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Global Network of Educational Technologists

Global Student Voice Film Festival

Empowering Student Voice with Collaborative Movie-Making

With the Global Student Voice Film Festival deadline fast approaching, a group of my 5th-grade students has been hard at work collaborating on their 1 minute “Activating Change” themed film.

The Global Student Voice Film Festival is a film competition that provides a chance for students ages 5-18 to get empowered, amplify their voice and flex their creative muscles. These twelve filmmakers meet during lunch recesses to brainstorm, plan, rehearse, film, and ultimately edit a short story that will encourage our community to be agents of change. My role during these meetings is to guide students through the steps of filmmaking and help them find an audience for their work. 

The Process

Here is a behind the scenes look at students making the movie, Show of Hands. This short musical film was told through shadows cast from the projector onto a background generated from the computer. They pre-recorded their audio and then filmed their movie as a shadow puppet presentation. Students did all the filming on an iPad using a tripod and edited in iMovie. Students created a few green screen effects with the Do Ink App and the song was mixed from a royalty-free piece by Kevin MacLeod from his incompetech.com site. You can see how these innovative and creative thinkers worked together to do everything needed to make this magical movie about the importance of visual literacy. Take a look behind the scenes to get a glimpse into the movie-making process for these students.

Another group of students is planning a live-action film modeled after a musical commercial for Tim Horton’s coffee. First, students created a song that tells their 1-minute “activating change” story, which, much like the commercial, will quickly move the action along with the lyrics. Next, they determined which scenes are going to be filmed on location, in front of a green screen, if the song should be pre-recorded or captured live. 

The Audience

My students are extremely motivated by the idea of having their creative work shown to authentic audiences. When they finish the movie we hope it will be shown to all the students during morning announcements in our building. We will also look for other opportunities like a local film festival (pictured left), online student movie contests like Nextvista.org’s, as well as entering it into the Global Student Voice Film Festival. Check out their finished movies here!

Tricia Fuglestad, K-5 art teacher from Dryden Elementary School in a suburb of Chicago, has a masters in K-12 technology integration. Her students’ Fugleflicks, student-created, art-related videos have screened at international film festivals and won awards in national contests. Tricia has been recognized for her innovative teaching in 2010 with the PBS Teachers Innovation Award, won Illinois Art Teacher of the Year in 2011, awarded Teacher of Distinction in 2012 by the Golden Apple Foundation, received Western Region Elementary Art Teacher of the Year 2013, selected as a Jacobs Educator 2014-15, presented with the NAEA Art Technology Outstanding Community Service Award in 2016, and Tech in Action Award from ISTE Teacher Educator Network, 2018. Follow me on twitter @Fuglefun

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The Global Student Voice Film Festival

Student voice film festival #SVFF now accepting entries

2018 Global student voice festival winnersStudent Voice empowers kids of all ages to share their stories, perspectives, and passions which allows them to develop so many important life and academic skills. It inspired the creation of a non-profit called the Student Voice Foundation. In order to take the concept of this film festival worldwide, the Global Student Voice Film Festival was born.

The inaugural Global Student Voice Film Fest launched in the fall of 2017 and was a chance for students ages 5-18 to get empowered, amplify their voices and flex their creative muscles.

K-12 students from around the globe were invited to create a 2-minute video responding to our inaugural event’s theme: “In Another’s Shoes”. The winning filmmakers, in three age categories and an overall grand prize, were invited to screen their film and be honored at an official ceremony as part of ISTE 2018 in Chicago.

The 2019 Film Festival launched this week! This year’s film theme is “Activating Change.”We look forward to seeing students from all over the world sharing stories of activating change. To learn more, please visit www.studentvoice.org/filmfest.

Below is a reflection from the middle grades winning student film In Another Shoes adult sponsor John Hayman, Magnet Coordinator, Southeast Middle School, Baton Rouge, LA:

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I was honored to attend the Global Student Film Festival at ISTE in Chicago on June 25 to watch three of my broadcasting students accept an award for winning the middle ages category for their film “In Another’s Shoes”. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the participating students and their families. Each of the winning films was screened for the large audience, and each group of filmmakers went onstage and shared some insights they learned while making their film.

I was amazed at the quality of the films shown at the festival. Each winning group tackled the theme “empathy” differently. One group told the story from the perspective of a library book. Another group used a small child to express their idea. Some stories were student-created, and some were told by using the voices of real children. All students approached the challenge differently, and we were rewarded with a very diverse, creative group of short films.

You don’t have to be a broadcasting teacher to embrace video as a tool for kids to express their learning, and it works in any classroom. The great news is that video production is easy, cheap, and can be accessible for all students. All a student needs is a smartphone or tablet. We prefer iPads at our school because everything is built into the device: a camera, a microphone, a video editing application, and the ability to share.

A lesson I learned from this experience is that extracurricular projects and contests are important. This contest is one example, but there are thousands of opportunities for kids to compete and showcase their creativity. We often think that we don’t have time to share these opportunities with students, but they are too important for a child’s self-esteem, engagement, and development to ignore.  It is our job as educators to encourage students to reach their potential and follow their dreams. If we don’t expose children to competitions and opportunities outside of school, then we are limiting their potential. Winning the contest made my students want to pursue careers in film. They would not have competed at all had we not shared it with them and encouraged them to enter.

Video is fun, engaging, and a highly effective way to teach and learn! I challenge all teachers to consider incorporating a small video project in their classrooms. If you’re looking for a project, consider participating in the 2019 Global Film Festival.