FInishing April... Hello May!

Well, what a month! Ladies and gentlemen I am proud to say that I have confidence in my project. Since last time I blogged, I began to write down the permission slips for students who are interested in watching the movies. A lot of change has happened since then and I'll get into detail, but first I have completed the English and Spanish forms and will make copies to be able to hand out by next week. Also, the questions I might ask to the younger students, 7th and 8th, will vary to those of the high school group, since Band of Brothers is rated TV-MA and exposes much violence to the audience. Still, as before, the dates in which I was to show the movies were originally May 17th and 18th, but I changed that back a week later to May 9th and 10th at the same time between 8:30pm - 10:30pm. I will then have a week to organize my thoughts and make an IMovie and use Garageband as well for my presentation to my review panel on May 23rd. So, unfortunately, it seems as though I'm not going to have two weeks off; not even a week off. Yet, I hope all goes well and the presentation and everything goes according to plan.

Still wokring...

Many things have come up since the last time I've blogged. Unlike last time Band of Brothers is no rated R, rather its TV-MA, meaning I'm to definitely have to write the letter for high school students' parents on the night that I am to show the movies. Also, I'm trying to seek solutions as to how provide a discussion taht would not take up most of the night, since the movie is two hours long and I don;t want to talk a lot since teachers are want to have high school boys in their dorms ready in bed. It's challenging, but maybe if I get special permission to have the students who are willing and have returned their slips of paper be allowed to watch a movie from 8:30 pm to 10:00pm. Also, thanks to Jeremy Duncan, I was able to witness how I can also present my project to my review panel at the end of the year. Hw showed me how I can show a clip from a movie or anything, but have voice over through the use of GarageBand and IMovie. I'm really excited to get started on making a film about the student's responses on the movies they saw and what they learned, but first I have to write down the discussion questions and the permission forms and have them revised. Another day at Chinquapin.

It's Not As Easy As It Seems

I recently noticed that my project is not an easy one and that in order to have a successful project I must do many things. The two movies that I want to show are Remember the Titans and two episodes of the HBO miniseries of Band of Brothers. While Remember the Titans is rated PG, according to imbd.com and Yahoo! Movies, the latter film isn't rated, but I assume that since it contain violence, strong language, and mild nudity I would rate the movie R, even though I consider it an awesome film. I,again, plan to show the movies during study hall period from 8- 10 pm, or maybe even earlier, on May 17th and May 18th. The movies will occur only at night. Refreshments would be provided, but also after the movies students will stay an hour and a half earlier to talk or write down their thoughts about the movie. I ,of course, will lead the discussion through a series f questions I will provide to the students. But, before all that I'm going to write a letter to the parents giving consent to the students that they are able to watch the film. Middle school boys probably won't have to, but for high school students, unless no one from 17 years or younger come, they will need to get permission from a parent. It'll be a night of fun, but also something that I believe would be helpful to educate students about. Through war, leadership, courage, all that will be talked about, but I believe it's crucial to show students, particularly the young men's group about the stuff that went on in our history as a country.

Showtime!

Since I want students to choose what movie to see I want to make sure I have the movie I have listed. I currently own the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, but still need to find whether I'm going to have to buy the film Remember the Titans or borrow it. Either way those are the two options, which both talk about leadership, courage and camaraderie. I also decided to choose to show these movies on May 18th, the week before graduation weeks and show my review panel how students responded to the movies on May23rd. I hope all goes well, but so far I'm only working on the questions I'm going to ask to the students who participate in my project.

Progress

As the year goes by more and more effort is put on my project so it can come out to be well-presented. I have started to seek out the means in which I want to show movies on campus, but had a little opposition. It was advised to me that to show the movies wouldn't be a good idea (presumably) since it would be a large and cumbersome process. Instead I should just show clips from the movies and make students ( whomever is interested) go and watch the trailers and then watch the movies themselves at home to talk about the film later. I found this to be a little unsatisfactory, since first of all, how many of the students would actually watch a particular movie? Wouldn't it be better to just have one night where students can enjoy an evening and then talk of write down about their thought on the movie? I believe it'll be best that I show a movie before I actually have to present my senior project to my review panel. I'm most likely show my movie before the second to last week of May. I'll show the movie in the green room inside the gym where the movie would last only to about 2 hours and there would be refreshments. I'm currently working on the questions I'm to ask the students who participate in this and have them talk or write down their ideas or views on the film. I still have to work to see when to show my project to my review panel and send out invitations to them. So far everything is going well.

Perseverance!

So far I have been contemplating on how to present my senior project to students, but also how I am to be graded by my review panel. I recently been in contact with the people who are to grade me and so far I haven't chosen a specific date yet, but I'm pretty sure it'll be after May 13th for two reasons. First, one of my review panelist won't be available until after May 13th and secondly, I tend to show my display my presentation as soon as possible and days before I actually get graded. But how am I to display my project without having people there to evaluate me? I received help from one of my teachers to suggested that I show the movies that have helped me in my life. Of all this I want to show the movies separately, by first showing middles school students Remember the Titans and some episodes of Band of Brothers, since the mini-series is too long. After they are done the first night, depending which movie the want to see, I'll then show the same movies to high school students who are interested in watching the movies. Of course Remember the Titans is well over two hours of movie time and Band of Brothers has episodes that are one hour long each. This will require some study hall time to be diminished to those who want to see these movies of course. I plan to show these movies in the upstairs classroom, the avocado room, where I won't just show the movie, but lead the discussion and provide some questions for the other students. I also want to show the movie first instead of having to pause the movie every few minutes to talk about it. It'll be a good experience for the students, with, if possible, food and drinks provided. I'll lead the discussion by first passing out sheets of paper that has detailed questions about the movie, what it makes them think, what they feel, what they understood from it, and what elements are useful and can be incorporated to them.
Of course, I tend to also see which students found the movies to be touching or focused, but also remind them of the things that we may have forgotten as friendship, camaraderie, leadership etc. After watching the film, I will then talk to them or maybe just let them write down their ideas or thoughts. Their comments will be valuable. And upon reading their responses I will post a blog about it and even prepare to show my presentation to my review panel. For now, I plan to write down what I want to say to my review panel and show some clips from different movies and remind them what my project was about along with the ideas and comments that the students provided upon my presentation.
Yet, I first have to work on a settle date and make sure everything goes according to plan. So far so good.

Panel and Project

It's still unclear on whether this panel will function, but this i will do for now. I'm supposed to have four people for my review panel and so far I have only three. My review panel will have: Jeremy Duncan, Vic Asrani(mentor), and Eliot Tucker(Board Member) or his son-in-law,(who I have not met or know, but is said to be familiar with a lot of film and movie type technology). Jeremy Duncan is a math teacher and Varsity Soccer Coach at the Chinquapin School. He is also quite familiar with how technology runs around the school campus and has helped me throughout my senior project with film clips and ideas. Vic Asrani, my college mentor, is an architect who, even though doesn't have a lot of experience with film, enjoys movies and is gladly willing to give any input and ideas as to how to make my movie project better. Now Eliot Tucker is a man whom I had the pleasure to meet at an opera and through his love for such entertainment I chose him as well, to help me out with this project. Little is known about him, but he is a great person to talk to and I have enjoyed his company. In his case, he doesn't know much, but will help in any way and, also he has a son-in-law who recently made a movie and published it nationwide through PBS. His help and, hopefully his son-in-law's, will come in handy and I hope to talk to them soon. The evaluation of this project though will consists of creativity, message, was it educational/inspiring and other factors such as if I had an understanding as to what I was doing and if my project went well.
My research wasn't much, regretfully I must say, but I went out to find the movie that I thought provided a key message and a story to relate to the audience. Even though my project was more based on my life, I see that the movies I used for my project will make a point and provide motivation for others to incorporate certain elements that the film or movie contains and use them in their lives. The movies I have studied and will use for my project are: The Lion King, Remember the Titans, and Band of Brothers miniseries. These movies are the essential are the foundation for this project apart from the message I'm to give during or throughout the film. Yet, my greatest challenge, during and throughout the winter break, would be to actually see what I am to do for my project and how not just show the movies in to an audience at my school, but perhaps look up successful presentations in which hand outs can be passed around and questions are to be answered. Not about the movie itself, but how it makes the audience feel and think. Perhaps even have them write a short paragraph describing their emotions or the way they think should have have been made. A bigger, and perhaps too big, I would want to contact Tom Hanks or Steven Spielberg, not just because they did the Band of Brothers miniseries well, but also ask questions and help me get a better idea as to make my project better.
After all this I hope my project comes out well and makes a lasting impact to Chinquapin students and perhaps other people around the world.