Documentary learning progress

Here is our progress on the documentaries

What have we done so far? Check out below to see our the process we are following in our learning about documentaries.

Definition- What is a documentary?

Exemplars:
Here are exemplars of documentaries which included professionally made ones and student made ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_fJZsVYcjM Trailer only
https://vimeo.com/122820646 Creative kids 6:26
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMpSk1UlTuE&disable_polymer=true  What is Climate Change? 2.44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSJgsU4X9zQ&disable_polymer=true Science Fair
https://www.madeawards.com/?page_id=238 MADE Yr 7 & 8
https://www.madeawards.com/?page_id=236 MADE Yr 4- 6
https://www.madeawards.com/?page_id=234 MADE Year 1-3

Discussed features of these documentaries
http://www.documentarytube.com/articles/what-makes-a-good-documentary-film

Marking Criteria

We looked through the criteria for the MADE awards and this is where the inspiration for our learning came from. It showed all the things we need to learn about in order to meet this criteria e.g. camera angles, music etc...

Links

https://www.madeawards.com/pdfs/MADErubric.pdf

Here is the criteria.

We are using this as our guide!

Documentary film techniquesE.g reporters, interviews, cut-a-way clips, voice-overs, direct and indirect interviews, re-enactment, archival footage, montage, exposition, etc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film_techniques

Camera Angles:
Here are some resources to help us learn about camera angles/shots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y0ouVBcogU 15 Essential Camera Shots

https://sites.google.com/site/theartoffilm1/camera-angles-and-shots Examples and definitions of different camera shots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5886yCsmrg Basic camera Shots and Angles

https://petapixel.com/2015/09/22/8-camera-angles-from-the-world-of-cinema-that-can-help-improve-your-photos/ Photo examples of camera angles

http://www.thewildclassroom.com/wildfilmschool/gettingstarted/camerashots.html Camera shots examples and definitions plus rule of thirds

https://petapixel.com/2015/09/22/8-camera-angles-from-the-world-of-cinema-that-can-help-improve-your-photos/

Using Camera Angles with photography:

Students recreated these camera angles and shots in a group and then individually.

Used the camera angles and shots to create a photo story. This needed to tell a story with pictures with a beginning, middle and end.

View photo story by Jamie, Lily, Maia, Bonnie and Jaye here:

Group 1 Photo Story

View photo story by Connor, Frankie and Caleb here:

Group 4 Photo Story

Music
Learned about the impact of music when added to film, in particular how music is used to elicit emotions.

We watched an exemplar that showed an identical piece of film but with the music changed. How did the music change the feeling of the film? There are multiple examples here in this video.

Students collected examples of mood music. Students chose 5 emotions and collected music to represent these emotions. They saved the links to these in our shared Google drive so that we can all access each other's music at a later date if we wish.

We shared one example from each student on Apple TV.

Combined learning- Music + Camera Angles

We used the Youtube video above as our inspiration.

Created a 30 second piece of footage which incorporates the camera angles edited in. This was the first time we had used camera angles in movie form rather than still form and therefore it meant small clips would need to be edited together in iMovie. Then students had to duplicate the video and add two different types of music.

IMPROVING WRITING THROUGH THE VIEWING AND PRESENTING ASPECT OF THE ENGLISH CURRICULUM

Literacy and ICT

The use of e-learning and digital tools is already well embedded in all the learning we do in my class, but this year I am curious to investigate ways to enhance my writing through the use of these tools.
One question I have is, can I improve my children's writing without much actual writing? Can I teach all the things the students need to learn in another context and will these then transfer into their writing.
Let me explain what I mean here....
I have chosen to focus on the writing purpose: to inform.
I would like to use the format of a documentary as a method for not only presenting our learning as an end product, but actually developing our understanding, knowledge and skills within this purpose.  How can I transfer all the things that would be learned when writing a traditional information report into this documentary format?

We will not be writing everyday. We will be learning the features of a good documentary. If we are not writing, can the learning we are doing still positively impact on our writing? I think many of the skills are transferable but will my students make the necessary connections?

WILL THE STUDENTS WRITE BETTER AFTER MAKING AN INFORMATIVE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT A TOPIC OF THEIR CHOICE?

First I need to think about what types of things would students learn if they were going to write a traditional report and then I can work out how to cover these aspects through the context of our documentaries.

1) Structure- Intro, 3 main points, conclusion
This is the main outline for a report. Introduce the topic. Choose three things to share about this topic. Write a topic sentence for each paragraph and then elaborate on these points with supporting information, data, evidence etc. Conclude topic. Sum it up and bring it back to the introduction. Did we share what we set out to share in an informative way?
I think yes this will transfer very nicely into a documentary. My question is, will the skills developed here then transfer into their ability to actually WRITE an informative piece though. The same thinking will occur when planning the piece whether it is written or visual. How do I introduce my topic? What are the main aspects I would to include and how can I sum this up? Will the students see this connection? I guess it is my job to explicitly teach this connection and ensure they do see it as the same thing.

2) Sentences- Use a variety of different sentence structures for effect.
Vary beginnings and lengths of sentences and use a combination of simple, compound and complex sentences.
I am unsure if this skill will transfer from a documentary into writing. Students may think about sentences if writing a script but it is not likely. Any learning we do on documentaries will probably not focus on this aspect so I am not hopeful that students will improve the sentences aspect of their writing after completing this unit of work. This is also a very crucial area of writing that my students in particular actually need to work on too. Perhaps I can teach this aspect better using another writing purpose such as through story telling or something later in the year.

3) Vocabulary- Use sophisticated vocabulary to enhance the piece
Students need to inform using the write words. This includes technical and precise language.
I think that the technical language will naturally come along with the topic but how can I encourage students to extend their vocabulary and push themselves to write using more sophisticated language?
In a written language context, you may encourage students to utilise a Thesaurus or use peer assessment to try and improve the language used. How would this work in a documentary context? They may be a small element of scripting as part of the process I suppose, so this is possibly a way to encourage the vocabulary development. I will have to think about this some more.

4) Language features- Use appropriate language features for the text type.
Which language features feature in an informative piece?
Present tense, factual information (the audience forms their own opinion based on the facts you present), definition of topic specific technical language or terms,  clear and easy to understand, site sources where possible,
This will be very relevant to a documentary format. No problems there.

5) Ideas- Maintain audience engagement in topic
Students need to choose which ideas are relevant to include and sequence these ideas logically. They also need to take into account their audience and deliberately try to maintain their interest in their topic.
The ideas aspect will be the area that I believe will gain the most benefit from the documentary learning. It is important to choose which aspects are important and which are not when presenting in the documentary format. Sequencing is crucial to ensure the documentary flows.s