Silent Movie

Project goal: To make a silent movie based on a proverb and that includes a soundtrack.

Rubric for script

Outstanding 90-100

  • The script maintains proper format.
  • The script is free of grammatical and spelling errors.
  • The script makes sense (i.e., there is a focus; it's not just random lines of dialogue).

Proficient 80-90

  • The script maintains proper format with minor errors.
  • The script is mostly free of grammatical and spelling errors.
  • The script makes sense (i.e., there is a focus; it's not just random lines of dialogue).

Basic 70-80

  • The script has errors in format.
  • The script has multiple grammatical and spelling errors.
  • The script is hard to understand.

Insufficient 60-70

  • The script has multiple errors in format.
  • The script has multiple grammatical and spelling errors.
  • The script doesn't make sense.

Rubric for video

Outstanding 90-100

  • The story and character actions and motivations are easy to understand.
  • The shots and editing enhance the video with clean transitions and creative selection of shots.
  • Video is in mp4 format.

Proficient 80-90

  • The story and character actions and motivations are mostly easy to understand.
  • The shots and editing enhance the video, with some rough edits or limited shot selection.
  • Video is in mp4 format.

Basic 70-80

  • The story and character actions and motivations sometimes unclear.
  • The shots and editing are basic and limited.
  • Video is in mp4 format.

Insufficient 60-70

  • The story and character actions and motivations not clear.
  • The shots and editing detract from the video.
  • Video is not in mp4 format.

Learning objectives: By the end of this activity, you will be able to:

  1. interpret a well-known proverb for a short silent movie concept
  2. complete a script using industry standard script format
  3. create a new Premiere Pro project for your video, and save the Premiere Pro project file (extension pproj) in your project folder on your C drive
  4. edit audio in Premiere Pro
  5. export your video to mp4 format

ISTE Standards for Students

1: Empowered Learner
Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.

1a
Students articulate and set personal learning goals, develop strategies leveraging technology to achieve them and reflect on the learning process itself to improve learning outcomes.

1b
Students build networks and customize their learning environments in ways that support the learning process.

1c
Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.

1d
Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.


2: Digital Citizen
Students recognize the rights, responsibilities and opportunities of living, learning and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal and ethical.

2a
Students cultivate and manage their digital identity and reputation and are aware of the permanence of their actions in the digital world.

2b
Students engage in positive, safe, legal and ethical behavior when using technology, including social interactions online or when using networked devices.

2c
Students demonstrate an understanding of and respect for the rights and obligations of using and sharing intellectual property.

2d
Students manage their personal data to maintain digital privacy and security and are aware of data-collection technology used to track their navigation online.


3: Knowledge Constructor
Students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.

3a
Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.

3b
Students evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance of information, media, data or other resources.

3c
Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.

3d
Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.


4: Innovative Designer
Students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful or imaginative solutions.

4a
Students know and use a deliberate design process for generating ideas, testing theories, creating innovative artifacts or solving authentic problems.

4b
Students select and use digital tools to plan and manage a design process that considers design constraints and calculated risks.

4c
Students develop, test and refine prototypes as part of a cyclical design process.

4d
Students exhibit a tolerance for ambiguity, perseverance and the capacity to work with open-ended problems.


5: Computational Thinker
Students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions.

5a
Students formulate problem definitions suited for technology-assisted methods such as data analysis, abstract models and algorithmic thinking in exploring and finding solutions.

5b
Students collect data or identify relevant data sets, use digital tools to analyze them, and represent data in various ways to facilitate problem-solving and decision-making.

5c
Students break problems into component parts, extract key information, and develop descriptive models to understand complex systems or facilitate problem-solving.

5d
Students understand how automation works and use algorithmic thinking to develop a sequence of steps to create and test automated solutions.


6: Creative Communicator
Students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats and digital media appropriate to their goals.

6a
Students choose the appropriate platforms and tools for meeting the desired objectives of their creation or communication.

6b
Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.

6c
Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations.

6d
Students publish or present content that customizes the message and medium for their intended audiences.


7: Global Collaborator
Students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally.

7a
Students use digital tools to connect with learners from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, engaging with them in ways that broaden mutual understanding and learning.

7b
Students use collaborative technologies to work with others, including peers, experts or community members, to examine issues and problems from multiple viewpoints.

7c
Students contribute constructively to project teams, assuming various roles and responsibilities to work effectively toward a common goal.

7d
Students explore local and global issues and use collaborative technologies to work with others to investigate solutions.

  1. Choose a proverb for your movie.
  2. Write your script
  3. Complete a shot list or storyboard
  4. Shoot your movie
  5. Import your media into Premiere Pro and edit
  6. Export your video to mpr (H.264) format and turn in on Google Classroom

Pre Production

Step One

This activity really emphasizes creativity and originality. The main guideline is that your movie must somehow communicate, be about, or reflect a well-known proverb. A list of 25 proverbs is included below from which you can choose. If you choose to use a proverb not on the list, you need to OK that with the teacher.

Again, this is a creative process. You might find that you have an idea for a movie before choosing a proverb. That's fine. Develop your idea then try to identify a proverb that it reflects.

Or, you might first choose a proverb then develop an idea around it.

Why is your movie required to somehow communicate a proverb? Because it will help give it structure and focus, it will make it easier to write your script, and it will make your movie more interesting and meaningful.

Finally, don't identify your proverb in the title! Part of the fun will be trying to guess what your proverb is.

List of proverbs:

  1. An apple never falls far from the tree.
  2. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
  3. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
  4. Caught between a rock and a hard place.
  5. Curiosity killed the cat.
  6. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
  7. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.
  8. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
  9. Don’t make a mountain out of a mole-hill.
  10. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
  11. The grass is always greener (on the other side of the fence).
  12. Hindsight is 20-20.
  13. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
  14. If you want a thing done right, do it yourself.
  15. Kill two birds with one stone.
  16. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
  17. Practice makes perfect.
  18. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.
  19. Once bitten, twice shy.
  20. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
  21. Talk is cheap.
  22. When in Rome, (do as the Romans do.)
  23. A watched pot never boils.
  24. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
  25. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Step Two

Write your script!

Step Three

Complete your shot list or storyboard.

Production

Step Four

Shoot your movie. If you want to use the hallway, the little studio off the lab, or any other location during the class period, you must have your shot list or storyboard with you.

Post Production

Step Five

Import all your media into Premiere Pro and edit your movie. You'll also need to add a soundtrack. Choose a soundtrack appropriate for a silent movie.

Step Six

When you are done editing, export your video to mp4 (H.264) and turn it in on Google Classroom.

Your done! Congratulations!