Scripts, scenery and soundtracks

What did the school do?

Activities

A teacher from a local secondary school with experience of film-making acted as the film's producer. His proposal -- for which he gained Film Council funding -- was to make a short film called 'Spaced Out' with the primary pupils.

The producer got the pupils involved in planning the film and spent time in school talking to year 5 pupils about the different processes involved in film-making. The film's director (a professional director, funded by the Film Council), assistant producers and runners (sixth-form students from the secondary school) were also involved in working with the pupils from the outset.

Starting from the theme of space, the pupils spent several sessions brainstorming possible storylines, working in small groups then sharing their ideas as a whole class. They soon decided that the story should focus on a group of school children who are kidnapped by aliens. The producer gave their discussions direction by asking questions such as: 'What do you think was the aliens' motive?' After dismissing ideas as diverse as a bungled attempt to kidnap the queen and a bey blade tournament, the pupils decided that the aliens needed to make sherbet to power their spacecraft. Having seen that the schoolchildren had learned how to make sherbet in a science lesson, the aliens kidnapped them and took them to Mars.

With the basic storyline decided, scriptwriting sessions began. These involved talented writers from across years 3, 4, 5 and 6 working closely with a scriptwriting student from the local university. He showed the pupils how to plan the 'treatment', develop the characters and finalise the plot, using an interactive whiteboard and a scriptwriting program to bring together their ideas.

All year 5 pupils took part in drama workshops and those who wanted to act in the film were asked to audition for parts. The director filmed these auditions and chose his cast of aliens and children (the class teacher and headteacher starred as themselves!).

At the same time, another group of pupils were working in the school hall with a local children's book illustrator to create Martian landscapes on which detailed scenery was created in montages. This work was developed during a visit to the local City Learning Centre (CLC), where pupils made the most of studio space to develop scenery and props, costumes and make-up.

With everything in place, filming began. The filming took a week -- two days in school and three in the studio. One memorable day included a visit from one of the country's top special effects experts, who created a dramatic sherbet explosion in school and talked to the pupils about his work. Over the course of the week the year 5 pupils worked alongside the experts and gained an understanding of every stage of the film-making process -- from taking shots, cutting and editing, to blue-screen animation.

The process of developing a soundtrack took place alongside the film-making. Pupils from years 3 to 6 who played piano, wind and string instruments worked with teachers from the local authority Music Services to compose music inspired by the space story. They then went to a local recording studio for the day to perform and record the soundtrack. As well as playing instruments and singing, they were given an opportunity to go behind the scenes to discover how tracks are laid down.

Back in school, a group of gifted and talented pupils worked with artist and musician David Yates to digitally resample and reshape their soundtrack. The pupils used Sound Edit software on Apple iBooks to sample the music, experimenting with effects such as pitch shift, echo and delay. Their final multi-track composition was burned onto CD.

The project culminated in the five-minute film being premiered at a young people's film festival.

Teaching strategies

The school wanted to stimulate pupils' interest and motivation by offering them a range of different activities. This also enabled teachers to recognise and develop pupils' individual interests and strengths. Working towards the goal of creating a film to be shown at the film festival gave the project great direction.

This was very much a team project. From the outset, the school planned to give pupils opportunities to:

• work closely with experts;
• work with and learn from their peers;
• work with pupils of different ages;
• develop their ability to communicate with each other and adults.

Although the pupils were working alongside experts, the school was keen to ensure that the children felt ownership of the work by giving them plenty of chances to make decisions. For example, although a university student facilitated the scriptwriting process, the final words are very much the pupils' own.

Use of time and resources

The project took place over a total of four months, culminating in the five days of filming. Year 5 pupils spent two afternoons a week working on different aspects of the film, with small groups of pupils taken off timetable to devote more time to the project at different stages. Pupils spent a full day at the CLC and at the recording studio. The gifted and talented pupils who were involved in digitally resampling and reshaping the soundtrack spent a whole week working with the musician-in-residence.

A year 5 teacher (who is also the gifted and talented coordinator) and the headteacher led the work at the school. Through the project they formed strong partnerships with the local CLC, secondary school, university and film festival.

Funding for the film itself, including the director, came from the Film Council's First Lights Project, which finances short films made by and for young people. Funding for the music work, including the day at the recording studio and the musician-in-residence, came from the school's gifted and talented budget.