Shanghai Student Film Festival

S2F2 2010 Winners!

rgirdner — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 06:57:52 +0000

There were 240 entries this year for S2F2, so it was a very tough call in terms of judging the movies. After going through the judging process, the following entries were selected! Click on the link to watch any of the films*…

Elementary School Documentary

The Rain Shadow Effect by The Freezing Fives, SCIS Hongqiao

Captain Cook by Kelly Chan, SCIS Hongqiao

About Me, YKPao School (WINNER, Best Elementary Film, Best Documentary)

Elementary School Video Art

Destroyed by Nadia Lavanti, SCIS Pudong

To the Space by Yeon Su Jung, SCIS Pudong

Living in the Emerald by Kristian Rotseth, SCIS Pudong (WINNER! Best Elementary Documentary)

Elementary School PSA

Magic Happens by Luiza Costa, SCIS Pudong

And Now For the Weather……by P2 Class, YKPao School

Conveniet Conserving by Karis Tai, YKPao School (WINNER! Best Elementary PSA)

Elementary Narrative

Sun Stories by Nancy Yu, YKPao School

The Awesome Egg Drop by Terrance, Eli, and Clayton, SCIS Hongqiao

David and Goliath by Michelle Frerking, Concordia (WINNER! Best Elementary Narrative)

Middle School Documentary

My Brother by Madison Boll, Concordia

The Chimerical Chinese by Yuval Tzhori, SAS Pudong

Xu Gao Xiu by Maria Memede, BISS Pudong (WINNER! Best Middle School Documentary)

Middle School Video Art

Steven’s Daily Life by Yeon Su Park, SCIS Puxi

An Alien Comes to Earth… by Eu Gene Kim and Lia Kim, SCIS Pudong

Running by Kelvin Cheung, SAS Pudong (WINNER! Best Middle School Video Art)

Middle School PSA

When Good Students Go Bad by John Veceillio, Concordia

Procrastination by Lance Allen, Concordia

Legend Chocolate by Maria Mamede, BISS Pudong (WINNER! Best Middle School PSA)

Middle School Narrative

Why Stalk by Ben Yang, Concordia

It’s Easy by Matthew Chui, Concordia

Revenge by Maria Memede, BISS Pudong (WINNER! Best Middle School Narrative, Best in Show Middle School)

High School Documentary

Inside the Shanghai World Expo by Angela Chen, SAS Pudong

The Real Fringe Festival by Hearin Ko, SAS Puxi

High School Video Art

Dr. Joy and Mr. Sad by The Broken Picks, Lycee Francais de Shanghai

A Simple Story by Diana Xu, SAS Pudong

Freshman Year, 25 Percent by Lotta Lavanti, SCIS Pudong (WINNER! Best High School Video Art)

High School Narrative

Ambrosian Flagrato by Cailin Lowry, SAS Puxi

Mr. Sensitive by Sam Kane, SCIS Pudong

BFF and BFF by Elaine Wu, Dulwich College Shanghai

The Mind of Thoughts by Consuelo Guevara, BISS Pudong

Changes by Kristian Agergaard, SAS Pudong

Maybe Tomorrow by Thanakrit Gu, SMIC

The Box by Hearin Ko, SAS Puxi (WINNER! Best High School Narrative, Best in Show High School)

International Competition EARCOS Winner

The Birth of Stranger Things Yeram Byun, Yongsan International School of Seoul

*More films to be added later this week.

High Fidelity Hype for Friday

ljohns — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:43:50 +0000

Ok so ….Friday High Fidelity

couldn’t bring you fun Tshirt ideas…this year..
they were wicked…they were awesome…they will keep …
but meantime

Perhaps a bit of VOKI magic will work it’s charm…..
FRiday night S2f2 2010
Shanghai Community International School
Hong Qiao Campus
6,30pm

Enjoy our messages…
Firstly from Megan….

Get a Voki now!
Elijah

Get a Voki now!
Jonas

Get a Voki now!
Jenny

Get a Voki now!
Karis

Get a Voki now!
Anon P5

Get a Voki now!
Mina

Get a Voki now!
Bill

Get a Voki now!
Joanna

Get a Voki now!
Jasmine

Get a Voki now!
oops how did this get in?

Get a Voki now!
~~~~~~~
Ok now if you’ve got this far…
Welcome to the ‘freestyle section”

Tyler P2

Get a Voki now!
Ming Ming P1

Get a Voki now!
Jack P2

Get a Voki now!
and…….. final words from Jorge’s Uncle….. P1.

Get a Voki now!

HIGH FIVE!

ljohns — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:46:05 +0000

To begin at the beginning….

A HUGE HIGH FIVE
to the entire S2F2 community!

230 entries submitted ; this is a recording breaking year!
80 entries JUST in Elementary/Primary division
15 Overseas entries;… the numbers double each year.]
and
8+ Shanghai schools who are united by a community of truly amazing, dedicated, creative, zany and fun film-making teachers:

HIGH FIVE
to the amazing work happening in our schools….

HIGH FIVE
to the beautiful, beautiful long pan shot, but the sound didn’t work out..

HIGH FIVE
to the fantastic story but the camera was so shaky and you didn’t ‘Mark” your tripod

HIGH FIVE
to the wicked ideas and funky work but your movie exceeded the time frame as stated in the S2F2 rules

High FIVE
to each and EVERY single person who supported or contributed even just five nano seconds to a S2F2 creation…

HIGH Five
to the “extras’ in your movies
It has been great to see fun cameo appearances from teachers and families

HIGH FIVE
to the support crews
the “behind the scenes” technical experts~ like the ‘rock steady teacher’ who found time to lay down a perfect ” drum riff’ after a quick sandwich and in ONE take listening to the sound for the first time!!!!!!!

This is how we as students and teachers learn together the language and craft of digital story telling. We live in an age where anything is possible.

Students work is getting REALLY interesting and innovative; telling real stories, playing with remixing, reflective, and always pushing and challenging technical issues….

High Five
to the great teams who have created such strong competition..
Film making requires a community of people who share their expertise and work collaboratively with a common passion to tell a story or create a journey. …!

The Final
High five
must go to
to the external Judges
Last Friday University Film-making lectures had the unenviable task to make the final decisions…….
The envelopes ARE sealed….. I know NOTHING!

(drum roll)

Meantime…..

This week at our school we’re creating a Databank based upon David Crawford’s fantastic Middle school Rubric that was used for the first round of selections…

We’re doin’ a bit of Judgin’ of our own!

At an Elementary school many students are still making language connections with filming making concepts like: Documentary, PSA, Narrative and Video Art; but as 21st Century learners; visual literacy DEFINITELY overcomes all lanaguage acquisition…way before English,Chinese and/or our first language.

The value of our inschool Judging/evaluation has been the opportunity to gain ‘evidence’ of 21st Century learners as bilingual VISUAL learners…
; how quickly even Year 1 students have picked up how to assess and evaluate:

Lighting, Sound, Photography, Editing, We also addded; Story/Content
1 to 5; 5 being the top score

It was touching also to observe students score and rate their peers movie very generously. It makes you think as a CURRICULUM coordinatator…

Students now KNOW how hard it is to make a movie!
Students also LOVED the task of watching movies made by kids for kids!

What a fantastic experience…and the best is yet to come!

See ya this Friday

6.30pm
Shanghai Community International School
Hong Qiao Campus

High fidelity Friday

ljohns — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:42:57 +0000

Hey S2F2 Students….

You’ve just finally uploaded your entry; but there’s a kind of a hollow feeling ?

FACTOR IN all the effort that went into your project!!!!!!!
It’s normal to feel a little deflated after all that work.

‘Consider’ your creative journey…..
How much do you know now that your didn’t know last year?
This is probably THE most useful experience beyond any Inquiry process that will start to prepare you for the creative/media world.

Welcome to the world of real artistry,………
The Film industry is a tough industry YET…..we live in an age where it’s possible to share our Web 2.0 ideas beyond the commerce

There are always winners and losers in the game of art and life…yet creativity, it’s possible to take every step bravely..and with integrity.

If you truly believe in ypur concept and continue to work on themes and ideas that drive your Creative visions; they WILL stand the test of time.

Here’s the Oscar speech from Russell Crowe receiving the award for “Gladiator”..
that I feel speaks to all students and teachers of “film making” as a speech to inspire, spark and resonate,,,,,,,,,

Russell Crowe said

“I’d move to Los Angeles if Australia and New Zealand were swallowed up by a huge tidal wave, if there was a bubonic plague in Europe, and if the continent of Africa disappeared from some Martian attack.”
“If you grow up in the suburbs of anywhere, a dream like this seems kind of vaguely ludicrous and completely unattainable. [But] this moment is directly connected to those imaginings. And for anybody who’s on the downside of advantage, and relying purely on courage, it’s possible.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Consider YOUR imaginings………..

Friday High fidelity

ljohns — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 14:23:46 +0000

Dear students..

Only one week left…

We’re at that crazy time where logistics and technology doesn’t often work with us

“Compromise” is a weird lesson to learn when one is trying to bring together a “dream concept”.

Take any glitch as a ” giant learning curve” that you will factor into your next project…

Let’s take a break and shift the ” High Five” reflection of previous blog entries to contemporary Shanghai film making….

check out this music doco

http://www.idcreations.com.cn/tv.asp?id=14

How fun is that!!!!!!!!
~~~~~~
now for something completely different………..
“the random check list”

1. Title of your film?
2. Credits?
3. Sound track- is it ‘freeware?
4. Have you edited OUT every last glitch?
5. Does your movie have pace and sequence?
6 Surely there is a ‘lame’ scene or two you can cut out?
7. If you are an Elementary student…is your movie within 3 minutes?
8. If you work within a networked PC school have you FINALLY got your head around saving everything to the D drive!!!!! when working with MEDIA files???
Have you checked that the last compression/conversion actually works>

9. Wow you got this far…….
Welcome ! to the next level

See you at awards night

Moviemaking: The Steps

pwitzel — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:25:56 +0000

We are the home stretch. Many of you have already uploaded your video or sent in a physical copy. If you haven’t there’s still time!

This week I have another “how to” site to feature. Its audience is teachers, but the information is equally useful to student filmmakers in 4th grade and above. Scholastic’s “Teacher’s Guide to Making Student Movies” has movie examples (Real Player needed) and pages devoted to the process of filmmaking. One of the strengths of the site is that it breaks down this process into manageable chunks. Making movies can appear to be overwhelming, but this site helps overcome this fear. Check it out!

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=6758

We are in the home stretch. Many of you have already uploaded your video or sent in a physical copy. If you haven’t, there’s still time!

High fidelity resources!

ljohns — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 18:00:34 +0000

Here are a bunch of Great film making book titles just in time for ordering for next school year’s library budget

Go to
www.dubois.co.nz
Media

Great books titles await…

Here is another fun Elementary/Primary introduction to Film making website
www.filmstreet.co.uk

Finally here’s something really interesting….
Suddenly the UK has caught onto Visual /Digital literacy and launched an exciting after schools programme called Film Club.

Back in 1944 TES (Times Education supplement) said

“No Educator can afford to neglect the cinema any more than he can ignore the influence of radio and the daily press.

The old fashioned teacher may try to blind himself by despising the cinema, by sneering at the rubbish which he thinks is shown there, and by deploring this vast public habit from which he thinks is shown there, and by deploring this vast public habit from which he keeps himself aloof.

But by assuming these attitudes he becomes more and more of a recluse, out of touch with the bright eagerness in the hearts of his boys and girls. And he loses the chance of a lifetime to do part of his job.”

Sadly Gerald Kelly Editor of the Film Club’s magazine TES, wasn’t able to provide a direct reference to this quote!

Still it’s exciting to think kids in the UK are being offered a state run programme to learn more about film making….

The website provides an excellent reference library

The Film club are working inconjunction with the British film institute , Film Education , First light Movies and Skillset to develop film as the centre of children’s Film culture..

Visit for the curriculum vision stuff….
www.21stcenturyliteracy.org.uk

What a great National wide scheme.

Friday High fidelity “Titles”

ljohns — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:09:18 +0000

These last few days I’ve noticed as students are about to upload their movies ….that the “title’ of the film is the last thing on students minds…

It got me thinking that the “Title” of one’s film is a really powerful “hook” .

The naming of a film can allure audiences and cleverly condense the essence of a story…all in one..

Consider this random list of 1930s films made in Shanghai…
I wish I had the resources to provide the links to these fabulous sounding movies…. what an untapped gold mine !

Shanghai Express

Shanghaiied lovers

Shanghai Bond

Streets of Shanghai

Shanghai lady

Shanghai Rose

Ship from Shanghai

Shanghai madness

Shanghai shipmates

Daughter of Shanghai

Shanghai Alibi

Half way to Shanghai

Shanghaied love

Boat to Shanghai

All film titles hint mysteriously of a city few in the West had hardly heard of, nor probably even knew existed in those days; and yet each variation of “Shanghai’ suggests a story line or type of movie: adventure, romance, mystery..

Consider some of the greatest book titles ever written for children

“Where the wild things are”

“Green eggs and Ham”

“The secret garden”

“Harold and the purple crayon”

All titles are unusual and interesting; they also cleverly sum up the story…
Max mets the Wild things…

Sam finally convinces the Old guy to try Green eggs and ham

The secret garden is just that; just one of many secrets held back for a long time.

Go Harold! How lucky he is to own a “purple” crayon….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s worth taking the time to brainstorm with your film crew and conduct a couple of lively discussions to consider a “title’ worthy that befits your work.

Comic Books and Moviemaking

pwitzel — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 09:20:55 +0000

Unfortunately, I was not in Shanghai last year to hear Scott McCloud, S2F2’s keynote speaker. In fact, I didn’t even know who he was until I saw a poster from the event. In doing research for a teaching unit on comics, I came across his name and his book, Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. I found the book in the school library and started reading. Even if you are not into comics (you should give them a chance, if you’re not), the book is a fantastic journey into visual literacy–the art of seeing. It turns out that cartoonists and moviemakers share the need to visualize their work prior to drawing or shooting. How should the scene be framed? From what angle? How tight? and so on. I encourage you to check out his book. You’ll never look at comics, or possibly the world around you, in the same way again.

friday high fidelity

ljohns — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:30:15 +0000

Are you struggling to create the perfect sound track for your movie

Take a lot at the top five… alternatives if you don’t have Garage band

1. Audacity (basically a recording site with funky effects

3. Tone matrix
http://lab.andre-michelle.com/tonematrix

You can also down load the virtual studio

4. Cake walk
http://www.cakewalk.com/Mac/

It’s a little complicated….used to be great to use..
still…it’s a useful tool

5. Hyperscore
http://www.hyperscore.com/

IT’s easy to use and caters for all levels of musicianship skills…