I found a project through Twitter for teaching students to think like a filmmaker. The project, for grades 6 to 8, is written by Judy Storm Fink and is published at the NCTE website, readwritethink.org. The project title is You Know the Movie is Coming—Now What?. This is a complex project with lots of supplementary material. As someone who sees very few movies I think that the ability to teach this as written would depend in part your own familiarity with the books and movies discussed. Some experience as a filmmaker would also be helpful. That said, this is a well thought out project which will, at the least, offer you lots of ideas for getting your students to think about the difference between telling a story with words and telling a story through video. The hook for the assignment as Fink proposes it is that there will soon be a movie released based on a familiar book. Given how easy it is to show a movie in class I don’t think it necessary to tie this project into a topical new release. Perhaps my biggest critique of this project is that its goals are too narrow. I see this project as a way of getting kids to understand that thinking about filmmaking helps them think about the mechanics of storytelling in general. It teaches that your perspective as an author changes as you change formats of any kind, whether that is a change from poem to short story — short store to novella — novella to novel — or words to video. Along with changes in perspective that format changes entail, so too there are changes in the literary devises used to tell the story. Fink’s project focus on the technical devices of moviemaking. This is the project’ s strength but also I think its weakness. To teach the methods of filmmaking without being a filmmaker will be difficult. Two lists are provided, one (the online list) more detailed than the other. Many of the terms are complex in that they suggest a world of possibilities. From the online list I offer ellipsis by way of example: A term that refers to periods of time that have been left out of the narrative. The ellipsis is marked by an editing transitions which, while it leaves out a section of the action, none the less signifies that something has been elided. Thus, the fade or dissolve could indicate a passage of time, a wipe, a change of scene and so on. A jump cut transports the spectator from one action and time to another, giving the impression of rapid action or of disorientation if it is not matched. You could spend many writing projects on the ellipsis in a written narrative. The transposition to film is clearly complicated. This brief introduction to the concept lists five different cinematic techniques for implementing an ellipsis. Overall, I’d slow this project down, and simplify the exploration of cinematic technique. I’d work with one scene in one story and explore different ways — different cinematic techniques — that could be used to tell that story. In the same way, one might take that same passage and turn it into a poem which would make it possible to speak about the techniques of poetry as a literary form in the context of this project which requires students to think about the how of storytelling more than the what of the story. Lastly, making a film ought to be one of the possible products of the assignment. Take a look at our resources for young filmmakers pages to give your students some ideas about how they might do this.
creative writing
Taking a Stand Through Fiction
Let’s say you have a strong opinion about something you see happening in the world. You know it is wrong, and you want to speak out. The most direct way to make your point would be through a nonfiction article or essay. But you could also convey your message, perhaps even more powerfully, through fiction. In the May/June 2015 issue of Stone Soup, 12-year-old author Evelyn Chen did just that. Her story, The Voice of the Seal, deals with a serious worldwide problem. Every year hundreds of thousands of ocean animals get tangled up in abandoned fishing nets. Many of them suffer and die. In Evelyn’s story, two cousins, Cordelia and Georgia, are staying at the family beach house when they both have the same nightmare. They are in the ocean, trapped in a net, struggling for air, drowning. The girls wake up in the middle of the night. They hear a voice coming from the beach, calling their names. They don’t know what is happening, but they decide to follow the voice. What they find breaks their hearts. In the blackness of night, they make out a dark shape, thrashing in the water. They splash through the waves and discover . . . a seal, caught in a fishing net, desperately trying to get free. The girls look at each other. The seal looks at the girls. They know what they have to do. For several hours they steadily work at the net, pulling it apart little by little. They are cold and wet, but they don’t care. They don’t stop until the seal is free. The girls head home, exhausted but happy. Were you drawn into this story like I was? Cordelia and Georgia are described so well that we feel like we know them. We can picture the cozy bedroom in the beach house. Artist Teah Laupapa’s illustrations help bring the girls and their summer home to life. When they hear the voice, we hear it too. When they see the dark form struggling in the water, we see it too. We feel the injustice of the innocent seal’s battle with the abandoned net. Why did this terrible thing happen? How can we help? I found myself Googling “fishing nets kill seals” after I read the story. I wanted to know more. Try it! You’ll see that many organizations are working on this problem. Maybe your family would like to donate to one of them. Evelyn’s story is not a true story, but it is a powerful story, based on the truth. Through fiction, she shines a light on a worldwide problem. By focusing in on three characters, Cordelia, Georgia, and the seal, she personalizes the problem and helps us understand it. This is what great writing can do.
It’s All in the Details (engaging the senses)
In honor of St. Patrick’s Day on March 17, we chose “Leprechaun Rain” as the featured story from our March/April 2015 issue. This is not a complex story. Emma lives with her parents and grandmother on a farm in Ireland. Some of the family’s sheep are missing in a storm, and Emma sets out to find them. When she does, everyone returns home safe and sound. Even a simple story can be special, if the author fills it with little details that make the characters and places come alive. Author Hannah Ogden has done just that. Four of our five senses are engaged as Hannah describes what Emma sees, hears, touches, and smells in the first part of the story. The only light in Emma’s room comes from a flickering candle. Rain hammers on the roof. Thunder cracks overhead. The old farmhouse feels especially cold because of its gray stone walls. And when Emma’s dad comes in from the storm, his clothing smells of wet wool. Hannah includes vivid details in the second part of her story as well, when Emma encounters a band of fairies and leprechauns in the forest. A green haze rises up from their bonfire. The leprechauns wear green, while the fairies wear every color in the rainbow. The fairies’ song sounds like light rain falling on grass. The air is filled with the sweet smell of lilacs and fresh grass, of freshly baked bread and springtime. The lost sheep are there too, and Katie comes up to nuzzle Emma’s arm. These details make us believe this part of the story, even though it is fantastical. Yes, Emma did fall and hit her head right before she saw the leprechauns and fairies, but of course they are real, right? In addition to the details that engage our senses, Hannah has added another little detail that makes her story shine: a special understanding between Emma and her grandmother. They are together twice, once in the barn and once at the very end of the story. Both times, they seem to know what the other is thinking. In the barn, Grandmother Josephine assures Emma that the sheep will be all right in the storm. But when Emma looks into her grandmother’s eyes, she knows they tell a different story. At the end of the story, Emma keeps her encounter with the fairies and leprechauns a secret from her parents. One look at Grandmother Josephine, and Emma realizes her grandmother knows her secret. This bond between Emma and her grandmother brings a very human element to the story. Sometimes two people just click, they understand each other without speaking. The two fictional characters seem more like real people because of their deep connection. And speaking of making things real, illustrator Isabella Ronchetti has picked up many of the little details of the story in her beautiful illustrations (one of them used as the cover for our new edition of The Stone Soup Book of Fantasy Stories). We see Emma’s cold attic room with its stone walls, lit only by a candle, in the first illustration. Emma’s anxious face, with her light freckles and wild black hair, fills the page. In the second illustration, we see the magical clearing in the forest, the ring of toadstools, the colorful fairies dancing around a bonfire, the gold coins on the ground. Even the characters in silhouette are detailed. We see the leprechaun’s beard, hat, boots, and flute. We see Emma and Katie in lifelike detail too. We applaud both author and artist for using detail to create great works of art. Bravo, Hannah and Isabella!
