The glitz, the glamour, the excitement! Host a student film festival to see it all come to life.

More importantly, you’ll see how invested your students are in their projects and how preparing for this moment has helped them to enhance their writing, storytelling, creativity, and digital literacy skills. The film festival will showcase students’ productions to their peers, teachers, parents, and the community, and provide a way for students to share their stories with the world.

The authors are technology integration specialists charged with helping teachers in their district make technology a fundamental part of learning and teaching. They took note of students’ interest in digital media outside of school and realized that video production was an excellent way to get students engaged and using technology in the classroom. To make video production a part of the district culture, they developed the Parkway Digital Film Festival. This festival has since become a catalyst for innovation in the classroom. A film festival can do the same at your school or district! In this book, discover the power of digital video, learn how to work with teachers to integrate video production into the curriculum, and get step-by-step guidance on developing and implementing a successful film festival.

Features: An overview of how digital video production can be used in the classroom and the impact it has on student writing and digital literacy skills; step-by-step guidance on planning a film festival, including working with teachers and students, the technical and logistical details of putting on the actual event, and a checklist and sample timeline; a chapter devoted to making movies—from pre-production (writing process, peer editing) to production (filming, sound, lighting) to post production—including tips for each step