around ways to treat art supplies properly, and most feature catchy songs with lyrics about art concepts that Fuglestad hopes students will find educational. In addition to the concepts reinforced by each video, the filmmaking process teaches countless interdisciplinary skills to her students, she says.
鈥淲hen students make a movie, they learn so much more than the content of the film,鈥� says Fuglestad. 鈥淭hey learn to frame a shot, express and capture the appropriate mood from their subject, articulate their words to better communicate, politely critique, work together, take turns, be fair, and share.鈥�
鈥楽hared Creative Expression鈥�
Kristine M. Fontes, an art teacher at Union City High School in Pennsylvania, has also noticed an increased level of engagement with her students through digital animation. In her 6th grade class, Fontes teaches students how to produce stop-motion animation, a technique that makes an object look as if it is moving on its own by linking together a series of photographs taken after the object is moved slightly, with Legos and other small toys, using digital technology. Like Fuglestad, Fontes has discovered that although the process is complicated, students are eager to learn and often master the software easily.
鈥淭hey enjoy the responsibility of creating a project with so many layers and can鈥檛 wait to show me their work each day,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he entire process is so engaging that it is difficult to get the students to log off their computers and go to lunch.鈥�
Fontes, whose students also took part in the rotoball project, agrees that having a global audience makes students more excited about their projects.
鈥淚 honor their commitment by hosting their animations on and burning their work on a CD for them to keep,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he world is no longer as big as it seems, and their moments of shared creative expression are no longer limited to the four walls of the art room.鈥�
