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Filming The PoemAn E-Twinning Project |
Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney
This project involved classes of students in different schools in different countries each making a literary film. Each class selected a poem in their native language and made a film of the poem.
Between them, the classes translated the poems into each of the project languages. These translations were then uploaded to this website where they can be heard and read on the Poems page.
The project concluded by having the films embedded in this joint website. It was anticipated that the films would be short, as would the poems.
The project involved the use of digital cameras, movie making software and e-mailing between classes. Some of the films were sent back and forth though the regular post on DVD for collaborative work.
All the completed films were uploaded to YouTube with links (see below) from this website. While the operational language was English, the website is multi-lingual.
There is also a concluding DVD.
October: Students in four different countries and in six different schools select their poems and begin the process of filming them.
November: Students display each other's poems and responses and record translations which are then up-loaded to this website.
December: This website hosts the links to all the films and includes responses across Europe to all the poems.
January: A Romanian school puts all the films on DVD.
1: Students selected a poem to film.
2: Each student prepared a basic film script based on the poem.
3: Each student applied for a job on the film.
4: The scripts were given to the student who was appointed script editor. He and another student used these to prepare the final script.
5. A shooting script was prepared from this script to be filmed.
6. An inititial recording of the poem by six students was undertaken. One was selected to accompany the film.
7: Casting took place to determine the actors.
8: Using the shooting script, the first 12 scenes of a 42 scene film were recorded. The production assistants acquired a school bell, a clock and a teacher to play a role in the first day's shooting.
9. The school woodwork teacher created a coffin for the funeral scenes.
10: The school art teacher painted and decorated the coffin.
11: Another class of forty minutes was used to film the next three scenes.
12: On a wet morning in late October, the rest of the filming took place. The "rushes" were downloaded from a digital camcorder to a PC and handed to students for editing.
13: After the Halloween break, two students returned with their first drafts of the film. This was shown to the class for their comments and suggestions.
14: Recordings were made of the English translations of the poems chosen for filming.
15: With assistance from a science teacher and using Sony Vegas and Movie Maker, two students completed the editing of the film.
16: All students in the class
completed preparing their responses to the poems being filmed and uploaded
these reponses to the Poems page of this
site where they can be viewed.
17: Students discussed the music to be used in the film. A teacher recorded two traditional Irish airs on the violin, one for the film and one for the credits.
18: The students viewed the films already completed and give their responses.
19: The soundtrack had been recorded by teacher, Ms Deirdre Brennan, and sound effects along with the recording of the reading were added to the visual product.
20: The finished film was uploaded to where it can be viewed on the eTwinning site and also linked to a YouTube video on the Films page of this site.
21: The film was included,
along with the other films, on a DVD prepared by students in a Romanian
school and distributed to all the students involved in the project.
Seamus Heaney
Each student in the class was given the first document mentioned below
and asked to fill it in and select a poem. There were many diverse responses
ranging from Shakespeare to W.B. Yeats. Three poems proved to be very
popular: The Assembly Cough by Jez Alborough; The
Daffodils by William Wordsworth and Mid-Term Break
by Seamus Heaney.
It was eventually decided to film Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney.
Comments on the poem by the students involved in the project are available
on the Mid-Term Break page as are
translations
of the poem into the other three languages of the project.
There are links to other films of the poem on the page devoted to the poet, Seamus Heaney.
Friedrich Hebbel
Hermann Hesse
Seamus Heaney
Wislawa Szymborksa
Octavian Goga
Octavian Paler
Germany
School:
Realschule, Amorbach
Teacher: Brigitte Hartung-Bretz
Poem: Herbstbild
by Friedrich Hebbel
Click
on the
still shot (left) from the film made by the German students to see
their version of this poem and two other German poems by Eduard Mörike
and Rainer Maria Rilke.
This school has had their work acknowledged in a German newspaper Main-Netz .
In June 2010, the film was awarded the first prize of the district of Miltenberg in the arts section.
This
school has also made a subtitled version of their film. The subtitles
are in English. This version of the poem is available on YouTube. Click
on the still
shot from the film to see their English version of the poem.
The contribution of these students is acknowledged on the TGRS page.
School:
Städtische
Realschule Kempten, Kempten.
Teacher: Stefanie Lowry
Poem: Im
Nebel by Hermann Hesse
Click
on the
still shot (left) from the film made by the German students to see
their version of the poem.
Ireland
School:
Moyle Park College,
Clondalkin, Dublin 22
Teacher: Conor Kelly
Poem: Mid-Term
Break by Seamus Heaney
Click
on the
still shot (left) from the film of Mid-Term Break made by the Irish
students to see their version of the poem.
This school has also made subtitled versions of their film. The German version is entitled Semesterpause; the Polish version is entitled Przerwa Miedzysemestralna; the Romanian version is entitled Pauza la Scoala. All these films are available on YouTube.
The contribution of these students is acknowledged not only on individual pages on the site but also on the Moyle Park College page.
Poland
School:
Gimnazjum nr 10 w
Zabrzu, Zabrze.
Teacher: Anna Zwolinska
Poem:
Nic dwa razy by Wislawa Szymborska .
Click
on the
still shot (left) from the film made by the Polish students to see
their version of the poem.
Romania
School:
Liceul Teoretic "Ioan
Slavici", Panciu.
Teacher: Maricica Apreutesei
Poem: Strainul
by Octavian Goga
Click
on the
still shot (left) from the film made by the Romanian students to see
their version of the poem.
They have also made a brief film called "The Stranger - Making of"
This school now has its own website devoted to the Filming a Poem project. Visit the students as they work on the project at their own website which is available in English as well as Romanian.
This school has also provided a visual account of their work on the project. Visit the students as they introduce us to their school, their classroom, their computer room and their project.
School:
Dimitrie Cantemir National College, Onesti.
Teacher: Julia Ariton
Poem: Avem
Timp by Octavian Paler
Click
on the
still shot (left) from the film made by the Romanian students to see
their version of the poem.
In preparing to film a poem, the students were first asked to select a poem by filling in a two page document.
Click here to read this as a web page.
Click here to read it as a Word document.
When the poem, Mid Term Break, was selected, a new document was prepared
and given to the students.
Click here to read this as a web page.
Click here to read it as a Word document.
Students were also asked to fill in a one-page document which asked them to detail what equipment - hardware and software - they could bring to the project. They were also asked on the same document to select, in a 1-2-3 order, the jobs they would like to undertake.
Click here to read this as a web page.
Click here to read it as a Word document.
After sifting through the replies and discussing them with the class, students were then asked to write a more formal letter of application or to fill in the Application Form.
Click here to read this as a web page.
Click here to read it as a Word document.
On the basis of the responses, jobs were allocated to all students in
the class.
|
The Class |
This project was undertaken with a 2nd Year English class preparing for their Junior Certificate examination in a boy's secondary school, Moyle Park College, in Clondalkin, County Dublin. After an initial explanation and invitation, all twenty three students agreed to take part.
The contribution of these students is explained and acknowledged not only on individual pages on the site but also on the class credits page.
Although all students have signed an Acceptable Usage Policy as part of their computer studies programme, a separate permission letter was drafted and given to all students involved in the Filming the Poem project. This letter was signed by both students and parents.
This
is an eTwinning project
Winner of a Junior Spider Award for the Best Educational website 2009.
The Irish class
was awarded a National Quality Label
at a ceremony in Moyle Park College in December 2010.
This project was awarded a European Quality Label in October 2010.
Winner of the Microsoft
Gold Award
for outstanding teachers
at the E Learning Awards
in Copenhagen November 2010.
E mail the project
at Moyle Park College.
© 2nd Year English Class; Moyle Park College 2009