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Student Film Workshop

On November 4th, a gorgeous fall day, we welcomed 15 high school students from Chariho High School to participate in Media Education Lab Student workshop. Some of these students are our friends from before, like Tyler, Marissa, and Corner, etc. Others are new to us. All of them were brought by their Humanities Specialist Shelley Kenny and grouped into 5. The film workshop was held at our well-equipped Curriculum Materials Library at University of Rhode Island. Students had wonderful time and film experience, which, we believe will benefit their future.

 

The workshop was inspired by Media Literacy and Creativity. The instructor, Zoey (Xuezhao) Wang, started with giving the students a short instruction about a “Oner” in a film.  A “Oner” is a long take that is usually taken in one shot. These shots are not very common in films. However, at times, Oners are unique technique to make distinctive effects. what to use them for, and what are some possible ways to create a “Oner”. Students were showcased with some classic “Oner” clips and were asked to analyze those film clips. When come to the assignments, students were asked to create a “Oner” by themselves. They can be as creative as they can, but the short films they create have to be “Oners”.

Students were given a total of two hours to brainstorm/storyboard, shoot, and edit their “Oners.” Although the time limit and technical difficulties were challenging, the students still enjoyed their time spent at the beautiful URI campus to shoot, and the spacious CM. The students also had great discussion at the reflection session when they appreciate, critique and reflect on the films of their peers and their own. Overall, the students had creative, collaborative, and critical experiences with filmmaking, media literacy discussions, as well as campus visit to URI.

 

As media educators, we hope that more students who are enthusiastic about media literacy, media production and filmmaking can join us for a fun, collaborative film workshop.

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