Blog: Day Two

The Anatomy of a Scene activity could be easily adapted to use in the art class. Since there is no film class in elementary school, or even a theatre class at our school specifically, film lessons can be added into the visual art class. We already do a lesson on stop motion animation. The next step could be a lesson on making a short film, or recreating a scene in a movie. After learning some basic vocabulary on shots and camera movement, we could do the Anatomy of a Scene activity to translate that vocabulary into use. From there my students could create their own short film. I think doing this activity will change the way they look at films and help develop mini movie makers. To make this lesson even more applicable to visual art, the short films that the students create could be an interview, biography, or documentary about a famous artist or art genre.

Film making would make the art topics more real and alive for my students, who are used to watching videos about famous artists. But when they have a creative stake in what they are learning, it tends to have more of a staying power.