Behind the Scenes: the making of "Masterpiece Theatre (sort of)"

Konnichiha! (Yep, that's how it's spelled. Pronounced "knnichiWA," though.) THIS (follow the link to YouTube to watch the video first and continue reading) is a video I made for my educational teaching and technologies class just a few weeks ago. I want to talk about some of the rewards I got and challenges I faced while producing this film.

First, this vid is designed to be a part fo a lesson in which students learn about and then demonstrate their knowledge of literary devices, such as the "framed narration" I discuss in the video. The lesson will go like this: we learn about literary devices, the students will break into small groups to put together a short in-class skit to help illustrate the literary device they are assigned, I show the video, then the students generate and share their own interpretations of their individual literary devices. It uses collaboration, some technology (on my part), some creativity (for all), and a healthy dose of fun. What could be better?

This was actually a fun project to work on. I like playing Steven Spielberg, not gonna lie. And James Lipton-- didja notice the smoking jacket and cravat (that's the scarf)? I had a pipe, too (that had been used-- gross!), but I figured if I ever do want to show this to my students, I might not be able to justify the use of tabacco-smoking apparatus in a classroom teaching aid. So I left it out. But for the record, I had a pipe. I really enjoyed all aspects of it... the filming, the editing of film, the splicing of clips, the finding and editing of sound clips, all of it. The least cool part was probably the making of the pictures for the actual story with Marlow and the two others. That was tedious. Never thought I'd here myself say that the art was tedious and the technology was fun. I think I'm coming around :)

And I have such a feeling of accomplishment now. *brushes off shoulder* Yeah, I'm kind of a big deal when it comes to movie making. Anywho, you can also find this video on YouTube HERE.

I think that I'd actually like to make more of these teaching aids. Maybe Masterpiece Theatre (sort of) could be my claim to fame as a teacher. I could be famous yet! I'd be like Muzzy for literature, adored accross the globe. Or like Dora, but less Spanish. Like Elmo but less fuzzy and more cuddly. Like- like- LIKE BARNEY! .... Alright, I've gotten carried away. But I could be... Cool. I'd settle for cool.