Fis is under way! Lesson 5 was completed and the reaction so far from the children has been positive. Our school website already had one of the pupils blogging about it, can I quote ” This last month in the school has been the best for 5th and 6th, there has been loads on..Fis is a film making programme. This year 5th and 6th are entering it. We have to make a five minute long movie.”
I also overheard one of the children coming in from break saying “Fis now, cool.”
How do I find it as a teacher? Very good actually, the lessons are extremely well constructed and thoughout making great links with the curriculum. It explains the technical stuff really well. For example, today we looked at shots and camera angles and we watched a scene from Toy Story 2 using this knowledge to critique it. A high angle camera shot makes the subject or action seems smaller( no surprise there) and a low angle shot is used to make a subject look more important or dominant. We looked at the three types of shots we will be using in our own film-mid, close and long. The children went through some simple scenes and gave their opinion on which shots they thought would be useful. It was pretty amazing to be able to converse with 10 and 11 year olds on why a close up would enhance a character’s feelings as opposed to a long shot!
The only downside is there would be a bit of preparation on the teacher’s part, Fis lesson plans recommend lots of different DVDs to demonstrate their learning points. I needed Home Alone and Toy Story 2 today and found it hard enough to get these DVDs. I texted all my staff and one of them had it! What could Fis do to improve? Write a list of essential DVDs that the teacher will need, put all the needed scenes on a DVD to accompany the lesson plans(I know this would be difficult) or supply the DVDs for rent in the Education Centres. I already have borrowed the Tripod and boom microphone from Kilkenny Ed Centre so why not the DVD’s?
Also, in today’s lesson, the description of the scene in Toy Story 2 wasn’t detailed enough for me and the other teacher to be certain. We eventually found the scene we wanted by pausing, fast forwarding and rewinding but it would be better if Fis could name the exact scene as all DVDs have scene selection now.
Really looking forward to next week, we are beginning storyboarding.
Last Update: August 17, 2017