Lights, Camera... Action!

  In our groups we were to create movies relating to our chosen topic. My groups topic was "People Who Help Us" which we decided to target towards children in Early Years. The movie was going to be like a children's TV programme in which the presenter would cover different topics every week. We thought it would be quite effective to use teddies to play characters within the different scenarios.

  We started constructing our movie by writing up a storyboard. This was extremely helpful when filming our movie because it meant we knew exactly what everyone was doing in each scene. If I was carrying out this lesson with children, I would ensure they all had written up storyboards before beginning their filming. This would ensure they knew exactly what they had to film and could allocate appropriate roles to all members of their group.

  We used Flip Cameras to film the movie. Even though I had never seen one of these before I found it easy to figure out how to use it. Every time we stopped filming a scene the clip was saved automatically as a file in the cameras memory which we could then put onto the computer. Children would find these extremely easy to use in lessons in which they have to record certain things.

  Once we had written up our storyboard, we went to a flat with the camera to film our movie. Once we got there we found out that the camera was not working. We tried new batteries, but nothing worked so we had to return to Uni and wait till another group finished with their camera. By this point the group felt demotivated due to us not being able to record our film. Upon reflection, before teaching this lesson I would ensure that all of the cameras were working. This would avoid any groups feeling demotivated or demoralised due to them working hard to create a film but in the end felt it was pointless because they were not able to record it. 

  The filming process was really fun because it gave us the opportunity to experiment with different voices, scenes and characters. I think children would find this task very motivating because it provides them with opportunities to experiment and explore. I think this task was "intrinsically motivating". In Christensen's (2008, p7) book on Disrupting Class he explains that "intrinsic motivation is when the work itself stimulates and compels an individual to stay with the task because the task by itself is inherently fun and enjoyable." I cannot wait to see our film once it has all been put together!


Christensen, C,M. (2008) Disrupting Class New York: McGraw-Hill.