Filmmaking

May 17
Tuesday, May 14, filmmaking students presented their final projects to parents and filmmakers. We suffered through technical problems both in the morning and afternoon, but the film festival was successful despite the numerous issues. Everyone hung in there and made the best of difficult situation. The students were praised for their creative works and given beneficial feedback. So ended the semester for the seniors.

The juniors who remain in class have exit projects that they are working on. The exit projects are for business partners Heartland Therapeutic Riding and Heartland Hoops. The juniors will deliver their videos next Friday, May 24. They have all met with their business partners to show first drafts. Their next meetings are set for Wednesday, May 22.

May 10
Filmmaking students are working on their final projects. Tuesday, May 14, is the big day. All students will present their final projects to Jordan Wight and Meaghan Flynn, both independent filmmakers. The presentations will take place in the Atrium. You are welcome to attend. Morning presentations will take place between 7:30 AM and 10:00 AM and the afternoon presentations will take place between 12:30 PM and 2:50 PM. An audience would be great!

May 3
Filmmaking students are working on final projects. Their presentations will be Tuesday, May 14. Everyone is invited to attend. The morning final projects will be presented in the Atrium beginning at 7:30 AM. The afternoon presentations will begin at 12:20 PM in the atrium. There will be a panel of filmmakers to give students feedback on their videos. These are usually the most creative projects of the semester. Students design their own projects, so there is a variety, showing the different interests of the students.

April 26
This week two filmmaking students traveled to VA with Heartland Hoops to film MOKAN basketball. Two other students attended and filmed the Innovation Celebration in the Winter Garden at Sprint. A third semester student is working on a business plan for his original music. Filmmaking is ultra-busy.

Students are completing their profile Documentaries. They will present their videos to Meagan Flynn, actress and independent filmmaker and Troy Slavin, radio personality. Nothing like standing in front of professionals and presenting a creative work. The feedback they receive is amazing. Once these are presented, they will begin work on their final projects which will be presented May 14.

The students get to choose what their final project is and if they work on it independently or with a group. These are always the most exciting, as they show individual talent and growth. The juniors all have an exit project they will work on after the seniors have departed. Their delivery date of exit projects is May 27.

April 19
Filmmaking students are busy working on their final projects and their profile documentaries. This is always a busy part of the year with seniors getting ready for graduation and all the activities that go along with graduation, plus completing all of their classes with quality work.

The juniors will complete their semester with one final project as their exit project. They have business partner projects: Heartland Therapeutic Riding Fund Raising Event, JE Dunn, and Heartland Hoops. We definitely are busy to the very end.

April 12
Filmmaking students presented their short fictional narratives on Tuesday. They received great feedback from Jordan Wight and Meagan Flynn. Most of the students returned to the room after the presentation and tweaked their narratives and prepared to submit them to film festivals.

This week students began work on their Profile Documentaries and began thinking about their final projects. Next Tuesday, students will pitch their ideas for their final projects.

April 5
Film students are working on their short narratives. They will present the narratives Tuesday, April 9. They will begin on portrait documentaries on Wednesday.

March 30
Film students began their week with presentations of their creative videos. Meagan Flynn was here to give them feedback and give tips on their next assignment, a 4 minute short fictional narrative. The students learned a lot.

On Wednesday, the morning students met with their business partners to discuss progress on their videos. Videos for the First Baptist Church of Olathe and the Innovator of the Year are complete and delivered. There are revisions to be made on the MSI Guaranteed Weather videos, but they should be delivered next week. The morning group has one video pending for Kansas City Public Library and a short promo video to shoot for Heartland Therapeutic Riding in mid-April which will be a project for the juniors as their exiting project.

The afternoon group will meet with Heartland Hoops this afternoon. Five videos are ready for delivery and three others will be delivered by the end of April. We have completed all of the videos for KCMTA, Kansas City Music Teacher Association. The juniors in the afternoon group will complete additional videos for Heartland Hoops.

Students worked this week on scripts, storyboards, detailed shot lists and call sheets in preparation of filming their short fictional narrative this weekend. Independent filmmakers Meagan Flynn and Jordan Wight will watch their videos April 9 and give feedback to the students after each video is presented.

March 15
Filmmaking students finished a creative project before they left for spring break. Students will present their videos on Monday, March 25 to Meagan Flynn. Meagan will give them feedback on their scripts, continuity and overall style of the videos.

Many students left for mini-vacations over break, but some remained and are filming Breakaway Basketball tournaments over the break. Other students are going to be a part of location shoots for the Withered World web series.

March 8
Finally a full week for filmmaking and what a week it has been. Students put their business partner projects on hold until we return from spring break.

Everyone is working on a script that only contained dialogue. One of their tasks was to flesh out the script by developing the characters, setting the mood and tone, deciding the location, developing the story around the dialogue and setting up shots. The shooting tasks were to: use Hollywood continuity style, use shot/reverse shot, and match action shots. They will present their videos Monday, March 25, when they return from spring break. Meagan Flynn will be here to give them feedback.

Eight filmmaking students will travel with Heartland Hoops to CA, VA, TX, MN, SC and Kansas City over weekends in April, May and July. They will capture basketball games, practice, and interviews that students will use next year in highlight videos, documentaries, character development videos and promos for Heartland Hoops. The students are really excited with these opportunities. Over spring break 3 students will film basketball games with Breakthrough Basketball. Also 3 students will be PA’s (Production Assistants)  on 2 location shoots that Meagan Flynn has worked with the directors’ of a new web series to allow our students to participate.

We are all looking forward to spring break.

February 8
Filmmaking students continue to work on business partners projects. Students are creating high-light videos, two documentaries, character development videos, and two promo videos for Heartland Hoops, a promotional and informational video for First Baptist Church, five PSAs for Kansas City Public Library, two tutorial videos for MSI Guaranteed Weather, and eight videos for Innovator of the Year. Three students are traveling to Lawrence this weekend to film KCMTA’s Multi-Piano Concert and four students will travel to KCPT to use their stage for one of the PSAs for Kansas City Public Library. Next week, business partners will watch the videos and give recommendations for revisions.

February 1
Filmmaking students are now working on business partner videos which are due February 21. All students have met with their business partners to get specifics on the type and content of their videos. In all, students will be completing 27 videos for business partners this semester. Students are working in pairs researching, planning, storyboarding and seeking clarification from their business contacts. They have a lot of creative ideas and I think we will have some great videos coming out of this class.

January 25
Filmmaking students presented videos of their design, showing their style, Tuesday. We had some very interesting videos to view, give feedback and ask questions about how they created some elements in their videos. All students are now working on edit in the camera assignments with a twist.

Students drew storyboards or completed detailed shot lists of their story. They had to shoot the sequence according to their storyboard/shot list. The shoot had to be in order, although they could delete clips as they went as long as the order was not changed. They then put the clips on the timeline with no manipulation. In an attempt to get students to critically analyze the flow of their video, how the shots worked together, pacing, etc., students were to look at the timeline and make changes to their storyboard/shot list reflecting their analysis of the first timeline. From their refined storyboard/shot list, students reshot the complete story again in order and placed on a different timeline. On Tuesday they will present the best timeline.

Filmmaking students also met or will meet with their business partners next week. The plan is to complete all of our business partner videos in 3 weeks so students can concentrate on their creative videos for the remainder of the semester.

January 18
Every filmmaking student has identified a business to work with this semester. Our business partners are: First Baptist Church of Olathe, Heartland Therapeutic Riding, Kansas City Public Library, MSI Guaranteed Weather, Innovator of the Year, Heartland Hoops/MOKAN Basketball Club and KCMTA. The students will work on a variety of videos: PSAs, promotional, tutorial, informational, animations and portrait documentaries.  We are excited about our business partners as they provide the experience  of working with clients and a variety of types of videos we can work on.

Camilla Wood and Alex Robinson applied for and were given internships as PAs (Production Assistant) on a location shoot, January 27, under the direction of Patrick Rea and with screenwriter Amber Rapp for the short film “I Do”. High school students are rarely given the opportunity to be a PA, usually this falls to filmmaking students in college in their junior or senior year or beyond. We were offered this opportunity through our mentor Meagan Flynn Mesmer, a local actress and independent filmmaker. The location shoot will be 12 to 14 hours long. Alex will be the PA in the morning and Camilla will be the PA in the evening. If they do well, other students will be offered the opportunity in February. I think this is only the beginning for our CAPS students.

Students are busy in class creating their second video. They could choose what type of video to make and to show their ability to work as part of a team. They will present their videos to their peers Tuesday, The emphasis of the semester is for students to work in teams and choose different positions such as director, actor, cinematographer, editor, etc. Their next two assignments will allow them to hone their skills in storyboarding and screenwriting.

January 14
At the end of last semester a panel of filmmakers, Meagan Flynn and Jordan Wight, and a graphic artist/photographer, Gordon Maxey watched all of the students final videos. The students stepped up to the plate, pitched their videos and showed their talent. The panel was so beneficial that my returning students all agreed that we need a panel of professionals to critique all of their major videos this semester and that is what we will do. I am so grateful for our professional community who are helping us evaluate our videos and giving us valuable feedback.

This semester we added 15 new students and have 17 returning students. Filmmaking has almost doubled.

As a beginning activity, the students were given a prompt and worked in groups of 2 and 3 to develop a short video about their prompt. Each group had a former filmmaking student and a student just entering filmmaking. New friendships have developed, students from different schools are mixing and creative juices are flowing. They received their prompt on Tuesday. They planned their video on Tuesday, filmed on Wednesday, edited on Thursday and will present their videos on Friday. What a great start to the new semester.