On Monday we shared tips for conducting a successful documentary interview. Today we have a great example for you -- this documentary profile video won an NY Emmy Award for Best Arts Segment. As a digital media piece created for the web, close-up images were used for their ease of visibility on a smartphone’s smaller screen. [...]
Superman with a GoPro, is a fun short film for anyone of any age, especially for special effects fans. If you’ve recently invested in a drone camera or a GoPro, you’ll appreciate the creative use of both. There are lots of special effects to identify for younger students, which helps them practice sorting fact from fiction. And while the main focus is on the fun effects, the filmmakers didn’t forget to write in a motivation for the character and give enough story details for a satisfying ending. [...]
Alive in Joburg, is appropriate for students in high school or above. This is the short film that launched Neill Blomkamp’s directing career, and was the inspiration for the critically acclaimed feature film District 9. This is a gritty take on what an alien landing might have looked like in 1990. Set in an imaginary South Africa where aliens have landed and taken up residence, Alive in Joburg poses as a documentary intent on examining how life has changed for residents there, interchanging interviews with realistic special effects. [...]
This week’s featured short film is brought to you by a professional puppeteer and other artists living in their apartment in New York City who wanted to create something positive together. It’s another great example of writing about what you know and using what you have around the house to tell a story. [...]
This week’s film is an animated short called Bear Story (Historia de un Oso). The story was inspired by the director's grandfather, Leopoldo Osorio, who, after the Chilean coup d'état, was imprisoned for two years and then forced to live in exile for the duration of the dictatorship. The film was a critical success, winning the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film at the 88th Academy Awards. It is the first Chilean winner of an Academy Award and the first Latin American animation to win and/or get nominated for an Oscar. While it’s generally for all ages, I would recommend that parents watch along with their elementary-age children. The animation is stunning, and though it's sad, the elevated level of storytelling makes it well worth the watch. [...]
WARNING: SCARY MOVIE! This short film is for our scary movie fans in middle school or above. So many of our students love to watch and make scary movies, and this short is an excellent example of how you can make something genuinely scary with minimal effects. There is no blood, no violence, no gore, and no [...]
Part music video, part documentary, today's short film follows Lil Buck through the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, marking the opening of the Icons of Modern Art: The Shchukin Collection. [...]
Today’s film is called The Short Story of a Fox and a Mouse, an animated short film from France. In this film, we meet a quartet of woodland creatures, and watch their relationships unfold. [...]
Here's another arts break activity to liven up your day. This is a beautiful, short documentary for all ages called He Who Dances on Wood. [...]