Part One Scriptwriting, Casting, Makeup	Part Two Locations, Set Design, Sound	Part Three Cinematography, Editing, Acting

Based on examples From the Brothers Grimm folktale series, Making Grimm Movies shows young people how to use resources and locations in their own communities to produce inexpensive videos.

Videos about moviemaking tend to be either illustrated guides, like primitive Kodak manuals, or publicity films about the special effects and celebrity personalities of high-budget features. Making Grimm Movies, on the other hand, speaks to the inventive young filmmaker with a limited budget and unlimited creative energy.

• Program one covers script-writing, casting, and makeup.
• Program two features locations, set design, sound, and the "creation" of locations through juxtaposition of images.
• Program three includes cinematography, editing, and film acting.

Age Level: 10 to adult

Curriculum areas: Language Arts, Media Literacy, Moviemaking, Storytelling

60 min., 3 parts of 20 minutes on one cassette

Go to the 48 page illustrated Guide to Making Grimm Movies.

What Is Media Literacy and Why Do We Need It? (from the Introduction to the Guide)
Noted child psychologist Bruno Bettleheim once said that each historical era has an art medium that best reflects the period and whose popularity cuts across lines of class and education. In Athens, this art was the Greek theater; in Elizabethan England, it was the stage of Shakespeare. Today, the popular media is film and television. People from all walks of life often watch the same programs, which become the source of much impromptu, old fashioned story-telling.

Film and television have become the primary bearers of myth and storytelling in our society, influencing our actions and affecting social change. That's why media literacy is important. When we teach our students textual literacy, we expect them to understand how to read and how to write. There has been an increasing emphasis on teaching students how to criticize, or "read," media. Unfortunately, few people know how to produce, or "write," media.

Movies are made in fragments that are edited together in imaginative ways to create scenes that appear real but are actually highly constructed. Many viewers assume that a dramatic movie is happening like a play and that the camera is simply recording the events as they unfold in real time. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Scenes are shot out of order; real locations and constructed sets are linked together as the same place; the camera "sees" action from impossible positions such as through the back wall of a fireplace or from the sky.

We seem to have a national ambivalence which drives us to complain bitterly about the media while we sit in front of our televisions and continue to absorb a barrage of images. Students intuitively recognize the influence of movies in their lives. Once students and teachers begin to understand how movies are constructed and realize the freedom from time and space that is available to producers, all sorts of creative and playful possibilities emerge. When students start making movies themselves, they become more discerning critics of what they see on television and begin to see the possibilities for heartfelt work within their own communities.

There are many good media education programs around the country, but many people learn to make movies by doing it themselves. An education in the humanities is one of the best preparations for a future movie maker, and a movie making project can help a student see the value of such an education beyond the confines of a classroom. The elements of a traditional liberal education come to life as part of movie projects.

Successful movie makers need to know literature and understand the historical era that they are trying to portray. They need an awareness of light and composition that comes from a study of the old painters. They should have a basic understanding of music and have enough taste and experience to use it to enhance their drama. They should be able to construct sets and design costumes and makeup to fit character. They should have some pragmatic knowledge of electricity and contemporary computer and video technology. Finally, they need to develop exceptional organizational and management skills.

In the past, schools didn't typically encourage such an integrated, cross-disciplinary approach to education. The traditional school schedule was like an assembly line. Students went down the hallway and turned into the biology room at step one, then down the hall to the language arts classroom for step two, and so on, throughout the school day. They received from each specialist teacher a short dosage of distinct information just like a car at a specific point on the assembly line receives a bumper or head light.

Today's schools are changing, which bodes well for the holistic demands of media education. Media projects require unique problem solving. Teachers cannot easily dispense a distinct and limited body of specialized information from a podium. Instead, media literacy teachers are facilitators who help and encourage students as they integrate the unique variety of skills and information that each project demands. They guide students through projects which have much of the uncertainty and unpredictability of real life.

Movie making teaches the importance of cooperation, responsibility, and etiquette. Movie making is a playful and creative undertaking. Students will probably learn as much from each other as they will from an instructor. Teachers are sometimes frightened to embark into the unknown and uncharted realm of the world of movie making. But the best way to learn movie making is to do it. Pick projects that are close to home and relatively simple. Encourage independent work outside the classroom. When students believe in the potential of their ideas, they can go beyond the limitations of finances and experience.

We produced Making Grimm Movies using a digital editing system that works on a desktop computer. Digital systems do for videotape editing what word processors do for typing. With a word processor, it is easy to remove a paragraph from an essay. The computer automatically realigns the rest of the text, and your finished document is printed exactly as you want it. Similarly, computer editing systems make videotape editing "non-linear." Editors can input film or video images and sounds into a computer, then move and change them freely and quickly.

Students with video camcorders and desktop editing systems can now make movies that could be done only with cumbersome equipment and expensive film stock in the past. Thanks to their increasing affordability, computer editing systems are already starting to appear in some classrooms. There has never been a better time for teachers to delve into media literacy.