Scripts, scenery and soundtracks

What did the school want to achieve?

School improvement

The school wanted to improve pupils' attitudes to learning by giving them the opportunity to take part in an exciting, stimulating media arts project. The school believed that working together on a film would give all pupils an opportunity to succeed. It hoped that they would then transfer their increased self-esteem and sense of achievement to all areas of school life, with a positive effect on behaviour (particularly among boys).

The school also wanted to improve pupils' attainment across the curriculum. It had identified a problem with year 5 boys' writing and hoped to develop their skills in a scriptwriting context (links were made with literacy objectives). The film was set in space and the school hoped that this would enhance pupils' science learning through links with the topic 'Earth, Sun and Moon'.

By giving staff and pupils an opportunity to work with a wide range of experts and institutions, the school hoped to strengthen links with the community and improve the quality of teaching and learning. It wanted the teachers involved to learn new skills and knowledge that they could apply to future projects.

Pupils' arts education

The school was keen to give all pupils an opportunity to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding in a media arts context. In particular, the gifted and talented co-ordinator had identified a group of pupils that she felt would benefit from being involved in a challenging media arts project.

Making a film was a completely new experience for all the pupils and staff involved, opening up an exciting area of the arts. The school hoped that working on a long-term project with arts practitioners would encourage pupils to get more involved in cultural opportunities both within and outside of school.

By the end of the project, the school wanted pupils to have:

• composed, performed and recorded music for the film;
• used ICT to digitally resample and reshape short pieces of music;
• designed and created scenery and props for the film;
• taken part in drama workshops and learned about acting for film;
• gained an understanding of every stage involved in making a film.